Flexible Student Information System (FlexSIS)

With the CASMAC initiative unsuccessful, Sydney elected to proceed with an in-house development of a new student system: FlexSIS, which stands for a Flexible Student Information System. The development of the system began in late 1996. ($600K allocated to Student Information System project - development of new student database and new enrolment system.  Annual Report 1996 page 41)  In the early days it was not perceived as a main stream project. Its scope was restricted to the elimination of the faculty systems which had grown to provide the functionality that the ageing SRS could not. In the early stages of the development there was little user commitment to the project and it was not well aligned with the IT Strategic Plan or with the strategic plan of the University itself. The advent of Y2K and the need to enhance the existing system saw an upsurge in interest in the FlexSIS development.  From 1999 - 2001 significant development work was carried out (though the project was beset with governance issues) and during this time core modules of Course and UoS maintenance, Admissions, and Enrolments were implemented. In early 2002 a strategic review of the project was undertaken and as a result a Student Administration Program Manager was appointed. In early 1999, the external consultants delivered a report on the options open to the University for the future of student system developments. This report included a comparative analysis of the PeopleSoft SAS system and the FlexSIS system. Following a very careful consideration of this analysis, the decision to continue the development of FlexSIS was almost unanimously positive. Changes to the University management and in particular the NSTP billing Enrolment history on the web Examinations, Results processing Student records, Transcript management, Research studies Progression, Advanced standing (Credits) Graduation, Prizes & scholarships Reports External interfaces Student financials: chart of accounts IO back pages Address variation on the web Web reporting CREO Student financials — BPay, Semester 1 (2003) statement, UoS weight calculation and rounding, manual comp sub and fee adjustment FlexSIS to AIMS interface Non-standard teaching periods (NSTP) Enhancement to enrolment and pre-enrolment Reports recognition of IT systems as a significant capital resource led to a change in attitude to the development. New managers, with the necessary expertise in project management and student systems were employed and with the help of external consultants, brought the project back on track. In 1998 the first module was released to the University — pre-enrolment of continuing students which was used by 11 of the 17 faculties. However, SRS remained the predominant system during this time. In 2008 the Future Student Administration Program (FSAP) was initiated to provide a framework for reviewing and improving student administration processes and systems across the University.  The Program’s scope includes the acquisition of a modern, commercial-strength software solution as a replacement for the current FlexSIS platform, as well as implementing improvements to business processes that maximise the value of this technology investment. (Email from Andrew Coates, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Community) 5 August 2008.  In 2014 the first stage of the new Sydney Student went live.  By mid 2014 no new information was being added to FlexSIS, however, at  the time of writing FlexSIS is still running for enquiries. (TJR 13/4/17)Students enrolled in a PhD and who then (for whatever reason) discontinued, were automatically re enrolled/carried over for the subsequent year in Flexsis for some unknown reason in the 1990s. It is unclear whether this was just for PhD students (NM 02/10/2019).