Administrative Units Begin Planning for DaFIS

The computers in their offices are looking different these days. Macintoshes are moving out; PCs are moving in.

The change has nothing to do with likes, dislikes, or personal preferences. Tony Flores, Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, says he grew up with the Macintosh. He likes Macintoshes, and until recently, he had one on his desk.

For Flores and the others, the change was motivated by a combination of factors -- capability, compatibility, and last but not least -- DaFIS.

With training underway for the some 1,500 campus personnel who will access the new Financial Information System (DaFIS), individual concerns about technical difficulties are surfacing. Among the questions being asked are:

• Will Macintoshes adequately support business applications in the future?
• Will DaFIS support secure network transactions for Macintosh users?
• Will software upgrades for the Macintosh lag behind those for PCs?

The Directive was issued by Janet C. Hamilton, Vice Chancellor for Administration, and Carole A. Barone, Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology. Scheduled to go online in July 1997, DaFIS is a collaborative effort between the Office of AdministrationŐs Accounting and Financial Services Division headed by Flores, and the Division of Information Technology.

"We're not suggesting that people abandon their Macs," says Flores, who is orchestrating the implementation of DaFIS. "We're concerned about those people whose work by nature is concerned with UCD business transactions."

Administrative users in Accounting and Financial Services began converting to PCs in 1991 and managers began transitioning to the PC platform this year. Flores says the move to a single platform was motivated by the fact that exchanging information across the network would be less complicated and easier to manage in a department of the size of Accounting (approximately 160 full time employees). He also noted that maintenance and security would be less costly.

The Office of Administration recently upgraded 30 computers. Kathleen Moore Joiner, Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of Administration, says all upgrades were to the PC platform. Before purchasing new computers, everyone in the office completed a survey about business needs and applications for computing. Joiner says all applications could be accommodated on either a PC or a Mac, so the questions that needed to be answered were, "Which applications work best for us and are most cost effective, and what does it cost us, both in network support and training users to share information and to maintain a mixed platform?"

"Our planning group felt that PCs were the better choice for our needs," says Joiner.

An analysis of business functions also led the Dean's Office of the Division of Biological Science to upgrade some computers to the PC platform. In making the decision, Dave Shelby, Assistant Dean of Biological Sciences, said it was important to separate functionality from personal preference.

"The key to our transition was looking hard at whether or not there was a technical reason for using the Mac," says Shelby.

The PC platform works well for administrative functions in the Division of Biological Sciences Dean's Office. The Dean's Office uses ACCESS database software, which is not available for the Mac. And, as Shelby notes, with a single-platform approach "there is an efficiency in terms of crossing subnets and getting everyone to talk to a single server."

Shelby says it is important to note that for many faculty the Macintosh is the preferred platform.

Further information about DaFIS can be found on the Web at http://accounting.ucdavis.edu/docs/fis/fis.htm.

Recommended Solutions for computing hardware purchases can be found on the Web at http://www.ucdavis.edu/IT/.