Update:

Gemini rollout pushed back to February 2011 per official project website; there was no reason given for the delay.

by Rebecca Gomez

Students at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will discover a new Galaxy on Dec. 1, courtesy of project Gemini.

“The portal will still be called Galaxy; projects Gemini and Orion are the systems running behind it,” said Donald Davis, director of technology customer service.

A portal like Galaxy is an access point on the larger Gemini system; it allows students to check their campus email or access eLearning.

Orion and Galaxy were two components of a larger system called PeopleSoft; the software all of the systems on campus have slowly been upgraded to.

“Orion was done first because it was easier to move all the student records over before going live with Gemini,” Davis said.

The Gemini component handles the operating budget and human resources system. Galaxy was redesigned during project Gemini so it could be used as a portal for accessing financial and payroll information.

“Student workers can already access PeopleSoft to enter hours worked on their time cards. Gemini has streamlined that function through Galaxy,” Davis said.

Upon login to Galaxy after Dec. 1, students will have access to as many Galaxy screens as they have roles.

“A student that is also an employee has those two different roles assigned to their Galaxy ID,” Davis said, “The portal will generate content based on the assigned role.”

The content on the Galaxy login page will change, but it is the content on individual home pages which will depend on a student’s role.

The Galaxy login page will have the following additions:

• Help Desk contact information
• Scheduled maintenance times
• Live alerts for system outages
• List of supported browsers

The home page for students has a simplified three-column display with links to:

• Orion
• My Parking
• Coursebook
• eLearning
• Zmail

Orion will no longer be a stand-alone website; everyone will have to login to Galaxy to access it.

Additional links will be generated for roles other than ‘student.’


Click on the images below to view what the new Galaxy will look like.