As summer rolls in, so do droves of students making the switch from high school students to first-year Wildcats.

So it’s no surprise that the system used to register students for classes and teachers for vacations is undergoing steady changes in the summer months.

UAccess Student replaced Matrix, the Degree Audit Reporting System, the Student Information System and both Student Link and Advisor Link as the new operating system for the UA, completely supplanting Student Link by the fall of 2010, said Keith Humphrey, vice president of student affairs who works with New Start, a program overseeing freshman orientation.

Overall, Humphrey noted UAccess has been much better for students than Student Link and he’s seen “”high levels of satisfaction”” with the new system.

“”For freshmen, they don’t know any different. They aren’t looking for the same types of things they had in Web Reg,”” he said, noting the new system allows incoming students to register while still leaving current students open times to rework their own schedules.

“”It’s better for incoming as well as continuing students,”” Humphrey said.

For incoming students, the big news on UAccess Student is that Student Link functions are being moved to the UAccess Student Center and Guest Link is turning into the new Guest Center in the UAccess Student system, said Kay Stevens Beasock, manager of organizational communications for the Mosaic Project, which oversees UAccess Student.

Because they receive training on Guest Center, students are hit with the new system right away, Beasock said.

Using the same process as the old Guest Link hosted through Student Link, the registry of guests and the information they have access to will be available, but hosted in the new student center.

“”So if you want your parents only to pay your bills, then you can give them access to see just that information,”” Beasock said. “”But we’ve gotten comments and people seem to really like it.””

However, only the look and feel of the new system will be available to users for now. Parents and students cannot use the new Guest Center for account balance information and other services until the official go-live on July 19.

Two training videos are assisting administrators on how to integrate students into the new system. One is for students on how to grant access, and the other is for the guests on how to view information students have allowed them to access.

For incoming students unaware of the old system, the new system presented little challenge.

“”Usually, only if it’s a major problem, it’s coming to me,”” said Ryan Windows, a program coordinator with the Dean of Students office. “”Doesn’t mean there might not be 15 or 20 people having a problem, but I troubleshoot … and I’m not seeing it.””

Returning and continuing students who are not involved in the orientation process will be receiving an e-mail through the university to let them know when they will start using the new Guest Center.

“”The reason some people may think they don’t need to worry is because they’ve already given their parents access,”” Beasock said. “”But it doesn’t transfer because it’s a brand new system.””

On the same day as the UAccess Guest Center’s official go-live, students can actually begin to see their fall 2010 bill in the UAccess student center. For the bursar’s office, that just means they begin to process billing information in the UAccess system starting on that date.

Although there is still a lot of work to be done, there has been positive feedback for the system, even in the hustle of summer orientation.

“”Prescheduling seems to be going well for the new students as well,”” Beasock said. “”But the (Guest Center) is our big push.””