BRADEN FELLINGER
LIBERAL COLUMNIST
On Oct. 25, Franciscan University students found a new login for all of their university needs through a single entry called AccessFUS.
AccessFUS is a project through the Information Technology (IT) department, the Marketing and Communication’s Department and e-learning. Six people from IT worked on the technical side, with Marketing and Communications and e-learning providing opinions and branding ideas.
Pam Shane, the director of Enterprise Application Services described Access FUS as “a single sign on portlet.”
“You can find it anywhere where you used to see myfranciscan or blackboard on the website,” said Shane. “Once you sign into AccessFUS you will have access to other web based applications and no longer have to log in individually.”
AccessFUS has been a plan in the Information Technology Department for a long time. Nancy Oliver, since taking her position as director of information technology, has coordinated the project. The team started evaluating software in January, and afterwards in the Spring, Oliver went to administration and got the funding to start the project.
There were several reasons why the team decided to create AccessFUS. Dennis Breen, the director of infrastructure services, said that AccessFUS “was one of the original drivers that came from the students. Students would come to admissions and ask for a single sign on, and we met in the Spring with student government and they repeated the need.”
William Beatty, the database administrator, said, “It was confusing to have multiple logins, and AccessFUS cuts down on the different tickets to the support desk, because students only have to memorize one password now.”
There are no immediate plans for the future enhancements to AccessFUS, but it is an evolving system where additional software can be added without it being another separate project.
“In December, when we switch over to the different email, we will have the ability to switch it over ourselves,” said Shane. “We have the ability to add additional items and links. Right now, we are going to put a forum out there so students and faculty can nominate a software that is not in place yet, but we have added the majority of them.”
Unfortunately, IT is not going to be able to put every link people want on there. The links they add to AccessFUS are going to have to be by demand. Nevertheless, they think AccessFUS is going to be a convenience to a lot of people.
Even though she was not available for the interview, Shane, Breen, and Beatty wanted to make sure Nancy Oliver received the credit she deserved for her role in the project. AccessFUS would not have been possible without her or the grant she was able to obtain through Campus Consortium to defray the project costs.
The link for AccessFUS is found at the top of the university’s webpage.