Syracuse University has revamped its campus app after the old one continued to be insecure and inflexible.

The app, called Syracuse University Mobile, was created by Information Technology Services in response to feedback from the SU community.

The original app, which was largely built by ITS, did not offer the flexibility or security needed to interface with SU enterprise systems such as MySlice, said Samuel Scozzafava, chief information officer and vice president of ITS.

The idea for the current app came about after Chancellor Kent Syverud approached Amanda Nicholson, the associate dean of undergraduate programs for the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, about working on programs to promote student engagement with the university. Nicholson set up two tournaments involving students, faculty and staff coming together to brainstorm what would improve student engagement on the SU campus.

There were about 80 people throughout the two sessions who came from all the different colleges and represented a variety of majors. In both sessions, the top idea was creating some sort of digital communication vehicle that students could use and customize, Nicholson said.

Nicholson said the most voted-on idea was a customizable mobile information system. She said the idea had everyone voting on it in both teams and the demand came through “very loud and very clear.”

The ITS department had already been looking at doing something like this, Nicholson said, and the response from the tournaments was able to push it into the next stage.

“The reason we decided to do that is that our students are millennials and they’re used to mobile interactions,” Scozzafava said. “We wanted to be able to provide services to students in the form that they’re natively using on a day-in, day-out basis.”

ITS did an analysis of the most feature-rich and popular platforms on the market, Scozzafava said, and the one they chose is growing in popularity among many university campuses.

Most of the funding for the app came from the ITS operating budget, but it has been an inexpensive project since most of the work has been done by ITS, Scozzafava said.

Scozzafava said ITS is still working on adding new features to the app and is keeping its eyes and ears open in regard to what services students need and want the most. ITS currently has plans to roll out new MySlice connections, such as being able to view exam schedules, as well as expanding to other features such as laundry view and bus schedules.

“The state that it’s in now is a very good start, but really I think the options are limitless in terms of what we can roll out with it,” Scozzafava said.

Published on December 8, 2015 at 10:32 pm

Contact Stacy: sfern100@syr.edu | @StacyFernandezB