Student Registration 2008

We had some critical problems with our student system yesterday. Here is the message that went out to various people on Monday evening.

I am sorry that there have been performance problems with the SAINT system at a critical time of year. IT Services is very aware of the urgent nature of the problems and there is a plan of action to respond to these recent events.

Very briefly the system performed well over clearing "under pressure" (apart from one blip on the Monday) but has encountered several problems with poor system performance over recent days, requiring the system to be stopped and re-started. There have been some business changes since last year (e.g. relating to the sophistication of the HESA return and the use of online pre-enrolment by new students). None of us expected this to have a significant impact on performance based on our experience last year - when the system as it is currently configured performed OK.

When I went to the Registration Hall at 14:00 and again at 17:15 today I was advised by Simon Croll and Nick Buck that the morning had been really difficult but performance had been satisfactory since lunchtime today and students had been successfully processed.

My understanding is that our recent volume of business has simply pushed the system to its limit and in particular that the system memory has been at capacity (100% use at times). I believe that this evening at 17:15 more memory was added as an immediate remedial action - this course of action had been agreed with colleagues towards the end of last week.

It may be helpful to know that a significant computer equipment upgrade has already been purchased and delivered physically to the University. It is awaiting set up by the University and its supplier (Tribal) - it hasn't been done already because there has been an agreed embargo imposed on any changes to network and system hardware in relation to SAINT since degree congregations, through clearing, pre-enrolment and now enrolment. It has become clear that this upgrade cannot wait and must be brought forward accepting that this will result in some further downtime and, as with any change, it may also introduce other unexpected consequences. Of course we would fully expect it to resolve the current performance problems and it will also improve resilience.

If you feel it appropriate, please forward this message (or relevant parts) to any colleague who may have been involved in the original circulations. We will provide an update on the timescales to follow when I have consulted others in IT Services and the SAINT Team.