The Big Deal: Building ADLC’s Student Information System

Here’s the scenario: You’re running a very large school. But your computer systems are

fast becoming obsolete. Your bits and bytes are contained in several systems rather

than just one, which makes it challenging to get them to connect in the ways you need

them to. Besides that, the systems are no longer supported by vendors and no longer

comply with Alberta Education requirements. What do you do?

Well, one thing’s for sure: you don’t run out to Best Buy, grab a box off the shelf, and

simply install some new software.

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Instead, you’re going to have to do some intense research, identify and ask the

important questions, consult with all the people who use the system, and find both a

product and a vendor able to deliver all the identified needs and build in customization

and expandability for future needs. There are also all the requirements of PASI

(Provincial Approach to Student Information), FOIP (Freedom of Information and

Protection of Privacy), and Alberta Education that must be accounted for and adhered

to.

It’s a challenging task for any school, but it was especially challenging for ADLC—not just

because of what we do, but also because of the scale at which we do it. To put this into

perspective, consider that ADLC serves over 40,000 students. In Alberta, only one other

school—the University of Alberta—comes even close to those enrolment numbers.

Consider also that 40,000 students could fill the seats in the Saddle Dome twice over,

and there’d still be a few thousand left standing.

Also unlike other schools, ADLC’s students are scattered all across the province rather

than being drawn from a specific region or zone.

And we have open registration—that is, students can register (and work on their classes

for that matter) any time of day any day of the year—so the system has to be up and

running 24-7.

ADLC Information Systems Coordinator, Trevor Ouellette, says that it wasn’t long after

he began working for ADLC three years ago that it became imperative to switch to a

new, more modern system.

And so work began on ADLC’s new Student Information System (SIS). “We started by

conducting workflow analysis,” says Project Manager Dale Hudjik, “and a software

specifications process where we determined through multiple committees the list of

requirements that needed to be built into the software specifications.”

With everyone on board and all stakeholders

consulted, the project then went through

extensive RFP and procurement processes

before a product and a vendor were selected.

At that point, “an evaluation committee with

members from every aspect of ADLC’s

organization made a unanimous decision to

go with the product we’re now using,” Hudjik

says.

And then there was the transition stage. “We had to move real, live, active students

working on courses to the new SIS—that’s not just a matter of turning a key,” Ouellette

says. “It’s more like stopping a heart to do a heart transplant. You have to shut

everything down and get the new heart working before you can start up again. We

watched the system come alive and we watched the first few enrolments trickle through

watched the system come alive and we watched the first few enrolments trickle through

and thought ‘okay—this is going to work.’ Then slowly, over the next few weeks, we saw

the patient go from walking around to running to getting stronger every day. Certainly,

there’s still plenty of work ahead—this is an ongoing, multi-year project—but we knew

that we made this happen without students suffering and, at the end of the day, that’s

what we’re about.”

The result, says Ouellette, “is a massive system. Essentially, SIS touches everything we

do here at ADLC. It’s designed to allow our partner schools and affiliations to be able to

do much of the work themselves—it gives them the ability to manage their own students

within our system. When you combine that with the complexities of compliancy, we had

to break a lot of new ground with the new SIS.” And, because ADLC shares its system

with over 600 partner schools, “Its needs are genuinely different than most other

organizations,” Ouellette says.

The functionality of SIS will continue to increase as we move toward the future and new

features, capabilities, and customizations are added. The new SIS is, as Hudjik puts it,

“owned and supported by everyone.” Ouellette seconds that: “This project was

successful,” he says, “because everyone here wanted it to be successful—for students,

for everybody. And that wouldn’t have been possible without everyone at ADLC

pulling on the rope.”