Flagship University Transitions its Enterprise Systems to Cloud

The enterprise systems of the University of Texas at Austin were originally developed prior to the turn of the millennium and became the standard for all of the academic institutions within it. Mainframe-based and highly customized, the tightly-coupled DEFINE system supported financial management and human capital management processing across the enterprise. As the expectations of DEFINE and the University’s student information system increased and as the population of developers knowledgeable about the underlying technologies aged, university leadership identified the need to increase system flexibility and responsiveness while containing system support costs. Cloud-based enterprise system options presented an alternative to more effectively address these needs.

In the midst of a multi-year Administrative Systems Master Plan (ASMP) Road Mapping project, the university faced a difficult decision. How should it invest resources to provide constituents with information and tools to most effectively manage student, human capital and financial services? Students expect web-based systems with intuitive interfaces available from their devices. Legislators and university leadership expect comprehensive and often unpredictable ad hoc reporting and compliance. The options available—to upgrade the existing system, collaborate with other universities on a new system, or eliminate most internal infrastructure by moving to a cloud-based system—each presented their own benefits and risks.