Reengineering for the 13th Generation Copyright CAUSE 1994. This paper was presented at the 1994 CAUSE Annual Conference held in Orlando, FL, November 29- December 2, and is part of the conference proceedings published by CAUSE. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, that the CAUSE copyright notice and the title and authors of the publication and its date appear, and that notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To copy or disseminate otherwise, or to republish in any form, requires written permission from CAUSE. For further information: CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301; 303-449-4430; e-mail info@cause.colorado.edu REENGINEERING FOR THE 13TH GENERATION Louise Lonabocker Associate Dean, Enrollment Management and University Registrar Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 louise@bcvms.bc.edu John Springfield MIS Technical Support Programmer Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 spring@bcvmcms.bc.edu ABSTRACT America's 13th generation, born 1961-1981, is the impatient, quick-and-dirty generation. They play video games that stress action, acquisition and one-on-one heroism; they have sound bite attention spans; and they like short term tasks with observable results. For them, life is fast, complex and entertaining. They use programmable computers, VCRs, and telephones, have access to 24-hour banking and cable TV, and transact business with cards instead of cash. This paper will describe the development of partnerships among information technology and administrative and academic departments at Boston College to deliver information and service to this self-sufficient generation in a fast, familiar, intuitive way. Business practices and information systems have been reengineered to provide new ways of presenting, transmitting and processing information; and office procedures now offer one-stop service that automatically routes information throughout the university for simultaneous processing. TODAY'S STUDENTS - AMERICA'S 13TH GENERATION This generation of students is America's most ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse. They follow the GI generation, born at the turn of the century; the silent generation, born 1925-1942; and the well-known boom generation, born 1943-1960. Instinctively, generations have provided for the next; but with the 13ers, things began to change. Today 80 percent of college students work an average of 26 hours a week. Before the first GIs hit their 65th birthday in the mid-60s, the elderly age bracket was the nation's most poverty-prone; in 1975, this distinction jumped to the 13er child age bracket, where it has remained. America has spent the entire 13er life cycle favoring consumption over investment, living beyond current income, and raiding the future to make up the difference. Today 87 percent of college students have a credit or charge card or have access to one used by their parents. Two-thirds of college students participating in a national survey had experienced at least one of the factors that demonstrate poor money management or a lack of knowledge about money and spending including bounced checks, credit card balances that were at what they described as at "an uncomfortable level", and late payment of bills. In the 1940s, the very thought of making babies propelled young soldiers and Rosie-the-Riveters to victory over fascism; in the 1950s, baby-making was just standard suburban behavior; by the 1960s, the very thought drove young couples to doctors to prevent it. A child's world was unerringly sunny in the 50s, overshadowed by adult arguments in the 60s, scarred by family chaos in the 70s. In the 50s, nearly every movie or TV show was fit for kids to watch; come the 60s it was touch and go; come the 70s, forget it. The quality of the new teacher recruits remained high through the 50s, became suspect in the draft-pressured 60s and sank (along with teacher salaries) through the 70s. Adolescent sexual discovery meant free love in 1970, herpes in 1980, AIDS in 1990 (Howe and Strauss, 1993). In the 1960s, birthing became unfashionable, and did not regain its status until the early 1980s when Baby on Board signs first appeared and social trends started shifting away from neglect and negativism toward protection and support. Divorce rates receded somewhat, teacher salaries gained ground, and a flurry of new books chastised parents for having treated kids so poorly in the 1970s. Many of today's teens have grown up fending for themselves. Between marital splits and working parents, teenagers are responsible for far more decisions than other postwar generations, and they're being asked to take on more adult tasks. They shop for themselves, do their own laundry, and get dinner for themselves. The 13ers are often thought of as directionless slackers, but they have developed skills in areas their elders don't know as well and are at times afraid to learn: telecommunications and computer technology. With their time for exploration, teens spend hours searching through the vast online domain of Internet. America Online features Compton's Electronic Encyclopedia, DC Comics and M-TV news. Prodigy also has an encyclopedia, and downloadable games as well as games that can be played online, bulletin boards and live chats. Internet news groups include a vast array of information about computers, travel and recreation. Electronic mail allows students to communicate with friends in other parts of the country and the world. Baby boomers grew up shopping at downtown department stores and Woolworth's. Eating out was an infrequent treat at the local dairy bar, diner or restaurant. McDonald's and strip malls changed all that. In Generation X Doug Coupland points out it doesn't matter where you're from since everyone has the same stores in their malls. A walk through Siam Square in Bangkok will take you past Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, TCBY Yogurt and a Hard Rock Cafe. In the 1960s students leaving for college packed the family car with clothes, a typewriter and a hot pot. In the 90s nothing less than a Jeep Cherokee will do to transport the computers, cordless phones, VCRs, TVs, CD players, microwaves and other electronics necessary for civilized living. Teens call the shots on a broad range of purchases. Their necessities are our luxuries. On college campuses mealtime once meant steam tables, mystery meats, a set menu and a snaking service line. Today the latest wave on campus is the food mall, which has moved west to east across the country. It's a mirror of the outside world where students use declining-balance electronic debit cards to graze at the same places they've eaten at for as long as many of them can remember. To the generation that cruised malls and hung out at fast-food joints, the food is reliable and familiar. In the 1960s parents and their offspring collected green stamps. In the 90s, it's frequent flyer miles. Students can accumulate miles, scroll through and participate in various Internet news groups to plan their trips, communicate via e-mail with friends who reside in and around their destination, send a FAX to arrange accommodations and tours even in the remotest parts of the world, bring their cellular phone to call the park ranger if they get lost, and use their credit card when they run out of cash. On college campuses students are members of an increasingly diverse society. The international student population has grown 30 percent over the past decade, more than half from Asia pursuing degrees in business, engineering, physical and computer sciences. In 1992-93 foreign students made up 22 percent of the student body at MIT and 15 percent at Harvard. Minority students account for 20 percent of the enrollment at four-year colleges and over 25 percent at two-year institutions. Coupland talks about today's Global Teens, collegians who live their lives together. They shop, travel and squabble in packs. They're moderate in behavior, use no drugs, drink very little, enjoy good coffee, watch videos and eat popcorn. They love clothes and insist on the finest labels. They shop at the Gap, Limited, Structure, and Armani. They live at home. When they travel, they go together, and once they arrive, they make daily telephone calls to those who couldn't come. They will be part of the workforce in the technology- based global marketplace of the future. The 13th generation is thought to be an apathetic and apolitical generation, weaned on Vietnam and Watergate, absent of heros. But they are active in community service for the homeless, disadvantaged and abused, and having a young president and vice-president has reawakened a spirit of public service to a generation that was losing interest. They have grown up witnessing declines in economic opportunity, stable relationships, housing, safety and hope for the future. Now they want to help shape that future. REENGINEERING THE PROCESS 13ers are frustrated by lines, bureaucracy and hassles. Wherever they see useless tangles or time-wasting processes, they look for a quick bypass. They're total quality consumers. Our goal in reengineering student systems has been to eliminate those useless tangles and time wasting processes. Total Quality Management (TQM) theory encourages administrators to engage in systemic thinking about the constant improvement of all processes that deliver value to customers, and to organize work around the needs and preferences of those customers instead of within traditional departments. Walls are disappearing and students, staff and faculty are working together to design and deliver services in convenient, appropriate ways (Marchese, 1993). Reengineering is another term used when basic assumptions about the way things are done are reexamined. The goal is to go beyond the automation of an existing process, and design systems that fit the needs of the customer. Reengineering encourages designers to use technology to do things that are not already being done, to recognize a powerful solution and then seek the problems it might solve. The aim should be to cross boundaries among offices, reduce inefficiencies and duplication of effort, locate decision points where the work is performed, and make use of appropriate technologies (Penrod and Dolence, 1991). Data should be captured once at its source and then reside in the system for the benefit of all authorized users. Access and utilization strategies are essential to maximize information system abilities to achieve and maintain institutional health. Access implies that all individuals who need information have it available when they need it. Utilization implies that the system provides the information in a form clients can use and readily interpret. At Boston College the Information Technology division has formed partnerships with administrative offices on campus to deliver service to students and staff across a variety of platforms including Consumer Transaction Terminals (CTTs), microcomputers with graphical user interfaces (GUIs), and touchtone telephones. The strategy is to capture data at the source, allow end-users to process their own transactions, and give employees comprehensive views of information that enable them to perform their work effectively. The first step toward distributed access came with the introduction of the U-VIEW system. U-VIEW - JUST LIKE AN ATM In February 1989, students were given access to their records at an ATM-like Consumer Tranaction Terminal called U- VIEW. After inserting their ID card and Personal Identification Number (PIN), they could view and print their own academic, biographic, and financial information. 13ers immediately understood the familiar interface, which was easy, fun and available after business hours. Students since that time have used the menu-driven system to select transactions that display their class schedule, grades, grade point average, rank in class, final exam schedule, home and local address and telephone numbers, financial aid award, student account and vehicle registration. Using other transactions students see the status of their guaranteed student loan check; their advisor's name, office number and telephone extension; their registration appointment time; their library account; and their financial clearance status. Students can also request degree audits. To maximize the number of transactions processed, the system always features an item of the day, which is displayed as the first item on the first menu. For example, at the end of the semester "print grade report" is the item of the day. Not only did the students benefit from U-VIEW, but the administrative offices noticed that students were not visiting them for mundane services anymore. When students did come to an office, they were prepared with a U-VIEW printout and knowledge of their status. Managers started shifting their staff orientation to in-depth customer service instead of data entry and dissemination. Reengineering was starting to make a difference. There are now seven devices on campus, dedicated to providing fast, visual displays of a limited set of functions. The devices are convenient for a residential population, but they were not suitable for thought-provoking transactions like registration, and that's where the longest lines were. It was time to explore voice-response technology, which brought us to our next development: U-DIAL. U-DIAL - NO MORE LINES In October, 1990 a touchtone, voice-response application for registration and drop/add called U-DIAL was added. The touchtone, voice-response system resembles systems developed at other institutions. Students processing registration by telephone enter their student ID number, their Personal Identification Number (PIN) and their registration access code. The registration access code is printed on the student's registration form, distributed to the student's advisor, and when the advisor releases the form, the student is clear to register. U-DIAL allows students to add and/or drop courses, list their courses, and obtain the current status of a course. The system checks for time conflicts, corequisites, and restricted courses. The real advantage of U-DIAL for students is the availability of the system from almost anywhere in the world and the chance to modify their schedules anytime after registration through the last day of drop/add. The telephone is an ideal medium for students, it's intuitive, requires no training, and suits their mobile lifestyle. There is, however, a limit to the amount of information that can reasonably be spoken, e.g. schedule of classes, and the type of information that can be captured, e.g. address changes. Students needed something that allowed them to see the range of information available on U-VIEW, process the registration functions of U-DIAL, and complete additional transactions. This led to the development of U-VIEW Plus. U-VIEW PLUS - SEEING IS BELIEVING One semester after the introduction of U-DIAL, U-VIEW Plus, a terminal-based student access system, was added. Using terminals, students can enter and view their entire schedule, simulate various scheduling options, search for open sections of courses, and display information about courses including titles, instructors and meeting times. "This is the most convenient way to register," said one senior. "No long lines and no busy phone!" Directions for using U-VIEW Plus are printed in the registration publication, but students usually arrive at the terminal with no instructions, expecting the computer to lead them through the transactions. Now logon instructions are posted at each terminal, the menu displayed after logon shows available options, and each screen contains instructions for completing that transaction. All update and display screens are designed for minimal cursor movement by the student. The student just enters course index numbers and hits the enter key. Users of U-DIAL and U-VIEW Plus rated them positively, but the majority of students were not convinced that U-VIEW Plus had advantages over U-DIAL. "The telephone is more convenient," said a sophomore management major. The terminal interface was not intuitive to a population unaccustomed to moving a cursor, hitting an enter key, typing commands like done, save and quit, or using a reset key to unfreeze a cursor. It took a graphical user interface designed on Macintosh computers to move the majority of the traffic from telephones to microcomputers. U-VIEW PLUS - WELCOME TO THE MACINTOSH The Boston College computer lab houses over 100 Macintosh micrcomputers, 20 DEC terminals and 20 IBM microcomputers. Most students who use a device to complete a class assignment or paper select a Macintosh. They're lost without a mouse. U-VIEW Plus for the Macintosh lets them use that mouse and familiar Macintosh icons to point-and-click their way through registration. The new interface is more intuitive; it denotes commands with pictures or icons and limits the amount of keystroking. "Hey, this is like channel surfing! I've never used a computer before and I was finished with registration in a few minutes," exclaimed one freshman 13er. Despite having various levels of computer knowledge, students register with no training or written instruction. Upperclass orientation advisors and staff from the registrar's office assist new students during their registration session in the computing facility. While new students welcome the chance to ask questions and request help, upperclass students usually ignore the staff member on duty in favor of seeking help from peers at adjoining computers, which reassures us that our systems do not destroy community and communication. Students who like to go it alone can click on the tutorial icon or the help icon. Few do. As they move through the registration process, additional information is provided. If a course entry generates an error message, a new icon appears and clicking on it brings up a help screen of error message definitions. Some errors generate an additional exclamation point icon and message, which helps the student resolve the error easily. The highlight of the system is the course search and select option. By clicking on an icon of a magnifying glass, and entering a department prefix and number, groups of related courses are shown with current displays of course availability. Selecting a course is as easy as using the mouse to set the pointer on it, clicking, clicking next on the checkmark icon, and the student's schedule reappears on the screen with the new course. With the introduction of the GUI, the traffic on U-DIAL stabilized, and the number of students using U-VIEW Plus quintupled. We learned that the more devices and platforms we offered, the more students used the system. And with the addition of Mail Drop for sending e-mail both on campus and over the Internet, the use of GUI's continues to grow. The GUI was created with a front-end development product called "Both" by Connectivite. This tool allows the design of Macintosh-type objects and associated scripts which send both transaction names and the input required by existing mainframe applications. Communication between the Macintoshes and the IBM host is driven by the "Both" application through Avatar's Netway 2000 gateway. In recent years more students are making use of a computer and a modem at home or in their dorm room to dial in to U-VIEW Plus, which means they are using the terminal interface rather than the GUI. The motivation to use it came when grades were displayed on U-VIEW and U-VIEW Plus as they were posted on U-VIEW. New students also seem more confident with the remote dial-in option, using it to register for classes if they are unable to come to an orientation session. When the dorms are networked in September 1995, workstations sold in the campus Computer Store will be bundled to include the GUI. Additional functionality will be added to the system at that time. In the meantime we have begun to move further toward the paperless office by automating the completion, approval and routing of forms. ELECTRONIC FORMS - NUKE THE PAPER Information traditionally flows between offices on paper forms. Some forms are notifications that require no approval, like address changes. Others require approval or followup action, like withdrawal forms. Most require audit trails or tracking throughout the processing of the form. And 13ers hate forms. Think about the trail students follow to complete routine transactions like processing course withdrawal, pass/fail, and change of major. They journey from office to office to discover the source of the appropriate form, then it's off to obtain the required signature(s), and finally, if they haven't lost patience, they deliver the form for processing. Are all these steps necessary? Withdrawal forms are often among the worst offenders, requiring signatures from a range of administrative offices. What the various offices need is the information that the student is leaving; they do not add value to the process by seeing the student. Since their first visit to Disneyland, students have come to expect fast, pleasant, reliable service. Electronic data interchange (EDI) has revolutionized the process of sending and receiving transcripts, awarding transfer credit, certifying student attendance, and applying for admission. Now our internal business practices and information systems are being reengineered to provide new ways of presenting, transmitting and processing information. At Boston College administrative offices have joined with Information Technology to offer one-stop service that automatically either completes a transaction or routes information throughout the university for simultaneous processing. Information is captured at the source, each field is edited when the data is entered, the form is transmitted to the recipient or approver who acts on it immediately, and notification can be transmitted back to the originator or to other parties on campus. In May 1993 electronic forms were introduced to a broad base of users within the University when withdrawal transactions processed by the student's academic dean and the Office of Undergraduate Admission were transmitted electronically to other administrative offices. The result was more timely transmittal of information, faster processing of associated outcomes like refunds and housing changes, broader distribution of information to offices with a need to know, elimination of a redundant database of withdrawals, and of mailing and printing weekly withdrawal reports. Other forms transmitted electronically include change of major, readmission, class lists and grade change acknowledgements to faculty, and credit memos. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS The systems described above are only the beginning of what students will soon be able to accomplish. Statewide networks, links with feeder schools and Internet will allow students to tour the campus, estimate their financial need, search the catalog or library holdings, complete admission or financial aid applications, check the status of their applications, send a transcript, view a transfer course equivalency table, or obtain a credit evaluation and degree audit from their desktop. Expert advising systems can be designed that will prepare a graduation path with optimum sequencing of courses. Courses that are offered biannually could be scheduled in advance, and students could relax knowing that courses leading toward graduation will be completed on schedule. Universal messaging allows messages originated in one medium to be automatically translated into another so that users get their messages no matter how they access their mailboxes. Chip card technology, which turns a student ID card into a computer, can be used to store and update information each time the card is used. CONCLUSION Are the days of personal service at an end? The 13th generation relies on the consistent, mechanized quality and service of McDonald's and Pizza Hut, the well-ordered, self- service of The Gap, and the remote, overnight service of Land's End and L.L. Bean. This coupled with their lifetime use of remote controls, telephones, VCRs, bank cards and computers makes them well disposed to controlling their environment and their choices. The human touch may not be as important to them as it was to previous generations. The benefits to institutions that take advantage of the predisposition of these students by implementing do-it- yourself systems include reduced staffing needs and greater employee satisfaction. Staff who no longer process routine transactions or answer the same questions are freed to become more service-oriented, more technical and more knowledgeable. Systems must be reeningeered for staff as well as students so that they can easily access the information they need to resolve the more complex queries from students that they are unable to handle themselves. For example, the resolution of a registration question may involve the need to retrieve information about the student's financial aid and account. The challenge for higher education the 1990s and beyond is to unleash the creativity of its students, instructors and administrators through new services and features made possible by information technology. It will be essential to rethink the essence of our business in order to improve the quantity, consistency and availability of the services that institutions of higher education provide. From inquiry to registration, from advisement through extracurricular life to graduation, the content and delivery of the collegiate experience is being redefined everyday. Reengineering for continuous improvement to serve the 13th generation is one way of envisioning an institutional response to this challenge. REFERENCES "Back on Campus," The Boston Globe, 16 September 1994, p. l, 20 September 1994, p. 14, 21 September 1994, p 76. Coupland, Douglas. Generation X. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1991. Howe, Neil and Strauss, Bill. 13th Gen. New York: Vintage Books. 1993. Penrod, J.I. and Dolence, M.G. "Concepts for Reengineering Higher Education." CAUSE/EFFECT, Summer 1991, pp 10-17. Zinn, Laura. "Teens." Business Week, 11 April 1994, pp. 74-86.