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Shasta College engaged
in a formal process to enhance our operational data system upon being
awarded the Title III U.S.
Department of Education, Strengthening Institutions Program Grant. The
grant period is from February 2000 through 2005 with a total award amount
approximately $1.7 million to develop our academic and administrative
computer services through two main activities.
Activity Two of the Title III Grant is to develop, test and implement a
college-wide, Integrated Information and Reporting System, train staff and
faculty in its use, and develop features within this system to enhance
student and academic services. These will include, but not be limited to,
academic advising, student retention, "on-demand" course scheduling, budget
monitoring, facilities management, financial aids, and student records.
After an
exhaustive
review of the various vendors of Enterprise Information Systems*, the
product Colleague by Datatel Incorporated
was selected as the best available to satisfy our various needs and meet our
current requirements.
The Datatel project's
mission is to move the college to a highly integrated and effective
information system which supports education, provides accuracy and ease of
us, is sustainable over an extended time, and is consistent with the mission
of the college.
The project implementation goals are to:
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Improved services to internal and external users;
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Increased staff access to accurate, useful, and
timely data;
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Provide students with direct access to appropriate
information;
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Meet community college, state and federal reporting
requirements;
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Enhance decision making and planning capabilities;
and
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Ensure reliable service throughout the system's life
cycle.
* The Enterprise
Information System (EntIS) is a supersystem; combining all of the other
information systems an organization might use (financial aid information
systems, human resource information systems, admissions & records
information systems, financial information systems information systems, and
academic information systems) and perform the tasks for all of the
organizational units in an integrated and coordinated fashion. The EntIS can
collect data from all of these disparate information systems and disseminate
it to all areas of the organization in a meaningful fashion. The purchase
and implementation of an EntIS is a very large undertaking, and involves a
substantial institutional commitment.
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