For the past 11 years, The Datatel Corporation has proved VU with two products, Colleaugue and Benefactor, that the administration uses to manage its databases. Colleague has provided the database that most of us access through DataVU while the offices in at VU that focus on fundraising use Benefactor. Starting at the close of business on July 2nd, VU will begin merging those two systems into a single, seemless database. In order for that to be accomplished, IT will need to disable access to the Datatel/DataVu systems during the first week in July.

In the past, Datatel has asked their universities to maintain separate databases for Institutional Advancement/Alumni Relations and the rest of the campus. Keeping those two sets of demographic data in sync has been a very daunting task. In March 2006, Datatel announced plans the two systems. For the past 3 years, staff members in almost all of the administrative branches of the University have been meeting to review the plan. There are actually 278 different steps in the actual conversion that have to be run chronologically. Management Information Systems (MIS) staff have been running the conversion in test accounts since December; and the processes take approximately 8 days to complete, working around the clock. The plan is for MIS staff to work straight through until it’s done.

While the conversion programs are being run, VU must remove access to the database and you will not have access to the “Production” account in Datatel during the conversion processes.

For DataVU users, those processes that actually update data will be removed during this conversion; but those “view only” screens, such as pay advices, will still appear with data that was valid as of July 2.

We have developed a plan for users to access Datatel information during the outage. The first step in our conversion run will be to make a copy of the “Production” files to a new place. This will contain all of the information as of July 2, 2009. We strongly encourage users NOT to make any changes to this database, because when Production returns on July 13th, those changes will not be made to the data, and that work will be lost. We are also asking users not to run lengthy reports during this time; as it will slow down the conversion processing time.

Those users needing information will be notified in advance how to access the database.

The committees have done the hard part, now it is just a matter of training staff and actually doing the conversion of data. After the conversion is done, most of you will notice no difference at all. The OIA Staff will be trained on all of their new processes and procedures.

Some may question the timing on this merger. Datatel has recommended the following:

1. Do not convert during a major fund-raising campaign. (due to staff training time)
2. Do convert after the end of a fiscal year (due to accounting issues)
3. Do plan to have the conversion completed in time for any auditor access
4. Do not convert during a “pay week” (so payroll can be processed)

Since we start with a 3-day weekend for the Fourth of July, this timing fits nicely into those four constraints. We recognize there are other functions on campus that need to continue and MIS will work with those units as needed.

Once this is completed, VU constituencies should realize greater responsiveness and consistency to change requests. MIS would like to thank you in advance for your patience.