SIS Academic Liaison Group
Advisory Committee Level I
Meeting Minutes
October 21, 2003

Members:    Elizabeth Pyle, Registrar
            Rosio Alvarez, OIT (represented by John Dubach)
            Richard Rogers, Resource Economics & Provost's Office
            Howard Stidham, Chemistry
            Bruce Byers, Biology
            Chris Roberts, Hospitality & Tourism Management
            Wendy Matys, Sociology & Political Science
            Claire Christopherson, Computer Science
            Deb Picking, Plant & Soil Sciences

Facilitating:    John Cunningham, Provost's Office

Agenda:     1. Overview of purpose
            2. Election of Chair for 2002-2003
            3. Review of charge and organizational matters (handout 1)
            4. Discussion of transcript production issue (handout 2)
            5. Update on Version 8.0


1. John introduced the committee members and identified the
support role of Elizabeth (registrar) and Rosio (OIT).  The primary purpose
of the committee, as described by the Faculty Senate Document Number 03-021
(handout 1), is to discuss SIS priorities and identify future needs.

2. Chris Roberts was nominated to chair the committee.  The only nominee, 
Chris was elected by acclamation.

3.  A rich discussion of the charge ensued, generating clarity
about the high level nature of our task.  In general, we are to identify
categories of issues, discuss symptoms and their underlying problems, and
suggest potential solutions.

4. The committee agreed to meet once per month throughout the
academic year.  For the fall semester, the committee agreed to meet:

    a.     Tuesday October 21st at 2pm

    b.     Tuesday November 18th at 2pm

    c.     December 16th at 2pm

d.  Meeting times for the spring semester will be determined in December

5.  To begin the process, we discussed the transcript
production issue that John brought forward to the committee (handout 2).

    a. Elizabeth reported that there are limits to the batching process.
The SIS system does not currently have the batch capabilities that the
legacy system did.  The desire is to move this ability to the department
level.  Currently this type of report must be created name by name at both
the department and registrar level.

    b. At an upcoming pre-advising meeting Elizabeth will encourage users to
share ideas and practices.

    c. The preparation of lists will be different in version 8.0.  It will
allow different styles of transcripts and audit reports.

    d. The process of updates, exceptions and the degree audit rule set will
be different in version 8.0 as well.

6.  An open discussion ensued to identify the range of issues
that we might want to discuss in the future.  We agreed to prioritize these
issues at the next meeting:

    a.     Listing of features that we lost when we changed to SIS.

    b.     Performance speed, capacity, reliability

    c.     Rosters

        i.     SPIRE ID required; difficult to gain access for new hires and
adjuncts

            1.     NENS (non-employee, non-student) identification a
possible solution

        ii.     Mobius limitations

    d.     User interface

        i.     Navigation - where buttons are placed and repetitive
scrolling & clicking

        ii.     Icon for second page of related scheduling detail

        iii.     Timeout period: supposedly 20 minutes but not always that
long

        iv.     Accuracy of Drop List

e.     Degree Audits

f.      Direct access to data (version 8.0 a possible solution)

g.     Transfer credit recordkeeping

h.     Impact upon our exchange student

        i.     Timing of access while away and when returning

        ii.     Stockbridge student transfers

i.     Ramp-on timing

        i.     Fairness

        ii.     System load

        iii.     Impact upon course attendance

j.       Grade posting by section

i.     Elizabeth can open access to this feature now

k.     Wait lists

l.     Academic standing panel

i.     History and status

m.   Ability to drop courses for students not in your major

7.  Elizabeth reported on the next registration process and the version 8.0
update.

a.   Beginning in November, SPIRE will remain open through the end of
spring add/drop.  This will become our standard process; however, SPIRE will
close for the NSP during June/July to facilitate freshman registration.  It
will also be offline for transfer registration during July.  The system will
re-open in early August each summer and remain open through the end of the
fall add/drop period.

b.  Beginning next semester, paper grade rosters will be eliminated.  All
grades will be posted via SPIRE.  Efforts are still underway to identify
options of uploading grades from certain types of external programs such as
Excel.

c.  SIS will load version 8.0 as a major update after the end of spring
add/drop next February.  The plan to is to have the update tested and
working by the end of March - well in time for the April registration
period.  This update will address a number of issues that have been brought
forward by users; we will need to actually implement the update to confirm
the new features.

8.  The meeting adjourned at 3:40pm with the intent of
discussing the issues identified at the next monthly meeting.


Minutes submitted by Chris Roberts.  Please send all corrections/omissions
to Chris.