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ACES Goes Mobile

Students can now track their classes, grades and student financial accounts from smartphones. Professors and advisors using mobile devices can see who is in their class, enter grades and allow advisees to enroll. 

The Student Information Services and Systems Office (SISS), in collaboration with OIT, this weekend began the first phase of a roll out of the new web-based, mobile view of ACES and STORM, the student and faculty self-service portals that access academic, financial and personal data for students, and classes and grade rosters for faculty. 

"Mobile views are not just important because they are now expected as a convenience," said Kathy Bader, assistant vice provost and director of Student Information Services and Systems. "They're critical as Duke's focus becomes more global in every respect -- faculty research, DukeEngage, graduate programs, demographics of students, DKU, etc." 

"Faculty traveling to Macau need to enter a last-minute grade; students at home in Cairo between terms want to see they are first on the waitlist and take action," she said. "We have tailored our first phase of displays based on this kind of usage and will fine tune based on feedback." 

With the implementation of Phase One, students can use smart phones to:

- view their schedule

- search classes

- view financial aid data

- view their student account and pay their bill

- update personal data 

Phase One allows faculty and advisers to:

- view their class rosters with photos

-  enter grades

- view basic academic data on their advisees

- make advisees eligible to enroll 

Phase Two of the mobile application, which is scheduled for late November, will include transcript requests, bookbagging (students' ability to list classes they are considering taking) and registration. Until then, the full website must be used for these tasks. In the spring, students will be able to register via their mobile devices throughout the registration period, including the 7 a.m. windows. 

The mobile ACES solution is accessible from most mobile devices. The functionality of this new version of ACES was determined with the assistance of student and faculty focus groups. Since the new version is web-based, there is no application to download, and the mobile application will be the default when one logs in on a mobile device. One may also choose to view the full site to access more features.

Log in will be the same as on a computer and the user will be automatically tranferred to the mobile site. Another thing that isn't changing is the security of the system: ''ACES has never been breached,'' said Bader. ''To continue our track record, we worked with OIT to choose a mobile solution that is in line with Duke’s strict security environment.''

The SISS office welcomes thoughts and suggestions about the new features that are available. Email siss@duke.edu with any questions or comments.