The Academic Advisement Product Advisory Group continues to work to represent the needs of the Advisement community, those using the product currently, as well as those contemplating implementation.
Product Focus
· Continue to work with Oracle/PeopleSoft product strategists, analysts and developers to advocate for the needs of the Academic Advisement community and to be a resource for development of new and enhanced functionality
The Academic Advisement PAG (AAPAG) continues to work with Oracle on enhancing and expanding the product. This year, the AAPAG has provided practical, real-world input on recent Oracle development such as the use of test scores in building Academic Requirements, as well as on upcoming FY2011 initiatives such as text-only Requirements and the use of Course Attributes in building Advisement rules.
· Support the Academic Advisement community, with focus on campuses implementing or upgrading Academic Advisement
AAPAG members continue to take a very active (and proactive) role in the HEUG Online Forum, and are encouraging broader participation not only in the Forum, but in the conference as well. A series of general PAG posts on important topics has been well received, and the request for Alliance presentation proposals has resulted in a record number of submissions. The new HEUG Webinar series has been used for an initial workshop on the XML version of the AAR, with more in the works for the third quarter
· Identify key issues, enhancements, configurability options and new functionality to encourage the widest number of constituents to embrace the AA tools, particularly those outside the United States
The AAPAG is continuing to review and synthesize input from the Advisement community on ideas for future strategic direction for the product. As more institutions complete their initial implementations of the Academic Advisement Report and the Planner, there is an expressed need for additional tools to facilitate interactions between Students and Advisors in the Advisement process.
· Participate in relevant cross-PAG discussions
The liaison relationship between the AAPAG and the Student Records PAG is resulting in a lively and productive exchange between the two groups.
Quality Assurance
· The AAPAG will advocate for increased attention to pre-release bundle testing, complete documentation of changes and identification of cross-module implications
· Continue to maintain comprehensive list of issues and enhancement requests
· Assist in the prioritization of issues and enhancement requests
· Continue PAG involvement with beta testing
AAPAG members continue to serve as beta testers of major updates and fixes, as well as ‘first responders’ when unanticipated outcomes from a delivered Oracle update are discovered, helping to isolate the cause of the problem
Best Practices
· Best practices coding standards
· Establish what can be done with current functionality to clarify where enhancements are needed
· Work with institutions globally on regional needs
· Disseminating these ideas to the community -
o Pre-conference workshop(s) at Alliance
o Explore use of blogs, wikis, white papers to broaden service to institutions and individuals unable to attend conference
The HEUG Forum has become somewhat of a repository of the accumulated experience and best practices of the Academic Advisement community, although the structure is not the most conducive to easy retrieval of information. Finding ways to codify and disseminate this information in an easy-to-use format remains a high priority.
International
· Identify key issues and enhancements to encourage the users outside of the United States to embrace the tools available in Academic Advisement
· Solicit additional input from institutions that responded to the 2009 International Survey to clarify these issues
Analysis is continuing on the results of the International Institution survey conducted in late 2009 and early 2010. Some areas of congruence have already been identified between the needs of these institutions and known gaps in the product already identified by colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. Future enhancements in these areas could provide an improved user experience globally.