Northland College Moves To Integrate Portal, Administrative Systems

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/24/09

Northland College in Ashland, WI is taking steps to integrate its administrative systems and Internet portal to streamline operations and deliver online self-service tools to better engage students, faculty, and staff.

The college is deploying Jenzabar EX, an enterprise resource planning system, and Jenzabar's Internet Campus Solution (JICS) portal software to aid in the effort.

Northland College is the sixth member of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Educational Technology Consortium to adopt JICS.

"If there is one bottom line, it is trying to make processes as smooth and seamless as we can make them," said Rick Fairbanks, provost and vice president of academic affairs. "Formerly there were all kinds of irritants in the way when students were just trying to do simple things--see their records, for example--and the same thing was true for advisors trying to get information about their students. The Jenzabar system is going to put us in a position to provide better services, because we will have one data system that will interlock with everything and which students, faculty, staff, and administration will all use."

Jenzabar EX, which runs on Microsoft SQL Server, allows staff to access, update, store, and report on data through a common database. JICS, an Internet portal designed for higher education, will provide Northland with a single point of access to communications, Web services, and other community-building and e-learning applications.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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