Issue
28(1)
Building
a Student Information System: Strategies for Success and Implications
for Campus Policy Makers.
(2007) Don Hossler (Ed)., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 88 pp.,
$29.00 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-7879-9607-9.
Review
by: Denise L. Wyatt
Office
of Teacher Education, School
of Education
Indiana University-Bloomington
This book
caught my attention right away. I have been involved for the past
5 years in the conversion of our university’s student information
system (SIS) from a home grown DOS based system to an “off the
shelf” windows based system. How and why would trustees, presidents,
provosts, and financial officers decide to invest resources --
money, personnel, and time -- to the tune of millions of dollars
to change from a system that, from a staff perspective, was working
just fine? What could administrators have done differently to
make the transition to a new system go smoother? Or, did they
do everything realistically possible? These are just some of the
questions I hoped this book could answer and it did just that.
The
authors begin with explaining what the SIS fuss is about as they
provide a brief history of the emergence of computer-based administrative
systems and how they have become the lifeblood of institutions
over the past 25 years. Then authors delve into the “real” costs
of implementing an SIS by describing it as a three phase process:
acquisition, implementation and post-implementation. Each of these
phases is then broken down into greater detail. Finally, the book
reminds the reader that even though the four to five year implementation
process is done and the system is up and running, the challenges
are not really over. The level of effort it takes to perform major
upgrades, not to mention just keeping pace with minor system changes,
is never ending.
When
comparing this book to other publications like Enterprise
System Implementations: Lessons from the Trenches
or Enterprise-Wide System Implementation at Multi-campus institutions
, Editor Hossler guides text authors to touch upon numerous
lessons learned. These lessons include: campuses need to consider
structure and business process reengineering early in the process;
executive leadership is key to success; training and time to master
the complexities of the new software is critical; communication
to all stakeholders is a must; having a detailed, realistic, well-maintained
project plan is critical to the success of the implementation;
and success of the implementation is directly attributed to teams
of dedicated, enthusiastic people.
Is
reading this book worth an advisor’s valuable time? The answer
is “yes” if the advisor is involved with the selection and implementation
of a new institutional software system or will be involved with
a major system upgrade in the near future. For these advisors
this book can be a helpful resource for understanding, planning,
and implementing even a small office specific software upgrade.
References
Enterprise
System Implementations:
Lessons from the Trenches.
(1999). Jack McCredie & Dan Updegrove, CAUSE/EFFECT Journal,
V. 22 Number 4.
Enterprise-Wide
System Implementations at Multicampus Institutions.
(2005). Norma Brenner Holland & Laurie Sullivan, EDUCAUSE
Center
for Applied Research: Research
Bulletin, V. 2005 Issue 4.
