Campus Solutions - Stable yet Stagnant
April 15, 2019
Campus Solutions - Stable yet Stagnant
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
KU uses Campus Solutions as our Student Information System. It populates our learning management system through an export of XML formatted in the SAIP standard by IMS Learning Consortium. It is used enterprise wide to drive all Student information, including Enrollments, Classes, Courses, Instructors, and Grades. While incredibly powerful, it's starting to feel a bit outdated.
- Handles large amounts of data really well. Based on Oracle databases, the data processing for a large University is pretty impressive. We base many integrations on nightly exports that run without issue 99.99% of the time.
- Allows for massive amounts of configurations. We've highly configured the system to provide more meaningfully arranged information to end users. We've also hired consultants to make the systems mobile friendly.
- Permissions are handled pretty well. Different users need different access to student data. This is handled pretty neatly within the access tables.
- The user interface is lacking. This may improve with new support for Fluid, which allows for configuration of pages using HTML and CSS - but the interface as it stands looks like it's from the 90's. Everything is nested and it's hard to search for anything.
- Data integrations are difficult. Currently, we think of data integrations as moving a .csv or .xml file for consumption by another service. It may just be our organization's approach, but Peoplesoft seems to lack RESTful APIs and other data flow that would make modern integrations much easier. Many of our systems rely on views directly into the database, which is concerning.
- Upgrade cycle is continuous. This may sound like a good thing, but instead it ties up resources to always be applying a Bundle or handle an Upgrade. It consumes most of our developer time, so there is hardly any time to reimagine processes or to restructure customizations. Most effort is spent just keeping the system updated and running, rather than focusing on improvements.
- Customizations create headaches. Every upgrade typically removes customizations that have to be reapplied and retested. While the customization is nice, it creates longer term headaches down the road.
- Allows synergy with the LMS - auto generating courses, students and enrollments. This helps increase adoption of our LMS, and improves student outcomes in their courses.
- Integrations with other systems are lacking. Unless you have access to a db view, it's difficult to get information out of the system. Web services could be really useful - and it may be that our institution just doesn't take advantage of those that exist. This leads to lack of innovation.
- Students have a difficult time navigating the system, leading to friction that can decrease student satisfaction and worsen student outcomes.
I used Jenzabar at a smaller institution, and primarily focused on the LMS aspect, and not the SIS - but it seemed to have less features, but generally be easier to use. I'd highly recommend Jenzabar for institutions that don't already have a significant Oracle footprint.