By Rannie Salvador
Three years of promises of LAN (Local Area Network) based enrolment is finally not far off to reality.
The successfully conducted trial of the LAN-based assessment during the College of Engineering’s (COE) enrolment last June 4-8 paved way for the decision to implement this new system next semester.
COE was chosen to be the venue for the dry-run because of their building’s proximity to the data center which is the Flores Hall or the Administration’s building and also because the college has the most number of students in the university.
Having successfully conducted the trial, Engr. Oliver Mariano, Management Information System (MIS) Head stated that the winner of the bidding, Fastlink has already begun turning-over the 10-GB Fiber-Optic Backbone used in the COE assessment trial to the whole university.
“That backbone will interconnect lahat ng colleges ng BulSU which will be directed to our Admin Building,” he said.
Once interconnection is done, installation of LAN, which will be responsible for assessment and record processing of all the colleges, will follow.
Mariano also revealed that the team, including MIS, requested for the backbone and the service for the installation of the edge routers for the interconnection of buildings. But due to lack of funds, connection between computers within buildings will just be handled by COE faculty and engineers.
“Hanggang edge router lang ‘yong request, the initial project cost kasi is around Php7.4M, it so happened na mayroong bidding process na inabot ng Php4.6 - Php4.7M lang. Magsisimula na ‘yan kasi nakalatag na lahat, soon puwede nang mag-power-on/integrate, even CompLab natin pwede nang i-LAN, ” he insisted.
In addition, Mariano said that the project is currently operational and eight buildings including the data center are already connected in one router.
“Maganda naman kasi mabilis [ang assessment], konting tao lang kasabay mo sa isang room tapos nakaupo ka pa at may maayos na ventilation,” commented Carmela Agustin, ECE student, regarding the new system.
Yet, despite of the positive feedbacks, holes on the said trial were pointed out by other students. “Okay na sana kaso sa’min nasira ‘yong equipment, halos two hours kami naghintay saka lang kami pinalipat ng ibang room no’ng hindi nila mabuo ‘yong sira, tapos hindi pa p’wede do’n magpa-assess kapag scholar,” lamented Kevin Avendaño, CE student.
Mariano then answered the issue, “Again, dahil first time, do’n muna tayo sa regular at irregular students, alam naman natin na kapag scholar o athlete ka, iba ‘yong rate na babayaran, but eventually pwede na ‘yan soon.”
Meanwhile, Student Government Senator Patrick Carpio stated that despite the comfort of the LAN-based assessment, problems brought about by paying in the cashier and registrar remains unsolved.
“Alam natin na mabilis siya sa process ng assessment, wala masyadong problema pero ‘pag pila sa cashier at sa registrar, gano’n pa rin gaya ng dati,” Carpio lamented.
But Mariano defended that the possibility of the online or automated payment still depends to the capability of the software to handle such and also stated that this request is really possible but unfortunately, BulSU is a State University so the payment will not just be deposited in one account thus making it more complicated.
“Do’n naman tayo papunta, step by step muna tayo, LAN-based assessment per college is just the first step,” he ended.
Three years of promises of LAN (Local Area Network) based enrolment is finally not far off to reality.
The successfully conducted trial of the LAN-based assessment during the College of Engineering’s (COE) enrolment last June 4-8 paved way for the decision to implement this new system next semester.
COE was chosen to be the venue for the dry-run because of their building’s proximity to the data center which is the Flores Hall or the Administration’s building and also because the college has the most number of students in the university.
Having successfully conducted the trial, Engr. Oliver Mariano, Management Information System (MIS) Head stated that the winner of the bidding, Fastlink has already begun turning-over the 10-GB Fiber-Optic Backbone used in the COE assessment trial to the whole university.
“That backbone will interconnect lahat ng colleges ng BulSU which will be directed to our Admin Building,” he said.
Once interconnection is done, installation of LAN, which will be responsible for assessment and record processing of all the colleges, will follow.
Mariano also revealed that the team, including MIS, requested for the backbone and the service for the installation of the edge routers for the interconnection of buildings. But due to lack of funds, connection between computers within buildings will just be handled by COE faculty and engineers.
“Hanggang edge router lang ‘yong request, the initial project cost kasi is around Php7.4M, it so happened na mayroong bidding process na inabot ng Php4.6 - Php4.7M lang. Magsisimula na ‘yan kasi nakalatag na lahat, soon puwede nang mag-power-on/integrate, even CompLab natin pwede nang i-LAN, ” he insisted.
In addition, Mariano said that the project is currently operational and eight buildings including the data center are already connected in one router.
“Maganda naman kasi mabilis [ang assessment], konting tao lang kasabay mo sa isang room tapos nakaupo ka pa at may maayos na ventilation,” commented Carmela Agustin, ECE student, regarding the new system.
Yet, despite of the positive feedbacks, holes on the said trial were pointed out by other students. “Okay na sana kaso sa’min nasira ‘yong equipment, halos two hours kami naghintay saka lang kami pinalipat ng ibang room no’ng hindi nila mabuo ‘yong sira, tapos hindi pa p’wede do’n magpa-assess kapag scholar,” lamented Kevin Avendaño, CE student.
Mariano then answered the issue, “Again, dahil first time, do’n muna tayo sa regular at irregular students, alam naman natin na kapag scholar o athlete ka, iba ‘yong rate na babayaran, but eventually pwede na ‘yan soon.”
Meanwhile, Student Government Senator Patrick Carpio stated that despite the comfort of the LAN-based assessment, problems brought about by paying in the cashier and registrar remains unsolved.
“Alam natin na mabilis siya sa process ng assessment, wala masyadong problema pero ‘pag pila sa cashier at sa registrar, gano’n pa rin gaya ng dati,” Carpio lamented.
But Mariano defended that the possibility of the online or automated payment still depends to the capability of the software to handle such and also stated that this request is really possible but unfortunately, BulSU is a State University so the payment will not just be deposited in one account thus making it more complicated.
“Do’n naman tayo papunta, step by step muna tayo, LAN-based assessment per college is just the first step,” he ended.