Texas A&M University is moving to a new student information system.
Planning for Compass, the system replacing Student Information Management System (SIMS), began in November 2006 and is slated for completion next semester.
“The conversion is a major effort involving the Compass project team and departments across campus,” said Ramesh Kannappan, project director for enterprise information systems. “This group has put in a great deal of time to make the implication as smooth as it has been so far.”
The most recent use of the system was the registration for fall classes through the Howdy web portal.
To put in scale the size of the project, Kannappan said that the team converted 82 million student files, dating back to 1985, for the academic history section.
Additional differences between SIMS and Compass include presentation methods of information, screens organized in folders and additional features for faculty and advisers.
“The new system is based on more modern technology and it is supported by one of the leading vendors in the higher education field, and the University will benefit from the updates that the vendor provides for all of the schools that use the product,” Kannappan said. “We also have a team of developers at A&M that will help add additional functionality over time.”
Compass is a web-based information system purchased from SunGard Higher Education and will incorporate and connect A&M campuses: College Station, Galveston and Qatar.