The College of Extended Learning at California State University, Northridge required an immediate solution to avoid the risk of inter-departmental workflow shutdown. Fueled by the creative talents of one staff member and two assistants, the creation of an innovative and flexible registration system was delivered in just five weeks using 4D’s 4th Dimension(4D) application development software suite.
The College of Extended Learning at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) is the "university extension" for CSUN. University extension divisions are typically "schools within schools" and possess their own registration systems, payroll processes, records, etc. The College of Extended Learning(ExL) at CSUN is no different and handles over 20,000+ course registrations per year.
Just under two years ago, ExL was reorganized to enable it to meet the challenges of offering new sets of programs, including branch campus courses, programs within business and industry, and distance learning offerings involving cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the web.
The reorganization would take the college from a structure consisting of an assortment of institute-like units to an integrated, functionally organized structure. Michael Steadman, Executive Director of Academic Support for ExL, was assigned responsibility for integrating the various fiscal, registration, academic support, and client services functions being carried out by the different units.
One of the first challenges facing Steadman as he took on the task was the lack of a common information system. "As I looked across the College, I found information being kept in flat-file data-bases, word processing documents, and an abundance of file cabinets loaded with carbon copies and multi-part "NCR" forms. With our new structure, people in physically separate locations would need to share information to do their work. I knew our first task was to get something on-line fast which would integrate the information, but also begin to integrate and standardize processes."
The existing campus registration system was not Y2K compliant and was being rebuilt using Oracle. The timelines were such that ExL could not get their needs onto the development cycle until after the new Oracle system was operational. Additionally, the entire California State University System was eventually moving to PeopleSoft, but a fully-functional PeopleSoft environment was seen as many years off. Steadman couldn’t wait. "I basically had five weeks to avoid a potential crisis. The long-term development projects underway would not have been able to address the immediacy of our needs."
ExL needed something fast and something which would not be cost-prohibitive – a rapid return on investment(ROI) was of paramount importance." It was obvious from the onset that an off-the-shelf solution wasn’t going to solve either our short or long-term needs," recalls Steadman. "We knew we needed a customizable solution which addressed our specific needs and one which would work with our narrow time-frame and limited resources."
The resource limitations posed some all-to- common challenges for Steadman. "I personally was too busy to put in more than 5 to 10% of my time. I knew I would be limited to architectural issues – identifying the underlying structure of the solution. I had two staff members who were willing and eager to assist, but not experienced in building sophisticated database applications."
Faced with significant timing issues and the task of introducing new technology, Steadman and his team put their heads together. "With what minimal resources we had, we knew that we would be spending them either on the actual construction of the system, or on the analysis and design. Analysis and design were essential, so we looked for a development environment which would facilitate fast construction. By choosing 4D, we were able to concentrate our resources on re-designing our business processes and conceptualizing a system to support those process."
The Extended Learning Information System (ELIS) designed by Steadman and constructed by his staff using 4D had as a minimum requirement: enrollment and student record management, course management and cashiering/receipt functionality. The system also needed to function in a multi-platform environment and allow browser access. Beyond these requirements was the fundamental requirement of adaptability. The solution must be able to adapt to new and evolving business processes and rules created by the reorganization. The technology would need to support fast implementation which could be immediately realized by users of the system.
Mission accomplished. Within 5 weeks ELIS was up and running, performing registration-related tasks. Development enhancements continued after the initial launch. "By day, we built new features. At night, we installed the revised structure. ELIS users got into the habit of making a request on Monday and seeing the feature on their screens on Tuesday. Part of the success of this approach was the availability of tools such as 4D’s 4D Insider [library and cross-reference tool] and 4D Compiler [machine-level compiler]. These tools ensured that the software was built rapidly, but also bug-free."
Since the original launch, additional functions have been added to expand the system’s usage beyond registration. "We’re currently implementing browser access to the system. 4D has this feature built in, so it is actually one of the easiest features we’ve implemented. Our goal is to give students the ability to interact with the system — to look up course information, to register, or to obtain documents related to their courses of study. We’re also relying more and more on the system to facilitate our catalog creation processes and for updating our web site. Activities which used to take a technical staff several days now can be done by any staff in a matter of minutes, or those activities can even be automated, such as the regular updating of our web site or the emailing of updated class rosters to instructors."
Today, ELIS not only continues to serve ExL at CSUN, but also services CSUN’s branch campus at Channel Islands, as well as other units within the main CSUN campus.
Looking back, Steadman concludes, "There will never be sufficient time or money to build a system ‘the right way’. In our case, we knew that a thorough analysis and good design were essential. What we needed was a tool that would enable us to build the product rapidly once the preparation was done. This is where 4D has been invaluable — in making the actual construction the smallest part of the task."
It’s clear that 4D has a definitive advantage for quickly delivering fast, affordable solutions which produce results, improve communications and efficiently manage information.
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