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Since 1996, a wealth
of Web applications have been implemented to provide students and
faculty with access to many interactive services. Student Application
Services has
been a major player in the development of the software. These services
are provided primarily through two "point of entry" sites: TESTUDO
and ARES.
TESTUDO is the entry
point for all student services.
Prospective students, graduate and undergraduate,
can find out about the university, apply electronically or request
an application, check the catalog, and get a sense about the courses
offered by viewing the schedule of classes. Prospective undergraduate students and
parents can sign up via the Web for special events sponsored by the
Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Students transferring
from another institution can check to see how many of their transfer
courses have equivalents at the University of Maryland. Students can also check the
status of their financial aid.
Current students can
explore different class schedule options using VENUS, register
for classes and make schedule adjustments, check their grades, request
transcripts, measure progress towards a degree, apply for graduation, and much more.
ARES is the entry point
for all faculty and staff services, specifically UMEG.
UMEG was developed by
SAS to allow faculty to obtain classlists electronically at the
beginning of a semester, and also enter grades at the end of a semester
(all grades are now collected electronically at the University of Maryland).
Faculty can also create Email reflectors so students and teachers in a class can communicate with each
other electronically.
Most of the software
developed by SAS for TESTUDO and UMEG is written in a number of
languages that include PERL, C, C++, and COBOL. Unless real-time
read/update of SIS is required, the technique used involves downloading
and uploading of information between the IBM mainframe where SIS
resides and a server, which is usually a Sun box or
an IBM RS box. In cases where real-time access is required, COBOL
is used to access the SIS data stored in DATACOM-DB through an Oracle
gateway.
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