02/09/04

Analysis of the Interview

HPU had no IT infrastructure 3 years ago. Students and Faculty had a hard time communicating with each other and other departments of HPU. HPU was clearly facing Technology Pressures. They needed technological innovation in the form of a new centralized IT department. All the departments were not able to communicate with each other efficiently. HPU's critical response was excellent as they formed a new centralized IT department with 5 subdivisions, who were not only interrelated to each other but all the other departments such as Accounting, Human Resources, Registrar etc. 

     Justin Itoh played an important role in organizing the IT department and by improved decision making. Campus Pipeline is an example of a single, integrated system that supports all the students and faculty in the university. On the other hand, Administrative systems support the staff in both the campuses. These two systems cannot be interrelated for several reasons. One reason being that students and faculty cannot be allowed to access confidential information of all the students, whether its their grades or personal information. Faculty can only retrieve the data for the courses taught by them. Only Registrar's office and MIS department of HPU has access to the personal information of students. 

     New Information Architecture model is centralized and uses a PC environment. All the PCs at HPU are connected to each other via LAN. As Justin pointed out that HPU also have a client/server Architecture, which helps the staff of HPU to access databases from any point within HPU or accessing the data through VPN. SCT/Banner is an example of enterprisewide computing at the university. 

     HPU has been able to gain competitive advantage by using new technologies to reduce costs. They have also improved internal efficiency better communication within the university as well as with the students. HPU has a well designed website that provides information to the current as well as prospective students about HPU. This website is connected to the Campus Pipeline. The website uses FAQ Agents to answer any type of questions students might have. An example would be of print express FAQs, wireless connectivity FAQs, ecourses FAQs etc. As Justin pointed out that there is a whole subdivision (client services) dedicated to help the students, faculty and staff. Clients can get in touch with the help desk by email, phone and there is even a live support service available (Go under school services in pipeline and you will see a live support icon on lower right). A technician chats live with the students or faculty and tries to answer any questions they might have. Students can now pay their tuition online by either using credit cards or any other type of electronic payments. This wasn't possible a couple of years ago and hence gives HPU competitive advantage. 

     In the past year or so HPU has started to offer distance learning for the students who are not in Hawaii as well as students, who would prefer to take a course online. An example would be of this MIS course we all are taking right now. Students can telecommute with the instructor and are able to finish all their course assignments at home. Telecommuting gives flexibility to students, who don't like the traditional class setting. 

     IT has changed a lot at HPU in the past couple of years. The new functional systems were key to success. HPU is continuously working on new technologies such as smart cards and introducing M-commerce in the near future. 

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