Integrated Tertiary Software (ITS), an Oracle partner, has opted for an Oracle solution to develop and run its administration system at 45 tertiary education institutions around the globe.
ITS supplies and supports comprehensive computer systems for the administrative needs of institutions such as Dublin City University, National University of Ireland Cork and National University of Maynoogh.
"We have just released a Web-enabled version of our software, using the Oracle 9iAS platform, which provides interfaces and capabilities for our system," says Christo Christowitz, director of ITS.
"The universities use our solution for all administration, student registration, HR, payroll, finance, space management and management information. All institutions run Oracle databases."
Christowitz says administrators in tertiary education are faced with complex demands - apart from the administration of students, staff, finances and other resources in tertiary education, they also need to provide accurate and current information to students, the academic community, management and agencies outside.
"To extract information from separate student, personnel, payroll, finance and other systems is difficult and sometimes impossible, and can only be done effectively with the aid of computerised systems.
"However, it is expensive and time-consuming if development of these systems is done in-house, plus success is not assured. ITS has recognised the need for commercial products and has designed flexible systems, developed under the Unix operating system, to handle changing needs at tertiary institutions.
Christowitz says ITS also offers a one-stop service to clients by providing the full range of Oracle services and support facilities. ITS also has an online facility to enable users to log Oracle faults and tasks as well as follow-up on progress.
According to Alice Ridgway, account manager at Oracle SA, Oracle9iAS is a comprehensive and integrated application server that delivers the technology needed for building Web sites and applications, creating personalised portals, wireless-enabling applications, accelerating Web site performance with caching, extracting business intelligence, managing and securing a Web site infrastructure.
"Oracle9i Application Server delivers the flexibility to deploy all the universities` Web sites and applications. It uses industry-standard application development technologies, including Java and XML. With Oracle9iAS and its portal technology the universities can rapidly create personalised portals that include single sign-on to simplify and secure access to Web content."
Ridgway advises that Oracle 9iAS provides several benefits to the universities. "Oracle 9iAS is the only application server that offers portals, caching (dynamic and static), wireless, business intelligence, and workflow, as one integrated product suite.
"It provides access over the Web for students applying for university entrance, thereby cutting out paper work and admin man-hours, and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO). Once students are registered they can get test marks and exams results over the Web.
"The universities can increase productivity of administration staff and provide relevant information to students and the public, such as answers to all administration questions, and financial statements over the Web.
"Students and administration staff access the database in a secure environment since 9iAS includes sophisticated encryption and security features," Ridgway adds.
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