ASA - Current Projects:
Banner 7 / Oracle 10i upgrade - We will upgrade our Oracle environment for Banner from Oracle 9i to Oracle 10i in the Nov/Dec 2005 timeframe. At this same time, we will also move the Banner Unix server to a more powerful machine with more disk space. Following that, we are planning to upgrade Banner from version 6 to version 7 in late February 2006. This is a major upgrade which will introduce significant functional changes including the way curriculum data is setup, organized and maintained. There is also a big change to the way new entities are added to the system and matched against existing entities to prevent duplicates. Technically, Banner version 7 interface will be entirely and exclusively browser based. That is, no more local client software delivered via Novell. The interface is more windows compliant and uses a tab metaphor to navigate many of the forms. A variety of user offices will be involved testing and certifying this upgrade.
Crystal Reports Upgrade to Business Objects Crystal XI - Crystal Reporting software has been the backbone of our online reporting environment for several years now. The company has changed hands several times and has most recently been bought by Business Objects who was a major competitor. Business Objects is merging the product lines. We have resisted major upgrades to this software over the years because of backward compatibility issues but the latest version “XI” is a fully web/browser based interface and features a number of enhancements we want to implement. Migrating and upgrading to this version is a major task because we have to manually convert all of our existing reports of which there are over 4000. The project began in April of 2005 and had been completed in phases. We are in the final phase and should be fully migrated to Crystal XI version by the end of Nov 2005. We are conducting and will continue to conduct training sessions for current and new users on this new version and interface.
DARS/CAS - DARS stands for Degree Audit Reporting System and CAS stands for Course Applicability System. WKU has long recognized the need for and benefit of an automated degree audit system. In late winter of 2005, a $300,000 project budget was allocated to implement a degree audit system. DARS, marketed by Miami of Ohio University, was selected as the degree audit software. DARS will not only perform degree audits on campus but will also interface with a statewide CAS system. CAS basically allows students to logon to a state maintained website and see how their course work at a given university transfers to a participating Kentucky university. The DARS project began in earnest in July 2005. It will be implemented in phases as degree programs are encoded and brought live. The entire implementation timeline is 18 to 24 months.
Enterprise Portal - An enterprise portal integrates content and application services into a single interface. Users can customize the content and services to fit their needs. Secure content and services are access using Single Sign-On technology (SSO). WKU purchase SCT Luminis portal because of its tight integration with Banner and its ability to support 3rd party applications like Blackboard and Email. Users will be able to access TopNet, Banner, Blackboard, Email, Calendar, Crystal XI InfoView via a single secure login userid and password. They will be able to subscribe to a variety of information channels such as news, weather, campus notifications, events.
