Information Technology (IT) is poised to make the final selection of the software system that will replace Bearings in the coming weeks. According to IT's Director of Project Development Abbie Brown, next week a group of faculty and staff from the Registrar's Office and IT will sit down to decide on the best software system for Bowdoin. This group will then submit a recommendation to head administrators such as President Barry Mills and Chief Information Officer Mitch Davis for a final decision.
"Next week, we sit down with a group of people who are going to sort of make the decision of which one we go with," said Davis.
While still in the early stages of a significant change to the system, calls to replace Bearings are not new to the College. Brown mentioned that IT was asked to consider options for a replacement for the unreliable system three years ago.
"Then the economy went south," said Brown. "The timing was actually pretty good because it was before we signed any contracts or made the final decision. So we just put it on the shelf and every budget cycle we've sort of dusted it off and said, 'Can we think about this again?'"
Boosted by the economic revival last fall, the College decided that it was finally time to dust off the idea. As a result, IT has been investigating replacement possibilities while simultaneously improving the functioning of Bearings.
According to Davis, IT has narrowed its option to two companies—Banner and PeopleSoft. The companies have both visited campus to present their systems. Meanwhile, Brown and other members of IT have been busy researching the potential benefits of both options. To do this, Brown and her staff have been contacting peer institutions, which she defines as a group of about 30 other small liberal arts colleges.
Of these schools, Brown said that about two-thirds use Banner, a quarter use PeopleSoft and the rest use other companies. IT has been asking other schools for detailed feedback about their experience with either company.
According to Brown, once IT and administrators decide on a company, the next step will be an intensive three-week process, ideally in March and April, during which IT will scrutinize the customizations that it might want to attach to the new software. Brown explained there was a desire to change the software only slightly because customizations could complicate future updates and lead to higher maintenance costs.
The College could also choose a replacement system that integrates software programs across campus. Such a system might, for example, connect the program used by Admissions to that used by the Registrar's Office. According to Brown, this has been of particular interest because the software module currently in use in Admissions will not be supported after 2013.
Davis spoke about the growth potential of integrated campus software.
"There are a couple of these applications that could go into finance, could go into admissions," he said. "It tends to be easier to deal with one company and have all this stuff interconnected."
However, Davis added, "Sometimes that seamless environment is not very cost-effective."
Costs are a major force in the final replacement decision. Brown said that both the PeopleSoft and Banner systems have an initial cost of $1.5 million, although additional maintenance and integration fees would apply.
In comparison, Brown pointed out that Bearings requires less money, although she estimated that it requires one and a half full time IT staff members to keep it up and running.
"[Bearings] runs on an old operating system and has an old database, but we're not paying tons of money for that," she said. "What we are doing is spending internal resources to keep it going."
IT provided several updates to Bearings last fall, increasing the number of concurrent users it allows from 35 to about 200. Brown hoped that the new system would be able to accommodate about 3,000 concurrent users, enough for all students, faculty, and staff to be on Bearings at the same time. She mentioned that preventing the system from crashing during registration period was her first priority.
Davis mentioned that during the implementation period, Bearings will still be in use.
"It's going to be a reminder of how bad things are," he said.
Brown said that she hopes the new system can be implemented by June of 2012. Normally, integration time lasts about two years, but Davis was confident that Bowdoin could integrate faster.
"Everyone is anticipating the use of the software rather than dreading the implementation," said Davis. "Most other [schools] are dreading the implementation, so they drag it out because they think they're being safer. We'll be fine, we've shown that we can do things twice as fast."
"Across the board people are very excited about getting a new system," said Brown. "I think the only issue is the cost, and making sure that we do it at the right time so that we do not put ourselves in a financial situation that is untenable."
"It won't be a utopia," said Davis. "But it will feel much better than what they [students, staff, faculty] have today."