University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Believe in Magic:

Creating a Shift Substitution System

With No Budget

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

The Problem:

• No budget• Professional programs didn’t meet

our needs and were too expensive

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

The Solution:

• Create our own

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

But How?

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Designing Students (and Subs)

Blending Wishes with RealityIt Can be Done

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Needed:

• Daily Email• Search feature• Notes and

Requests• Auto-track hours

subbed

• Web-based• Secure Log-on• Student/Staff can

submit• Review shifts• Guaranteed Subs

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Wanted:•Separate logons for Student Assistants (SAs) and Lab Managers (LMs)

•SAs and LMs see different shifts

•Track guaranteed shifts – limit 5

•Ability to export search results to Excel

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

We got all that

And we asked our students for suggestions

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Listening to our Students made them Happy

And made our system better

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Student Suggestions:

• SAs can delete their own subs (before approval)

• SAs can mark a sub as permanent

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Technical Stuff:Keep It Simple

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Keep It Simple

• Used Active Server Pages (ASP)

• Access database with only one table

• Re-used LDAP login from SA web page.

• Spent $169 on full version of ASPEmail

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Keep It Simple

• Student interface has three things: Submit a sub, Subs List, Review My Subs

• Staff interface also includes: Administration page and Search features

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

The Interface

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Login

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Students

Staff

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Submit a Sub

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Take a Sub - Students

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Take a Sub - Staff

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Review Subs

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Administration

• Approving Subs• Guaranteed Subs• Daily Shifts• Searching

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

AdminPage

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Searching

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Search Results

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

The Results

• SAs don’t get confused• Timesheets easier to approve• Easier to figure out who’s working• Fewer errors when approving shifts

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Links

• Subs Demo, including a downloadable source:http://www.labs.utk.edu/subsdemo/

• Our Email:labs@utk.edu

University of Tennessee, Office of Information Technology

Thank You!