[mit-habitat-exec] [ASA] New ASA Database Deployment

[asa-exec@MIT.EDU]

Dear Student Group Leaders,

We are happy to inform you that a new online ASA Database will be deployed
on Monday Nov 24, 2003.

The new Database will be linked from our main website at:
   http://web.mit.edu/asa/www
via the "ASA Database" link on the top of the left menu.

The new database is a real-time web-based database which will allow
you to update your group information online and will allow 
administrative offices at MIT to see the changes immediately!
It will also maintain records of all your requests and the history
of allocations and group status.

The transition to this database should be simple, but it will require
some work on you part.  Here is what will happen:

1) Monday Nov 24, 2003: new ASA Database deployed
- The new database will be available; it will be pre-loaded with the
following information:
  - Student Group Name
  - Status
  - Category
  - Funding Status
  - President Kerberos ID
  - Treasurer Kerberos ID

2) The old system, "setup asa", will still be used for the rest of
the fall term, until Dec 31st, 2003.

- Both *you* and the ASA need to maintain the two systems in
parallel throughout this term.  The ASA will continue to send
the information in "setup asa" to the MIT administration every Monday,
just like now, until the new year.  They will use that information
as the principal one through this term.  The MIT offices will use
the new Database as a backup while they learn to use the system.

3) On Dec 31st "setup asa" will be taken out of commission
- Both student groups and offices will use the new database completely; at
this point all the information from "setup asa" will be archived, and only
used for historical purposes.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

NOTE: the reservations and financial signatories will *not* be transferred
to the new Database automatically.  The database uses kerberos ID's to
identify signatories and assign permissions; the current database uses
plain names, which cannot always be correlated to a kerberos ID.

THEREFORE:

You have the rest of the term to enter and maintain your group's
information in the new Database.  It will be the responsibility of the
President and/or Treasurer of each ASA Recognized Group to re-enter all
the kerberos ID's of the reservations and financial signatories of your
group into the new database.

Note that if you do not make this update administrative offices of MIT will
no longer know whom your signatories are and will not be able to reserve
room, get reimbursements, etc after December 31st.

We will send you another e-mail on Sunday Nov 23rd with specific
instructions and links.

WHAT WILL BE TRANSFERED SLOWLY:

Until the ASA makes a formal announcement, the static pages that show
allocations of resources (Offices, Bulletin Boards, etc) will be the
official ones.  While we will try to transfer the information on
allocations automatically, it may require some time to confirm all the
transfers.

PERMISSIONS:

The new database will be independent of the Athena AFS file system and/or
moira lists, the permissions will be based on those people currently listed
as officers of the group (president, treasurer, or signatories) IN THE
NEW DATABASE.  When the database is first up only Presidents and Treasurers
will have access to modify the group information.  After signatories are
added, they will also have access.

QUESTIONS:

This is the first release of the ASA Database.  During these first months
we will welcome all feedback on improving the database.  Through January
2004 we will work on those recommendations, and a major update will be
deployed in February 2004. (NOTE: the new system is part of the MIT WebSIS
system, therefore the ASA Database upgrades will occur only a limited
number of times a year.)

If you have technical questions after the deployement, or wish to give
us feedback, please contact:

   asa-db at mit.edu

The more specific you are, the quicker we'll be able to get back to you
to resolve any issues.

Thank you!

The ASA Database Development Team

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This email was sent by the ASA Executive Board to the officers of all MIT
Student Activities.  The ASA Executive Board moderates these mailings.
If you have questions about its contents please contact <asa-exec at mit.edu>.

You received this e-mail because you were listed as an officer of an MIT
Student Activity.  The recipients are generated automatically from
the Officer Email List of each student group, as stored in each group's
ASA_Info file.  To update the name of this list and other information
about a group, an officer of the student group can type 'setup asa' from
an Athena prompt.  To update individual members of a list the list
administrator must use 'blanche' or 'listmaint' in Athena, or access
    http://web.mit.edu/moira
with MIT certificates.  The ASA does not have direct control over the
individual memberships of officer's mailing lists.

The table below indicates which lists your username is in.  If you received
this e-mail in error please contact the current officers of the groups
listed.

Username        Officer's List       Group Name
---------------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------
mit-habitat-exec at mailman.mit.edu              mit-habitat-exec     Habitat for Humanity