July 16, 2009

Comments and Suggestions on the New Enrollment System

This first semester of the academic year 2009-2010 was started with the implementation of the new enrollment system of the university. For me, the implementation of the new system was successful although there were some problems that occurred in the flow of the enrollment process. Although the previous enrollment system and the new one, from my observation, was the same in terms of the steps that should be taken in order to be officially enrolled. Although there was a bit difference, the flow was somewhat the same from the previous system the university used. The filling up of the Pre Registration Form or the PRF after having been advised by our respective advisers was still there. I think the difference that can easily be observed was the printed Certificate of Registration (COR). In the previous enrollment I had, there were four copies of the Certificate of Registration that was given to me. The two copies are for the Cashier’s Office, one copy for the Registrar’s Office and the other one as my copy of the COR. But, in the new enrollment system only two copies were given to students by the encoder in the respective colleges, one Treasurer’s Copy and another was the Auditor’s Copy. After I had paid the necessary payments, I had to go to the Registrar’s Office and from there, a Student’s Copy of the Certificate of Registration was given to me. The process was faster compared to the previous one especially with the help of the new printers that were used during that enrollment period.

Evaluating the new enrollment system that was implemented this semester lets first start at the initial step that should be taken first by students. Before students can have there Certificate of Registration, they should be first evaluated by their adviser. From here, students are given Pre Registration Forms for them to be filled up with the subjects they wanted to enroll in the said semester. After filling it up, students go back to their adviser to sign the Pre Registration Form. Then from there, students go to there respective encoder for their subjects to be encoded and for them to get two copies of the printed Certificate of Registration. Waiting for your turn in the line to get to your adviser and filling up the Pre Registration Form itself took a lot of time especially when you wanted to enroll many subjects because you have to write everything on that form one by one. The adviser also has to transfer the grades of the students from their passbooks to the files of the adviser which is on Microsoft Excel. In this step alone, a lot of time is needed. From this, I think there should also be a system on the advising side where the adviser will just search for the name of that student then the system will automatically display all the possible subjects that he or she is allowed to enroll. The student will have the option of enrolling all the subjects or not. He adviser will no longer manually transfer the grades from passbooks to Excel documents. The grades from the registrar will be linked to the advising system so that it will not take too much time. After the adviser has validated the said subjects he will now forward it to the encoding officer who will hand the printed Certificate of Registration to the students. How about the signature of the adviser on the Pre Registration Form? I think it should also be part of the system where it will automatically send information to the other linking system that this student had already been validated. The Cashier’s Office and the Registrar’s Office area, I think, was a bit organized compared to the previous one although there were long lines of students waiting for their turn.

From the time I heard that the university will develop their new enrollment system, I thought that the flow of the enrollment process will be changed. But that did not happen. Yes, considering the time of the development of the system you cannot really expect that big change. Long lines of students in the faculty room where the adviser was, encoding section, Cashier’s office, Registrar’s office and in the university library are still present on those days. Well for me, as a student of this university, I think every student in this university wish on saving money. Other students might not have enough money. I mean their money is just enough for the local fees and a partial payment for their tuition fees but because they still have to finish the whole enrollment process for about two days. Their local fees, tuition fees plus the expenses for those days they spent in that enrollment process, considering the food and the transportation, that was a big amount already. I think the new enrollment system did not address this problem yet. For me, they should also have to make an improvement on the enrollment system for it to be faster so that the students of the university will benefit more from it and the university as well. It might be that the linking of all the systems on the different offices of the university will be a good solution to faster processing in the enrollment period. Maybe in the future we can just have the whole enrollment one day every year level. This will also help the faculty and staff of the university utilize there time in other things they need to do so at the opening of the class on that semester, everything is well prepared and organized preventing problems to occur. I know problems would still occur but at least a little adjustment will answer to that. I think it will be easy for the developers of the newly implemented enrollment system considering their skills, knowledge and experience towards the field of system development.

From what I have noticed, not all systems in the university are linked together or connected from this system to the other systems. I think this should also be considered. For me, if every system in the university to the other systems, staff and faculty will have access to the information on the other system which will let the processing faster. This will be more efficient. Example, if the Institute of Computing staff needs to verify or search for that certain file, the staff does not need to go to the office where the file may be most probably at. The staff can access directly the files she needed thus enabling her to process or to do more things. By this the university can save time when talking on the accessing of files from one system to another or from one office to another.
I’ve heard from my classmates on our discussion in Systems Analysis and Design II that “what if the enrollment system will be put online?”. Well I think that was a good idea. From your computer, it will just be one click away and you will be officially enrolled after that. Wow! Enrollment in a click? That is pretty much amazing! From the students’ computer screens, they will just click on the forms on that page which are necessary for the verification of the enrollment. From there, if the student wishes to submit the form, he or she will just click on the submit button and then, data will be passed on to the different offices of the university like the cahier’s office, registrar’s office, the university library, and the college where the student belongs. Verification from the office which will be in charged for this task, let’s say the registrar’s office, will automatically be sent to the student if there will be no problems on the processing of his enrollment. From there, maybe the student will be given a registration number which will identify his slot in the online enrollment process. Let us look at the brighter side of the picture. If students of the university will just face his or her computer or if the student does not have a computer, he or she might just have to go to a near internet cafe, and click on some items there that should be filled up, well, I think this will really help students lessen their expenses comparing it to the money they will spend if they will go to the university. Talking about the payment of the local fees, tuition fees and other fees, students will somehow just indicate an account number, or the option on how he or she will pay it. But how about those pertinent documents that should be submitted to the different offices of the university before you will be accepted as officially enrolled? Well with this, I think there is no other way than to have those long lines of students again. But at least for now, because submission of documents will be scheduled by college, there will be no big crowds of students in the registrar’s area. How about the security of the data? Will the process be reliable? Can the server of the university handle all these things? On the security, what if someone will do some illegal actions just to be enrolled, then that should also be considered in the development of the system if ever. The system should have a good verification feature so that the university will not be on risk.

A lot of ”what ifs” are now bumping on my mind. What if the enrollment process of the University of Southeastern Philippines will be via Text? Sounds interesting for unlimited texting addicts. Well same thing goes with the online enrollment system. First, they have to be a registered texter as most texting applications do. Then from there, the student will received the list of instructions including the things he need to type before sending the text message. After completing everything, if there will be no problems that occurred, a notification message will be sent to the student. He or she will not be officially enrolled unless the student can submit all the necessary documents in directed office. A message should also be sent to his or her email in case the student will unfortunately erase the notification text message. Students still have to submit there documents in the university at the start of the class. This will be pretty good for those students who do not have a computer of their own. They just need a cellphone with load to be enrolled. How about for those unlimited calls addict? Will Enrollment on a Call be possible? I think so. Everything is possible right now because of technology that is present nowadays. If this is possible, maybe the university can hire part time call agents to cater all the enrollment calls or maybe they can utilize the skills of the students of the university. The student who wants to be enrolled will just call the enrollment hotlines. The call agents will facilitate the registration. After that, since there will be no other way that we can send him a notification message, it will be sent on his or her email account. Once again, he will be asked to submit the necessary documents as soon as the classes starts.

If ever online enrollment, enrollment via text or a call will not be possible, then I think a little improvement on the present enrollment system will do as I have mentioned earlier my suggestions and comments. Thinking that we do not have any other choice but to stick with the system we currently have, here are my points of view. Maybe the university should also invest on facilities for a faster processing not only in the enrollment process but all throughout the systems involved in the university. For example, they will add more computers and printers especially at the registrar’s office and the cashier’s office where long lines of students are mostly noticed. Added staff that will offer services to the students will also be of great help in the faster enrollment process. Added number of printers and encoders will help especially in every colleges of the university where students also have long periods of waiting for their Certificate of Registration.

Considering that all the systems in the university are interconnected to each and every system in the university, well I believe that the clearance should also be made online. Why am I pointing out on this? It is because I saw that the clearance is also one of the initial requirements of the enrollment system. You will not be enrolled unless you are cleared like cleared from any payments. Since the systems are interconnected, it will be easier to know if this student is cleared or not. It will also lessen the burden of students in looking for the person who need to sign their clearance and wait for about how many hours for the papers to be signed. On the part of the in charge who will sign the students’ clearance it will also be a bit hassle for them since lots of papers will be piled up on their desks. Lots of problems also occur on having those papers be signed. Some clearance might be lost causing other students to go back to where they started which is really a waste of time. By having the clearance online, persons who are intended to sign or verify if the student is cleared will just indicate there “CLEARED” or if in case not yet cleared, state the reason why he is not yet cleared and that will only be the time the student will be ask to visit the said office. This will allow students to check on their accounts from time to time whether they are already cleared or not. Since it will be put online, less paper will be used thus reducing the paper consumption of the university or the expenses intended for those clearances. It will also lessen the ink of pens used in signing those clearances. Assuming that the student is already cleared, in the enrollment process where his grades will be evaluated, the adviser will just view the students account on the online clearance to check if the student is cleared or not. The university will also lessen the wastes from these papers. Although many considerations should be taken before developing this system and implementing it in the future, I believe that this will be a great help for the university most especially to students.

The necessary systems of the university can actually be developed, with the supervision or the guidance of instructors, by the students of the university especially to those who are inclined to the fields of systems development. This can be part of the learning process of students particularly to those who are at the Institute of Computing. As a student from the Institute of Computing, it can be part of our on the job training. We will not be looking anymore for any other companies that will allow us to undergo training in their company. This will really be a great learning experience for students like me. If ever the system development will be successful and the system will be implemented in the university, we will not be having a hard time giving up two of the skilled and knowledgeable faculty members of the Institute of computing. Maybe they will just be guiding or facilitating the students involved in the development of the system. For me as a student, if ever I will be given a chance to help in the development of the system that will really help the university as well as the students, it will be my pleasure although it may not seem that easy. It might be made as a group where the class will be divided in two groups concentrating on different systems for the university. If ever it will be successful, then the facilitators and the staff or persons from the office where the developed system is intended will test to make sure that the system functions well and the developers of the system will know some other improvements on some areas of the system. After the deployment of the system, the students will be paid thus giving the students a big help especially with there allowances. I think this will not cost that really big compared to asking the professional ones to make a system for the university although I am also looking for it as a fair job. Students will not be treated as students as it is but as little professionals who wants to compete in the industry. So much for the money that is involved is the learning experience that this will give the students and the benefits it will offer to university and its residents. By this, the students will not just have there training in the university but also they will be able to help increase the quality of service the university offers. Instead of just answering calls in other companies or being asked to make some tea or coffee by their big boss, by this they will be able to experience what it will be on the real world. After the on the job training we had last summer, I realize how important it was to have the said training. By that, we were able to learn things that we might not learn in the university. I think the on the job training for incoming forth year students should not be taken for granted by students because it is the best training students should ever have. Well, I am only referring to the training in line with our course. This will also help them in hunting for jobs. They can put it in their resume that they are one of the developers of the system implemented in the University of Southeastern Philippines which is currently used. Through this achievement, they can have a better opportunity of having good jobs after they graduate. This will also be in line with the mission and goals of the university which is to produce competitive professionals. This opportunity will encourage students to strive harder on developing new systems. I think if ever, business companies will not hesitate on investing and asking the University of Southeastern Philippines students on making a system for them. Students will also have broader insights on developing a system since they are still exposed to developing a real system, not just having it on papers or documents but also to experience looking at a working system that you are one of the developers. I do not know how proud I will be if ever I am one of those students but I am sure I will not forget it for the rest of my life.

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