Newsgroups: bit.listserv.cumrec-l
Date:         Mon, 11 Jan 1993 07:23:54 -0600
From:         "Dennis L. Williams" <DLWILLIA@OCC.BITNET>
Subject:      Results: On-Line Cashiering Survey

Back on: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 09:35:08, I said:
>We at Oakland Community College are preparing to replace our ten year
>old on-line cashiering network.  We would like to hear from other
>institutions that already do on-line cashiering with immediate update
>of student financial records.  Your experiences, good or bad, will be
>appreciated.
>1. What host hardware/software do you use?
>2. Which vendors did you consider, and finally choose?
>3. What hardware/software did you consider, and finally choose?
>4. Was local customization done by the vendor/customer/both?
>5. Now that the system is in place, what are your comments?
>I will summarize the responses and post back to CUMREC-L.
>Text marked "confidential" will be excluded.
>Thanks in advance.

Two private responses were received, and are reproduced below.
My thanks to Roy Martin and Sy Fischthal.
None were posted to CUMREC-L.  Based on our investigation, on-line
cashiering is not common, but on many wish lists.  When we make our
decision, I'll post it.

+--------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
:  DLWILLIA @ OCC . BITNET       :  Oakland Community College        :
:  Dennis L. Williams            :  2480 Opdyke Road                 :
:  Special Projects              :  Bloomfield Hills, MI  48304-2266 :
:  Voice: (313) 540-1583         :  Fax: (313) 540-1841              :
+--------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

Response 1 of 2:

From:         Roy Martin <CCSYS005@CCSUVM1.BITNET>

DENNIS,
I HOPE MY REPLIES TO YOUR QUESTIONS HELP A LITTLE BIT.
>  1. WHAT HOST HARDWARE/SOFTWARE DO YOU USE?
WE'VE DEVELOPED A SYSTEM OURSELVES USING SQL/DS AS THE DATABASE AND
CSP (IBM'S MAINFRAME 4TH GENERATION LANGUAGE), AS THE COMPILER.
OUR SYSTEM RUNS ON AN IBM 4381 RUNNING VM/SP 5.
THE FIN. SYSTEM INTERFACES DIRECTLY WITH OUR REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL
AID SUBSYSTEMS.  EACH SUBSYSTEM HAS ITS OWN FILES, BUT EACH HAS THE
ABILITY TO UPDATE THE OTHER SUBSYSTEMS' FILES AS NECESSARY.
>  2. WHICH VENDORS DID YOU CONSIDER, AND FINALLY CHOOSE?
WE ORIGINALLY LOOKED AT IA'S STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ALL OF
ITS FINANCIAL COMPONENTS, BUT THAT SEARCH WAS CALLED OFF EARLY ON,
SINCE OUR ADMINISTRATION DIDN'T WANT TO BURDEN ITSELF WITH THE LONG-TERM
LEASING COSTS.  (I'M NOT SO SURE THAT WE SAVED ANY MONEY IN THE LONG
RUN - WRITING YOUR OWN SYSTEM TAKES ALOT OF PROGRAMMING EFFORT THAT
HAS TO BE PAID FOR TOO.)
>  3. WHAT HARDWARE/SOFTWARE DID YOU CONSIDER, AND FINALLY CHOOSE?
(SEE PRIOR RESPONSES.)
>  4. WAS LOCAL CUSTOMIZATION DONE BY THE VENDOR/CUSTOMER/BOTH?
(SEE PRIOR AND FOLLOWING RESPONSES.)
>  5. NOW THAT THE SYSTEM IS IN PLACE, WHAT ARE YOUR COMMENTS?
AGAIN, I'M NOT SURE THAT WE SAVED ANY MONEY WRITING THE SYSTEM
OURSELVES.  IT DEFINITELY TOOK *LONGER* TO GET A PACKAGE UP AND RUNNING
THAN IF WE HAD PURCHASED AN ALREADY WRITTEN ONE.  ONE ADVANTAGE TO
WRITING IT OURSELVES, THOUGH, IS THAT WE HAVE ULTIMATE CONTROL AND
ULTIMATE FLEXIBILITY WITH THE SYSTEM.  ANY PERSON WHO INSTALLS A VENDOR
SUPPLIED PACKAGE WILL TELL YOU THAT YOU MODIFY THAT SYSTEM AT YOUR OWN
RISK - THE VENDOR WON'T MAINTAIN YOUR MODIFICATIONS. IA'S A REAL
STICKLER ABOUT THIS.

THE MAIN DISADVANTAGE TO WRITING IT YOURSELF IS THAT YOU WILL NEED TO
TAKE THE ADDITIONAL TIME AND EXPENSE TO CONTINUALLY MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM.
THIS MEANS THAT YOU MAY NEED TO HIRE PROGRAMERS JUST TO MAINTAIN A
CONTINUALLY GROWING AND MUTATING BEAST.  ALTHOUGH, I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY
PEOPLE WHO HAVE INSTALLED IA'S STUDENT INFO SYSTEM THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY
INSTALLED A PRE-WRITTEN PACKAGE, THEY STILL REQUIRE TWO PROGRAMMERS TO
MAINTAIN IT.  SO... PERHAPS THE ONLY THING YOU GAIN BY BUYING INSTEAD
OF WRITING IS THAT THE PACKAGE GETS OFF THE GROUND EARLIER, AND WITH
FEWER BUGS.

I HOPE MY FEW COMMENTS HAVE HELPED.  DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME
IF YOU NEED ADDITIONAL INFO.

||-------------------------------|-----------------------------------||
||   Roy Martin                  |  CORPUS CHRISTI STATE UNIVERSITY  ||
||   Programmer/Analyst &        |  6300 OCEAN DRIVE                 ||
||     GOD (Guardian Of Data)    |  CORPUS CHRISTI, TX  78412-5599   ||
||                               |     PHONE: (512) 994-2693         ||
||   CCSYS005@CCSUVM1            |     FAX:   (512) 994-2366         ||
||-------------------------------|-----------------------------------||

Response 2 of 2:

From:         Sy Fischthal <SFBOSS@QUEENS>
RESPONSE--------From Sy Fischthal, Director
                     Queens College, CUNY
>1. What host hardware/software do you use?
    Host computer - HDS 8023 (Hitachi Data Systems) equiv. to IBM 3083
    Operating System - VM, DOS/VSE
    Host DataBase - CA-IDMS/DB
    Communications _ CA-IDMS/DC
>2. Which vendors did you consider, and finally choose?
    Nixdorf, NCR, IBM, misc......were considered
    We opted to write our own package around a micro based POS configuration.
    This decision was made after carefully considering available packages
    against the needs of the bursar's office AND the needs of other college
    offices responsible for student financial matters.
>3. What hardware/software did you consider, and finally choose?
    We reviewed offerings from the major POS/Cashiering terminal vendors.
    We designed a POS workstation using a PC (286 or larger), IBM 3270
    emulator board and software, HILLAPI & IBM COBOL software.
    The POS shell was purchased from CompuRegister along with an Ithaca
    POS 53 receipt/journal printer.
>4. Was local customization done by the vendor/customer/both?
    Since we write the system NO vendors were/are involved.
>5. Now that the system is in place, what are your comments?
    We have been very pleased with the opertion of the system.  Not being
    at the mercy of an external vendor has made it simple to implement new
    features as well as mandated financial aid changes.  We are currently
    investigating expanding the system so that accounting data is more
    readily available.  While we currently control cash we have maintained
    a "simple-as-possible" design approach.  Accounting doesn't like
    this approach and therefore we must enhance the level of detail retained
    in realtime.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU