By Michael Navarro
UHCLIDIAN STAFF
As of Labor Day weekend, the UH-Clear Lake enrollment, financial and human resources systems completed the first phase of the conversion from the university's 11-year-old administration system software to the controversial PeopleSoft.

"Students will be able to register over the Web, as well as over the telephone in November for early spring registration," said Rose Sklar, registrar and associate director of enrollment services.

"There was a delay in the student records/registration portion of one semester - from fall 2001 to spring 2002," Sklar said. This, she added, was because the records/registration model is complex, and more than 100,000 student records had to be completed. This portion of the system was supposed to be completed in July for fall registration, but was delayed after an analysis of its progress.

"The biggest problem was getting the information from the old system into PeopleSoft," said Human Resources Director Katherine Justice. Human Resources had to review more than 100,000 lines of information and make sure they matched the information from the old system.

Another problem was that some jobs were not entered into the system. However, this was solved when Human Resources discovered they had not entered one job code.

Sklar said the new program also will allow electronic advising, prospect services that track potential students, and online registration. Longer registration periods and payment deadlines also will result from the conversion. Other benefits students will gain from PeopleSoft will be the ability to print unofficial transcripts from the Web and create "what if" scenarios with their degree plans.

However, students are not the only ones affected by the conversion to PeopleSoft. According to Justice, Human Resources implemented the payroll, benefits and administered workforce applications of PeopleSoft.

Additionally, two other features of the software are currently being installed by Human Resources and are scheduled for completion by January. The first, a training module feature, collects data on the training sessions and workshops employees attend. The second, a recruit work force feature, tracks applicants and their skills.

Although the installation deadline for PeopleSoft was met, there were a few obstacles. "PeopleSoft is very labor intensive," Justice said, "I expect it to be expensive to maintain." Justice expects the main focus of some jobs to change to maintaining the software. Accordingly, specialized training has been occurring since spring.

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