News R3

We’re back with our second installment of the R3 Project Terminology Quiz series! Our first topic was Admissions, so feel free to check the first quiz in case you missed it.

Our topics are based on the R3 terms we’ve defined and released so far, which you can find on our website’s Glossary page. It’s also a great glimpse into the language we’ll be using with our new Student Information System (SIS), Thesis Student Management (Thesis SM). With these interactive quizzes, we hope that you can either refresh your memory or learn something new—all while having fun!

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If you’ve ever perused our R3 Project website, you may have stumbled upon the Glossary page, which includes all the R3 terms we’ve defined so far. As we prepare for the launch of the new Student Information System (SIS), Thesis Student Management (or Thesis SM for short), it’s important that our users understand the new and unique terminology that comes with it.

You may have also come across these new terms via New Term Tuesday or at our R3 Showcase events, so hopefully the terminology is somewhat familiar. And if you have been reading up on R3 lingo, now is your chance to test your skills!

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The R3 Project officially started back in 2019, and since then, a lot has changed. As the largest project Algonquin College has ever seen, there’s no surprise that the project has evolved over the years based on what we’ve learned and accomplished.

To put things into perspective, let’s take some time to review the R3 Project Phases—we’ve also incorporated a simple construction analogy! Plus, we’ll highlight what’s been accomplished, what’s ahead, and why each phase matters.

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December’s Showcase event was a recap of some of our biggest highlights and key messages in 2024. The event was hosted by Claude Brulé, Algonquin College President and CEO, and Krista Pearson, Vice President of Student Services and R3 Project’s Executive Sponsor, who welcomed more than 240 participants.

Jason Taker, Manager, SIS Implementation and Digital Transformation, provided an overview of Domestic on Demand (DoD), a new integration provided by the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS), and listed the forecasted benefits for applicants, the Admissions team, and Algonquin College.

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Krista Pearson, Algonquin College’s Vice President, Student Services, discusses her new role as the R3 Project’s Executive Sponsor.

Krista Pearson is a higher-education executive leader with three decades of experience in colleges and universities across Canada. She joined Algonquin College in 2015 as Registrar and, following a national search process, assumed the role of Vice President, Student Services in August 2024.

As Registrar, Krista was one of the R3 Project’s Co-Business Leads. Now, in her new role, Krista serves as the Executive Sponsor of the R3 Project, which she describes as a transformative initiative “unlike any other project that the College has undertaken.”

We recently met with Krista in Nawapon to talk about her experience, her goals, and the impact of the R3 Project.

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The Testing Team is essential to ensuring that Algonquin College’s new Student Information System (SIS), Thesis SM, works as smoothly as possible. Their primary responsibilities involve identifying, assessing, and reporting bugs, i.e., imperfections in computer software.

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The R3 Project is developing Thesis SM, a new cloud-based Student Information System (SIS), for Algonquin College. We’ve been sharing demos of Thesis SM with the College community for several years, so now it’s your turn to try it out! We’ve created an interactive demo of Thesis SM for you to practice a simple task: updating a person’s address.

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The R3 Project is developing Thesis SM, Algonquin College’s new Student Information System. This complex task requires the coordinated effort of a large group of people, including business analysts, integration architects, training specialists, and more.

With so many roles involved, how do project members stay in sync? Enter Amir Akbari, Project Scheduler. By overseeing an extensive workback schedule with thousands of entries, Amir plays a crucial role in maximizing collaboration across the R3 Project teams.

Igor Coelho A. S. Marques recently spoke with Amir to learn more about his work. Here’s a snippet of their conversation:

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October’s Showcase event was a continuation of our May and July Showcase events, which focused on Course Enrolment. The event was hosted by Krista Pearson, Vice President of Student Services and R3 Project’s Executive Sponsor, who welcomed more than 240 participants.

Lauren Draper, Project Manager, Business Transformation, provided a summary of Thesis terminology, a quick review of some key topics that were presented during the May and July Showcase events, and an update on the R3 Project’s role in helping AC transition to the new Course Enrolment process.

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Making great movies takes more than a talented director or a popular lead actor. Great movies are brought to life by the orchestrated effort of many hard-working people, from camera operators to caterers, each contributing their expertise to the project.

Similarly, a solid Student Information System (SIS) must be integrated with a variety of services to meet the needs of a community like ours. To achieve this, the R3 Project and Information Technology Services (ITS) are working together to integrate dozens of industry-leading solutions to Thesis SM, Algonquin College’s new SIS.

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