Joint Operations Group (JOG) Meeting of 2/18-2/19/97

UCSB Campus Report

1. Accounts Receivable: Based on the advice of a consulting team composed of leading industry experts (Stuart and Jim from UCOP with Bob Sugar from UCSB), we are proceeding on two fronts: On one hand, an in-house team is continuing analysis and database design and, on the other hand, we are "aggressively watching" the marketplace for emerging products. Further, we have consulted with Gartner Group regarding the state of the market in student systems and heard from vendors including SCT, PeopleSoft and Buzzeo. Although we have tried, we have not be able to learn much about Exeter, another company advertising products in this area. We also visited the Cashier's Office at UCD where we saw a very attractive system they have constructed (in Smalltalk) to interface to the campus billing and financial systems. Visits to UCSD and UCR are planned. These visits are quite helpful in exposing our functional and technical managers to a variety of possible ways that receivables can be handled.

2. Travel Systems: We are well into developing a web-based Travel Voucher System using Javascript, Livewire Pro and Sybase - with Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) to MVS/Adabas. The web forms were designed and partly programmed by members of the Travel Process Improvement Team. We have tested all of the crucial linkages and are in the process of completing the database design and the integration of components. We hope to begin pilot testing this spring. Other projects in the Travel area include preparation for a Corporate Travel Card and Direct Deposit of reimbursements into travelers' bank accounts.

3. Low Value Acquisitions: We are also using the Javascript/LiveWire- Pro/Sybase/Adabas-RPC architecture to develop a low value requisition system that will be a companion to our purchase requisition system. Both of these systems will feed a new Purchase Order Tracking System (POTS) which runs in MVS.

4. Central Stores Catalog: We have launched a project to install the Central Stores Catalog on the web. Again, UCD people were very helpful in sharing their work and discussing the project with our functional and technical managers.

5. Equipment Management: We have obtained a copy of UCI's equipment management system (EQS) and are hoping that our material managers will agree that it could provide a short cut to solving Year 2000 problems in the equipment inventory area. As indicated by the measurement of work station age, the campus needs an incentive to preen the records in our equipment inventory database.

6. CAD-FDX Project: A project to convert the building blueprint file to electronic format recently got underway. Included is an evaluation of space management software systems that are linkable with AutoCad in hopes of finding something to replace the campus FDX system. We have been meeting with vendors and discussing the project with those who are out ahead of us at other campuses. We recently visited UCD and a trip to UCLA to see their pilot project is also planned.

7. Degree Audit: We are quite proud to be the first group to bring up the UNIX version of DARS without on-site assistance from the University of Miami in Ohio. We are currently experimenting with the ".9 Beta" version, a Cobol engine running in AIX against Sybase tables. We plan to use the same Adabas RPC pathway used by the Travel Voucher system to retrieve student records dynamically and feed them to DARS. Requests for degree audits from students will be entered via a web page.

8. Transfer Articulation: Another project related to the DARS initiative is the processing and acceptance of credits transferred from other institutions. This process is based on a product purchased from the University of Miami called "DARwin" (DARS for Windows). DARwin provides Power Builder programs that accept local input and populate Sybase tables in a format appropriate for input to the DARS engine. We are adding our own Transfer Articulation module and we are integrating the records coming from DARwin with records received via SPEEDE before feeding Sybase.

9. Room Scheduling: We recently installed Schedule 25 under AIX and have been experimenting with classroom scheduling. We plan to run the program against summer school data and compare the results to the schedule developed in the traditional way. We are also exploring the use of Schedule 25 for summer conference scheduling.

10. Commencement: IS&C is participating in a project to permit graduating students to indicate their intention to participate in a commencement ceremony and make the appropriate reservations via voice response.

11. Data Warehouse: As you know from my posting to the JOG list, our Data Warehouse is under attack by those who would like the data available restricted to the inquirer's own department. UCLA, UCR and LBL provided support for our position that all relevant data should be made available to knowledge workers and decision makers. Further roll-out of the Data Warehouse is on hold while we explore these issues. We visited UCLA to investigate their data warehouse web front-end and returned with several ideas which we are now discussing with functional offices.

12. Year 2000: Progress on the new Accounts Receivable and Purchase Order Tracking systems will eliminate major hurdles in planning for the Year 2000. Other systems known to need work are: Chancellor's Correspondence Tracking Sytem, Facilities Management System (FAMAS) and Central Stores' Inventory System.

13. Electronic Mail: UCSB has selected Simeon from ESYS for its next-generation electronic mail system. Simeon is currently being used by about 1000 students in the residence halls and by a pilot group of administrative users. Production usage and encouragement for PROFS customers to move to Simeon begin next month. A project to select a companion system to schedule meetings has been launched under the auspices of the Campus Networking Committee.

14. Divisional File Server: IS&C recently introduced file and print server support for administrative departments. Six departments (200 users) now share the server, which is based on a multi-processor NT environment and delivered over the Administrative Services Network.

15. Distributed Computing Environment: We have just started a project to implement Kerberos, directory and RPC services based on DCE capabilities provided in AIX version 4.2. The test machine has been obtained and the software is on order. Pressures have been mounting as faculty and staff accessing the campus via their favorite ISPs express desires to use Melvyl databases and Interlibrary Loan from their home terminals.

16. Hardware Changes: Last quarter we replaced all 3380/3880 DASD with 3390/3990 units. We are now moving to replace our 3480 tapes with either 3490, 3490E or 3590 units. (Does anyone have experience with the 3590 Magstar drives?) We installed an Open Systems Adapter (OSA) in the 9672 and we are now phasing out the Comten front-end processors in favor of direct network attachments via the OSA. We have decided to skip the TUO and forego upgrading our 9672-R21 processor. CPU demand has reached a plateau and we believe we can make it to the end of the payout period in June '98 before we will have to upgrade.