Administrative Information Services

UI4 - Watch the Quick Tour movie again

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Today's Helpful Hint

UI4 - Watch the Quick Tour movie again!

If you have been using UI4 for three or four weeks, we recommend that you watch the Quick Tour movie again.

After logging in to UI4, click on "Help" and select "Quick Tour". It is a 7-minute video. You will be amazed at the new information you will pick up the second time through.

December 12 - everyone moves to UI4

2011-12-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Are You Using UI4?

UI4 required beginning December 12

Beginning Monday, December 12th, you must access Datatel/Colleague through browser-based U I 4 at

http://datatel.stmarys-ca.edu

If you haven't made the switch to UI4 yet, we recommend that you give it a try today! If you need help, contact AIS@stmarys-ca.edu, or call us at X4375.

U.I.4 - How to Close Context Cards Automatically

2011-11-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

The header block in U.I. 4 is called the "context card". It looks like this:

If you find that context cards are stacking up, or feel that you have to close context cards too much, there is a solution!

Just below the left side of the context card, there is a button, that probably says "Keep Context Open." Click on the down arrow, and select "Auto-Close Context" if you would like the context card to close when you leave a form.

Private Colleague Reports

2011-11-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

When you send to HOLD, choose PRIVATE

Sending a Colleague report to Hold/Browse File Output instead of Printer places a copy of your report in a location in Colleague known as "the HOLD file". If you wish your report to be private, and not accessible to others, choose "Private" instead of "Public" under Security. See the screen shot below.

Also, you can name your report file by typing in a name in the Banner field. No spaces please - use underscores, hyphens or dots to separate text.

Administive Information Security

2011-11-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Who decides who gets to see what?

Colleague software manages data for student records, financials and human resources. Due to the sensitive nature of this information, access is controlled by the departments responsible for specific data.

When a supervisor requests access to Colleague information for an employee, AIS forwards that request to the appropriate department asks for approval for access to the data. For information about who the data 'owners' are, go to the AIS website, http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/ais and select "Colleague Information"

Informer Web Reporting

The same SMC policy that applies to Colleague also applies to Informer. AIS will check with the module supervisors for approval as needed to determine if an individual may have access to reporting, and what they will be permitted to see.

Datatel Client Communities

2011-02-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

An easy way to stay up-to-date with what's happening with Colleague

Datatel's Client communities are a great way to stay current on what's happening with Colleague software. Information is tailored to the interests of each community. You can visit the communities online at http://clients.datatel.com/support/communities.cfm or subscribe for regular email newsletters notifying you of key topics published in communities that interest you.

You will need a Datatel client login to access the client communities (contact AIS - AIS@stmarys-ca.edu - if you need our customer number).

Current Client Communities:

Technology Management
Enrollment Management & Student Services
Financial Aid
Finance and Business
Institutional Advancement
HR and Payroll
Executives

Informer 4 is LIVE

2011-02-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

Informer 4 went live this morning!

Quotes from recent demos and trainings:
"Why haven't we been using this before?"
"This is the software I have been waiting for!"

Looking for more information and more reports with just a few clicks of your mouse? We recommend that you adopt Informer! Contact AIS for a demo and training - AIS@stmarys-ca.edu

What do the abbreviations mean when I look up a record?

2011-02-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

They are "Where Used" Codes

Colleague flags each PERSON record (Students, Employees, Vendors, Donors, etc) with an abbreviation representing where the individual has records in Colleague. You will see these abbreviations when you do a lookup, underneath the address.

In general, the abbreviation is the first three letters of the file name, for example, APP = Applicant. We call this the "Where used" information.

Where Used Codes:

    APP - Applicant
    CON - Constituent
    COR - Corporation
    FAC - Faculty (course instructor)
    FIN - Financial Aid
    HRP - Human Resources (employee)
    INS - Institutions (high school or college)
    LEN - Lenders (financial aid)
    PER - AR Person
    STA - Staff (with a Colleague login)
    STU - Student
    VEN - Vendor

INFORMER 4 Is Almost Here!

2011-01-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

Take note: The upgrade to INFORMER 4 will go live on Monday, February 14.
AIS has already contacted active users of INFORMER with information about the upgrade and report conversion, to make arrangements for training as needed and review of existing reports.

AIS recommends that all existing reports be reviewed by departments before February 6th.

We are also available to provide live demos and training upon request, at your convenience.

What is INFORMER? Informer is a web-based reporting tool that reports directly from the Colleague database. More information is available in a December 10, 2010 posting to the this blog (see left-hand side archives listing).

Merry Christmas from AIS

2010-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

top row, left to right: Dean Nakamura, Gail Garrett, Sheila Pallotta
bottom row, left to right: Lisa Ciccone, Scott Nebinger

We will be observing the College holidays, and will be closed the week of December 20 - 24, 2010.

Get Ready for an INFORMER upgrade

2010-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

What is INFORMER? Informer is a web-based reporting tool that reports directly from the Colleague database. We have a new upgrade, Informer 4, in the works, which provides an even cooler look and feel than before. Take a look at the new product on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSvZGcHfTY
or on the Informer website itself ("Download Webinar" link): http://www.entrinsik.com/solutions/informer/webinar.php?series=57 (If you watch the Informer video, fast-forward to the 19:30 minute mark, where the demo actually begins).

AIS will be working with departments with their existing reports, which will be converted when we go live with Informer 4. Watch for announcements of live demos and training in January.

Do you want to implement Informer in your department? or enhance your usage of Informer? Call AIS (X4375) - we can help!

DUG 2011 Conference & Expo Website is Live!

2010-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Register Online Now for Special Early Bird Pricing

The DUG 2011 website is now live, and online registration is open. That means our annual Conference is right around the corner, and it's time to start planning your schedule and itinerary.

March 6–9, 2011
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
National Harbor, MD.

Registering online for the conference is quick and easy — and you can make your hotel arrangements at the same time. If you register and submit payment by January 31, 2011, you can lock in Early Bird registration rates and the lower hotel rates at the Gaylord National Resort or the Marriott Residence Inn National Harbor. The Residence Inn, which is offering the lowest room rate, likely will be sold out within the next few weeks — so register and make your reservations accordingly.
Register for DUG 2011 at http://conference.datatel-users.org and please take a few minutes to peruse the Conference website. It is loaded with valuable information — including registration fees, hotel pricing, and lots more.

Just like those before it, the upcoming DUG Conference promises to be a truly inspirational experience.

How the SMC Email address is updated in Colleague

2010-11-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hint: It's MAGIC!!!

Email accounts are generated for faculty, staff and students automatically on a twice-daily basis. Twice daily, a file with all current accounts is delivered to Colleague, and twice daily Colleague updates student, faculty and staff records with the Saint Mary's email address. New addresses are added, and any addresses that are no longer valid are removed.

The Saint Mary's College email address is flagged in Colleague with a type of "LO" = "Local". The account name (the part before "@stmarys-ca.edu") can be seen in the header of most person-related forms in Colleague.

Because Colleague is updated directly from the email system, no one should ever add or remove an email address with a type of "LO". This is reserved for automatic processes.

REGISTRATION arrives AGAIN

2010-11-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, next week (November 15-18, 2010) is another week of Undergraduate Online Registration. You will receive emails with reminders, but for now, here are the three guidelines for Good Digital Citizens:

1. Limit your login time - log out if you aren't actively using Colleague
2. Restrict reporting - save large queries for times when resources are not at a premium
3. Release records - remember that students need to be able to access their records to register.

The most critical times for student registration are around 1:00PM and after 3:45PM

SAVEDLISTS and HOLD files

2010-10-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

AIS, with input from some of our Power Users, has established guidelines for deletion and retention of SAVEDLISTS and HOLD files.

SAVEDLISTS: retained for 45 days. Any SAVEDLIST over 45 days old will be deleted on the 6th of each month, with exception of any savedlist that begins with "XSMC".

HOLD files: retained for 100 days, any HOLD file over 100 days old will be deleted on the 6th of each month. If you need to keep a file longer than 100 days, you may save to your PC, or contact AIS to have it moved to an archived Colleague folder. (HOLD files are created when you send a report to "HOLD" instead of a printer or email.)

How YOU Can Help Make Registration Easier for Students

2010-10-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

October 18-21 is Jan Term registration for undergraduates

Students register for classes through GaelXpress, which connects them directly to the Colleague database. Because you, at your desktop, are also connecting to Colleague, the way that you work in Colleague can affect the student experience, either negatively or positively.

How can you help students register with fewer problems?

1. Log out when you are not actively using Colleague. This is absolutely critical in the hours between 12:30 and 2:00PM, and again from 3:30 to the end of the work day. All desktop logins use software licenses, and students registering also use software licenses. If administrative staff use up all the licenses, there won't be enough for students. PLEASE LOG OUT.

2. Keep out of student records as much as possible. Adding information or changing a record actually locks up the records, so that others cannot change the record at the same time. When you lock the record of a student, the student cannot register (because the record is locked!). If you need to work on a record, open it, do your work quickly, and finish out. While you are in the record, what the student sees is an hourglass, and they think "the system is down", when really, it is just that their record is in use.

These two modifications to the way you use Colleague during registration week can have a huge impact on how quickly students are able to register.

Questions? Email AIS@stmarys-ca.edu

What is a FRIEND? A brief explanation of Source Codes

2010-09-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

When looking up a PERSON in Colleague, you might occasionally see "Alumni", "Parent" or "Friend". These are source codes, and are assigned by Development. Below is an example of three people, each with a different source code.

Source codes identify a primary relationship with the college, with the most common codes being

1 - Alumni - this indicates a person who is either a former student, or, at certain times of the year, an undergraduate senior who is about to graduate.

2 - Parent - the parent of a current or former student

3 - Friend - a person who is not an alum nor a parent

6 - Corporation

CS - Current Student

These codes are used for federal fundraising reporting. They should not be changed, except by Development.

If you have a question about a source code, or believe it might be wrong, contact Joan Goularte, goularte@stmarys-ca.edu (X4344) directly.

CORE Team forms Subcommittee

2010-09-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

The CORE Committee has formed a subcommittee to look at addresses, address types, guidelines for maintenance of addresses, and any other issues that might relate to addresses for applicants, students, alumni, donors, vendors and employees.

Members have been notified of the date of the first meeting. If you would like to be included, contact Joan Goularte at X4434, or call AIS at X4375.

Informer Conference, October 11-12, 2010

2010-09-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

The first annual Informer conference, ICON, will be held October 11-12, 2010 in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Conference attendees with have an opportunity to enhance their Informer knowledge and learn about plans for the future of Informer.

Interested in attending? Register at the conference website. Registration is limited to 200 participants, so you will want to register soon.

For more information about our Informer report-writing tool, go to http://www.entrinsik.com - and, feel free to call AIS if you have questions.

Uppercase / Lowercase -- How does Colleague work?

2010-08-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

In the name and address forms (as well as some others), Colleague will re-format the text that you key in, according to some rules. First of all, in a name, or an address, it will capitalizethe first letter of each word (characters separated by spaces). So, if you type in 15 main street, Colleague will automatically translate it to 15 Main Street

However, Saint Mary's College has identified some exceptions to this basic rule:

Converting to Upper Case

These words will always be translated to all uppercase: PO, RR, NW, NE, SW, SE, II, III, IV, V, APO, FPO, DVC

These words will NEVER be converted to uppercase: and, in, the, by, for, of, a, an, on, de, la, to -- e.g. "corner of 4th and main" will convert to "Corner of 4th and Main" -- the words "of" and "and" will not be capitalized

The word following these words will be converted to uppercase: Apartment, Apt, Box, Room, Rm, Suite, Ste -- therefore "box a" will become "Box A"

These character strings will be considered prefixes and the next letter will be converted to uppercase: Mc, Mac, O', D' -- example: mcdonald will be converted to McDonald.

Letters following these characters will be converted to upper case: the period (.), the hyphen (-), the forward slash (/) -- e.g. smith-jones will be converted to Smith-Jones, the "J" capitalized because it follows a hyphen.

And that's not all...

Not converted to Upper Case

If these strings of characters follow a NUMBER, they will not be converted to upper case: th, st, nd, rd -- e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd

And then there are the EXCEPTIONS to the upper case rules: Macon, Machine, Macroeconomics, Mack, Machado -- if the upper case rules were invoked, Macon would become MacOn and Machine would become MacHine. We have attempted to identify the words most often causing capitalization problems and placed them in the exceptions list.

What to do if the rules are not working for a specific name or address?

To override the uppercase rules in a name or address, begin with an equals sign (=) and then key in the characters exactly as they should appear. For example, Machiavelli would normally convert to MacHiavelli. To keep this from happening, key in =Machiavelli.

Questions?? Contact AIS@stmarys-ca.edu

2010-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Web Interface to Colleague

We have had Web U.I. available for Colleague for close to a year now. Check it out - we think you will find it convenient, and maybe a little faster than the PC based interface you might be currently using. Also, with the web-based interface, the scripts never update!! ya-hoo!

To access Web U.I., open your browser, and go to http://datatel.stmarys-ca.edu. Note that 1) A message saying the digital signature has an error will appear. Click the box that says "Always trust content from this publisher" and then click "RUN", 2) an SSL Certificate check will come up, and you can click "YES".
A new login page will pop up - choose "Colleague" or "live" for your Environment.

The Colleague CORE Team

2010-07-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Colleague CORE team reviews issues with Colleague data that extends beyond one functional area. In most cases, this involves demographic information. The team evaluates problems and makes recommendations for changes to processes, procedures, or data elements.

A recent example of CORE team work involved changes in ethnicity and race reporting mandated by federal regulation. The team evaluated options, and developed a new code structure for ethnicity and race.

We urge all departments to have representation on the team. If your department would like to volunteer a staff person to serve on the Colleague CORE Team, send an email to AIS@stmarys-ca.edu, and we will include add them to the roster.

Colleague CORE membership:
Sam Agronow (Institutional Research)
Shiralee Batten (Admissions)
Jeanne Dematteo (Financials)
Joan Goularte (Development)
Linda Granko (Accounts Payable)
Lyone Harris (Registrar)
Robert Henderson (Provost)
John Hills (Payroll)
Sue Hooks (Financials, Accts Receivable)
Jane Joyce (Graduate Education)
Linda Judge (Financial Aid)
Ann Kelly (Human Resources)
Gwen Lucero (Student Life)
Priscilla Muha (Financial Aid)
Julia Odom (Registrar)
Cyndie Paul (Graduate Education)
Michael Viola (Facilities)

NEXT MEETING:
Friday, July 30th, 10:00AM in FAH 205

Datatel Users Group Conference and Expo 2010

2010-01-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Datatel Users Group Conference and Expo will be held March 29 - March 31 this year (2010). Sign up early! Registration begins on January 20th. Link: http://conference.datatel-users.org

New Ethnic Codes

2010-01-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Beginning Friday, January 22nd, 2010, data entry procedures for ethnicity codes will change. This change will fulfill our need to accommodate new ethnicity collection required for federal reporting. There are two new guidelines:

1. Discontinue using "Archived Ethnics" at this time. The "Archived Ethnics" field should NEVER be changed in the future
2. Begin to use these two fields: "Races" and "Ethnics".

Watch your email for documentation, scheduled to arrive on Thursday, January 21st.

Changing your Colleague font

2010-01-20T15:48:00.001-08:00

Some Colleague users have noticed that the person lookup resolution screen is displaying in a font just slightly too small to read comfortably. You can customize the fonts in Colleague.

INSTRUCTIONS
a. from a menu, click on "Options" on the top task bar
b. select "Fonts"
c. the three choices will allow you to change the regular form font, the report display font, and the lookup resolution font. Choose a font and a size and you're ready to go!

Smart Passwords for Colleague

2009-11-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

Within the next few months, we will be implementing Smart Passwords for Colleague. Smart passwords will include both letters and numbers, and be at least eight characters long. We recommend you include random capital letters and some punctuation marks, too. You will receive plenty of notification and all the information you need when we take this step.

At the same time, Colleague passwords will begin to expire on a regular basis, and you will be required to change your password every six months. This is at the recommendation of our auditors and the Technology Advisory Committee.

Colleague Software Update Reports

2009-11-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Datatel releases Colleague software updates on a regular basis. They are essentially changes in programming or new programming added to the Colleague software to fix bugs or to add enhancements requested by users.

When we receive software updates, and a few are released every week, AIS evaluates each and every one to make sure it does not confliect with our existing processes and customized programming of our own.

First, we make it a practice to postpone installation of newly-release software updates for at least a month. This allows us to learn from the experience of other schools, as we can monitor responses to updates through the client forums.

Second, we batch up about a month's worth of software updates, review any implications for Saint Mary's College business processes and customizations, and install in a test account. At this time, members of the CORE team receive an email with details about the updates in test. (The CORE team represents most of the administrative departments on campus, and serves to advise AIS on administrative technology issues.) AIS will occasionally advise specific departments if there are significant updates in the works.

It is important to review the software update reports and to test out the changes in the test account and to compare the changes between the old programming in live and the new programming in test.

Finally, after two to four weeks, we install the same updates in our production account (also known as "live"), where it becomes part of our daily processing.

What is TechDoc Online?

2009-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tech Doc Online is an online documentation of Datatel/Colleague delivered files and fields structure as well as screen information and rather cryptic information on subroutines. The great thing about Tech Doc Online is that you can get file information in fairly easy to understand format. It gives you an idea as to how the file relates to other files and a little about how Datatel has intended it to be used. When I was first using Colleague, I had a basic understanding of query language and database structures. What I didn't know was the verbs and the files and fields information. Once I found out about Tech Doc Online, I used it all the time. I looked at the primary file I needed and then from there, I branched out, looking at other files and fields that were connected. I found processes that we weren't even using and then found others who were using them.

2009 Silver Medal Winner - Educause Security Awareness Video

2009-11-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever lost a document by accident, virus or hard-drive crash? This video demonstrates this very scenario. An ounce of prevention, the saying goes.

Vanished Erased Gone

Hillary Luvshis & Matt Crescenzo
University of Delaware
Silver Winner

Discover why its important to always keep a back up of your files. Anything can happen, anytime! So always make sure to have a back up, or two.

For the full website: http://www.researchchannel.org/securityvideo2009

Do you have a clients.datatel.com login?

2009-10-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

If you have a Datatel/Colleague question and you'd like to see if anyone in the wider Datatel community has encountered it, you can search the question on the Datatel User's Community Forums. You can access the forums via the clients.datatel.com website. It's a great way to get help and network. Something we don't always have a chance to do. Often, you can see what the common threads are, what upgrades colleges are looking into and what issues others are running into or have fixed. It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

2009 Security Awareness Combined Video & Poster Winner

2009-10-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Password security is always a big thing on everyone's mind. But it isn't always clear as to what makes a good secure password. The following video and poster gives a helpful hint.

From the 2009 Educause Security Awareness Video and Poster Contest

Securing your Computer Simply
Chris Wetzel

Ohio Northern University

Combined Entry Winner

Video

Poster

Picking a secure password doesn't have to be overly complicated. This video will show you a simple way to select one that is complex yet easy-to-remember.

For the full website: http://www.researchchannel.org/securityvideo2009

Informer on YouTube?

2009-10-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

If you have a few minutes and are tired of watching cute kittens, you can get your daily fix of Informer on the new Entrinsik Informer Channel on YouTube. It can be seen at www.youtube.com/entrinsikinc Training is often very expensive and reading manuals are often difficult to decipher. Video training at your leisure is a cost-effective way to improve your skills. Have fun and let us know what you think.

Password security

2009-07-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

It is important to have good security practices in times of identity theft, viruses and hackers. There are even groups and conferences for hackers. Take some basic steps to keep unwanted people out of the system.

1) Physical security: Do what you can do to physically secure your work area. Don't throw away papers or leave long on your desks, that contain sensitive information such as Social Security Numbers, Logins and Passwords. If you can't remember all your logins and passwords and must put them on a piece of paper, keep it in your wallet or purse and not in or on your desk. People tend to secure their purses and wallets fairly well. If you can, use a hint instead of the actual password.

2) Computer security: Log off. Make it a habit to log off of Colleague when it is not in use and please make sure you log off when you leave the office. Change your password often if you can. The most secure passwords are actually phrases converted into a single string. For example, if you like baseball, take the phrase "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" and then use the first letter of each word (and capitalizing and lower casing different letters) to make TMOttBG, now add some numbers TMOttBG86 and you now have a password that is resistant to a dictionary attack.

3) Question: The most insidious attack is the social hack (Think "Catch me if you can") where a con artist contacts an employee to get a piece of secure information and then repeats the scenario several times to different employees until they have all the information they need to secure a successful attack. We like to make people happy but question the type of information requested and if there might be a security breach if it is disseminated.

The future of Colleague User Interface

2009-04-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

There has been some speculation about where Datatel intends to go with the User Interface with Colleague. Since the Datatel Users Group, it is apparent that Datatel intends to phase out the User Interface as we now know it. Currently, there are two interfaces available from Datatel: The User Interface Desktop, and the UI Web Interface. The Desktop version is the one we all currently love and use. The UI Web interface looks similar to the desktop version except users access it through a normal web browser. We have the green light to install the UI Web Server on a production server and we are in the process of deploying it.

What is in store for us in the future is UI 4.0, which is based on UI Web, but 4.0 is much more robust. In using UI 4.0, users will have to think about processing records in a slightly different way. The current versions of UI, both desktop and web, use the process model. What that means is that you select a process like NAE, and then you look a person up. UI 4.0 is not like that. It is person based. What this means is that a user would first select a person or a group of people and then use that list against a process or a number of processes. What is good about this model is that unless you have a record open on the screen, you don't lock all the others you have selected to work on. The other good thing is that you have a list of say potential graduates that you want to work on and you know who they all are. You create your list and then process them through whatever screens you need to and so it's easier to keep track of what you have done and who you still need to process.

So what does this mean? At some future date UI 4.0 will be delivered. So potentially, you could access Colleague through UI desktop, UI Web and UI 4.0 simultaneously. The word on the street is that about a year after 4.0's delivery, Datatel would most likely announce the cessation date of support for UI desktop which will give schools another year or so to use the UI Desktop before it stops being supported.

Names and Addresses

2009-03-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

When entering an address, do not enter the city and state. Go straight to the Zip Code field, enter the zip code, and the city, state and county will be populated. Easy!!

The first name and last name fields are reserved for the individual's legal name. If the person has a nickname, enter it in the "Nickname" field on BIO.

Name changes should be forwarded to the Office of the Registrar for students, and to Human Resources for employees. These offices will verify the new name and take care of changing the individual's record.

Colleague Software Updates

2009-02-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

A Software Update is a mini upgrade of the Colleague software. They include fixes of bugs, additional functionality that has been requested by users, new fields and files, new screens and new programming for existing screens and processes. Any Saint Mary's customizations to the Colleague software are reviewed when installing a Datatel-delivered software update. We try our best to catch the changes so our users are not negatively impacted.

We initially install the updates in our test environment, which is a copy of the actual database and environment, so that any changes created by the software update can be addressed prior to its installation in our live account. It's important that we review and test the areas affected by the software updates as best as we can so that the impact to our users will only be good ones.

The AIS blog is off and running

2009-02-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

AIS is bringing up a new website, and a new blog at the same time. Our intent is to create multiple methods of communication with our constituents, with multiple forums for retrieving information. Feedback is requested.

A New Look for Colleague

2008-12-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

Datatel is developing a new interface that will transform the way users interact with Colleague. The new interface is web-based, and provides new ways to accomplish repetitive tasks and improve user efficiency.

The new "User Experience", as it is called, is still in development, but information is available on the Datatel web site. Delivery is expected in 2009

Watch the Demo "Transforming the User Experience"

Get answers to commonly asked questions about the new Colleague interface (this link requires a Datatel web site login. If you do not have one, sign up now. Call AIS at X4375 for our customer number.)

HINT: Quick Lookup with @

2008-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

We hop all around Colleague, looking at different forms for the same person, typing in the name over and over. It's so annoying and time-consuming.

There is a shortcut! After the initial lookup, simply type an @ sign at the next lookup and it will bring up the same person.

Example: You look up a student in student records. You enter Smith, Mary and a list of 17 records comes up. You scroll through, and select number 6. Then you go to admissions to look at her original application. Type @ at the lookup prompt, and the record pops right up. Or you need to look at a program evaluation. Use @ to bring the same record up quickly.

This works with almost any kind of record: employees, vendors, applicants, students.