An extension is being added to PeopleSoft 8.9 to ease the process of assessing a student’s degree plan.
PeopleSoft 8.9, implemented in Fall 2007 to handle student enrollment, schedules and financial aid, has seen its fair share of problems, but the new academic audit program is designed to clearly display a student’s progress through visuals.
"It’s for undergraduates only at this point, and we built an audit for all the majors, all the minors and also sub-plans, which are things like the teacher education specializations in different majors," Sara Lee, functional analyst for PeopleSoft 8.9 Academic Advisement, said. "All of those are now available to campus advisors that can run these documents, which show you the students’ record, what the student has completed toward the degree and what they have left to complete."
After entering a student’s PeopleSoft number, an advisor will have access to the the students academic records, including UH and transfer credit. An academic audit showing the requirements for a student’s degree plan, including core requirements and upper-level credit requirements will also be available. Visual cues will define the areas that still need credit and those that are complete. Headings, such as Visual and Performing Arts, will be in bold if the area requires more credit. The headings of sections already fulfilled will not be in bold.
The "What If" feature will allow students to map out entire career plans for majors and minors other than their own.
"The advisor can go in, and it’s a temporary pretend scenario," Lee said. "It will run the audit and show them where they stand before they make the decision formal."
Students will be able to access this feature once the new system becomes available in "Self-Service" mode.
Student transcripts will also be available in the new system and are integrated into the "What If" feature, which illustrates the grade-point average needed to graduate in a given field.
The only way students will get a preview of the system this semester is by scheduling an appointment with their academic advisors. Plans to implement the program in "Self-Service" are in the works and should become a reality in the near future.
After advisors work to get kinks out of the system, the "Self-Service" mode will be created for students, with a target date set for spring.
"We want to make sure that it’s in really great shape before we hand it to students," Lee said. "Within the next semester or so when we do hand it off, you’re going to like what you get."†
