National University of Singapore Overhauls Administration System in 21 Months
 
 

National University of Singapore Overhauls Administration System in 21 Months

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The National University of Singapore (NUS) is one of Asia’s leading universities, providing quality education to more than 36,000 students from 100 countries. NUS has 14 faculties and schools across three campuses, and it offers degrees in the areas of arts and social sciences, business, computing, dentistry, design and environment, engineering, law, medicine, music, public policy, and science. The university also has three national level Research Centers of Excellence (RCE) and is a partner in the fifth RCE. It has 22 university-level research institutes and centers.

Several years ago, NUS recognized the need to replace its aging student administration system, which had been in place since 1994.

The university’s separate undergraduate, graduate, and non-graduating student databases were also not integrated, and tools used to develop these databases were obsolete and no longer supported. In addition, the university’s disparate systems were unable to cope with changing business requirements.

“The diversified IT environment posed a challenge for NUS to effectively share and co-ordinate data across faculties, schools, and departments,” said Lay Pheng Shaw, deputy registrar, National University of Singapore. “This hampered strategic decision-making in an increasingly competitive tertiary education environment.”

In 2009, the university deployed Oracle’s PeopleSoft Student Records, PeopleSoft Recruiting and Admissions, PeopleSoft Student Financials, PeopleSoft Campus Self Service, and PeopleSoft Campus Community to build a single, integrated system for all student and course information.

The new centralized student information system is used to record and store each student’s personal details, undergraduate and graduate course information, admissions data, examination results, and financial details.
“The deployment of an integrated student information system is a long-term investment and one of the largest technology projects undertaken by the university in recent years,” said Tommy Hor, director, Computer Centre, National University of Singapore.

“We have used PeopleSoft solutions to build a single, integrated student administration system that has streamlined the way we record and store information, improving the services we provide to students and staff.

“The system also helps lay the foundation for future improvements to our systems that would not have been possible under the legacy structure.”


 
An Integrated Student Administration System

A word from National University of Singapore

  • “The deployment of an integrated student information system is a long-term investment and one of the largest technology projects undertaken by the university in recent years. We have used PeopleSoft solutions to build a single, integrated student administration system that has streamlined the way we record and store information, improving the services we provide to students and staff.” – Tommy Hor, Director, Computer Centre, National University of Singapore

The university used PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions to standardize data and merge duplicated records into one consistent set of data across different student groups. It has also introduced a new single student identification concept where a unique identification number is provided to each student for all programs that they undertake.

The student’s information is stored and tracked in a single record, which provides lecturers and administration staff with a good overview of the student’s entire academic history at the university.

The new system has also enabled the university to eliminate duplicated applications and reports that were serving similar functions. Around 80 applications and more than 2,000 reports and queries were eliminated in a tight deployment timeframe of 21 months.

 
Improved Efficiency with Streamlined Processes

 
Students Serve Themselves

 
Deployment Schedule Met with Best Practice Methods

 
 

 
 

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Provided administrators and teaching staff with an instant view of a student’s entire academic history, which helped to improve efficiency
  • Gained an integrated system that automated the student administration process
  • Eliminated around 80 applications and more than 2,000 reports and queries across the university
  • Provided students with a single online system to view and update their personal details, check examination results, transfer credit, access their statements, and manage other information, around-the-clock
  • Enabled NUS to more easily train new staff, redeploy staff between departments, and introduced standard business processes to facilitate knowledge retention and minimize disruption of student and teacher services due to staff turnover
  • Used the Oracle Compass Methodology to complete the deployment in 21 months

Why Oracle

NUS selected the PeopleSoft applications because the software was used by more than 700 educational institutions around the world, including some of NUS’ partner universities, such as Duke University in the United States and the Australian National University.

This gave NUS the confidence that the solution was proven, robust, and would deliver on requirements unique to the tertiary education sector.

NUS also looked at product maturity, and the availability of skilled and experienced resources when it opted for Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions.

According to Kong, Oracle’s consultants had an in-depth knowledge of the solution, understood the university’s business requirements, and were able to provide sensible and practical advice.


Implementation Process

Between February and September 2008, NUS conducted an implementation planning and strategizing study, which helped it identify the tasks, implementation scope, resource requirements, and the project timeline.

The study culminated in a four-week conference room pilot where selected users were introduced to the system’s key functions.

It gave them the opportunity to experience the look and feel of the new system, as well as validate that it had been designed to meet key NUS requirements.

“The pilot gave us a better understanding of how Oracle was able to meet NUS requirements after the study,” said Kong.
“We also developed implementation strategies and established the groundwork for key implementation components.

“These contributed to a fast and smooth implementation, while reducing project risks,” said Kong.

NUS moved into the implementation phase after the study. The system went live in November 2009, and around 1,000 university administrators were trained on how to use the new system through instructor-led briefings and lab sessions, as well as online training modules developed with PeopleSoft Enterprise User Productivity Kit for Support.

“We received excellent feedback from administrators on the eLearning modules developed with the PeopleSoft Enterprise User Productivity Kit. The online training courses are easy to follow with its different learning modes,” said Shaw.

“It was a mammoth task to train more than 1,000 users in a relatively short time, but these eLearning modules have helped us reach out to the large end-user base in an effective and efficient manner.”