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		A technological coming of age: Moving from adolescence to adulthood By Tom Segar Assistant Director of Residence Life Gettysburg College At this point in our profession many of us stand on the threshold of tomorrow with hands firmly grasped on the doorframe and feet anchored on the floor eager and anxious about taking the next step. Most colleges and universities have recently gone through or are preparing to go through major changes in information technology. Whether it is new or revamped web sites, on-line applications, or new management information systems, change is happening at an ever increasing pace and knowing how to catch up and get ahead is crucial to our success as housing and residence life professionals. Residence Life at Gettysburg College has undergone significant change in the past two years with the launch of a new comprehensive Residence Life web site, housing management information system and on-line forms. We have accomplished these milestones through following a few basic guidelines that are discussed below. Implementing Housing Information Systems Our decision to transition to a new housing information system was significantly influenced by our institution's decision to transition to PeopleSoft™ as its overall management information system. Our campus' legacy management information system had become cumbersome to maintain and was not prepared for the new millennium even though it cohesively integrated all of our institution's information systems, including one for housing. While robust and practical, PeopleSoft™ currently does not have a housing module, which of course meant we had to find our own software package that would interface with PeopleSoft™. In addition, we wanted a package that would be easy to implement given budget constraints, but would also provide increased functionality over our legacy system. Working within our department and the information technological department we quickly assessed our technical and functionality needs, which allowed us to focus on those vendors that we felt could provide what we were looking for. Our continuing vision, that at times has seemed blurry, is what has kept us focused during the past two years of implementation. We encountered a few bumps along the road to implementing our new housing information system. Among the most challenging have been interface problems with our Financial Services department and our student records system. Importing and exporting data between two different systems can be challenging because it involves more user intervention instead of it being an automated function. It was very important for the various departments involved to be able to meet about these challenges and collaborate on solutions. Since these working relationships had been identified and developed from the very beginning, problem solving was much easier. Since our housing information has become live we continue to work through the learning curve and realign our business processes. Having documented all of our steps along the way we have been able to meet challenges with much more ease. Oftentimes it is necessary to take a step back in order to move forward. Testing and documenting all technical functions and related business processes ensures a more smooth and trouble free process. Questions to ask in the beginning: What features does your current system, whether software or pencil and paper, provide? Who should be part of your implementation team? Is your campus Information Technology Office willing to work with you to integrate a new information system? How will housing information software support you departmental mission? What other information systems or departments, such as Financial Services and the Registrar will need to interface with your housing information system? Will the vendor provide on-going technical support and training? What can your department afford? How will you maintain communication once your new system is live? The Potential of the Web For many years, our Residence Life website consisted of only one page that was targeted for prospective students. Knowing that our current students and their parents were looking to the web for answers to their housing questions we knew the need for a more extensive website was there. Overall, our goals were to: Encompass the philosophy and mission of our department Include facets of our major business processes on-line such as housing selection, staff recruitment and selection Provide student and professional staff contact information Create a virtual area for student staff that fulfills all of their administrative needs such as on-line forms and duty and desk schedules. The design of any website begins on paper long before the first html file is created. Having a firm idea of the web page's goal and desired outcomes is crucial in designing a cohesive site. Soliciting student and staff feedback during the design and implementation stages ensures that the site will meet student needs. We based many of our pages on the housing related questions and concerns we were addressing with students over the phone and in person. The web has been very useful for providing canned or scripted responses to everyday student questions. Our goal was to capture the fluid nature of the web and take advantage of its dynamic communication medium. Implementing a web site in stages allows you the time to focus on each stage. Some web developers program the entire shell of the web site only to have links that lead to pages that say "under construction." Only those pages and their corresponding links that are fully developed should be placed on-line for everyone to see. The general rule with web pages is that they must be designed for a target audience. The links into a site should somehow indicate the intended population the pages were designed for. Our web site is segmented for current students and prospective students. These two paths allow us to focus on what have become two different sites with very little overlap. Along the way, we sought input from students and colleagues and continually put our pages to the test by referring other offices to our web pages and constantly asking for feedback. The next evolution in web technology is interactive sites that do more than provide information, but also can receive information and respond to user input. Over the past several months, we have been implementing on-line forms that can be submitted by a web user and received by our office via e-mail. The advantage of such forms is as follows: 1) the user receives a confirmation that the form was submitted and 2) the recipient receives a time and date stamped form that can be accepted at any time. Forms require CGI (common gateway interface) scripts. This simple script tells the web page where to send the information entered in a form and how to send it. Please do not be intimidated by such words. Anyone who has any web experience can easily navigate the use of these forms. Working with your campus' web master for less than an hour will make anyone proficient enough to develop on-line web forms. (Visit this link for more information on on-line forms.) Most campus websites already have CGI scripts in place so that all you need to do is link your web page to the script. All of Gettysburg's on-line forms are generated by one script. Anything is possible When we think of technology images of the impossible sometimes flood our minds. More often than not, if something has been done, you can duplicate the results. Time usually is the resource that is most needed as we prepare to take the next step into tomorrow. Collaborative partnerships with other departments and institutions are our best resources for reducing our learning curves and increasing our productivity. I encourage you to develop initiatives in your department that allow you to confidently manage technology while allowing you to competently and compassionately interact and influence your students. About the Author Tom Segar is the Assistant Director of Residence Life at Gettysburg College where he oversees the Theme Housing program, staff training and development and the student affairs division web site and technology initiatives. He is beginning his third year at Gettysburg College and as a member of the MACUHO Personal and Professional Development Committee. Tom earned his Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and his Masters degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.