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By: Nicholas Moore

From their course selection experience this summer, most of the student body is aware that Mosaic has not been implemented properly. These problems extend into graduate student payroll, and there have been a plethora of problems resulting from this faulty and poorly managed program. These issues were, and are, far from trivial.

On Oct. 10, dental benefits for Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants were suspended because McMaster University had not remitted premiums it had collected for the insurance company for a period of four months. The premiums were paid quickly after the suspension of benefits, but this situation, which never should have happened in the first place, was laid at the feet of Mosaic.

Administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.” Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans? Most likely.

There have been innumerable instances of general mismanagement. Anecdotally, I was charged double the correct amount of tuition in September, which took a few weeks to fix. A friend of mine was charged two-thirds of the correct amount. Another friend of mine has not been paid the full amount of scholarship the University promised.

On Nov. 3, a letter was sent to graduate students from the Acting Provost and Vice President (Administration) which attempted to address the ongoing problems with Mosaic’s payroll system. In this letter, they acknowledge that there has been “ongoing confusion around ... scholarships, payments and benefits.” It is mostly a loose collection of vapid buzzwords, but somewhat sinister in its implications.

First, all they propose to do is improve “communication” with grad students and the throughput on our complaints. This includes setting up an email address for complaints, hiring staff to handle complaints, sending us emails more frequently and having “a series of open meetings” where we will be permitted to ask questions. They also propose to hand this functionality over to a brand new “customer service unit” that will handle this type of inquiry. This is a very telling Freudian slip, betraying the degree to which McMaster administration prefers to see graduate students as income units, rather than employees. No amount of communication, or “managing expectations,” will fix Mosaic.

Particularly egregious is the proposed “long term solution” to changes they made to our payroll system that have resulted in grad students going for entire semesters with only a couple thousand dollars in compensation. Students who don’t have a TA or RA position immediately after starting their grad studies have a particularly bad time. The old system compensated for this, and spread our pay more equally throughout the year. University administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.” Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans? Most likely. This is being paid in currency only tenable at the company store. This is Wal-Mart holding a food drive for its own employees.

The letter says they will “continue working on the technical and system issues underlying some of the problems.” Insofar as this is a circuitous, partial acknowledgment of faults in Mosaic, nothing further is promised, except to continue patching a broken system. No mention of increasing their efforts to get to the root of the problem, a fundamentally incompetent implementation of otherwise useful software system. I was shocked to learn that the University of Waterloo uses the same software package for the same purpose, but having implemented it competently, it is free from the deluge of ridiculous problems we have experienced with Mosaic. We educate software engineers here. It is not beyond the capability of this school to properly configure software.

Yet, here we are. Perhaps our administration is ensnared by the sunk cost fallacy, but they seem incapable of acknowledging something that anyone with a background in software (such as myself), and many with no background in software will tell you: Mosaic is a redo. Mosaic is a terminal patient, and the complaints resolution process is an iron lung. Mosaic is a hurdles runner hitting every hurdle because it has stale pretzel sticks for legs. Mosaic is a plantar wart; unless you crack it open and get to the root of the problem, it’s just going to get uglier and uglier.

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By: Emma Mulholland

Next month, McMaster is saying farewell to its mainframe computer, which will no longer be open to general access as of March 18.

The mainframe computers have been used at McMaster since the late 1960s. The computer that is currently in the process of being decommissioned was initiated at McMaster in the 1980s.

“[The mainframe computer] refers to a specific machine, that actually sits in a space … in a larger, more abstract sense it’s a set of applications that are on a specific hardware, that use a specific operating system, coded in specific ways … it’s the whole operating system,” explained Sheldon Smart, Public Relations Manager with the McMaster Office of Public Relations.

Most of the technology used in the mainframe date back to the mainframe’s beginnings in the 1980s, and include applications no longer beneficial to the university. “We no longer use those applications, or we’re phasing them out. There are a few left that we’re just in the last stages of turning off, then we will get rid of that hardware,” said Smart.

McMaster is now transitioning a new Enterprise Resource Planning system. “[The mainframe] was quite high performance hardware in its time. Back in the day, mainframe computing was all there was. But now there are many options, some of which suit what we are doing here better,” said Smart.

Mosaic, the student service centre introduced last year, is part of the new ERP system. With the introduction of the ERP system, it is no longer necessary to maintain the old mainframe hardware and software, so the university is in the process of shutting it down.

“Mosaic uses different hardware, software and base operating systems than the previous system, the mainframe … we no longer need the mainframe — this is just part of a natural transition,” said Smart.

With the introduction of the ERP system, it is no longer necessary to maintain the mainframe hardware and software, so the university is in the process of shutting it down.

Mosaic’s ability to integrate information from various sources, such as student records and financial accounts, is representative of the new ERP system as a whole. “The hallmark of ERP is that it tends to combine multiple pieces: our finance system, human resources system, student administration system . . . they all interconnect with each other,” explained Smart.

The new system allows easier access to transcripts and the ability to independently choose class timetables. McMaster is not the first institution to make the move to more integrated systems. Western University and the University of Waterloo both use similar programs to what is now implemented at McMaster.

As with any new structure, it will take some time to get used to the new system. Regardless, there are many advantages to the new ERP system when compared to the mainframe, which was limited in its capabilities due its age.

“It will take some time for the university to become completely comfortable with all the new functions, but in comparison the system it replaced was set up in the early 1980s,” said Smart. Anyone who is interested in keeping track of the mainframe’s last days can visit the University Technology Services website to find a timer counting down to the mainframe’s official end, as well as a more detailed history of computing at McMaster.

Photo Credit: Sheldon Smart

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A McMaster initiative will change the way students interact with the University online.

The school is working on a project called Mosaic, an initiative that aims to replace the current business process with a new enterprise resource planning, or ERP system.

The project is set to be fully operational in the Fall of 2015, though the MUGSI/SOLAR revamp was originally slotted to launch this summer.

Mosaic is a “student service centre that will provide students with self service capabilities and one place for all their administrative information,” said Melissa Pool of the University Registrar.

Students will be able to log in and see their admission status, student fees, scholarships and awards, registration, schedules, and degree audits, according to Pool.

Students will also be able to request their transcripts online, as well as view their unofficial transcripts.

“You will be able to see your full record, as opposed to just partial like it is now,” said Pool.

MUGSI and SOLAR will be replaced with a new registration system. Students will still have designated times to log on and register, but will no longer receive that annoying message that the website is full.

“The rush to register at midnight will be replaced with staggered registration times that guarantee system access,” said Pool.

Students will be able to see their timetables immediately, and register into preferred sections if they are available.

“It really takes the anxiety out of the process,” said Pool of these changes.

However, if there is no room in your preferred section students will have to continue to check for spaces.

Staff and faculty across the University are already using a Mosaic system. This part of the project launched at the beginning of Dec. 2013 and is being used, mostly, for financial purposes such as research grant applications and awards.

The undergraduate application process will remain the same for the University but the grad school application process will be a part this new web system.

As it becomes closer to being ready for student use, Mosaic hopes to get student representatives to help in the decision-making processes.

“About 130 people are currently working on it in total,” said Sheldon Smart of Mosaic.

These people are always changing as different aspects of the project are put in motion. So far the new system has approximately 700 users per day. The project is also involved with Deloitte consulting firm, financial affairs, and University Technology Services.

Smart did not comment on how much exactly this project will be costing and if these costs will be affecting students directly. Students will not see the cost of Mosaic specifically on their list of student fees, but financing for the project will be coming out of the overall budget of the University.

A couple months into the project, Smart noted that there have been anticipated challenges as the system is brand new and training for users is ongoing.

Smart and Pool both believe that this project will result in an improved experience for the McMaster student.

“We are really excited to provide this for students,” said Pool.

At McMaster, picking courses means long waits, late nights and a whole lot of frustrated students. Two years from now, that could all be different.

Sheldon Smart, public relations manager with University Advancement, said McMaster has set June 2014 as the goal for the relaunch of its student registration process.

“MUGSI and SOLAR will be dramatically changed,” he said. McMaster’s registration system is based on 1980s mainframe technologies, and the student population has exceeded the system's intended capacity.

Smart said student registration has been prioritized in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) process. Other components of ERP include research administration, finance, human resources and business intelligence.

“It’s very important that the student experience be improved,” said Smart. “We’ve heard in surveys and student feedback that our registration process isn’t where it should be and we’re working to fix that.

Huzaifa Saeed, VP (Education) of the MSU, noted that revamping MUGSI is a much larger project than most other upgrades.

“A lot of students don’t know that MUGSI isn’t a separate module. It’s linked to other things like the registrar, student records and financial aid, so it’s very difficult to replace it,” said Saeed, who sits on the Systems Renewal Steering Committee.

Smart said there is a good chance that the renovated student administration processes will be renamed.

By the end of January 2013, the University will have a more complete picture of what changes are needed and how they will be implemented.

Official Rules

 

Getting started...

1. If SOLAR is full, take a drink.

2. If you see the FIPPA Notice but still get shut out, take a drink.

3. If you close SOLAR by accident, take two drinks.

4. If your browser crashes, finish your drink.

5. Take one drink for, according to Facebook, each person who picked their classes ahead of you on your selection day. Bastards.

Once in SOLAR...

6. Take a drink if SOLAR says course selection is unavailable, even though it should be.

7. Take a drink for every class you want that’s full.

8. If SOLAR doesn’t work properly with your browser, finish your drink.

And, finally...

9. When you’re done picking your classes, take a drink for every hour you spent in front of the computer.

 

A special thanks to Alyscia McMullin and friends