YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY 3-year plan implemented to upgrade computers

The university will invest about $12 million in the project.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University officials have begun implementation of a comprehensive three-year plan to improve the institution's computer systems.
"When prospective students or faculty visit YSU or any university -- whether in person or over the Internet -- the computing capabilities of the institution are increasingly an important factor in the decision to choose YSU or go elsewhere," said Donna Esterly, interim chief technology officer.
The plan has been dubbed YES -- YSU Enterprise Resource Planning Solution. A kickoff celebration of the plan was held Friday in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on campus.
"There may be no more important process at YSU over the next three years as the upgrading of our campuswide computing systems," YSU President David C. Sweet said.
Developing the plan
The YES plan has been under development for more than a year.
A major component of that plan is the purchase of enterprise resource planning software, which will boost the university's administrative computing capabilities in human resources, financial aid, finance, student records and alumni/development.
Implementation of the software will occur over the next three years under the YES plan. Project managers Eileen Greaf and Dona Madacsi and an 11-member committee are leading the implementation. In all, more than 100 students, faculty, staff and administrators are involved in the process, and that number will grow as the project spreads across campus.
The draft budget over the next three years contains approximately $7 million in one-time costs for hardware, software and implementation services and approximately $5 million in ongoing costs for maintenance, training and staffing for the three-year implementation period. The cost is similar -- if not lower -- than what other Sungard SCT universities are projecting, Esterly said.
The hardware required to support the SCT software has been purchased and installed. The new technology will increase YSU's ability to process data by 200 percent, increase tape storage capacity, and dramatically increase electronic data storage from 840 billion bytes to 4.2 trillion bytes.