SUBJECT:  ISIS and ESPP Conversion Scheduled for December

The UCSD Integrated Student System (ISIS) and its University Extension (ESPP) components will be converted this month to a modern relational database. The conversion will take place in two phases.

The first phase will be done on December 14-16, 2001 and will involve the conversion of the Extended Studies and Public Programs (ESPP) system. The ESPP system will be unavailable from Friday, December 14 through Sunday, December 16. The upgraded ESPP system will be available again on December 17, 2001

The second phase will be done on December 21-23, 2001 and will involve the conversion of the campus student system. ISIS, StudentLink, the Financial Aid system, and parts of the data warehouse, therefore, will be unavailable from Friday, December 21 through Sunday, December 23. The upgraded systems will be available again on December 24, 2001.

This conversion signifies the completion of a major overhaul that will allow us to utilize modern technologies and enhance the system in the future. Specifically, we will be migrating from an old database (IDMS) to the latest version of DB2, which is a state-of-the-art relational database used by many large organizations. The migration should be transparent to all users and the systems will look and operate just like they do now. The Financial System (IFIS) and the Financial Aid system (SAM) were already successfully converted earlier this year.

Our staff will be monitoring the system throughout the conversion and will respond to any reported problems. Many hours of testing have gone into the project to build assurances that there will be no problems after the cutover. However, ISIS is a very complex system and there is always a chance that some unanticipated problems will occur during the first few days of operation. If you experience any problems or anomalies, please report them immediately to the ACT help desk at acthelp@ucsd.edu or at x41853.

                                                Elazar C. Harel
                                                Assistant Vice Chancellor -
                                                Administrative Computing & Telecommunications