Feature Story
eDDS (Electronic Document Distribution System)
We are pleased to announce that the Electronic Document Distribution System (eDDS) is a much more stable environment since the last software upgrade was performed earlier this year. With those issues resolved, we are now able to focus our efforts in other areas to improve the performance of the system. One of the areas that we are focusing on is the removal of reports that have exceeded their established retention periods. We have recently gone through this process for the Undergraduate Admissions Office reports and we will next begin work on the Registrar's Office reports.
GI (Generalized Interface)
The GI (Generalized Interface) has been heavily involved with the nearly-completed Hydra to EntrieX conversion (Hydra and EntireX are components that non-mainframe applications use to communicate with the mainframe). The conversion process has resulted in close to 200 new GI services since it began in March of 2006. Load on the GI has been steadily increasing over the course of the conversion with the busiest day ever, over 818,000 calls, occurring on May 10, 2007.
One improvement to the GI that has come out of the conversion is the manner in which the GI maps services to resources on the Mainframe. The previously static method of mapping has been made dynamic, which has greatly aided in isolating problems and increasing the reliability of the entire system.
In non-conversion related news, a new application that extends the functionality of the GI Management System is in the works. New features include full text search of services and applications, detailed API information, and log retrieval.
eCommerce
Ecommerce is in the midst of many changes. We have old applications with new features, new applications with new features, and future applications with futuristic features. Many of our changes center around becoming more secure. The industry has placed new standards which affect how we do business and how our applications run. These standards will eventually impact every user of eCommerce services. In the near future, we will be evaluating every area using eCommerce services and match them with the service which fits their business model.
Document Imaging
In September of 2006, AIS offered a new service to the University community – a Centralized Image Hosting Service. This service has been created to enable departments to electronically store and retrieve documents using the software suite provided by Optical Image Technology, Inc. Our centralized service eliminates the need for individual departments to run their own installation of the software, thus saving on the costs (equipment/personnel) needed to support this service. Since September 2006, we have moved 10 different departments into our “Production” phase with over 235 users. Twenty departments are currently in our “Test” phase with over 84 users, and many other departments are interested in coming onboard with the service. Departments are storing anything from pcard reconciliations to personnel files, as well as many other types of files. We can pull data from IBIS,