Stanford Report, July 7, 2004

PeopleSoft system to be upgraded in August

The PeopleSoft system, including the Axess student and faculty site, the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) and Student Administration (SA), will be closed from Thursday, Aug. 5, to Tuesday, Aug. 10. Administrative users -- staff in schools and departments who process transactions -- will have read-only access during the upgrade, the first since the system was implemented in 2001. The Axess site will be expanded to allow administrative users to process transactions related to employees and students through the site.

Students, faculty and academic advisers currently use Axess to view course schedules and grades, change addresses and telephone numbers, view class lists, enter and change grades, and view transcript information. Many improvements in self-service features for students and faculty are being incorporated and the site will have a whole new look. After the upgrade, the Axess site (http://axess.stanford.edu) will include an administrative user login so that Axess will be used for transactions now done through Citrix. Currently, approximately 900 staff process business transactions related to employees and students using the PeopleSoft system.

"We think administrative staff will find Axess navigation easier to use. Additionally, all documentation is being updated for the new version of PeopleSoft, and many new job aids have been created that should greatly assist users," said Valerie Beeman, campus readiness specialist for Information Technology Systems and Services. "And there will be several new online tutorials to allow users to familiarize themselves with the new version and navigation, as well as system procedures." Because the system will be web-based, it is important that administrative users have browsers that are correctly configured and compatible. "There's a browser test to make sure your desktop is ready that we'd like everyone to use, starting right now," Beeman said.

A PeopleSoft executive sponsor group, made up of representatives from the controller's, financial aid, human resources and registrar's offices, has overseen plans for the upgrade. Information about demonstrations, training sessions, links to online tutorials and the browser test can be found at http://psv8.stanford.edu.