We recently overheard this conversation on the CollegeNET customer listserv, and thought it provided useful insights for anyone considering moving their campus scheduling to CollegeNET SaaS.
Central Washington University asks:
"We are currently using 25Live as a DBCS school and are considering moving to SaaS. Has anyone upgraded from being a DBCS environment to SaaS? I would love to know any pros and cons of doing this upgrade.”
- Amy Alder, Academic Scheduling Supervisor, Central Washington University
Response #1 from UMASS, Boston:
“Hi Amy, A primary reason to choose SaaS is it gives the vendor a controlled environment allowing it to really hone in on the best technology. For CollegeNET in particular, SaaS right now offers you the new asynchronous SIS interface that runs circles around the one DBCS customers have. Plus, additional releases are yours at no cost -- either monetary or time or staff. All the upgrade tasks go away. We went from "DBCS" to SaaS in the R25 world and found it to be a world of difference.”
– Robert Caron, Senior Business Systems Analyst, University of Massachusetts
Response #2 from Northwestern University:
“Hi Amy- I'll chime in. I believe all of us old timers made the transition from DBCS to SaaS at some point. I'm very strongly in favor of SaaS. Since 25Live is a web based product, it makes more sense for it to be handled that way. I've found that DBCS schools often aren't upgrading at a pace remotely close to what SaaS if offering. It isn't their fault. I remember being DBCS and I understand you're at the mercy of your school's IT department and the million other products they're trying to maintain. However, for a software like 25Live, that can put you behind the curve. For example, sometimes on the listserv I see schools complain about 25Live being slow. Then they say they're on version 23. Version 23 was released in May 2013. Could you imagine using a browser like Chrome or Firefox if it hadn't been updated since 2013? For a web software, SaaS just makes better sense.”
– Dustin Levell, Business Systems Analyst, Northwestern University
Response #3 from Millikin University:
“I concur with Dustin; we went from R25 DBCS to 25Live SAAS, and for the most part, it's been a good decision. There have been some small hiccups along the way, but it's quite nice to be able to delegate issues from upgrades along to the support folks, rather than having to do a ton of research on our own and passing details back ;)
“There have been some things that we can't do now since we don't have direct database access, but that's forced...er...enabled and encouraged...me to break out my webservices API developer hat to build that integration, and I must say that they do have a very nice full-featured API available. The whole prod vs test setup is awesome as well - when we need a clone, we just shoot off an email, and usually within 30 minutes, test == production. No more bugging my DBA coworker one desk over for a time slot to do a db clone on top of the 50,000 other things on his plate.
“It's also nice to be able to tell the "advanced functional" users that when they have problems, just email ‘asktrainers.’ That way we don't have to act as intermediaries in between the CNet staff and our staff - they can talk things out in the language they understand, rather than me trying to act as a translator or relay host. And when I'm in one of my 50,000 meetings, or deep in another project, it doesn't slow them down because I'm not available to put a ticket in.
“And, I don't put off upgrades for fear of what will break anymore. They handle it, and I don't have to deal with it :)”
– Chris Myers, Systems Analyst, Millikin University
Response #4 from University of Central Missouri:
“University of Central Missouri made the transition to SaaS two years ago, so I have experience with both. We have realized a direct monetary savings as the server which formerly hosted our R25 3.4 instance was re-purposed and our IT staff has been able to invest their time on other projects. I would absolutely encourage you to strongly consider SaaS.”
– Daniel Ayers, Event Technology Manager, University of Central Missouri
Learn more about CollegeNET SaaS services
here
