Following the unforeseen dilemma met during the first term enlistment process of this academic year, Information Technology Services Office (ITS), the Office of the University Registrar (OUR), in consultation with the University Student Government (USG), thought it best to revert back to the 13 year old My La.Salle (MLS) system instead of the proposed Oracle (animo.sys) server for a smoother run in the second term enlistment.
New method for the old system
While students are relieved to know that they will once again be dealing with a more familiar system this time around with lesser chances of experiencing the inconveniences felt in the previous enlistment, a new scheme has been introduced days before the enrollment is scheduled to take place.
The Enrollment Council had made their decision based on survey results regarding the routinary enrollment schedule. Results yielded concerns on students’ priority, regular, and irregular statuses which dictate respective schedules and the subsequent allotment of time for enlisting. Instead of this arrangement, students are now expected to log in to MLS according to the time and date set for their ID numbers and respective colleges.
Along with the abolishment of the regulations as to priority, 2nd Honors Dean’s Listers are now entitled to an advance enrollment.
“Less discriminating”
Gregg Tolentino, EXCEL2013 LA representative and Chairperson for Students’ Rights and Welfare authored the resolution which called for the approval of the new enlistment schedule with the consideration of 2nd Honors Dean’s listers as advance enrollees. Tolentino shares that the approved schedule first went through a process of changes as Vice Deans felt having the Term GPA as a basis for segregating all students was disenfranchising particularly to those who have incurred failures. Thus, the compromise arrived at was deemed more beneficial since the minority will now have an equal chance to get the classes they would need as opposed to taking what is left for them only after regular enrollees have enlisted.
Tolentino says, “The existence of the advanced enlistment for those in the 1st and 2nd Dean’s Honors List is to motivate the students further into engaging in efforts towards a more academically excellent performance.”
Not entirely a capacity issue
While many are eager to try out the new system, others are concerned with the its ability to handle the influx of enrollees on their given dates as the frequency per category does vary.
However, an ITS representative shares that these concerns have already been looked into prior the announcement of the new scheme. During deliberations, several possibilities have already been raised and the necessary adjustments were set accordingly to ensure a more orderly process this time around.
The Office of the University Registrar (OUR) has been keeping in mind the sentiments of students through the representatives regarding the matching of students per time block against the capacity. In the multi-sectoral forum where concerns were raised for the administration to address, University Registrar Voltaire Mistades revealed that MLS can only accommodate approximately 1,200 students at a time. He furthered that one main reason for MLS’ crashing during enrollment is over capacity not due to the number of students assigned to a time block, but because more than the maximum are logged in at the same time as they anticipate their respective schedules.
Tolentino sees the will to observe the proper time blocking as a form of respect to each other during the entire enrollment process.“We (representatives) just really need help in reminding the students that they should log-in during their assigned time slots. This can also be seen as a form of respect to those enlisting,” he says.
For a better system
Potential concerns which may arise due to this arrangement were much a part of the process of deliberation, Tolentino says. He adds, “We have already requested for another multi-sectoral forum on enrollment concerns to be able to hear all sides possible. This change in the online enlistment schedule is just one of the first steps in solving issues on getting classes.”
The ITS shares that they are currently looking into making animo.sys more operational. Plans have been forwarded to authorities within DLSU about the gradual transition to People Soft Campus Solutions. MLS will be used for this enrollment period while its data is gradually directed to animo.sys.
2 replies on “Revised enlistment scheme to take effect this coming enrollment period”
I have been in DLSU for 4 years and time and time again “they” always say that MLS crashes because too many people are logged in.
What DLSU journalists always do not address is the semi-technical aspect of the situation. Aside from student volume, is it because of software inefficiency or hardware insufficiency (CPU, RAM, etc?) that causes the problem because with the tuition we are paying, isn’t it odd that one of the most important sections of DLSU internal affairs is always failing?
It feels that ITS does not really improve MLS over the past 4 years because we don’t know what is it exactly that they do when the server crashes or the new measures they made to prevent crashing (aside from what is mentioned here in this article).
More transparency please, and please enlighten us more next time.
Thanks!
I have to agree. I think the ‘too many students accessing at the same time’ argument is becoming a generic response from ITS. Though it contributes to the problem, it’s not the only problem present. There’s more to this issue than a system overload. I mean, come on, term after term, same problem arises, same excuse? Are we that inefficient? There’s a darker secret to it, why not write about that?