Integrated Tertiary Software Wins Contract at University of Port Elizabeth

The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) announced recently that it has selected the solution proposed by Integrated Tertiary Software (Pty) Ltd (ITS) for the upgrade of their administrative software systems. UPE has been a customer of ITS since 1989 and has been using the ITS Student Administration System, Human Resources and Payroll applications. The project approved recently by the UPE council includes the upgrading of these systems to the latest available release of the ITS software, as well as the implementation of the ITS Financial System. The project is expected to be completed by October 2004. The full integration of the ITS suite of products and the ITS web systems will ensure that university personnel can do quick and efficient transaction processing and receive consistent management information.

"UPE performed a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the proposal put forward by ITS and concluded that ITS offers a good match for UPE`s requirements. In the light of the planned merger between UPE and PE Technikon it also makes sense, as the technikon also uses ITS systems."

"It is important for the university to make use of integrated systems to facilitate consistent management reporting. As a member of Proudly South African, we are proud to say that ITS is a South African company that understands higher education administration requirements. We have been partners with ITS over a number of years and are looking forward to using their full suite of products for our administrative and information management requirements," UPE`s IT Director Chris Nel said.

Derick Jordaan, CEO of ITS, said: "I was particularly impressed by the thoroughness of the process that UPE followed to evaluate potential options before arriving at their decision. The customer even commissioned an auditing firm to perform a due diligence to verify ITS`s stability as a company. From the outset, it was clear to us that UPE had a clear understanding of their requirements and that they would not buy so-called `presentationware`. At the same time, it was important to share ITS`s vision of the future role of information technology in higher education."

Jordaan continued to say that the deal was of strategic importance to ITS, as it comes at a time when international software vendors are aggressively targeting the South African market and that it was important to confirm to ITS`s South African customers that they already possess a world-class solution.