Out with the old and in with the new. The university website and system now has an entirely new look thanks to new homepage and student information system.
SF State is implementing a new student information system, Campus Solutions, and homepage this fall semester. SF State is one of the last CSU’s to implement the student information system.
“This new system is changing the way students and faculty view online university information they need,” said Brian Beatty, associate vice president for Academic Affairs Operations. “We are implementing what we call is a ‘legacy system.’”
Campus Solutions, the new information system which was implemented at SF State earlier this year, began its early steps in fall of 2012 when the university began planning. The new system touches all aspects of the university from registering classes to applying for graduation.
Campus Solutions is part of the Common Management System (CMS), which provides access to data stored in campus or common databases.The update is part of a project, which is in the last of five phases in place aimed to improve the entire student information system. SF State is the 22 of the 23 California State Universities (CSU) to implement the system.
Beatty, who serves on both the Executive and Steering committee of the Campus Solutions project said, “We are looking to service the students and faculty in the best possible way that we can.”
Before the new system, SF State used the School Information Management System (SIMS) since 1999 and is one of the last to switch the CSU-common system. San Diego State remains as the only CSU who has not converted to Campus Solutions.
President Leslie Wong announces a new homepage to accompany the new system.
“One symbol of forward movement on our campus is the new homepage for the University website,” said President Leslie Wong in a university email, announcing the new homepage set to be unveiled on Aug. 25. “It’s a bold departure from our former look, symbolizing SF State’s energetic, positive momentum.”
Campus Solutions is foreign to the SF State community and will have problems along the way, according to Beatty. For students, it will be hard to be patient with the glitches.
“I really don’t like the system,” said Danny Craemer, a graduate student in the history department. “It doesn’t support Chrome and it conveniently logs you out, it’s all over the place.
Craemer has been at the university for the past four years and believes that the adjustment from old to new was hard to understand. Unlike Craemer, for transfer and international students, it has been an easier judgement to not have used the old system.
“I think it is pretty simple and I had no problems with it,” said Danica Sharma, an international student who is in her first semester. “They provided instructions before using it.”
For Sharma, the instructions provided before registering was helpful. Training classes, videos and how-to guides are provided for students and faculty to learn how to use the new system.
“A lot of students did not know that there was instructions for them to use,” said Chantal Bevard, senior BECA student.
For the students at SF State, it will take take time and few problems before the system will become a norm. Beatty believes that we should be looking ahead in the future.
“We know the new system will be good in the long run, but we know that there will be bumps along the way,” said Beatty.
