That was the question at UIW!

 Private, Catholic university  Campuses in San Antonio (Texas), China, Mexico and soon in Germany  Bachelor degrees through Ph.D. and PharmD.  Fall 2011 enrollment, 8,500 with 3,100 classes  Approved at Provost’s Dean’s Council  Discussed and announced, Fall 2010  First online-only schedule, Fall 2011

 Schedule available only through Bannerweb  Alerted IT team and network guy  Provided priority registration schedule to IT team and network guy to monitor load on SIS and network.  Posted signs and sent to remind faculty/students of no printed schedule  Still had faculty/students asked for printed schedule

 IT inactivated important link  Students/faculty reviewing courses online slowed down online registration  More activity online created pressure on all systems—network, SIS, and web  Surge on the system brought down the network and the SIS—for 30 minutes  Peaked and crashed at each priority group entry

 Updated IT team and network guy about date/times of registration  IT team sent notices to all offices that they would kill all non-registration activity (batches, reports, etc.) during registration  IT created a real-time PDF document (same format as the schedule) to download  Registrar sent faculty/students the link to the PDF document

 System did not crash  Ran at 100% capacity for extended periods  Offices not related to registration stayed away  Network did not crash  Web access crashed  4-5 clicks to reach schedule/registration links  Affected all web activity—online and in offices  Frustration was had by all!!

 Have a specific one-click URL for registration  Send that link to students and faculty along with the link to the downloadable PDF schedule  Turn on online schedule earlier to allow for thorough study before registration  Change priority registration schedule to two days—graduate/Ph.D./PharmD./O.D./athletes and then undergraduates

 Communicate, communicate, communicate again, and again, and again.  Talk to your IT team, your network guy, and your web team  IT controls your SIS load  Network controls the load on your network connections (routers, web-based software, etc.)  Web guys control access to your web pages

 Provide what faculty/students want without creating a burden on your system  Create real-time PDF schedules  Create alternate links for the login screen  Actively monitor your systems  Get support to “kill” all non-registration system-draining activity  Remind faculty/students to read course comments and pre-requisites