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Sunapsis @ Emory university Stephanie Roberts Assistant Director, International Student and Scholar services. July 12, 2013. About Emory. Population for 2012 reporting year: 3,675 international students and scholars 2,303 students 1,372 scholars ISSS Office works in teams
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Sunapsis @ Emory universityStephanie RobertsAssistant Director, International Student and Scholar services July 12, 2013
About Emory • Population for 2012 reporting year: 3,675 international students and scholars • 2,303 students • 1,372 scholars • ISSS Office works in teams • Scholar team: Associate director, two advisors, one support staff • Student team: Associate director, three advisors, one support staff • Operations/Technology: Director, Assistant Director, one support staff
Students • Majority of student advising is through main campus ISSS office • International admissions and initial I-20s housed in admissions offices • Undergrad Admissions – all undergrad initial I-20s, including Oxford • Laney Graduate School Admissions – all graduate and professional initial I-20s • Initial DS-2019s issued through the ISSS office • Oxford College – separate instructional site but considered same campus for SEVIS purposes
Scholars • Scholar population fairly even between Js and H-1Bs, depending on year • EV program housed in ISSS office • H-1Bs managed and filed by ISSS office • PWDs, LCAs, and posting notices done through Human Resources • Deemed Export Control procedures established with Office of Research Compliance • ISSS office also manages TNs, O-1s, and files employment-based permanent residency cases
Previous Solution - Peoplesoft • Used Peoplesoft to manage international student and scholar information • Information housed and reported from two separate systems: • OPUS – student data • Peoplesoft HR – scholar and employee data • Department made scholar requests through internally developed “bolt on” module in Peoplesoft HR
Previous Solution - Peoplesoft • Oracle stopped supporting SEVIS updates for HR installs in 2011. This was the key reason for making the move at the time we chose. • Poor (or no) case management functionality increased time necessary and margin of error for regulatory compliance, resulting in significantly increased workload • Considered both fsaAtlas and Sunapsis as replacements; ultimately chose Sunapsis
Emory’s Implementation • Due to time constraints on the Peoplesoft student team, we implemented Sunapsis in two phases • Phase One: Summer and Fall 2012 • Set up initial system architecture • Established data feed and functionality for scholar population • Went live in December 2012. • Phase Two: Spring 2013 • Upgraded from 2.7.4 to 3.0 • Established data feed and functionality for student population • Went live June 2013
Implementation Challenges • Single sign-on configuration • Emory uses Shibboleth for campus single sign-on • First time Emory had installed Shibboleth on a Windows-based system • Two month delay • Security • Emory’s security team expressed concern over the standard Sunapsis single application server configuration • Ultimately implemented a configuration with a client server and separate admin server
Implementation Challenges • Vendor response time • Frequently took time to resolve issues with Sunapsis • Seen significant improvements since support team was added early 2013 • No internal ColdFusion expert at Emory • Contracted with external developer for as-needed customizations • Lack of documentation • Particularly for 3.0 changes and new features
Current Status • Live with both students and scholars • E-forms in place for department scholar requests • Departments required to complete online training and pass a quiz before gaining access to ISSS Link (user-facing title for Sunapsis) • Limited e-forms available for students and scholars • Some new 3.0 features in use (encryption, etc.) • No plans at present to convert existing files en masse, but all files from this point will be electronic