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

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

3. 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)

4. 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.

5. 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

6. The Hard Way

7. 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

8. 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!

9. 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 to come pick up cards
Manually keep track of requests through or spreadsheets
Huge drain on staff time and resources!

10. 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)

11. 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!

12. 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

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

14. PMO Agile Scrum Framework Overview

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

16. 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!

17. 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 of ability to register
Student notified of need for additional info or denial 4.
Student registers themselves
Office of the Registrar processes some requests

18. 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

19. 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

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

21. 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?

22. The EASy Way
Request and approval process Batch pre-authorizations Pre-Authorized Students report
Happy Error A
FA18 PHYS 1AL
Batch
PID A A A A A A A A A

23. Questions

24. Thank You!
Kory Riddle
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