Oasis Upgrade

The USF OASIS system is available again and now running Banner version 8.3 – we did it!  When OASIS was made available to USF, this ceased to be a project and now is considered “Production Support”.  We have additional staff identified for any production support issues that may arise in the coming week; another contingency plan!

There are many, many people in IT and in various offices around USF to thank for the successful implementation of this project.  I want to list names and recognize the time and effort of all that brought this project to completion.  The fear I have in doing so is that I might miss someone, so you know who you are, – we are grateful and “Thank you”.  

I will mention one person by name, Carrie Garcia, she is the Associate Director of the OASIS system.  Carrie is responsible for the day-to-day technical operation of the OASIS system.  In her role, she was responsible for the coordination, organization, and collaboration of this upgrade project.  Carrie would want me to tell you about the wonderful people she works with throughout IT and the offices at USF that helped her bring this project to successful completion; but Carrie, I want you to know that  you did a great job and “Thank you”.

 I just finished listening to the conference call with all of the offices that participated in the User Acceptance Testing task.  It was determined that the system is ready to open for use; the unanimous vote was “Go”!!!  Because of the feedback we received, OASIS will be made available around 3:00 PM rather than 5:00 PM.  IT is working on the tasks to make OASIS available right now.

So now we have to undo everything that was done Wednesday night when we made the system unavailable.  All of the systems that work with OASIS have to be brought on-line, security has to be altered to let people back in to the system, and all of the processes that run over night to make sure that all of the system on campus have the information they need have to be re-activated.  That work has begun; I see the finish line!

Two of four testing hours  have been completed and we are on track for delivery of the OASIS system at 5:00 PM today.  Be back shortly around 2:30 PM with an update.

Quick Fact:  The least common birthday is (of course) February 29 with 850 people having a leap year birthday.  The second  least common is  December  25^th with 2873 people having that date as a birthday.

-Quick Fact brought to you by the IT Data Warehouse group.  Thank you!

Access has been granted to the 40 people who will be testing the OASIS system.  The next 4 hours are dedicated to UAT and supporting the people who are doing the testing.  As we progress through this process, we may have questions about functionality or there will be a few issues that need to be corrected.  Slowly, we will begin to receive emails from the different offices that they have completed testing.  By 2:00 PM, we (and by we, I mean all 40 people and IT) will be ready make the decision on next steps.  So now, we conduct User Acceptance Testing……..

Quick Fact: Over 800 Visiting-Scholars have passed through OASIS

-Quick Fact brought to you by the Identity Management Group. Thanks!

We are now to the last day of work for the upgrade and…….can I just mention how grateful I am for coffee!  IT begins the morning by preparing and granting access to 40 people that will be conducting User Acceptance Testing.  Information will be sent to all 40 people to give directions on accessing OASIS and they will have the next 4 hours to test the system and their processes in the new environment.  IT remains available to everyone that is testing to assist with questions or resolve any issues that may be found.  At the end of those 4 hours, we have a conference call to discuss the results of testing – that call is scheduled for 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon.  Let’s get to testing OASIS / Banner 8.3 ……….

Quick Fact:  Did you know you can authorize a parent or employer to pay your tuition and fees on your behalf without sharing your NetID with them?   The option is now available in the Bill Payment online application.

-Quick Fact provided by the IT Web and eCommerce group.  They provide a great deal of convenience in paying bills here at USF.  Thanks for all of your work on the upgrade project.

We have completed all of the testing tasks on the project plan.  There is still some “clean up” work to do after the testing was completed and that will continue in to the evening.  Tomorrow morning, IT will open access to the people that will be responsible for User Acceptance Testing.  UAT will have 40 people from 16 different offices across the 4 USF campuses (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Polytechnic) that will be participating in testing and final sign off on Sunday afternoon.  We are going in to the home stretch!

Quick Fact:  After spending the morning compiling forms, we can report that there are

• 1302 baseline forms
• 30 USF modified baseline forms
• 126 USF created forms

-Quick Fact brought to you by the OASIS Application Development group.

I had said last night that we would start Saturday morning at 7:00 AM by compiling forms and reports into OASIS but I probably won’t be there at 7:00 AM.  Everything that I stated last night was accurate, the OASIS Development group is compiling and I wasn’t there at 7:00AM!  The positive aspect to coming to campus on Saturday is that parking is very, very easy to find and there is no line for coffee!

The goal by the end of the day is to have the Banner 8.3 environment completely prepared – including USF programs – so that tomorrow, all of the offices that use OASIS can test the system (User Acceptance Testing – UAT) to be sure that they are getting the results that they expect.   To reach that goal, OASIS Development group will do what is referred to as Quality Assurance (QA) Testing.  This is not the first time that QA and UAT are occurring.  I work with a person who likes to say “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”; this is key for a project of this size.  All the steps that are involved in the upgrade have to be preformed, issues identified, mediated, and process established before the upgrade weekend.  The intended result is, upgrade weekend, we execute against the plan.  It is sort of like a sports team (except we don’t really leave our chairs much or sweat to run our game plan), they practice, have plans and plays written and practiced in advance, find issues and resolve them so that when they get to game day, they execute against the game plan. (BTW, football game time tonight 7:05 PM – GO BULLS!)

I digress, so we are now to the point where we have finished compiling forms and reports and are opening access to IT staff to start QA testing.  There are close to 100 tasks that need to be completed in QA testing; we want to be sure that the new version of Banner, the USF developed system functionality, and new hardware (the 9 servers mentioned before) work together with no issue before we open OASIS to  UAT tomorrow morning.  I’ll be back later.

So we are well into the evening and all of the items identified for completion today have been completed.  There is so much satisfaction in crossing off each task from the project plan – it is about as good as it gets in a digital job!  What we have accomplished today is the completion of the Banner 8.3 environment and installation of the USF functionality modifications to the Banner system at the database level.  Additionally, security changes where applied to the system and two ancillary projects were implemented for use when OASIS is available again.

Tomorrow morning, the OASIS Application Development group will finish the other half of applying USF OASIS functionality by recompiling forms (forms are what staff see every day when they work in OASIS) and reports.  After that is complete, we move into testing and review, but more about that tomorrow.  The OASIS Application Development Group will be starting at 7:00 AM and I intend to join them but I don’t think it will be at 7:00 AM!  Until tomorrow……..

Quick Fact:   There are over 210,000 different last-names in OASIS, with ‘Smith’, ‘Williams’ and ‘Johnson’ being the most popular

-Quick Fact brought to you by the USF IT Identity Management group.  I appreciate all the quick facts that you provided, especially at midnight when I want to go to sleep and not look for a quick fact!

As scheduled, the Banner 8.3 environment is now in place.  The next steps on the project plan will be addressed within two areas of IT.  This first is security/access within the OASIS system.  There are some new features in this version of the software and the Information Security group needs to set up the proper access to those new features.  Additionally, there were some changes in how access works within the software, so security and access is being modified to facilitate the new structure.  The Information Security group is responsible for putting structures in place and that prevent information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction – pretty important!

The second area of work that has started is the installation of programs that were created here at USF.  These programs have been developed to meet the needs of students and/or the offices that support students.  Here are a few examples of USF programming efforts that add functionality to the OASIS system:

• Online Immunization History Record
• Automatic receiving of electronic Test Scores
• Automatic sending and receiving of Transcripts
• Direct Deposit of Financial Aid Refunds
• Net-ID Login (Single Sign-on)
• Online FACTS Unofficial Transcripts
  Online FACTS Degree Audits
• Online FACTS Admissions Application
• Financial Aid/Bookstore Integration (so students can buy their books at the bookstore with Financial Aid)
• Schedule of Classes Search

I thought I would list a few of the items you may be aware of or use, however, this is far from a comprehensive list! 

These two efforts will take us into the evening once again.  I will be back one more time tonight to give you an update.  Happy Friday!

Quick Fact:  Since September 1, 2009, USF has electronically received:

• 75,305 Admission applications
• 94,067 Transcripts
• 357,788 Test score results

-Quick Fact provided by the OASIS Application Development group.  The Oracle article listed me as an IT Director, but more specifically, I am the Director of Application Services.  The OASIS development group is one of the groups that make up the Application Services area within IT.  I cannot possibly tell you in a short “Quick Facts” description the time, effort, and quality that the OASIS development group has put into this upgrade effort, so I will save that until later!  Thank you OASIS development group, just two more days!

Earlier this morning, we started back on the project plan tasks and are moving the upgrade forward.  I will be back mid-day!

Quick Fact:  The longest last name currently in OASIS has 31 letters.

-Quick Fact brought supplied by the USF IT Identity Management group!

This evening, the work will not go as late into the night as it did last evening.  The Banner Support group will be picking up in the morning with the next task on the project plan and by mid-day will complete the software installation.  Having this complete does not mean we are close to being done with the upgrade, there is still much more to go!  I don’t want to jump ahead, let’s finish the Banner 8.3 environment first before we start on what comes next.

I should note that there are ancillary projects that are being implemented with this upgrade.  Today, a project that facilitates communication between the OASIS system and USF’s Human Resource system was put in place.  When Banner is released for use on Sunday at 5:00 PM, the new code that was created to improve transactions between these two systems will be in place and ready for use.  Although this effort does not have dependency with the upgrade effort, activating these ancillary projects is also identified on the project plan, scheduled for completion and assigned to a person or group.  We will have another ancillary project with the TouchNet bill pay system that will be activated tomorrow.

That is all for tonight. – goodnight.

Quick Fact: In order to support the new Banner 8 environment and make it compatible with both MAC OS X and Windows 7, nine new application servers were installed, configured, load balanced and tested as part of the scope of this upgrade plan.

-This Quick Fact brought to you by the Banner Support group – the people who are responsible for the installation, configuration, load balancing and testing of the 9 new servers!  The Banner Support group is integral to the efficient operation of the OASIS system.  They are another group that works long hours at odd times to make sure OASIS operates well and meets the needs of USF.  Thank you Banner Support group!

Quick Fact:  2,869 of the 8,237 systems with a BANNER 8-compatible Java version installed got the installation via System Center Configuration Manager.

-This Quick Fact brought to you by the Computing Support Services group.  A new version of the Java client is needed on computers when Banner 8 is released.   Computer Support Services group made sure that the new version of the Java client was installed on computers that IT supports and communicated to other areas of USF the need for the new Java client.  We appreciate the service and support Computing Support Services provides to USF faculty and staff. 

I just stopped by the offices of the Banner Support group and Database Administrator group.  They have some doughnuts and each still has their sense of humor!  The installation of the Banner 8.3 upgrade is making good progress and right now they are taking a backup “snap-shot” of the work they have accomplished.  It is time to visit the gym again, until later…….

Quick Fact:  Did you know that May 5^this the most popular birth date in OASIS with 5328 people having been born on that day.

-This Quick Fact is brought to you by the Data Warehouse staff.  They are invaluable, without them we would never have “a slice of time” from our OASIS system.

I had mentioned that we are now working at the application level to apply the actual software upgrade to the OASIS system.  The software that USF refers to by the acronym OASIS (Online Access Student Information System) is called Banner and is a product of the company SunGard.  The application support group is now applying the upgrade to the Banner software.  Banner software is composed of different modules, i.e. Admissions, Registration, Financial Aid, etc.  Each of these modules has to be upgraded; there is process and dependencies behind each module upgrade.  Additionally, we do schedule interim backups (the “snap-shots” I referred to in a previous post) as part of the contingency plan.  Combined, these upgrade tasks are scheduled to be completed Friday afternoon.

Now my concern is what information will I blog from now until Friday afternoon!  I am sure something will come to me……..

As planned, the database tasks were completed in the middle of the night.  The upgrade work moved to the application layer with the next 50+ tasks on the plan to be completed by the Banner Support group. I will write a post mid-morning to give you a little more information on what the Banner Support group is responsible for in the upgrade process.  I need to focus on getting a cup of coffee and myself to campus!

OASIS Quick Fact:  There are over1 billion rows of application data in OASIS.

-Quick Fact supplied by the database administration (dba) group.  The dba’s work hard (and odd hours) in support of the OASIS application.  Thank you dba group!

Since the last posting, the system backup has completed.  The next tasks to be completed will be handled by the database administrators.  With the upgrade to version 8.3, there are several tasks that need to occur at the database level to provide system functionality.  An example of one of those task is the conversion of the database character set to UTF8 .  The link will take you to Wikipedia to read a very brief description of what UTF8 is and describes its importance for internet and email protocols.  Don’t worry; there won’t be a quiz at the end of the upgrade!

The database administrators will be working late in to the night.  They do great work; unfortunately, they often have to do work during nights and weekends!  I am sure that they have a big pot of coffee and will keep the upgrading progressing as planned.  I intend to blog updates as tasks on the project plan are turned over to the next group for completion but I am a sound sleeper so it may be morning before the next update.  Good night.

All systems that work with OASIS have been put on hold and the backup of the OASIS system data is beginning.  While this isn’t the most exciting part of the upgrade, it is very important!  There is quite a bit of data that has to be backed up and it will take some time, so I am off to the gym and will give an update after the backups are complete.

OASIS Quick Fact:  During the first week of fall 2010 classes, OASIS was accessed 296,273 times by 47,777 unique users. 

-Quick Fact supplied by the USF IT Identity Management group who did great work with the OASIS development group in creating the NetID single sign-on access to OASIS this fall.

Welcome to the OASIS upgrade blog.  After many months of planning, developing and testing, we are ready and eager to upgrade OASIS student information system to version 8.3.  Beginning now, we will close access to the OASIS system and begin taking systems that work with OASIS off-line.

The upgrade process is a very involved project that includes offices on every USF campus and many areas within IT.  We work together to plan for the upgrade and the end results of these planning efforts is the upgrade project plan.  To give you an idea, the project plan for this OASIS upgrade is 11 pages long and has over 250 tasks to be completed.  If any one of those tasks has a dependency that must be completed before another task is started, that is noted as well.  Tasks are timed so that everyone is aware of the time their work will need to be completed. Each task is assigned to a person for completion.   As tasks are completed, emails are sent to the whole group to note the completion and the next task can then be started by the appropriate person.  

Our primary means of communication throughout the upgrade is through email.  I carefully selected the word “primary” as email is not our only means of communication; we have a contingency plan if there should be an issue with the email system.  Contingency planning is essential and an integral part of the upgrade process.  It is important to have contingency plans throughout the upgrade.  For example, at 6:00 PM and after all of the systems have been taken off-line and before the upgrade begins, there is a back-up of the entire OASIS system.  As the student system is upgraded, back-up “snap shots” are taken so that we can always have a copy of the work that is in progress.  The full system back-up and snap-shots are a comprehensive approach to capturing data pre-upgrade and in current state during the upgrade.

I will be back blogging around 6:00 PM after all systems have been taken off-line!

Watch for the first posting to kick-off the upgrade process!