The University of the Witwatersrand is updating its 20-year-old information system to allow users to access information when they want it.
The university is using Oracle Student System to integrate multiple systems. Oracle says this is the first deal of its kind in Africa.
"We needed a system that would integrate what is fundamentally a 'siloed` organisation, with the aim of overcoming management difficulty in gathering data from multiple systems and taking command of this data," says Prof Belinda Bozzoli, Wits deputy vice-chancellor (research).
"From a faculty perspective alone, we have difficulty drawing out information in a consistent way for research purposes."
Wits faced a number of challenges in revising the system due to a historical federal structure, with five faculties and a number of sub-entities in each faculty. Rapid growth at the university has also resulted in all functions being decentralised with few areas of conformity.
Bozzoli says in addition to tight integration, the new system will provide access to critical administrative information, "effectively enabling Wits to cross the threshold into the age of managerialism".
Oracle Consulting and Tata Consulting Services have been contracted to scope the new systems and to align the business processes and the new information system.
Wits`s vision is to provide information to the desktop for data self-service, giving users access to leave forms, salary information and publications, as well as enabling students to get information when they want it.
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