Rushing to release

Students have been given a multitude of new software services in the past year – online registration, the NetID service and now the new Human Resources Management System for payroll. The university proudly unveiled these new improvements, and presents UR as a leading institution for bringing new technology to make students’ lives easier. Each new system, however, has been held up by one or a combination of several flaws, whether it be server crashes, log-in issues or frustrating response times. The university has been eager to introduce these new services, but has not taken the time to adequately anticipate all potential problems. Many times consultants must be called in to solve problems with outside software, adding additional frustration and delay since in-house employees are unfamiliar with the program. Instead of rushing to implement these services, the university should take time to determine if the system will hold up to demand and if it is ready for release.While it is a good idea to centralize the system, the deployment of it was not adequate. ITS was forced to shut down the system for days earlier this year while they quickly replaced the servers with higher capacity ones to better handle Internet demand. Another clogged server has resulted in online registration being down for a period of time at the beginning of the semester as well. The program was up and running when the university was not prepared to handle the large amount of traffic. HRMS has been another problem resulting in centralizing a system too quickly without considering the consequences. Employees have complained of the lengthy amount of time for logging on inability to check hours and not receiving the right amount of pay. Students are forced to go to Human Resources to sort out their paycheck problems, defeating the purpose of using the online NetID system.While students appreciate these services, they do not appreciate having the Internet down for days, not being able to register for classes or not being paid for hours worked. Students would not have a problem waiting a little longer if it meant a more solid program would be enabled. Programs above all should be sturdy and user-friendly, and the university should take the time to implement them adequately.