Renew the Student Services Digital Experience

three figures in a computer monitorWe will reimagine and renew the student services digital experience of Boston University, including administrative services, advising tools, and personalized communications, in a contemporary platform, improving efficiency and quality and enabling future flexibility.

Scope

We will update how all students engage with BU administrative and academic support services, from when they apply through when they graduate, and how BU faculty and staff can support students while they are here. This change will be made across all schools and colleges, supporting programs on Charles River and Medical campuses. The current Student Link and Faculty Link will be replaced with modern, mobile-friendly interfaces, supported by contemporary technology that will provide all BU students with new capabilities, such as the ability to update their preferred names and self-identify their gender. No longer constrained by the limitations of the old mainframe system, we will also be able to provide features such as class registration waitlists and course pre-requisites.

Major Projects

  • Student Information System (SIS) Core Implementation – Active
    Replace the current mainframe-based student information system with a contemporary, proven system, Oracle Campus Solutions, in a way that improves the overall experience for students, faculty and staff and provides a foundation of capability to execute on BU strategic priorities. This project will support Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Records, Curriculum Management, Student Financials and Academic Advising.
  • Student Portal & Academic Transactions – Active
    Replace the current Student Link to provide a modernized, personalized and mobile-friendly portal for students. This will provide students with easy access to things like interacting with an advisor, registering for classes, searching the course catalog and paying tuition and fees.
  • Identity Access Management Modernization for SIS – Complete
    Create a new repository of all BU person records (UID, name, other key attributes for identity matching) across all roles (student, faculty, staff, alumni, affiliate), update and automate processes for student BU account provisioning and deprovisioning, and enable BU students, faculty, staff, alumni and affiliates to maintain aspects of their displayed identity.
  • Student Information System (SIS) Reporting – Active
    Update the data source of current Academic Data Warehouse reports from the mainframe SIS to Oracle Campus Solutions and incorporate new data elements and structures as appropriate. Ensure continued ability to produce longitudinal reports over time spans including both source systems and carry out ad-hoc reporting.
  • Student Employment – Active
    Replace the current Student Employment system leveraging BU’s broader Human Capital Management platform, SAP. Update the student experience of applying for jobs and reporting time worked, as well as how internal and external employers post positions, hire/terminate students and administer payments. Enable the student employment office to monitor and support department managers.
  • Student Information System (SIS) Renewal – Tuition Remission – Active
    This project introduces a new Tuition Remission solution utilizing SAP and Campus Solutions, replacing our legacy mainframe-based system. The solution includes functionality to perform the calculations and subsequent awarding of tuition remission to eligible employees and family members. Enable the student employment office to monitor and support department managers.
  • Student Information System (SIS) Renewal – ISSO Terra Dotta Implementation – Active
    This project will implement Terra Dotta, a new system for international student and scholar immigration management, replacing the legacy mainframe-based system.
  • Graduate Admissions Cycle (’23-’24) – Active
    This project is coordinating the annual graduate admissions cycle with BU schools/colleges, Liaison International (vendor), and the BU teams to configuring the graduate applications and admissions tools for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. The project will include transitioning graduate admissions data to Campus Solutions for this cycle year.
  • Undergraduate Admissions Cycle (’22-’24) – Active
    This project will prepare MyBU and related undergraduate admissions functions in support of the migration to Campus Solutions. This will include all changes required to MyBU for the ’22-’23 admissions cycle as well as the regular MyBU annual cycle operational activities from Summer 2022 to Spring 2023.
  • Undergraduate Orientation Replacement – Complete
    This project will provide the Dean of Students Office with an updated Orientation platform likely utilizing the Salesforce student platform. The solution will include an Orientation portal, event management, communications, and reporting.
  • Study Abroad Application and Enrollment Replacement – Active
    Implement Terra Dotta to manage the application and enrollment processes for Study Abroad, replacing the current Filemaker solution and manual processes currently used by Study Abroad.
  • Mainframe Replenishment – Active
    This set of projects will deliver student data from Campus Solutions back to the mainframe Student Information System (SIS), to ensure that the jobs, application interfaces, and tasks that rely on student data will continue to operate as expected after Campus Solutions goes live. This data is needed to keep Natural Adabas applications (e.g. Financial Aid, Dining, Vending, etc.) operating until they are replaced.

Stakeholders

    • Students are the key stakeholders of this IS&T strategic priority. The planned initiatives will impact students at each school and college, and all faculty who advise students or submit grades.
    • Teaching and advising faculty will have an updated platform to review student information, post grades and engage in academic advising activities.
    • Staff within each school/college who manage admissions, curricula, registration, advising, student accounts, student jobs, diplomas & transcripts will have new capabilities.
    • Central administrative offices like Enrollment & Student Administration (ENSA), Student Accounts, and the Provost’s office will use new tools and follow corresponding updated processes.

    Representatives of these groups will be involved in decisions as the new system is designed and be provided early looks and demonstrations of new systems, in the lead up to launches of new functionality.

    Key Success Metrics

    • Increase in community satisfaction
      • Pre-and post-community IT service satisfaction surveys
    • Breadth of use of student portal
    • Increase ease of use for navigating student portal
      • Pre-and post- ease-of-use surveys and click counts for common actions
    • Reduce the number of shadow systems that are used by schools/colleges
      • Inventory of major shadow systems being taken by SIS Renewal program as part of implementation
    • Significantly reduce the number of End-of-Life Services
      • Annual Enterprise Risk Management Key Performance Indicator
    • Approved project budget(s) to actual