Crisis or turning point—supporting a multi-campus student information system in transistion
Barbara Long · 2000
Imagine if you will -the leader of the support effort for the student information system resigns, a member of top management fills in, the relationship between the technical folks (DBAs) and functional staff is crumbling, the user community is demanding more services, a new version of the product is about to be released, and Y2K is only months away --you have entered the Nightmare Zone.Not really a stretch of the imagination, is it?In 1999, WVNET, a centralized computing and networking service bureau supporting education in West Virginia, was facing these issues.Suddenly, this organization which had experienced great success with the world's first Banner i student information system implementations didn't know where to turn.The focus of divisional meetings moved from reviewing current student information system projects to discussions about …should we expand our services, tread water, or bail out? "Where do we go from here?"became the mantra.This paper explores how the WVNET Banner Support Team in the midst of these challenges set out on a path to redefine its direction.