Until two years ago, the worst possible thing during registration was for a student to feel the brunt of the CRISP lady”s quick temper. Now, students are lucky if they can register at all.
For such a large university to be unable to facilitate the registration of students for classes is ridiculous. It is time for the University to invest its resources more wisely and fix this embarrassing, and now more than year-old, problem. While the University wisely postponed underclassmen registration dates by two days in an attempt to fix Wolverine Access, the unpreparedness of the University to handle registration for this term has seriously affected students, especially those entering their last semester.
Many seniors are left with requirements even into their final semester. It is extremely important that these seniors have first preference in course selection. While ITD postponed registration after only its second day, all students with Nov. 26 or 27 registration appointments have been lumped into the same pool, effectively forfeiting the advantages of the earliest registration date and hours.
Glitches have plagued the new online registration system since its inception in the summer of 2000. It was created as a replacement to the former telephone CRISP (Computer Registration Involving Student Participation) service, as part of the University”s M-Pathways project. M-Pathways was intended to streamline the University”s business processes and the computer systems that support those business processes.
But if Wolverine Access”s recent performance is any indication, the initiative falls well short of its anticipated goal. For all of the University”s boasts of technology and connectivity, it still has failed to come through for the most fundamental administrative process of a student”s years here.
According to sources inside ITD, the University spent tens of millions of dollars on the new Wolverine Access and the M-Pathways project. Some of this money was spent on converting old records to the news format, but a large amount of money went to Andersen Consulting and PeopleSoft to develop parts of the system.
Instead of revamping the look of Wolverine Access and adding fun but extraneous features like Backpack, the University should have invested in fixing all of the bugs in the earliest versions of the program. The need to switch over to in-person registration proved that all of the resources that the University poured into Wolverine Access have gone completely to waste. Wolverine Access may have a hot new look, but fails to fulfill its most basic objective.