All posts in ‘Decision Support’

As you may already know, the Stanford Electronic Research Administration System (SeRA) is replacing the legacy SPIDERS system.  SeRA was rolled out to OSR and some units on Feb 14, and the School of Medicine on May 23. The transition to this new system has some temporary effects on the sponsored projects data available in DSS. (more…)

IR&DS is offering individualized Business Objects training sessions by appointment.  Training will be provided in our office for individuals or groups of two. Larger groups of three to six people can be accommodated in our conference room in Building 60 but will not be as “hands-on”. Sessions will last between 1½ and 2 hours, depending on trainee(s) requirements.  Please send requests for one-on-one or small group training to dss-support@lists.stanford.edu.

We completed our upgrade from Business Objects version 6.5 to Business Objects XI R2 in early March.  By now, all users should have installed the latest version on their computers.  Business Objects is now integrated with Reportmart3, so users must go through Reportmart3 to create or run any Business Objects report.  The old version 6.5 no longer works and can be uninstalled from your computer.  If you have not upgraded to the latest version of the DSS Business Objects software, you can download instructions from the DSS website:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/irds

Please contact Kathy Mahler (kmahler) or Lillian Lee (lillian.lee) if you have any questions or problems with the new version.

IR&DS has just subscribed to Webex Remote Support, which means that we can now provide better and more efficient user support for Business Objects.  Webex Remote Support allows us to access your computer from our own office (with your permission).   We can now debug your report errors or installation problems more quickly and easily.  Keep this tool in mind the next time you call IR&DS with a question about a Business Objects report or installation issue!

DSS has been using the same version of Business Objects, 6.5, for a couple of years now, and it is no longer a supported version. In addition, ReportMart3, which is also a Business Objects product, is using a later version, called XI (ex-eye) Release 2, aka BOXI R2. We realized we could combine the DSS license with the RM3 license, and save the University about $40,000 per year. But that savings means we need to upgrade to be able to piggyback on the RM3 license. (more…)

Last spring, when DSS converted from using the “old star” to the new EDW tables, we created a new universe called “OF GL Data”. This new universe provides greater functionality than the old star, but has also raised some common questions. We will address those here and provide some tips for using this universe successfully. (more…)

Each year many proposals for funding of technology projects go before the Systems Governance Group (SGG) for discussion. These projects come from both of Stanford’s technology groups—Information Technology Services, and Administrative Systems—and range from security and backup for Stanford’s data to enhancements to Stanford’s many administrative systems. (more…)

Along with the rest of the campus, IR&DS has had to adapt to the new PeopleSoft Version 9. The upgrade required us to update the jobs that bring student and HR data into DSS once a month (on the first Saturday of the month). The tables underlying the Student Administration and Human Resources Administration online systems were changed, and Kathy and Anita analyzed those changes to see which tables needed to be updated for our monthly load. (more…)