The Office of Student Systems Services (OSSS) was formed to provide ongoing coordination and continuity between the UIC campus and the University’s central enterprise systems support organizations once the implementation of the university’s ERP system was completed in 2004.
OSSS supports the UIC campus administrative and college units, faculty, and students in their use of UI-Integrate/Banner and related student systems. OSSS objectives are to maximize the benefits of UI-Integrate/Banner; interact with the university’s Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) and other central systems support organizations; advise and alert other administrative areas on potential impacts; coordinate system usage and changes; manage system upgrades; and create, support, and maintain UIC-specific ancillary systems.
The roles and responsibilities of OSSS have grown since it was formed. In addition to the initial charge, the office develops applications for short and long term use to support the students and the campus. Short term applications are only developed when stop-gap measures are required before a long term enterprise solution is available – either as part of a core application such as Banner, or local development and implementation. Long term solutions are required to support UIC-specific needs that are not addressed at the enterprise level. OSSS has also been charged with providing strategic direction and development of the portal for all UIC constituents (faculty, staff and students).