By Tim Farris , Director, Administrative Information Systems

Administrative Information Systems (AIS) staff experienced a very busy fall semester, since most staff members had responsibilities on the CMS (PeopleSoft) Project in addition to their usual duties with toroMail, Banner, the Web, the computer room, and other projects. New and continuing projects are listed below.

Commencement Participation Form
One new project has been the Commencement Participation form, developed by programmer/analyst Khiem Ha in collaboration with Loretta Adikhai, Director of Event Planning and Scheduling in Academic Affairs. This is a Web-based program that provides these features to a student who anticipates a Spring 2008 graduation:

• Indicate the number of guests who will attend the commencement ceremony; and
• Indicate the number of guests who will attend the reception that follows.

A student can return to the commencement participation form if any already specified items (e.g., the number of guests at the reception) change.

Visit http://advising.csudh.edu/oesp/login.aspx to see the login screen.

HelpWeb
Khiem has teamed up with Joli Brown of the IT Help Desk to develop HelpWeb, the one-stop shop for reporting IT problems. For several years, the IT Help Desk has used HEAT® service desk software to track requests for help (tickets) and assign IT Help Desk consultants to the tickets. A faculty or staff member would telephone or e-mail the help desk. In turn, a help desk staff member would log the request and manually assign a consultant with HEAT.

The expanded HelpWeb provides a Web-based self-service request page, which is actually a new front-end to HEAT. If you're having a problem with PeopleSoft, you'll specify the application (Financials, Human Resources/Payroll, Student Administration), a ticket will be logged, and an e-mail is automatically sent to the corresponding functional analyst on your behalf. If it's Blackboard that's causing you trouble, a ticket is logged and an e-mail is sent to Academic Technology. Here, then, are the three primary features of HelpWeb:

• Web-based help desk request page
• Widely expanded selection of services requested
• Widely expanded list of IT technicians who can help you, with requests sent to a technician automatically

Of course, you're welcome to continue to make that telephone call (310.243.2500) or send that e-mail (to helpdesk@csudh.edu) to request help.

PeopleSoft Users Group (PUG)
A campus-wide committee of stakeholders in the implementation of PeopleSoft Student Administration met for the first time in October. Following a lively discussion, the group adopted the nickname PUG. (The pug owner in the group denies that she exerted undue influence in the naming.) PUG meets on the first Tuesday of the month. View its meeting notes and membership at http://www.csudh.edu/pug/.

Banner Decommission
With the retirement of the Banner Student Information System in Fall 2008, the only updates to be made will be those required by a change in law, e.g., in the financial aid area. See Banner Decommission Schedule ( 16 KB) for details.

University Web Site
Webmaster Tak Yee Poon serves as co-chair of the Web Access Management (WAM) Committee. Early in 2008, WAM is publishing a redesigned university Web site template that incorporates mandated accessibility features along with a fresh new look. You'll find details at the WAM Web site. And yes, the WAM Web site complies with—and in fact serves as a model for—the redesigned template. The Technology Advisory Council and Information Technology Web sites will comply with the redesign soon.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions at tfarris@csudh.edu and 310.243.3703.