Technology@Wooster

Over the last few days the College webserver (http://www.wooster.edu/) has been experiencing instability.  We are currently working with the Director of Web Services to identify the source of this problem and to correct it.  This instability does not impact ScotWeb.

Should you be unable to reach ScotWeb via the link on the College homepage, please remember that you can access ScotWeb directly at http://scotweb.wooster.edu.

Colleague and ScotWeb will be unavailable between noon and midnight on Saturday, January 19.  During this period IT will be working to copy data from the legacy administrative software system used by the Development Office to Colleague. This process is a critical part of the implementation of Colleague Advancement—the Datatel module dedicated to the Development and Alumni Affairs Offices.  In addition, IT will be transferring applicant data from the Admissions recruiting system into Colleague.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Questions can be directed to Marlene Brown at x2304.

Faculty members can now access all class rosters via Scotweb.  They had been limited to the rosters of those courses that they were teaching.  The new menu option “Class Lists for Chairs” allows the user to specify a department.  Scotweb then displays all the courses offered by that department for the specified term.  The user selects the course of interest and may chose to view the course roster in the standard format or in comma delimited format.  (The information in comma delimited format may be copied and pasted into Excel.)  IT created this new functionality at the request of department chairs.

Budget managers will soon be able to access real-time information about their budgets via ScotWeb. ScotWeb provides a substantially better interface to budget information than does the Colleague application itself. Perhaps most significantly, ScotWeb allows budget managers to view summary data on all the object codes within a particular account on a single web page. This summary information includes the total amount budgeted, the total of outstanding requistions, the total of encumbered funds, and the remaining budget. From the summary page, budget managers can drill in to see information from specific requisitions, purchase orders, vouchers and other primary source documents.

Earlier, IT and the Treasurer’s Office provided access to budget information via ScotWeb to the members of a small pilot group for evaluation purposes. The response of the pilot group members has been quite positive.

Individual setup is required for each budget manager to ensure that he or she receives access to the appropriate budget information. This setup is now underway and individual budget managers will be contacted as the appropriate setup is complete. Each budget manager will also be provided with appropriate directions and documentation at that time. Questions should be directed to Connie McCarty at x2199 or at cmccarty@wooster.edu.

In response to faculty requests, IT has made it possible to download class rosters from ScotWeb into Excel.  Instructions for this can now be accessed via ScotWeb.  The total number of class enrollees has also been added to the roster.  This had also been requested by faculty.

Beginning this semester faculty will submit course grades via ScotWeb. ScotWeb will begin accepting grades on Friday, December 8. Faculty will be able to access grading rosters, enter and modify grades until the grading deadline at noon on December 20. It will not be possible to submit grade changes via ScotWeb after the grading deadline. Changes after the deadline must be made in the Registrar’s Office. In preparation for this shift, the Registrar’s Office conducted a successful pilot of this functionality at the end of the Summer term. Instructions for grade entry have been distributed by the Registrar’s Office and are also available via ScotWeb.

Also beginning this semester, the College will no longer send grades to students via the Postal Service. Students will access their grades via ScotWeb. Grades for the current semester will be accessible beginning at 4:00 p.m. on December 22.

It will not be possible to access degree audit reports via ScotWeb during the grading period.

The implementation of ScotWeb is part of the ongoing OSCAR project.

Students and their academic advisors now have access to unofficial student transcripts via ScotWeb. (Official transcripts must be requested from the Office of the Registrar.) They can also generate degree audit reports via ScotWeb. By default these reports reflect the requirements of the currently declared major. Students can also specify a different major to explore the consequences of a change that they may be considering.

Beginning this term faculty will submit grades online via ScotWeb. Also, students will access their grades via ScotWeb. Grade cards will no longer be sent via the postal service.

IT is very pleased to have worked with the Office of the Registrar to launch these new services.