IT needs greater resources to fix MySJU

St. Joe's hasn't had much technological luck this past semester, and students understand that the Office of Information Technology (IT) is doing the best it can with a difficult situation. But after months of dysfunctional service, it is necessary to question why such a problematic system remains the first choice for the university.

One answer to that question might be that there aren't many options out there. SunGard Data Systems, the company that St. Joe's currently uses for MySJU, provides software and IT services for institutions that can't manage software configuration and development on their own. The company offers the benefit of new software packages for clients and helps manage problems that arise in platforms like Luminis. Saint Joseph's has used the portal and its predecessors since 1999. The first online portal used by St. Joe's was Campus Pipeline, which was eventually bought out by SunGard.

Interestingly enough, SunGard has a huge market share of higher education web services, working with 1600 colleges and universities who rely on external management to create, maintain, and troubleshoot problems with web platforms.

Even more interestingly, two St. Joe's alumni hold executive positions in the company. Patrick Doherty is the executive vice president and chief marketing officer and Jim Grogan is the vice president of consulting product development.

In an industry that doesn't have much competition, SunGard stands out as the sole choice for St. Joe's because of the university's long-term relationship with the company. Or does it?

SunGard provides a vendor-based system in which updates and troubleshooting are acquired from outside sources. There are some colleges, however, that are able to maintain their own web platforms that enable campus-wide announcements, email, Blackboard, and registration. There are even private companies that offer free basic open source web platforms that colleges can use to launch their own online experience.

While open source web platforms, like uPortal, provide flexibility and alternatives to a vendor-based online experience, it can be difficult to implement with small staffs and budgets. If IT at St. Joe's ever expands beyond its current limitations, then an open source system may very well be the answer to our technological woes. For now, IT staff-and the university community-must rely on the products and efforts of SunGard-for better or worse.

Although many students and faculty bemoan the spastic nature of MySJU this semester, the IT Department has described Luminis as a solid system that hasn't posed many challenges in its 10-year history at St. Joe's. During September, MySJU began shutting down periodically for almost 60 seconds at a time during periods of high volume traffic, leading to user and IT frustration.

Though SunGard helped address each issue as it came up-with a few days delay in between report and "solution"- every week has presented a new set of problems. It would be irresponsible for IT and the campus community to not question the alternatives that might exist beyond the current situation.

These factors leads us to ponder this: would it be possible to build up the IT Department to the point where St. Joe's could develop and maintain its own web portal? So far, the university has indicated-with budget cuts and salary freezes-that money is not going to head toward IT anytime soon. But it's a goal that the university administration needs to keep in mind as the years move forward. After all, a path to preeminence shouldn't be riddled with system failures.

Perhaps the easiest option available for IT and the campus community is to consider switching e-mail providers. Currently, e-mail is provided through the MySJU portal, bringing thousands of hits per day to the web portal that could theoretically be directed elsewhere.

Many colleges and universities across the nation have already outsourced their e-mail to providers like Google or Microsoft. These outside providers enable fast and free service to cash-strapped institutions, and offer a familiar setting for college-aged users who grew up using their systems. Despite their own difficulties, Gmail and other e-mail systems might be a good way to divert site traffic away from a delicate MySJU and provide more efficient web and e-mail experiences for students.

Students and faculty should be able to trust the reliability of MySJU and the features it offers. While it's understandable that IT hasn't left SunGard due to a lack of alternatives and limited resources, the university should recommit itself to expanding those resources and provide a 21st century experience for the campus community.

The Hawk Staff