Having converted 2 million lines of code and executed over 1,300 test cases, U of T’s Information Technology Services is excited to announce that User Acceptance Testing for the NGSIS Platform Modernization Project will begin in late June.
During this phase, over 100 ROSI users from across all three campuses will put the new platform to the test using their business process expertise.
“EASI and Information Technology Services have done a great job at setting up the new infrastructure, security and code,” says Sinisa Markovic, assistant university registrar and director of operations at Enrolment Services. “Now, as users of the system, it’s our turn to test it and ensure a smooth transition to the new system.”
Donald Boere, registrar of Innis College, agrees.
“This is the exciting part for end users of ROSI. EASI has assembled a team of functional users who will work together to run those complex ROSI transactions they know so well through the new platform.”
The Platform Modernization Project involves structural changes to ROSI to improve system performance and capacity, and real-time integration with enterprise systems.
So far, the project has involved over 30 staff members from EASI, Information Security and Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions. They’ve built the new system and are now testing its integration with other systems, including ACORN, ROSI Alumni Transcripts and ROSI Express.
“This project is the culmination of lots of planning – it’s one of the largest University-wide initiatives undertaken since the original implementation of ROSI,” says Cathy Eberts, executive director of EASI. “It requires a lot of user feedback and it’s truly a partnership between information technology and our divisional end-users.”
User acceptance testing will run from June to September, and will follow the basic flow of U of T’s academic cycle. Users will attend workshops related to their business areas and will work with specific checklists for each ROSI module.
The goals are to review a wide breadth of execution paths, uncover specialized business processes that may not have been tested, and confirm the usability of the web-based application.
“We’ve combined our strategy, based on best practices, with a solid test plan,” says Mike Wyers, quality assurance lead at EASI. “Richard Chow, an information technology analyst at EASI, created the test plan and is a true subject matter expert – he understands the big picture and details of ROSI – so the test plan will help us collect feedback at every step of the process.”
Benefits of the NGSIS Platform Modernization Project:
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- Permits 15,000 students to access the system via ACORN simultaneously versus the current 700
- Provides new option for PDF output
- Allows for a modern file management interface
- Opens up the potential for live integration between divisional systems and ROSI
- Helps U of T stay at the forefront of technological innovation
Next steps for the project include performance testing and go-live planning.
“As part of the performance testing, we’ll simulate 15,000 concurrent registrations. The current system can only handle 700,” says Philip Millenaar, project manager with EASI. “We’re also planning several dry runs to test out cutting over to the new environment – we want to make sure that we’re a well-oiled machine before the go-live date.”
What can testers expect as part of the process?
“Beyond testing the system for specific business processes, we want to ensure the testing is fun,” says Eberts. “We’re offering rewards, and it’s a great way to bring the ROSI community together.”