Strategic Issue
Issue: Whether the consideration of an automated, University-wide degree audit solution is
within the scope of the implementation of a new Student Information System (SIS).
PRISM #: 002
Student System Project Contact (PRISM Issue Owner): Robert LeHeup
Scope Type:
Issue Priority:
General |
Critical |
School/Unit Issue |
High |
Medium |
Coordinating Project|
New Functionality
Low
Impact Statement:
 Best practice is the use of an automated, robust degree audit solution which is used for all degree programs, facilitates
academic advising, and provides transfer credit and athletic eligibility functionality,
 The University currently uses Degree Audit Reporting Software (DARS) to provide Virginia Student Academic Audit
(VISTAA) reports for undergraduate students. Graduate students in Curry’s five-year teacher education program and soon in
the School of Nursing also use DARS.
 Articulation and coding of degree requirements for graduate programs, most of which do not use DARS—because non-course
requirements such as oral exams, foreign language requirements, and thesis/dissertation defense cannot be tracked in ISIS—
will require significant time and resources. It took two administrators 18 months to do the work required to bring up VISTAA
for undergraduate students.
 Prior to graduation, staff in the various schools manually verify each student’s completion of each requirement to identify
students who have failed to complete a requirement. This process is extremely time consuming and manual labor intensive. An
automated degree audit solution with exception handling capability will improve these processes significantly.
 If the new student system is delivered with degree audit functionality, the decision will need to be made whether to retain use
of DARS, in which case an upgrade to DARwin likely will be required, or to switch to the new product.
 Use of the degree audit solution can be expanded to centralize and automate transfer articulation procedures, currently
maintained by the individual schools, and to assist in the review of athlete academic eligibility.
Options and Implications:
1. Consideration of an automated, University-wide degree audit solution is outside the scope of the implementation of a new SIS.
In this option, the University will lose significant functionality.
2. Consideration of an automated, University-wide degree audit solution is within the scope of the implementation of a new SIS.
In this option, the University will retain valuable functionality and will provide graduate students, faculty, and staff with the
opportunity to benefit from its use.
Recommendation:
 Option 2: Consideration of an automated, University-wide degree audit solution is within the scope of the implementation of a
new SIS.
Dependencies:
 The scope of implementing an interface between the new student system and a degree audit solution depends upon the vendor
selected, whether adequate degree audit functionality is provided by that vendor, and whether a vendor-supplied interface to
DARS is available.
 The University’s analysis of the costs and benefits of each option for degree audit.

If the new system is delivered with an interface to DARS, and if the decision is made to continue using DARS, then the current
mainframe-based programming will need to be modified for the DARwin client-server platform.
Next Steps (if in scope):
 As directed by the Executive Committee, the Project Team will confer with appropriate stakeholders in the undergraduate and
graduate schools to develop a recommendation as to whether the University should retain DARS (and if so, when should it
upgrade to DARwin) or should utilize degree audit functionality provided by the new student system.
 The Project Team will convene a representative working group to identify resources necessary for the articulation and
codification of graduate degree program requirements.
 The Project Team will convene a working group of key stakeholders from the undergraduate schools to articulate and codify
transfer credit equivalencies.
 The Project Team will convene a working group of key stakeholder from Athletics to delineate academic eligibility rules for
student athletes.
Deadline for Executive Committee:
Decision by Executive Committee: Option 2: Consideration of an automated, University-wide degree audit solution is within the
scope of the implementation of a new SIS.
Executive Committee Reviewer/Approver: Full IS Executive Committee
Signature of Reviewer: Gene Block
Date: 3/1/06