Summary of Datatel Users Group conference

I attended the Datatel Users Group conference on April 5-8. Following is a summary of the highlights from the conference:

1) IT trends and futures – Datatel is developing a new web-based user interface that will be called “User Interface 4.0”. Luther has joined the first client trial to test new functionality and provide early feedback to Datatel. We’ll be installing this within the next few weeks and hope to allow some end users to help us with the testing. Datatel hopes to deliver the new user interface by the 3rd quarter of this year. – Datatel will continue working on several projects this year: the ActiveCampus Portal, dashboards, Operational Data Store (ODS), merging datamarts, predictive analysis and forecasting, Colleague Studio (for programming), and reporting for mobile devices.

2) Application Development – Datatel has released a new debugging methodology that will be useful for Application Development – Luther participated in the client trials for the new Colleague Studio development environment, so we’re well ahead of other clients and will start using the new software in the next two months – One client also presented some ideas about how to do rapid application development to save time when programming

3) Accessibility for WebAdvisor – one session described how to set up a separate instance of WebAdvisor so it works better with screen readers – the demo of the JAWS screen reader program was an eye-opening experience. (I’m still in awe of anyone who can listen and understand it!)

4) ODS / Business Objects – I attended several sessions and learned more about the implementation, customization and reporting techniques for ODS and Business Objects. – Some of the clients listed several “gotchas” and tips and tricks

5) Degree Audit – I attended one Degree Audit roundtable session and learned about some of the issues that other clients face in their Degree Audit processing

6) New help system – I did a usability testing session for a prototype of Datatel’s new help system. Based on client feedback, Datatel is considering the development of a help system that not only gives help information about fields and processes and “how to” manuals, but they would also give us the ability to search through AnswerNet (for reported software issues) and in the client forums for discussions about processes. – I told Datatel that this is a fantastic idea because I spend an incredible amount of time searching in various places when users report a problem.

7) Retention Alert – Datatel presented the process they follow when helping clients set up their new Retention Alert module. – Datatel has put a lot of thought into this process and it requires buy-in from any departments on campus that can assist with student retention. It’s an expensive product, but it looks like it could really save us some money if we do it right and it helps us retain more students. – Datatel has also created MS Word templates that we can use to apply for grants to help us fund the project.

8) Colleague Advancement – I attended a couple of sessions and learned about some of the challenges that users have faced during their Colleague Advancement conversions. – I didn’t gain a lot of knowledge that will be useful to Cindy Goede and Chris Frana, but it did give me some background information that will be useful if I need to do some additional support during the conversion and follow-up.

9) IT Client Advisory Team – I joined the user group’s IT Client Advisory Team (IT CAT) this year. This is a 3-year commitment. We meet face-to-face once a year at DUG and once a month via conference call the rest of the year. The CAT gives Datatel feedback about issues that are critical and/or important to clients and where they would like Datatel to focus their efforts.