About Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
UiTM is a large Public University in Shah Alam, Malaysia established in 1956. The University comprises of one main campus and 34 state campuses. With 17,488 academic and non-academic staff, UiTM offers over 500 programmes ranging from foundation to postgraduate level. It is home to some 1,70,514 students. UiTM has around 40 libraries to cater to the requirement of students and staff.
Business Need
UiTM needed to upgrade their library automation from legacy system to a web Centric Library system.
Challenges
- UiTM was using legacy system having 12 physical databases. The challenge was to migrate, validate, clean and correct data into LIBSYS7 system. Using best practices, data migration was completed successfully in 4 months.
- Since there were 40 physical libraries spread in different geographical locations and working environments, it was important to implement the system in a way to ensure almost 100% uptime, high access speed and accuracy of the transactions. Since users were spread across geographical locations and were using client server system, it was essential to impart quality training and practical exposures on the system.
LIBSYS Solution
LIBSYS 7 software was implemented using clustering and load balancing on 3 physical servers, serving 40 libraries 24x7x365 days to ensure 100% uptime and performance. Server performance is monitored regularly by specialized tools of LIBSYS for ensuring speed, accuracy, health status and performance of the system. Training was conducted in 4 locations with focus on hands-on experience and TOT methodology. Since legacy system had its own limitation, customization was done to automate almost all manual processes. Vendor rating system was developed in consultation with Acquisition department to meet their Vendor Selection and performance monitoring requirement.
LIBSYS 7 software was integrated with Student Management System and HRMS for fetching the student/staff data in realtime and handle convocations/retirement/transfers. System was also integrated with FAIS (Financial System) for budget and payment management. Lotus notes were integrated for email relays. NCIP is used to connect their RFID hardware from different OEMs.
Benefits
- UiTM is using our system for five years. Almost all of their library processes are automated. UiTM has over 1.27 million records and over 230K transactions.
- Earlier they were using 12 servers to manage and maintain the legacy system but now all the 40 libraries are running on 3 servers.
- LIBSYS 7 system has helped UiTM to have huge savings on human resource expenditure and infrastructure cost. Efficiency and reach of the library has grown many folds resulting in better user experience and satisfaction.
