DUE TO the first semester’s online enlistment issues, several administrative offices met to revamp the system and update the enlistment and registration policies through demand-driven course planning strategies for the Loyola Schools (LS).
According to Information Technology Resource Management Office (ITRMO) Director Sandra Lovenia, the ITRMO will transfer the Ateneo Integrated Student Information System (AISIS) to a cloud-based system before the next semester. She also revealed that the ITRMO plans to replace AISIS with a new system to address functionality issues.
In line with this, University Registrar Marlene De Leon, PhD and Office of Management Information Systems (OMIS) Director James Patrick Gregorio said that enlistment processes will likely stay online even if on-site classes return.
“Yes, if no one will contest me from the higher-ups. ‘Yun na ‘yon. (That’s it.) Whatever we have now, we’re not gonna change it. [Enlistment will] be fully online from here onwards,” De Leon said.
Improving the infrastructure
With the expected changes, Ateneo Registration Committee (RegCom) Public Relations Officer Lorenzo Bitong added that OMIS is in the process of debugging AISIS to prevent issues.
“With […] thousands upon thousands of students, it’s very hard. It’s even outside OMIS’ control that AISIS and the load revision site would have lags, delays, and even crashes. But […] we can push for those concerns to be alleviated, so they are even no longer a concern to begin with,” Bitong added.
Along with the said enlistment issues, Lovenia said that on-campus power interruptions in August led to server malfunctions in AISIS. According to her, these power outages caused fluctuations in the campus’ main and reserved sources of electricity and resulted in the delayed release of students’ pre-enlisted schedules.
While moving AISIS to the cloud solves its reliance on physical utilities, Lovenia said that this move is only a “short-term solution” because the end goal is a system upgrade that better manages student information. She also said that shifting to the cloud prevents delays in accessing AISIS even during power interruptions and other technical failures.
Consequently, Lovenia said that the AISIS’ database will be automated to promote user experience by addressing functionality and improving the interface. Nonetheless, she said that preparations and testing will be made until December so the cloud-based system is ready for the next semester.
“We can make [AISIS] more reliable if we use [cloud-based] technology. On our end, we can optimize our resources. […] As far as functionality is concerned, there will be no change as a student,” she said.
Furthermore, Gregorio said that developments such as record-keeping platforms and transactional systems are pushing through for the next semester. “There is a constant discussion […] between different groups on how to improve AISIS. Not just AISIS, but all the systems. We’re going to retain initially the existing system [with] gradual enhancements,” OMIS Assistant Director Adrian Pascual added.
Addressing enlistment concerns
Still, Isa Salazar (2 BS BIO) said that the administration should consider its students’ situations when retaining the existing system’s batch schedules and enlistment requisites. “[T]he whole process of this semester’s enlistment brought about feelings of stress, anxiety, and confusion—even more than the usual that comes with enlistment,” she said.
She explained that even during enlistment, she and her block were not pre-enlisted for supposedly blocked subjects. This confusion was only resolved when Biology Department Undergraduate Student Coordinator Ronald Allan Cruz provided the students with block assignments per section.
Despite Cruz’s help, Salazar said that this block assignment conflicted with their pre-enlisted course in AISIS. Eventually enlisting during the Free-For-All (FFA) period, she still ended with a 9:00 AM to 8:30 PM schedule for one day of the week.
Regarding these concerns, De Leon explained that the RO only follows course schedules made by the departments, noting the possible oversights and miscommunication between offices. De Leon also emphasized the importance of the advisement period because the number of class slots offered in AISIS is demand-driven.
However, Darleane Ortega (4 BS PSY) also highlighted the struggle in confirming her slot on AISIS despite being advised months before enlistment. “Even though I was already pre-enlisted or advised for [DEV 106.1i], […] it was also an interdisciplinary elective [and] others can take the course,” she said.
Additionally, RegCom received criticism for not accommodating Batch 1 who enlisted at 8:00 AM. Bitong revealed that RegCom will open at 8:00 AM and end at 4:00 PM for upcoming regular semesters, and go back to the 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM schedule for Intersession.
In the meantime, Gregorio clarified that the mirror website for class schedules does not reflect the exact class slots remaining because it does not have direct access to AISIS. He added that the website was made for international students who want to look at the course offerings without logging in to AISIS.
