Enterprise Information System project implementation under way

The Enterprise Information System project team moved into the UNT Research Park last month and has begun implementation of the software utilized by the new system that will integrate many of the separate administrative systems currently used by the university.

Joneel Harris, associate vice president for enrollment management, says the Research Park facility allows all the people working on integrating and implementing the sophisticated database system to work together under one roof, which is an enormous benefit.

"These people are usually involved in various other day-to-day responsibilities," she says. "We've brought them all together to try to expedite the implementation process. When you come up with a question concerning a complex system like this, you want to get an answer as quickly as possible, and you can do that when everyone is together and can discuss the issue all at once and resolve it."

There will be as many as 80 people working at the Research Park throughout the UNT System-wide EIS project, including functional and technical employees from the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the UNT Denton campus.

Harris said the long-range plan is to relocate the UNT Computing Center to the Research Park.

Last fall, the EIS project team devised a plan for implementation of the massive project. The project is made up of four major areas — human resources, student administration, contributor relations and finance. Within each of those areas are several components that address specific business processes and data.

For example, within student administration there are components to support admissions, student records, student finance and financial aid. Implementation of the EIS system should take at least 18 months with different components being implemented in stages — some concurrently. During the transition phase, UNT will continue to run its current administrative systems until all new critical components can be used to support both institutions.

"One of the greatest aspects of this system is that all of the information about a person will be integrated, instead of being stored in different files on different systems," Harris says. "Let's say a person is a staff member, but she is also a student and a contributor. Instead of her information being in three different systems and unrelated, all data associated with a person will be in a shared database. A practical example would be to change your address one time and it is updated in human resources, advancement and student records. Now it requires three actions."

Harris says the system will also allow access to almost all self-service aspects of the system 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"This means individuals can still take care of the things they need to do even after our business hours," she says.

Harris encourages UNT employees to visit the EIS web site — www.unt.edu/eis/EIS_Homepage.htm — to learn more about the system and its implementation.

BY MICHELLE HALE mhale@unt.edu

Other web resources:

• EIS web site
  

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT working to reduce fiscal year 2002-03 budget by $8 million
• Escalante named UNT System vice chancellor for administrative services
• Enrollment up 6.8 percent over last spring
• UNT mathematics professors find solution to 50-year-old math problem
• Book drive for Thailand community expanded to include books for adults
• 2002-03 Fact Book available online
• Staff Council chair gives top 10 reasons why UNT is a great place to work
• Black History Month under way at UNT

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