Administrative Information Systems (AIS)

Administrative Information Systems (AIS) is an area within Information Technology Services (ITS) which has primary responsibility for implementing and maintaining university-wide software applications that support broad impact administrative functions.

AIS Services Overview

Administrative Information Systems develops and maintains central information systems which aid UNCA in information processing of an institutional nature. Central system services include support for:

  • Human Resources, Student Information, Finance, Alumni and Development and Financial Aid
  • Web interfaces to central databases such as registration and advising
  • Portal services such as OnePort
  • Reporting services and report repositories
  • Ancillary systems including OneCard
  • Development of ancillary systems
  • Archiving historical institutional data

These central server systems provide a computing environment to support the university business practices and academic accounting. The administrative offices are regarded as the "owners" of the systems and are responsible for their data integrity. Administrative Information Systems oversees system design in conjunction with user departments, maintains and updates system software, and implements user-determined production schedules.

The support provided by Administrative Information Systems increasingly crosses the traditional boundary between "administrative computing" and "academic computing." More and more frequently, academic departments and individual faculty need to access central administrative systems (student information, departmental budget data) to do their jobs and Administrative Information Systems helps them in that effort.

Use Management, Administrative Systems

Administrative Information Systems creates and manages accounts on the central system servers. Members of the university community who have been authorized access to these systems by management are trained and granted access to appropriate services.

Software System Support

Purchased Systems - The core of the administrative information systems effort at UNCA is Banner.

Staff in Administrative Information Systems install upgrades to Banner, implement a small number of customized changes for UNCA, provide technical support for the offices as they develop customized data dictionaries, and encourage system clients to maximize the usefulness of the systems. In particular, they work with users on the generation of reports from their systems, using the 4GL product, WebFOCUS.

Banner Finance handles all processing of university financial data, including budgeting and the generation of financial statements. It has significant modules for Purchasing and Accounts Payable and interfaces with both Banner Student and Banner Advancement.

Banner Student maintains student academic records, supports web-based class registration, and has significant modules for admissions, financial aid processing, student billing, computer-assisted advising, classroom scheduling, a student, faculty and advising web interface.

Banner Advancement maintains alumni record-keeping and supports fund-raising efforts both among the alumni and in the external community.

Banner Human Resources maintains employee records for all faculty and staff. The records maintained in this system provide valid employee authentication for numerous web based information services.

In-House Systems - Administrative Information Systems has designed and implemented several custom, information systems for UNCA.

These systems are on-line and are developed in using tools appropriate for the intent. Most systems are web-enabled. In-house systems support SGA elections, the Scholarship management, University Fellows and Scholars program, orientation, grants and contracts, UNCA's Super Saturday program, the campus telephone/electronic mail, the master calendar of events, and various organization surveys.

PC Systems - Administrative Information Systems staff support offices that use personal computer systems to process university data. (Support for personal productivity applications in administrative offices is provided by the User Services division.)

Staff work with campus offices to assess whether a personal computer system ... as opposed to central system ... is an appropriate solution for an information processing problem. If a PC system is appropriate, staff help implement the system and provide ongoing support for it.

Database Web Application Administration

Administrative Information Systems provides support to academic and administrative departments for the development of departmental web pages which involve display of data from central databases.

User Training

Administrative Information Systems (AIS) recommends appropriate training for administrative central system users. Training interactions for AIS staff are frequently informal, often done on an appointment basis in an individual user's office and this includes supplemental training to Banner knowledge workers. (The formal BANNER Finance and Banner Student training efforts are the responsibilities of Financial Affairs and the Registrar's Office, respectively. Campus users seeking access to Banner Finance or Student should contact those offices first.)

Consulting

Administrative Information Systems provides consulting to faculty, staff, and administrators on accessing and using computerized institutional information. Staff inform clients about what information is available and help them select and access the information that meets their needs. Staff also help offices decide what information should be considered institutional. UNCA policy is to store and process institutional information in information systems running on the central computer, as opposed to personal computer systems.

Maintenance of Historical Data

Administrative Information Systems staff, in conjunction with Systems and Networks, archive historical data and make it conveniently available to the Office of Institutional Research, which is responsible for university reporting.

Administrative Computing and Institutional Research work closely in this effort, developing strategies for data access and techniques for data archiving. Institutional Research uses SAS on the academic VMS system to access historical data.