$1 million spent on upgrading software
By Jo Zulkowsky
IVCC is spending $1.1 million to switch the miscellaneous computer software they have been using for college and student records to a single program.
The new software, named Colleague, will be installed by January 2000. The college’s current record-keeping software is not year – 2000 compliant (Y2K) which means those programs will be useless beginning Jan. 1, 2000.
Members of the college staff have been organized into teams for the planning and implementation of the new software, with the largest, the Student Team, working with all student records including admissions, registration, counseling, financial aid, academic records and course files.
The new software will also handle finance, faculty files, human resources information, payroll and campus facilities.
Dr. Robert Marshall, Vice President of Student Services and co-leader of the Colleague project, said the average amount of time to install Colleague is 24 months, but it will be completed in 14 at IVCC.
"A lot of people (will be) working overtime, but they know the importance of the project, and they must succeed," Marshall said.
Harold Barnes, Director of Computer Services and co-leader of the project, said "To meet the timeline, they are more focused and determined."
The first Colleague modules scheduled to be running are in finance, admissions, financial aid and facilities with a target date of July 1, 1999.
Barnes said the college has been aware of the year-2000 problem for some time and officials began investigating a software upgrade in 1994. That is when the high cost was discovered, he said.
In Nov. 1997, college officials looked at a number of computer programs, and in March 1998, signed a contact with Datatel of Calif. For the Colleague program. In April 1998, the college sold technology bonds to fund the upgrade.
"We looked at five or six companies and viewed set ups at other colleges, and Datatel seemed to do the best job of support since this is their only job," Barnes said.
The $1.1 million for the change includes the cost of training, consulting, travel expenses and a Datatel project manager. Barnes said a small computer room has been set up on the top floor of building C just for the purpose of training.
A project manager, who works for Datatel, will be on campus until the software is up and running. The manager will help to oversee the teams of IVCC staff, and, according to Marshall, "push and pull us through the project so we can stay on track."
Datatel sent Jan Taylor to IVCC on Sept. 1, but she was transferred back to the company’s offices in mid-October. At press time, the college was waiting for a new project manager to arrive.
Barnes said that some of the software the college is using was designed 20 years ago, and college offices are using different systems. Colleague will centralize the information into one system.
"More information will be available to more people so they can make better decisions," Barnes said. "People are looking forward to the completed installation."
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10/29/98 the Apache