ISIS upgrade in the works

UW–Madison’s Integrated Student Information System (ISIS) will undergo a product upgrade this year. Planning is in progress, and it is anticipated that work will begin by mid-June and end in early December.

Since 1998, ISIS has provided the underlying data processing structure for the offices of admissions, registrar, student financial services and bursar. It also provides the background data used by the university’s data warehouse, University Housing, the Query Library and other areas requiring student data.

The last major ISIS upgrade in 2002 brought with it the Web environment to allow online enrollment, electronic loan processing, e-award disbursements and electronic submission of grades. Along with the need to stay current with new technology, a key goal of this year’s upgrade is student, adviser and faculty self-service via improved integration with the My UW–Madison campus Web portal.

In anticipation of the upgrade, UW–Madison staff and technical support participated in a beta testing program with PeopleSoft late last fall. The campus subsequently has been accepted as a participant in an upgrade “Early Success Program” with Oracle/PeopleSoft. This program provides significant consulting resources with Oracle/PeopleSoft technicians assisting on campus during the upgrade testing.

The overall goal of ISIS continues to be enhancing functionality and flexibility of the full spectrum of administrative services affecting a student’s academic life though SOAR, admissions, enrollment, financial processing and, eventually, alumni records. This upgrade is another milestone in that effort. Campus administrators and staff will be kept informed as the process continues.

For more information about ISIS, visit http://www.isis.wisc.edu.