Online Registration Currently in Testing Phase

By: Elizabeth Bartek
Posted In: News

You wait in the winding line, inching closer and closer. Finally, you get to register, only to find that half of your classes are closed. Though there is little the Registrar, Dr. James Terry, can do about closed classes, he is working on the waiting in line part.

Online registration, only just a rumor in the past few years, will soon become a reality for Salve students-at least for current sophomores and first-year students.

Dr. Terry, Registrar at Salve since Jan. of 1998, states the process is now in the research and development phase. At this point, online registration does exist for extension students, which includes students who rarely or never come to campus, and graduate students.

Due to the small number of students this encompasses, the registrar’s office is able to hand enter these. Eventually, when over 2,000 students register online, this will not be possible.

Salve has contracted a company named Scanware to develop the software needed for online registration. Dr. Terry has continued contact with the company throughout the development.

“Now, we are testing it,” says Terry confidently. Dr. Terry, with a hearty chuckle, demonstrates the online registration process using a fake student named Mel Gibson. “I go through a whole series of tests,” he says. He checks to see if Gibson has any restrictions, including holds or prerequisites.

Technology in the registration world has continued to change over the years. Phone registration was introduced within the last few years, allowing for students to register by phone by a series of menus. Terry compares this to calling a bank, and he decided he would wait for something better to come along.

Then, there was the internet. After observing larger universities switch to online, Terry knew it was time. “Larger schools and universities have been operating comfortably online for 5 years now,” he says. Since Salve is a smaller school, and working with a smaller vendor, Terry believes Salve is right on schedule when it comes to online registration.

But, he will continue to be patient. Terry will test, and re-test, and test again. “We want to make sure all the glitches are out of the system, to make more user friendly,” he says. This includes changing interfaces, adding or deleting menus, and more.

As soon the glitches are gone, the Registrar’s office will start to use the

system, but strictly on an administrative level. Terry hopes to have this up and running in approximately 6 months.

Eventually, the plan is to have students either register themselves, or for the faculty advisor to register the student. This will be done in the

newly-renovated MySalve interface.

The student will still need to meet with both their faculty advisor and their class advisor. It is possible that the advisor will give the student an approval code, similar to a pin number, which will allow the student to register. Terry says the final details have yet to be determined.

Final details include policy issues and also IT issues. The online registration website will be completely secure, though the threat of viruses always exists.

Terry also has to take into account any server problems Salve may have. If the Salve system is down, or crashes, students will not be able to register online. The Registrar is slightly concerned with the current system, and is not sure if it will be able to handle such activity.

“We are committed. Our vendor, Scanware, is committed,” says Terry of the project.

So when will online registration be up and running? Terry is hoping by the fall semester of 2006.