Administration works on system problems

Rawly Bransom
editor-in-chief

With registration over, many students and faculty are still bitter toward TCC’s new computer system.
“Our tech folks are working hard on all the problems right now,” Dr. Cathie Jackson, director of admissions and registration, said.
The system came under fire this semester as many bugs and unknown problems showed themselves during registration and the first few weeks of school.
“We had far fewer problems than we had expected and hoped, but we still had way too many,” Jackson said, “We tested the system extensively, but we still were unaware of many of the problems that seemed to pull the system down.”
One of the ways the administration had planned to fix the errors was by taking the system offline on Sundays and Mondays. Datatel (the company who created the new system) constantly sends information out to update it. The packages affect all areas of the school and can be added only to a “quiet system.”
“The system will be offline at least on Sundays for maintenance, but we are looking to see if Mondays will still be needed in the future,” she said.
Currently, Mondays are still critical to updating the system as most of the day is used for that purpose alone.
One of the major issues this semester with the system was that teachers could not access their class rolls. Dr. Joe Jernigan, Project BESTT training coordinator, alleviated much of the stress by sending many faculty members rolls they could not access themselves.
“Joe has helped out a lot, but he has been overloaded. I know he has sent out at least 900 roll sheets to faculty across the district,” Jackson said.
As of Friday, the system was up and running. Jackson did say that her staff will still e-mail or interoffice mail all roll sheets to faculty members to make sure they have their official rolls.
“We will still be sending out the e-mail because it is such a huge burden on faculty and the system as well,” she said.
Students also found logging into the system to be problematic. Often students did not understand the instructions for creating their login names or passwords. This resulted in lockouts from the system and students having to get the registrar to reset their accounts before they could continue.
“Right now I am working on new instructions for the login procedures to make it easier for students and faculty to understand and use,” Jackson said.
Another problem was students finding out their grades. Students who look on-line for grades will often find incompletes where they should be looking at grades.
“When we converted grades, there was a huge amount of grades that did not convert. We have people working on it now. Hopefully, in a few weeks, they will all be available,” Jackson said.
The system will have advantages in the long run. Online class audits will eventually be available through the Web site. The administration is anticipating this feature most likely will be available for summer enrollment.
“As of now, class audits can be performed by counselors, but with the online system, students can play with their classes more and find out what they need to take in different areas for their degree,” she said.
According to Jackson, the audit system could be up at anytime.
“The automatic audit system could be up right now; however, we have to figure out what is not working on the system before we crunch it with another new program,” she said.
Transcripts are also unavailable on the current Web site. Jackson recommends students who need a transcript should either go to the registrar’s office or e-mail her for transcripts to be sent out.
Jackson said students who have not done so should go ahead and create their online password. In addition to an easier registration next semester, students will receive updates from TCC.
“The system will send out e-mails about payment schedules and drops to students who have created an online password,” she said.
“Many of the students who were dropped because of non-payment would have received an e-mail telling them that a payment was due if they had created online profiles,” she said.
The administration knows that there have been problems and knows that there is a lot of work to do on the system.
“We know it has been very hard for students, and we are trying to help. If students have any problems, they can e-mail me, and I will respond and help whenever I can,” Jackson said.
To contact Jackson, e-mail her at Cathie.Jackson@tccd.edu.