New application to replace STARMU
The new program, MyZou, would update software.
Published Feb. 14, 2006
By 2007, MU students should have a new software program designed to integrate scheduling and online bill paying into a single, Web-based application.
The new computer program, MyZou, should be ready by fall 2007, said University Registrar Brenda Selman.
Selman also is director of the Student Administration Implementation Project, which designed the Web site.
The project is meant to improve the quality of student administration, according to the group's Web site.
Parts of the new program could be functioning as early as October, Selman said. She said students should be able to access bills and financial aid information at that time.
Selman said the biggest change would be synthesizing the registrar and cashier offices into a single system.
STARMU users must download a program to access it, but MyZou's applications will be part of the Web site.
"This would be a true Web site," Selman said. "You would have a student self-service center. A student would have his or her admission, registration, financial aid and cashier information available."
She also said the new program would be available at all times.
STARMU is only available between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
Selman said though MyZou combined two administrative programs, no jobs were eliminated.
"It's not as if there will be a new, separate entity," Selman said.
She said the Office of Cashiers and University Registrar would remain independent after the switch.
The plan for the Web site was presented to members of the Missouri Students Association on Wednesday.
MSA President John Andersen said he had previously discussed the possibility of improving the registration Web site, but Wednesday was the first time he saw a demonstration of the program.
"It's going to simplify things," Andersen said. "It will easier to monitor charges and class schedules."
MSA assigned its Academic Affairs Committee to monitor the switch to MyZou, the committee's chairman Joshua Vonder Haar said.
Vonder Haar said the committee would investigate the program's weaknesses, including examining how similar programs have worked at other schools.
"The actual program had been launched at Rolla," Vonder Haar said, referring to the University of Missouri-Rolla. "We want to know if they have any problems."
Vonder Haar said he would rely on student input to judge the final product.
"We've basically taken it on as our own responsibility to inform the students of the Columbia campus about the system switch," Vonder Haar said. "Our committee members are talking to their individual constituencies."
Vonder Haar said that when MyZou was complete, the committee would organize focus groups to test the program.