Engineering junior Nishmant Verman had a close call this
morning. After waiting nearly two hours yesterday to access his
schedule, he was able to print it just 30 minutes before his first
class.
“When I got to the prompt where I had to choose which term
I wanted to access, only Spring and Summer 2000 came up. I tried to
call 764-HELP, but was line was busy,” he said.
Many students’ biggest problem with the University’s
new online registration system is waiting for the computer to
process information.
Because Wolverine Access now services both student records and
class registration, the overload of students accessing the system
during the first few class days has caused delays, leaving many
students unable to access their schedules when they are most
needed.
Linda Green, communications coordinator for Michigan
Administration Information Services, said more than 3,000 students
used the new Wolverine Access yesterday to modify classes, far more
than the old system could handle in one day.
Most registration horror stories circulating among students
“are not new problems,” Green said.
“They’re not system problems; they’re
registration problems that we deal with every year.”
Green said the benefits of the new system outweigh the initial
difficulties facing students trying to get accustomed to
computer-based class registration.
“The old CRISP system was able to handle 128 concurrent
registration sessions at a time,” she said. “That means
that the 129th caller would always receive a busy signal. Wolverine
Access has handled between 600 and 1,000 users at once and the
system has held up.”
The phone CRISP system registered 128 students at a time; while
on waccess.umich.edu others accessed their schedules, looked for
classes, changed personal information and checked financial aid.
The new system pools requests for all those services save financial
aid.
Security is an important issue for the Web-based system, but
Green said this system is just as effective, if not more because it
doesn’t use Social Security Numbers.
The new system relies on students’ uniqnames and
passwords, which she said “is one of the most secure systems
available.”
The online system can be accessed from all public University
computers, many of which require user log in. Green said the safest
way to protect personal documents such as class schedules is to
logout of both Wolverine Access and the computer itself. But, Green
said, after a user has exited their internet browser, Wolverine
Access should reset itself.
“A security issue is only as good as the people who use
it,” Green said.
Other students say they don’t understand how to search for
classes.
“I can’t find what sections are open for
discussions,” said LSA junior Al Birmingham.
“When I pull up different classes I only see the lecture
times. It’s hard because I don’t know where to find the
class numbers to register.”
To avoid the clog of students on the system, Green said
it’s best to research classes in the University Time
Schedule.