PeopleSoft: We’ll work harder on records system

Meeting with university officials, PeopleSoft President Craig Conway reaffirmed that his company is committed to helping UW–Madison implement and run its students records software.

“The meeting with Mr. Conway was successful on several fronts,” says Paul Barrows, vice chancellor for student affairs. “We were able to make the case in person that while UW–Madison has experienced some success with the PeopleSoft software, much is yet to be done. There are issues that must be resolved, and PeopleSoft must redouble its commitment to solve the pressing needs of this university.”

Conway met Jan. 18 in Chicago with representatives from UW–Madison and six other Big Ten universities. The purpose of the meeting was to follow up on a letter sent to PeopleSoft in November by the provosts of each institution (UW-Madison, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern and Ohio State).

In that letter, the provosts indicated their desire to keep working with PeopleSoft as each university implements the company’s software as part of their various computer systems. The provosts also said the company needs to improve how the software works and outlined several specific software issues.

Of particular concern to UW–Madison, Barrows says, is PeopleSoft’s Student Administrative system, which has been implemented during the past three years as part of the Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). While the initial implementation is done, considerable work still must be done to stabilize and expand the functionality and performance of the system, he says.

“The university implemented the Student Administrative system with minimal customizations, which resulted in many business process changes,” Barrows says. “While UW–Madison has already established functional office and school/college collaboration in this new environment, the implementation has not been without difficulty for employees in both settings.”

To further strengthen its relationship with UW–Madison and the other Big Ten universities, PeopleSoft has agreed to take several steps, including implementing a technical advisory group comprised of company and university officials and holding regular meetings with officials from each campus.

Barrows says PeopleSoft has promised to remain fully engaged with UW–Madison during this critical period of stabilization and expansion.

“We believe it is in our direct best interest to work with PeopleSoft to identify where their current system has scalability and performance problems and issues,” Barrows says. “Both UW–Madison and PeopleSoft will clearly benefit from PeopleSoft focusing on problems and issues raised in this part of the system.”