ASC is currently analyzing college custom reports and mass change information that has been submitted by colleges.  If you have not submitted this information, please do so as soon as possible.  The address is:  http://164.106.10.30/Reports/Default.htm.

ASC will be adapting for Version 8 those college custom reports which can be used by multiple colleges.  Other college custom reports will need to be modified by college staff to work with Version 8.  Before making any modifications, we recommend that colleges analyze the need for the customization and review Version 8 functionality for possible alternatives.  For customizations that were made to PS delivered SQRs, we recommend that colleges test the PS Version 8 delivered SQR to see if it has been improved and would meet their needs.  For custom SQRs that were developed by colleges to meet reporting needs, we recommend that colleges look at the options in PS Version 8 to see if there is a delivered report in Version 8 or if a VCCS common report or query has been developed to meet their needs.  Keeping customizations to a minimum will make future upgrades much simpler.  During the next upgrade, there are major table changes that will impact almost all custom reports. 

ASC plans to finalize the directory structure and strategy for SQR reports in the next few weeks and will provide documentation and guidelines for the colleges in converting their SQR reports. 

Also, ASC is still exploring the options for college custom Crystal Reports and we hope to provide more information within the next few weeks.

ASC is hopeful that we will be able to migrate custom mass change definitions into Version 8.  However, in analyzing those that were submitted by the colleges, it appears that the majority of them are used for 3C’s.  There are substantial 3C’s table changes in Version 8.  One of which is that emplid no longer exists (COMMON_ID replaces EMPLID) in PS_COMMUNICATION, PS_PERSON_CHECKLST, and PS_PERSON_COMMENT.  College staff will need to recreate and modify, as necessary, and test custom mass changes in PS Version 8.  This needs to be done in the development database and again in the Version 8 database after Version 8 has been implemented.  ASC will continue investigating options for mass change and will provide more information later. 

For all the mass changes related to 3C’s, ASC recommends that colleges analyze them, both functionally and technically and modify, as necessary.  If the mass change uses a PS delivered mass change template, the college staff should review and modify as necessary to work with PS Version 8.  For mass changes that were created using non-PS delivered templates, the college staff should analyze each mass change and the need for the mass change and look at Version 8 functionality to see if it may now have that functionality, or offer possible alternatives.