Universities face headaches after installing PeopleSoft software

4.17 p.m. ET (2126 GMT) February 14, 2000 By Nicole Ziegler Dizon, Associated Press

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP)  When students at Northwestern University wanted to register for winter classes last November, it was supposed to be as easy as point and click.

The university spent millions of dollars installing new software by PeopleSoft so, among other things, students could register online. But as hundreds of students tried to sign up from their rooms, point and click turned into crash and burn.

"When more than a handful of students tried to register simultaneously, the portal just shut down,'' said Rebecca Dixon, who as associate provost of Northwestern enrollment had to set up an emergency registration process at the school's computer labs.

Northwestern is one of several universities that installed PeopleSoft programs to replace outdated, non-Y2K-compliant computer systems, only to find serious glitches. Problems have delayed tuition bills and financial aid  and registration.

Officials at PeopleSoft, one of the world's top business management software-makers, say the problems were to be expected, especially as large universities scrambled to prepare their systems for the year 2000.

Laura King, PeopleSoft's director of marketing for education and government, said it's extremely complicated to transfer old university systems  fragmented from department to department  into new ones that share records from, for example, the financial aid office and the registration office. King also said data entry errors hindered the software's ability to work at some schools.

Northwestern decided to go with PeopleSoft in 1996, a year before the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company released its student administration software. Since the university was one of the first to test that software, it was natural to have kinks to work out, King said. More than 420 universities use the software.

"It is a young product,'' King said. "There's lots of nuances to this type of software and this type of technology.''

In addition to Northwestern, other schools that have experienced problems include:

Cleveland State University, which hired a law firm to sort out problems that delayed financial aid for thousands of students and sent costs of installing the programs soaring from an original estimate of $4.2 million to $11 million.

Boise State University in Idaho, where transcripts were delayed and costs had ballooned to $16 million  almost three times the original estimate  by the end of last year.

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where trouble with PeopleSoft software created a loophole for students with poor grades who otherwise would have been asked to leave school for the spring semester.

Northwestern plans to try online registration again this week for the spring quarter. Dixon said students successfully added and dropped classes online last month, so she's hoping registration will work as well.

"It'll be time before you can say that we've got smooth sailing,'' Dixon said, adding with a laugh, "I hope in my lifetime, and I'm only 60.''

http://www.foxnews.com/national/0214/d_ap_0214_130.sml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 14, 2000

Answers

The state of Montana is also using this software with a lot of difficulties. Lee probably has more info on this.

See

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002PYZ

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 14, 2000.

I believe earlier posts will also show the University of Southern Mississippi also had troubles with Peoplesoft

-- Bud Hamilton (budham@hotmail.com), February 16, 2000.

Martin - I posted the same article and asked that it be deleted. Good find!

Bud - You're correct. The University of Southern Mississippi is using PeopleSoft software.

So far, here's our list: 6 universities, 1 city, 1 state, 1 country

U of S Mississippi

Ohio State U

Cleveland State U, OH

Boise State, IA

Northwestern U, IL

U of Wisconsin

Montana State Dept

City of Cleveland, OH

Mexico - clients unnamed

(think I'm missing a university)

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

Here's a list of 177 universities world-wide that use PeopleSoft software. Not all could necessarily be having Y2k conversion or compatibility problems.

~~~~~~

Apollo Group Incorporated

Art Institute Of Chicago

Australian National University Canberra

Baylor University

Benedictine University

Berkeley College

Boise State University

Boston College

Box Hill Institute Tech and Further Educ

California Polytechnic State Univ Found

California State University

California State University Bakersfield

California State University Fresno

California State University Los Angeles

California State University Northridge

Case Western Reserve University

Catholic University of America

CBSI

Central Queensland Univ Of Rockhampton

Central Washington University

Christopher Newport University

City Colleges Of Chicago

Claremont Graduate University

Clemson University

Cleveland State University

College Of Lake County

College Of New Jersey

College Of The Holy Cross

Columbia College Chicago

Community College of Rhode Island

Community College of Rhode Island

Connecticut College

Cornell University

Duke University

Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales

Emory University

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Frederick Community College

Gallaudet University

Galveston Community College District

Gemological Institute Of America

Gemological Institute Of America

Georgetown University

Gettysburg College

Grand Rapids Community College

Grand Rapids Community College

Griffith University

Heartland Community College

Hogeschool Holland

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Houston Community College System

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Illinois Central College

Indiana University Iona College

James Madison University

Kansas State University

Kentucky Community and Tech College Syst

KPMG LLP

LDS Church Education System

LDS Church Education System

Leland Stanford Jr University

Long Beach Community College District

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Rios Community College District Louisiana State University At Alexandria

Louisiana State University In Shreveport

Louisiana State University System

LSU Medical Center

Maricopa Community College District

Maryland Institute College Of Art

Metropolitan Community College

Middlesex University

Miracosta College

New Jersey City University

New York Medical College

New York University

Noorderpoortcollege

North Carolina State University

Northeastern University

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Northern Arizona University

Northern Illinois University

Northwestern University

Ohio State University

Ontario College Application Services

Oregon Graduate Institute Sci and Tech

Oregon State University Foundation

Palomar College

Polytechnic University

Princeton University

Regents Of The University Of CA San Fran Regents Of University Of Minnesota

Research Corp Of The Univ Of Hawaii

Rhode Island College

Rhode Island Office of Higher Education

RijksUniversiteit Groningen

ROC Eindhoven

ROC Nijmegen

Salem State College

San Diego State University

Santa Clara University

Santa Monica College Southeastern Louisiana University

Southern Methodist University St Fontys Hogescholen

St Petersburg Junior College

Stichting Hogeschool van Utrecht

Stichting Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen

SUNY Stony Brook

Syracuse University

Technische Universiteit Delft

Texas Christian University

Trinity College

Tufts University

UNITEC Institute of Technology

Universidad de Navarra

Universidad de Zaragoza

Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen

Universite' Laval

University At Albany State Univ Of NY

University Of Adelaide

University Of Akron

University Of Alberta

University Of Auckland

University Of British Columbia

University Of British Columbia University Of Ca Berkeley Extension

University Of California Riverside University of California, San Francisco

University Of Central Florida

University Of Colorado

University Of Colorado Foundation Inc

University Of Connecticut

University Of Delaware

University Of Florida Foundation Inc

University Of Hawaii

University Of Iowa

University Of Kansas

University Of Kansas Medical Center

University Of Louisville

University Of Massachusetts

University Of Michigan

University Of Missouri

University Of New Orleans

University of New South Wales of Sydney

University of New South Wales of Sydney

University Of Northern Colorado

University Of Oklahoma Health Sci Cntr

University Of Rhode Island

University Of Rochester

University Of Saskatchewan

University Of South Florida

University Of Southern California

University Of Southern Mississippi

University Of Southern Queensland

University Of St Thomas

University Of Surrey

University Of Sydney

University Of Texas At Tyler

University Of The West Indies

University Of Utah

University Of Waterloo

University Of Western Australia

University Of Western Ontario

University Of Wisconsin-Madison University Of Wisconsin - Whitewater

University Of Wisconsin Oshkosh University Of Wisconsin System

University Of Wyoming

Vanderbilt University

Virginia Community College System

Washtenaw Community College

Wesleyan University

West Chester University Of Pennsylvania

West Virginia Network for Telecomputing

SOURCE: PeopleSoft, Inc Customers List - Higher Education

http://checkers.peoplesoft.com/ourcust.nsf/CustHE ?OpenView&Expand=1.1

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

Here's part of an article from January 7, 2000. PeopleSoft has really cornered the market.....

~snip~

The [Ohio] university has joined six other Big Ten schools in asking PeopleSoft of Pleasanton, Calif., to improve its student-tracking programs that handle things such as registration, financial aid and grades.

Even though many schools are having problems with PeopleSoft's student-information-system software, officials of OSU and the other Big Ten schools say the company has the best products on the market to overhaul and replace outdated, home-grown, patchwork computer systems at big, complex universities.

~snip~

Complete article on this board at: "Ohio State University WWW weather server"

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

January 3, 2000

Leading Stories - Technology

Bay Area outlook

Company to watch -- PeopleSoft Inc.

It's Chapter Two for this Pleasanton company, a high-flyer who hit the wall in 1998 but plummeted last year. Stock prices are inching upward from a low of $11.5 in April and are promising to be in the $20 range by year end. PeopleSoft executives blamed Y2K for its woes, which in all fairness hit its most of its competitors just as hard, but 2000 will tell if PeopleSoft has what it takes to make a comeback. Armed with new hard-hitting CEO Craig Conway, the company is on the acquisition path, and with rumors of the company being ripe for acquisition, 2000 will be the beginning of Chapter Two.

East Bay Business Times; Pleasanton, California

ht tp://www.amcity.com/eastbay/stories/2000/01/03/story5.html

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), March 21, 2000.