EASy Does It! Adding and Dropping Courses the EASy Way Kory Riddle, Assistant Registrar kriddle@ucsd.edu PACRAO October 29, 2018

Agenda Introduction The Hard Way Agile Scrum Software Development Framework The EASy Way!

Introduction to UC San Diego Six undergraduate colleges Graduate Division, School of Management, School of Pharmacy, School of Medicine 74 departments and 597 majors As of our Fall 2018 census (10/17/18): 38,798 matriculating students Campus is spread out on approximately 2,141 acres (over 3.3 square miles)

What is the Enrollment Authorization System? Student submits request Request is routed to instructor, department and college as needed. Allows students to submit requests for course pre-authorizations, late adds, changes, and drops. Allows for review of request by all necessary parties. Staff report views and department customization Staff add override codes to individual students or in batches Allows staff to analyze trends. Allows departments to configure tool to meet unique needs. Allows staff to add override codes and notify students of ability to enroll.

The Problem – How do we get rid of paper?! Original request was to create a system that would allow visiting Summer Session students to request authorization to enroll in classes Initially launched as Course Pre-Authorization System in Summer 2016 Too limited, did not update campus mainframe No way to get real-time student or schedule data Registrar’s Office wanted add/change/drop process integrated before it would endorse the system

The Hard Way

The Old Process for Students Pick up card from Office of Registrar Track down instructor for signature Go to department office for a stamp Go to Graduate Division, college or International Center for additional approvals If on an F-1 or J-1 visa, go to International Students and Programs Office Bring card back to Office of Registrar for processing Don't have correct approvals? Go back... Come back to Office of the Registrar and get enrolled! Pick up an add/change/drop card from the Registrar’s Office Track down the instructor for signature Visit the department Student Services Office for a stamp Sometimes, additional approvals are necessary Exceed the quarterly unit: college or Summer Session for approval. Graduate students dropping below the minimum unit: Graduate Division. International students on F-1 or J-1 visas may need to have theirs signed by the International Students and Programs Office. Bring the add/change/drop cards back to the Registrar’s Office Campus is spread out on approximately 2,141 acres which is over 3.3 miles

The Old Process for Instructors Instructors are busy and can often only be seen during office hours May need an appointment Some instructors allow the department to sign instead of them – how does the student know? Describe the old process for instructors Have “student” take add card to instructor Or have the student take the card to the department, and then tell the student that he needs to get an instructor signature first!

The Old Process for Departments Hundreds to thousands of requests processed each quarter 30-year-old mainframe “green screen” system Can only process one at a time Average 5 minutes per request Notify students in person, via e-mail to come pick up cards Manually keep track of requests through e-mail or spreadsheets Huge drain on staff time and resources!

How the Process Affects Departments Computer Science and Engineering 1,915 undergraduate majors 743 graduate majors 8,000+ enrollments each quarter Spring 2018 (submitted in EASy) 2,000 pre-authorization requests 107 drops 41 late adds 17 changes 12 staff to handle requests (180 requests each)

The Old Process for the Registrar’s Office All requests have to be verified for completeness. Send students back if a signature is missing. Enrollments all done by Registrar’s Office staff in mainframe system. No way to know if department/instructor still approve of student adding the class. Students wait until end of quarter to late add. Spring ‘17 vs Spring ’18: 1,657 add cards processed (Spring ‘17) 2,038 EASy requests processed (Spring ‘18) Describe the old process for the Registrar’s Office Tell the student when he gets there that he needed to get his college to sign his card!

The Solution Initially, there was no project management process Formed advisory group with weekly cadence for open collaboration Formalized the process Defined a Business Owner All tasks entered into project management system (Jira) for tracking and transparency Integrated feedback form into system - all feedback vetted by advisory group

EASy Advisory Committee Office of the Registrar Undergraduate Colleges Academic Departments EASy Advisory Committee International Students & Programs Office Summer Session Graduate Division

PMO Agile Scrum Framework Overview

Scrum Framework User Story Based Requirements Gathering Collaboration Process Test Case Plan UAT (User Acceptance Testing) Go/No Go Decision Production Go Live Launch

Formalizing the Process None of the offices involved knew what the process was like for other offices They often didn’t even have formal internal processes No wonder students got confused!

The EASy Way 1. 2. 3. 4. Student logs in to EASy and submits requests Request routed to instructor, department and additional approvers if needed 3. Student notified via e-mail of ability to register Student notified of need for additional info or denial 4. Student registers themselves Office of the Registrar processes some requests

Getting Even EASier Special Studies application process launched 9/15/18 Students must apply for independent study courses and work with faculty advisor on specific project Academic Senate approved integration of special studies application process into EASy Eliminated more paper and chasing down signatures Integration with campus course scheduling system EASy will notify system when new sections are created

EASy Statistics (as of 10/18/18) Over 57,150 requests submitted 21,465 unique students have submitted requests 880 instructors have taken an action on a request 87 academic departments and programs across campus Over 116,000 batch pre-authorizations

Technical Innovations First application programming interface (API) to allow updates to campus mainframe First use of campus API Manager Leveraging of user campus permissions

TOO EASy? It’s no longer “work” for students to submit requests Registrar, Departments, and Colleges have said they receive many more requests now Integrate student petitions? Should not be taken lightly What is the actual scope of the tool and do we stay within that?

The EASy Way https://dev-academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/Students/PreAuth Request and approval process Batch pre-authorizations Pre-Authorized Students report https://dev-academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/Students/PreAuth/ Happy Error A15356797 FA18 PHYS 1AL Batch PID A53219150 A53224644 A53225291 A53208047 A53212443 A12604558 A92077277 A13448596 A13748102

Questions

Thank You! Kory Riddle kriddle@ucsd.edu 2:10