Ryerson hopes a cosmetic makeover of RAMSS next month will satisfy the many complaints that have plagued the system since it came online in 2005.

Ken Scullion, Ryerson’s associate registrar, promises the new system, debuting on Nov. 18, will make students, profs and everybody else happy.

“The technology is the same, but the presentation, the user interface and the navigation pieces — all of that is radically different,” he said.

Scullion is especially proud of the new Student Centre feature, which compiles many different services into one place. 

“It’s all on one big page in front of you. There’s your address right there, there’s your weekly schedule, there’s your telephone number,” he said. “I think it’ll be a lot easier to look at.”

This is the first major upgrade for RAMSS, coming from Oracle, the system’s American programmer.

Scullion doesn’t know what the final bill for the upgrade will be, but said the project is a “significant undertaking.”

But for students, the problems with RAMSS go beyond skin-deep.  

Kaitlyn Lubinewski, a third-year arts and contemporary studies student, said she avoids the system like the plague.

“I find RAMSS really bad, especially when you’re trying to add classes. Sometimes it just won’t work.  Sometimes it won’t let you. It says there’s an error. Then you can only add one class each day,” she said.

“I don’t even really go on it.”

While the school did solicit recommendations from staff and students, the final say was with Oracle.

“It’s commercial software,” Scullion said. “While we contribute thoughts and recommendations to the company, we don’t in the end get to say, ‘Yes, want that,’ or, ‘No, we don’t want that.’”