New registration system up and running

The new system, myZou, has received positive feedback.

By Brad Fischer

Published March 16, 2007

With the new myZou registration system up and running, there have been a few minor glitches, but overall the system has received positive feedback, said Brenda Selman, MU registrar and director of student information system implementation.

Pre-registration for the fall semester began on March 5 and concludes on March 23. STARMU has been replaced by myZou as the university's information and registration system. STARMU had been the registration system since 1975.

Selman said the university community has responded positively to the new system.

"People like it," Selman said. "You can use it with various browsers, it's open 24/7, and it doesn't require various codes or Host on Demand."

She said the permission numbers are electronic, so students no longer have to walk forms to Jesse Hall to get an override processed.

Junior Yaumin Yoon said she likes registering with myZou better than STARMU but thought that a tutorial would improve the system.

"It's easier to use," Yoon said. "But it can be confusing at first to find your way around the system. It took a while to get used to because nobody taught you how to use it."

Selman said an electronic tutorial page is located at saip.missouri.edu, which is accessible by clicking on the "About myZou" link on the myZou Web site. She also said officials at the Office of the Registrar plan to add a direction on the first page of the Web site to the self-service link. The self-service page is where students can access the schedule of classes, register for classes and perform other registration tasks.

When students log on to myZou for the first time, only a link reading "UM E-Consent" is visible. Before being allowed to access the self-service page, students must decide if they want to be able to access to financial information through the system.

Some items such as grades in past courses have not been loaded into the system yet.

Yoon said some permission numbers used to register for certain marketing courses did not work correctly. Journalism classes have had similar problems.

Selman said it was a matter of where the students entered the permission number, either when selecting the lecture or the lab section. She said such problems have not been major concerns.

Freshman Curt Nevins said he sees the system as an improvement upon STARMU, and it will be much better than the former system once all components are in place.

"I think once they get myZou up and going, it will be much better than STARMU because it is more user-friendly," Nevins said.