PeopleSoft upgrade planned for weekend

Staff Reports
The Collegian

Fresno State students will encounter a new computer screen when they go to register for courses for the spring 2007 semester.

Campus Information Systems has been planning an upgrade of the PeopleSoft system for two years.

According to John Briar, the director of CIS, the redesign of the My Fresno State portal will force the PeopleSoft system to go down Friday afternoon and will remain unavailable 6 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16.

The outage will not affect Blackboard, so students with online classes need not be concerned.

Students who need to access their Fresno State e-mail accounts will be able to at email.csufresno.edu.

The primary benefit of the new setup is that students and staff will be able to access and view the same page.

Paul Oliaro, dean of Student Affairs, said, “I think that will be a big plus for staff and students.”

“It should improve communication, that’ll be the key,” Briar said.

Because of the upgrade students will not be able access items such as their class schedules and will not be able to pay any student fees online while the system is down.

The upgrade will consolidate the current student portfolio and personal portfolio into a new student center, allowing students to do things such as updating their demographic information and add classes on a single page.

Oliaro said he thinks the student center will be more “student friendly.”

Though Briar anticipates no problems with the upgrade, he said the old system would be reinstated if there are difficulties.

Briar also said tutorials would be available to help students with registering.

“It has a shopping cart metaphor, so you can fill up your shopping cart with your classes and then say ‘go register,’” Briar said.

Students are encouraged to contact the help desk at 278-7000 if they are having any problems with the new system.

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