Sungard's experience really showed during this demo as they specialize in higher education systems for over 40 years and operate on a global scale. They definitely had a lot of interactive components to their solution. Essentially they've setup the portal to look like igoogle, with different tabs that contain different widgets pertaining to that tab. They've integrated a lot with the familiar google services such as gmail, maps, calendar which inclines me to using the portal as my new homepage. It seems finding information seems more straightforward that Oracle. Although the only thing I think Oracle did well was handle course planning. They had an option where you setup your courses for the year BEFORE registering which is really useful. However, Sungard did say they were going to have this function ready when McMaster goes live. Both systems had some kind of waitlisting functionality which is good and the details are handled by the respective departments and administrative staff.
Overall I felt Sungard takes it for student experience. It felt really easy to use, although I think they might be on the weaker side when it came to course planning / registration and tools associated with that, but not by much. If Sungard gets chosen, I think I would be happy with such a decision.
MSU use to be able to make deadlines, until they took an arrow to the knee.
The obligatory skyrim reference in this context is completely inaccurate with all due respect.
If you were referring to the Google Project, the MSU's role was to initiate it(I would know that since I did start the project in January 2010), lobby various members of the administration to give the go ahead and the conduct a popular survey and submit the results to UTS.
After that point in November 2010 the MSU had absolutely no way of influencing or affecting the chain of events. It was entirely upto UTS and McMaster Legal team and their counterparts at Google as well as Provincial Legislation.
And Leslie, Particle's report covers most of the points. Both companies are similar in terms of core structural functionality but differ in the interface of their one stop shop portal(which will replace MUGSI). No matter which one we end up getting, they'll both be miles ahead of what we currently have.
The Committee(including myself) will be making the decision in January, the next week or so will just be various departments providing their feedback. The student demo was just one of the 8-10 sections that are being judged and demonstrated for functionality.
For example I myself will have to talk to the technical staff from UTS regarding their analysis of both system from a behind the scenes perspective, in other words If a system looks pretty at the front but has lackluster technical/hardware support infrastructure then that'll be a deal breaker since it might lead to the new MUGSI crashing/glitching at peak registration periods.
__________________ Huzaifa Saeed BA Hon, Political Science & Sociology, Class of 2013
Sungard's experience really showed during this demo as they specialize in higher education systems for over 40 years and operate on a global scale. They definitely had a lot of interactive components to their solution. Essentially they've setup the portal to look like igoogle, with different tabs that contain different widgets pertaining to that tab. They've integrated a lot with the familiar google services such as gmail, maps, calendar which inclines me to using the portal as my new homepage. It seems finding information seems more straightforward that Oracle. Although the only thing I think Oracle did well was handle course planning. They had an option where you setup your courses for the year BEFORE registering which is really useful. However, Sungard did say they were going to have this function ready when McMaster goes live. Both systems had some kind of waitlisting functionality which is good and the details are handled by the respective departments and administrative staff.
Overall I felt Sungard takes it for student experience. It felt really easy to use, although I think they might be on the weaker side when it came to course planning / registration and tools associated with that, but not by much. If Sungard gets chosen, I think I would be happy with such a decision.
My sister is raging mad at trying to register for her next semester (Mohawk) and I just noticed their MoCo Motion (their MUGSI equivalent) is run by "SunGard Higher Education". What information do you have on the (positive) quality of SunGard with respect to course registration?
(I don't know anything about SunGard, or how good/bad Mohawk's registration is compared to McMaster, though)
My sister is raging mad at trying to register for her next semester (Mohawk) and I just noticed their MoCo Motion (their MUGSI equivalent) is run by "SunGard Higher Education". What information do you have on the (positive) quality of SunGard with respect to course registration?
(I don't know anything about SunGard, or how good/bad Mohawk's registration is compared to McMaster, though)
If course registration is terrible with SunGard at Mohawk, this could be a red flag for McMaster during its decision making process. Let's hope it's just an issue with the age of system and lack of updates or something.
Now, I' not quite sure what problems your sister is having but from the looks of it, the demo was able to show that it will be your typical course registration. You go in, search for the course and section you want, check it off and add it to a list. There doesn't seem to be any advantage in terms of how the course registration is done. Whatever is giving your sister headaches could simply be like our SOLAR problems (server's lack of ability to handle peak loads) or its the administrative side of Mohawk that have set ridiculous rules that is making it a pain.
As far as the SunGard solution is concerned, there doesn't seem to be anything inherently bad with it. They emphasized flexibility and if the solution is scaled properly to be able to handle peak loads I don't see any problems in terms of the student side of things. Maybe if you gave the specific problems your sister is having, I may be able to see how that relates to what I saw at the demo.
it would be cool to have visuals or pics of their set up... would that be possible?
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures (not sure if that's allowed though). Maybe I'll do a VERY cheesy mock up with GIMP or something. Although it probably won't convey what it actually felt like.
...
Now, I' not quite sure what problems your sister is having but from the looks of it, the demo was able to show that it will be your typical course registration. You go in, search for the course and section you want, check it off and add it to a list. There doesn't seem to be any advantage in terms of how the course registration is done. Whatever is giving your sister headaches could simply be like our SOLAR problems (server's lack of ability to handle peak loads) or its the administrative side of Mohawk that have set ridiculous rules that is making it a pain...
I'm pretty sure most of the issue is related to the peak loading, not an inherent software rule/bug issue. Just wanted to bring up the fact that Mohawk might have something similar to what we'll be getting in case somebody wanted to check out that in terms of pros/cons.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures (not sure if that's allowed though). Maybe I'll do a VERY cheesy mock up with GIMP or something. Although it probably won't convey what it actually felt like.
oh haha it was more for the MSU folks... im sure the 2 companies have given them mockups of the systems or pictures of them and such... so yea id assume they would be able to get them up here for us to check out.. but thx it would be interesting seeing your GIMP versions too
__________________
~ moksa - liberation from mundane existence ~
I should mention that SunGard is providing an option for mobile apps as well. Basically they'll provide the framework and McMaster can customize it anyway it wants to. It's open source so its cross-platform and they also have non-active connection components to the app (meaning some information is more or less static, eg. map, schedule so you won't need internet to retrieve the information). In the demo, they said you can download a sample app to see what other schools have done with it. I think they said to search University of Manitoba in the Apple app store and you'll find the one they helped develop. Alternatively you can try looking for SunGard University, maybe that's in the app store too.
oh haha it was more for the MSU folks... im sure the 2 companies have given them mockups of the systems or pictures of them and such... so yea id assume they would be able to get them up here for us to check out.. but thx it would be interesting seeing your GIMP versions too
I assume by MSU folks you meant me? The answer I can give you for now is they haven't given me anything specific. I have their gigantic RFP documents but I signed a physical contract for strict confidentiality regarding it's content. I also haven't come across any pictoral or video content that was sent out to the committee, their demo's were done in real time on their actual web portal.
I will try emailing them to see if they have any but it's unlikely they have any because they only prepared stuff for a certain kind of presentation aka Presentation to a Committee and Live Demos as opposed to dissemination to a wider student body, they were actually positively surprised that McMaster is including students in the process, apparently other schools down in USA don't.
This project unlike Microsoft vs Google is a Code Red Priority for the University, hence because so many departments are involved things are very structured in nature and I have to double check with the committee before I can post/reveal many internal details.
As for the Red Flag from Mohawk, a System Failure is dependent on a large number of things with a large weight-age to behind the scenes infrastructure and hardware. These demos were purely about how functional the front end user interface is. There were separate sessions for UTS staff to have a much much more technical discussion with both companies, I will be contacting them for their opinion. I'm sure they'll be aware of exactly what happens at Mohawk since there is close collaboration between IT departments across the Country.
__________________ Huzaifa Saeed BA Hon, Political Science & Sociology, Class of 2013
Update: I actually found a Youtube video of a School that uses the Sunguard Banner Registration System, the Demo we were shown is mostly similar. McMaster obviously has the option of customizing some stuff. For example they showed us how the home tab had integrated Gmail Emails and Calendar, this would fit in perfectly with the 90% Likely switch to Gmail over the Winter Break.
Edit: Just found Oracle Peoplesoft too:
__________________ Huzaifa Saeed BA Hon, Political Science & Sociology, Class of 2013
McMaster University News and Information, Student-run Community, with topics ranging from Student Life, Advice, News, Events, and General Help.
Notice: The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the student(s) who authored the content. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by McMaster University or the MSU (McMaster Students Union). Being a student-run community, all articles and discussion posts on MacInsiders are unofficial and it is therefore always recommended that you visit the official McMaster website for the most accurate up-to-date information.
