Colleague SQL Server Migration Project

Pacific will be migrating our current Colleague system from its current platform to one that will use SQL Server as the backend database and Windows for the operating system. This migration is expected to be completed by December 7, 2020.

Why Are We Doing It

Colleague is our single most central and vital system, where we store data regarding our students, curricula, faculty, budgeting, and financials. It serves as a source for reporting across the university. The hardware Colleague currently runs on is 14 years old, is therefore at high risk for hardware failure, and can no longer support modern demands.  We expect to reap benefits such as the following:

  • Enhanced speed for key student transactions such as registration;
  • Reduced downtime;
  • Decreased interruptions caused by license limitations on our current platform;
  • Efficiency gains for administrative and support users resulting from all of the above benefits;
  • Data for reporting systems that is effectively real-time (our current reporting systems have static data refreshed typically only once per day);
  • Improved capabilities for disaster recovery;
  • Better alignment with industry standards (which positions us better for longevity, for vendor support, and for potential integrations with other systems).

Who is Involved

UIS has engaged Ferrilli Higher Education Technology Consultants, a consultant group with deep experience in these exact kinds of conversions, to help with both the technical and project management aspects of this endeavor.  Jim Langstraat serves as the sponsor of this project.

The project is shepherded by a steering committee:

  • Jim Langstraat
  • Dr. Lisa Carstens
  • Brandon Gatke
  • Ted Krupicka
  • Katie Morgan
  • Greg MacPhee (from Ferrilli)

We also have an active Core Team that meets regularly with multiple representatives from each of the following departments:

  • Admissions
  • Business Office
  • Finance and Administration
  • Financial Aid
  • Human Resources
  • Office of Institutional Research and Assessment
  • Registrar
  • University Advancement
  • University Information Services

2020 Project Timeline

  • March: Initial assessment by Ferrilli
  • April - May: Follow-up to the project assessment and information-gathering to prepare for the project.
  • June: Project kickoff
  • July: First test migration and preliminary validations by IT personnel.
  • August - September: Second test migration and testing by Core Team members.
  • October - November: Third test migration and testing by Core Team members.  Dress rehearsal for going live.
  • Dec. 3 - 7: Migration of production systems.  Existing systems will be offline while the migration occurs.

Outage Dates

  • Nov. 18: Colleague production ODS will be offline during business hours for pre-migration maintenance.
  • Dec. 3, 5 p.m.: All production Colleague systems will be taken offline to begin the migration process.
    • Colleague UI
    • BoxerOnline
    • Colleague Self-Service
    • TouchNet UCommerce and Storefronts
    • Parchment transcript request processing
    • Colleague ODS