UC Santa Cruz - Academic Information Systems

Q. What is AIS?
A. Academic Information Systems manages the data used to support the UCSC academic mission using the PeopleSoft Student Administration Suite of software. It is the system of record for UCSC supporting Academic Advising, Undergraduate Admissions, Campus Community, Financial Aid, Student Financials, Student Records, as well as; Cognos, the Narrative Evaluation System (NES), the Transfer Credit Summary System (TCSS), and the Student Portal.

June 30, 2005 the Student Information System (SIS) will be decommissioned. Originally acquired in 1986 when the campus had approximately 7,000 students, SIS was designed to support the transaction-intensive needs of the offices of Admissions, Financial Aid, Accounts Receivable, and the Registrar. SIS represents the old system of record for UCSC; now with approximately 15,000 students UCSC has completed the shift to the PeopleSoft Student Administration Suite of software using a model delivery system which utilizes the Internet as a way for Students, Faculty and Staff to access many University services.

For a period of time SIS and Academic Information Systems (AIS) ran simultaneously while business processes for 2004 school year came to a close. During the transition to AIS, all records with data contained from SIS were incorporated into AIS and archived. Since 2005 SIS has been in a process of decommissioning. Now all archived SIS data is available and the old SIS mainframe will be handed over to the University of California Office of the President (UCOP).

Grading & Narrative Evaluations

Q. Is there documentation on the Grading & Evaluation process available to faculty?

A: The AIS website has downloadable documentation for entering Grades, and the Office of the Registrar website has information regarding Narrative Evaluations.

An enhanced process for entering end-of-term grades in MyUCSC is now available.
Download the documentation: Macintosh or PC.

The Office the Registrar's website offers information pertaining to Narrative Evaluation submission including:
Materials for Writing and Submitting Narrative Evaluations
Electronic Submission of Evaluations
Course Descriptions
Confirming Narrative Evaluations After Input
Narrative Evaluation Center Staff Responsibilities
A Few Writing Tips

Q. Who can I contact for help entering Grades?

A: The two best resources are the AIS Help Desk available at ais-help@ucsc.edu or by phone at (831) 459-1611, and other members of your department who may have more experience entering grades in AIS.

Q. Who can I contact for help preparing Narrative Evaluations?

A: For questions regarding the preperation of your narrative evaluations, please contact the Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FITC), fitc@ucsc.edu. or x9-1573.

Q. Who can I contact for help submitting Narrative Evaluations?

A: For questions regarding the submission of your narrative evaluations, please contact the Evaluations Office, nes@ucsc.edu or x9-4682.

Q: Will the access be phased as well?
A: Yes, access will be phased in as the system goes live. In keeping with AIS's philosophy, "Just in time, just for me", access to the system will come to each individual as needed. If you need more information on how to receive your access to AIS, click the Access tab at the top of this page.

Q: If there is an interruption in the Internet connection, will access to AIS be unavailable?
A: Yes, unfortunately, when the network is down, AIS will be inaccessible. The same is true today; if the network is down, you don’t have access to all critical systems, including SIS, PPS, FIS, Email, etc.

Q: Will users have differing types of access, e.g., a Financial Aid adviser would be able to view Financial Aid information, but a department adviser wouldn't?
A: Using the new "70-20-10" service delivery model this approach provides a more integrated set of services for students and faculty. A user may have "read-only" access to other screens that aren't directly related to the user's daily job function, but needed nonetheless. The idea is that a student talking with a financial aid counselor could ask questions about other academic components and not necessarily have to go to another department for the answer.

Q: Will users be able to work from home, since AIS is web based?
A: Off-campus access will depend upon the nature of the work to be completed. Current security requirements dictate that use of AIS for administrative purposes will only be available via from the campus network. However, self-service and other portal functionality will be available to staff, faculty or students from outside the campus network.

Q: How will students be able to check their Financial Aid status?
A: New students will be sent mass email (using AIS functionality),directing them to the Portal. Continuing students will still receive paper notification this year.

Q: How will the student ID be assigned in AIS?
A: AIS assigns a random, 7-digit ID to each student -- different from the student's Social Security number which will no longer be used for ID purposes.

Q: Will student records still be able to be accessed by using the Social Security Number?
A: AIS does not use Social Security Numbers to access information. The number will still exist in a field called "National ID". The SID that used to exist in SIS has been converted to the "External ID", but due to legislation regarding use of Social Security numbers, AIS cannot use them as identifiers. AIS will assign a new "Empl ID" to each record and that is how records will be accessed. The "National ID" field will eventually go away as a searchable field.

Q: If a student is accessing his/her record through Self-Service, will there be an indicator on the screen to communicate their standing in their major?
A: Yes, but only if the major is a cluster, proposed or declared.

Q: Will students be able to print their own transcripts?
A: In the Self-Service portion of AIS, students will be able to run an unofficial transcript of their academic history only. In the Self-Service portion of AIS, students will be able to run an unofficial Degree Audit, which is another type of transcript. As before, official transcripts must be ordered from the Registrar's office. Former students must request from the Registrar's office an official or unofficial copy of their transcripts.

Q. What does AIS offer for faculty?
A. Current plans call for faculty tools such as work lists, schedules, workloads management, rosters, class wait lists, etc. The "Gradebook" function allows faculty to set up assignments and tests with weighting. Faculty can control student access to test and grade information.

Q: Will "snail mail" communication be going away in AIS?
A: In November 2003, PAC endorsed a policy that electronic communications (email, portal) are the preferred medium for official communication. AIS has made electronic communication with students a strategic priority; it's a cornerstone of the 70-20-10 service delivery architecture, it drives value to the students through their use of the portal, and it enhances the institution's ability to be nimble and responsive when communicating with the campus community.

Q: What will SBS administer in AIS?
A: SBS will be responsible for the administration of billing, charges, cashiering, collections and payment agreements and refunding.

Q: How will users get reports from AIS?
A: AIS provides users access to three kinds of reporting environments.

The first environment is the transactional database itself. Very few users have this access, and that group is limited to expert report writers who are certified to do so. The second environment, mentioned above, is the Reporting Database Service, or RDS. The RDS is available for a much broader scope of users, but should be considered a repository of operational reporting data. For historical reporting, trend analysis, longitudinal studies, etc., both the Data Warehouse and components of the RDS will be appropriate tools.

More importantly, AIS is working with the user community to create an inventory of certified reports, some of which will be static, many of which will lead users through a series of prompts to get to the information desired. One thing is certain; reporting in AIS will be significantly enhanced from today’s SIS environment!

Q: How far back will historical information be converted?
A: Electronic records dating as far back as 1986 have been converted. This is as far back as SIS maintained electronic records.

Q: Is the hardware the University currently has going to be adequate?
A: AIS has architected and purchased a complete world-class Solaris/Oracle based infrastructure to support Student Administration and the Enterprise Portal. This n-tier solution includes redundant dedicated servers, firewalls, load balancers, application servers, gigabit Ethernet and network attached storage [Translation: it’s a geek paradise]. The value of this architecture is that we can plug in additional machines as we need them.

Q. IS AIS be cross platform?
A. Yes, because AIS is web-based, it is platform independent.

Q. What about browsers?
A. There are minimum requirements for browsers.

Q: Is there a training scheduled posted? What is the minimum training needed [for administrative staff who would not be entering information] to have access to AIS?
A: Yes, click the Training tab at the top of the window.

At this time, the minimum required for view-only access is the Introduction to AIS class and FERPA Training.

Q. Will I have to go through training to use the system? If so, how much?
A. Yes, and we will offer multiple approaches, including web-based training. The length of training will be dependent on your position on campus and the amount of interaction you expect to have with the system. Because it's likely that students and faculty will engage with AIS, we intend to offer many "how to" answers online. Staff or others who need to use the system as a regular part of their job will have both formal training and access to this web-based "just in time" training, as well as the on-line help and Help Desk Support. In addition, staff who will use AIS daily will be urged to take the on-line FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records), training prior to system training. See Training.

Q. What are the best ways to find out information about the system and status of the project?
A. The best way to find up-to-date information on project status is via this web site. In addition, AIS publishes a monthly newsletter that is sent to the AIS Project Liaisons and posts frequent messages to its listserve, ais-info. Requests to participate in the listserve can be sent via email to ais@ucsc.edu. Finally, you are always welcome to contact the AIS project director, Greg Gaither via email at gaither@ucsc.edu.

Q. How can I participate?
A. Involvement from individuals throughout the University is absolutely essential for our efforts to be successful. We continue developing implementation teams, focus groups, testing teams, and quality assurance groups throughout the life of the project. Your interest in the project is greatly appreciated. If you'd like to submit your name as an AIS Project Liaison, send email to ais@ucsc.edu.