Last month, over 100 students applied to the University of Houston System, were enrolled for classes, received financial aid, paid fees, changed majors, checked their grades and then graduated. They weren’t geniuses on a secret, accelerated degree plan—they were fictional, part of an elaborate PeopleSoft Student Administration test designed to identify and correct any flaws in the system before it becomes available online in March.

University of Houston-Victoria staff members from Admission and Records, the Bursar’s Office and Financial Aid joined their colleagues from UH and UH-Clear Lake to participate in the exercise. Teams from these departments have already worked for months to configure and test their own processes within PeopleSoft SA. Last month’s “Integration Testing”—which moves fictional students through a compressed academic career—allows all the business processes to be tested together.

In a weeklong choreographed set of steps that began with admitting the students, 271 scenarios were tested, representing normal transactions that occur over the course of a calendar year. Any glitches that were discovered during the test were sent to be reconfigured and rewritten.

UHV registrar Trudy Wortham participated in the exercise and afterwards said, “Testing has been helpful to get a feel for the processes we’ll be running and to identify ways we might want to improve our business processes. We’re used to doing things the old way—we won’t be experts at go-live, and there will be bugs, but we’ll get there.”

PeopleSoft software has been in use at UHV for finance and human resource functions. Starting with the June enrollment, student administration staff will begin using PeopleSoft SA. The program is Web-based and will have self-service features to assist students in managing their accounts. It is also hoped PeopleSoft SA will smooth the transition for students moving between UH System campuses.

At the beginning of February, the program will have one last week of Integration Testing to make sure all known glitches have been addressed. Craig Ness, project director, said he is pleased with the way the project is proceeding.

A UHV PeopleSoft SA “Sneak Peek” is scheduled for Thursday, January 11, from 11 a.m. to noon in Alcorn Auditorium at UHV. The event will provide a general overview, training information, a navigation demonstration, and a brief question and answer session. For more information and a training schedule, see www.uh.edu/peoplesoft.