Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


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.

Featured

  • networked node grid featuring illuminated connectors

    Infrastructure Accounts for More than Half of Worldwide AI Spending

    Gartner forecasts worldwide AI spending will reach $2.67 trillion in 2026, up 49.5% from 2025, with AI infrastructure accounting for nearly $1.5 trillion, or about 56% of the total. For every dollar Gartner expects to be spent on generative AI models, more than $52 will be spent on infrastructure.

  • Abstract background with digital shield made of data particles glowing blue blocking against cyber attacks

    Report: AI Attacks Push Organizations Toward Autonomous Cybersecurity Defense

    Artificial intelligence is raising the stakes of cyber conflict as attackers use the technology to accelerate reconnaissance, uncover vulnerabilities, and launch attacks faster than many security teams can respond.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Launches Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • shattered digital cloud with red warning alert icons

    CSA's Top Cloud Threats: Identity, AI

    Cloud Security Alliance's 2026 Top Threats report ranks identity first while adding two AI-related risks to its list of 11 leading cloud security concerns.