In regards to the article about Peoplesoft;
It is no surprise that after two semesters of using PeopleSoft students are still experiencing problems navigating through the system. Being a senior, I have had three years to grow accustom to Cascade’s straightforward links and screens, so it would be understandable why I, or any senior or junior would experience problems learning the new system. The fact that sophomores and freshmen, having some or no experience with Cascade, are experiencing these problems as well speaks for the difficulty of the new system. However, I find the article quick to shoot down the system and counterproductive to what Tech Services is working really hard to do.
PeopleSoft is a complicated system but was a necessary upgrade due to the limitations of Cascade and the increasing needs the University requires to function. Due to the large size of the new system, it is taking a while to transfer all the data from Cascade which is why we still need to log into Cascade to get to PeopleSoft. I’m not a techie person and I only briefly worked with the Optimize team, but I can imagine the frustration of the people in Tech Service and on the Optimize Team when they hear the same complaints from students and faculty and staff members even though they are working every day to provide the school with an efficient and all-encompassing database.
We’re a body of intelligent, technology savvy students but I think the Trail was a little too quick to promote a negative review of PeopleSoft which may turn off a lot of students to acknowledging that it will take a while to learn something new and that complaining about it won’t bring back the old system. Give it some time and maybe in the future there will be more PeopleSoft training sessions or help stations (like they had for registration) to help the Puget Sound campus work with PeopleSoft.
Sincerely,
Patti Connors
