Frequently Asked Questions
The SIS project is the effort by the five undergraduate institutions (5Cs) of The Claremont Colleges (Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College) and The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS) to transition to Anthology Student, a new student information system (SIS).
The SIS project will impact the management of academic records, course scheduling, degree audits, academic advising, student accounts, institutional research, and internal and external reporting. Currently, students and faculty engage with the Jenzabar CX SIS through what is commonly referred to as “the portal,” wherein students manage their accounts and course schedules, and faculty manage their class rosters, grades, and advising responsibilities.
In addition, the SIS facilitates student and faculty records management, transcript services, degree and enrollment verifications, degree progress auditing, and institutional research. It also interfaces with other systems supporting essential campus functions such as admission, financial aid, and residential life.
Anthology Student is a cloud-based student information system. The Claremont Colleges identified Anthology Student through an SIS market analysis and vendor selection process, with the support of Strata Information Group. Anthology presented a proof-of-concept of its Student product to 5C stakeholders. It demonstrated the product’s functionality aligned with the Colleges’ critical needs, including support for cross-registration, abundant integrations with third-party systems, a contemporary cloud-based technical infrastructure, and flexible configuration capabilities. Through our rigorous vendor selection process, the Colleges obtained feedback from over 50 5C functional and technical subject matter experts, which confirmed Anthology’s ability to meet the Consortium’s needs. Reference calls with other Anthology clients also supported this assessment and inspired confidence in the vendor’s commitment to customer success.
The current student information system at the 5Cs was implemented over 20 years ago. That product is built on outdated on-premises technology, has been highly customized, and is approaching end-of-life. This leaves the 5Cs in a precarious position where academic operations rely on a fragile technical infrastructure and a diminishing pool of experts capable of maintaining it. The Consortium needs to transition away from its present system and implement a contemporary SIS that can meet The Claremont Colleges’ unique needs for the next 20 years.
The Anthology Student (AS) system is scheduled to “go live” mid-2025. The implementation will follow a phased approach from planning and design through building, testing, and finally, “go live.” The calendar of activities will evolve. To see an overview of the project phases, please refer to the SIS Implementation Project Milestones diagram.
The 5Cs have charged TCCS with assembling a team to manage the SIS implementation in collaboration with 5C SIS users and implementation consultants from Anthology. Staff members from the Registrar, Student Accounts, and Information Technology Services offices from each of the colleges, alongside colleagues from various other offices, are substantially engaged. More information is available on the Team section of this site.
Yes. There will be a cutover period of one to two weeks during the summer of 2025. During this time, Jenzabar CX will be offline, and Anthology Student (AS) will not yet be fully operational. During the cutover, we will cease operating our legacy system, conduct the final data conversion and clean-up effort, and then bring up the new system for operations. This process will be disruptive and demand the full attention of administrative SIS users. We will make every effort to minimize the impact of cutover activities on students and faculty, but end users should be prepared for the possibility of service delays.
Yes. In addition to the vendor’s training materials for administrative SIS users, the implementation team will develop training materials and facilitate training opportunities for 5C students and faculty.
The Claremont Colleges and TCCS are committed to preserving the security and confidentiality of student records. As we do for our legacy system, we will employ a combination of technological measures, best practices, and policies to regulate access to Anthology Student. Anthology incorporates robust security features that conform to industry standards. Please refer to Anthology’s website to learn more about their commitment and approach to data privacy and product security.
Yes. During the implementation, 5C community members may contact the TCCS project team at sisproject@claremont.edu for technical assistance. Following the implementation of Anthology Student, TCCS will designate staff members to provide ongoing support for the system.
Below, you will find additional information by user groups: faculty, staff, and students.
The new SIS will include a new faculty portal. Faculty members should anticipate navigating a new portal system to post grades, access class rosters, manage waitlists, and obtain advising information. They should also anticipate changes to the way routine academic business gets done. Some examples include new forms, approval processes, or system-generated messages. As we progress through each data conversion and testing cycle with Anthology Student, we will document such changes for training purposes.
The ADC (Academic Deans Committee) will coordinate communications to provide timely and relevant information to faculty members about the project.
Administrative users will be trained throughout the SIS implementation process with end-user training coming in later in Spring/Summer 2025. Job aids, multi-format reference materials, and TCCS Project Team support will also be made available to all Anthology users.
Anthology Student is a cloud-based system, so the user interface and features available are largely pre-determined by the vendor. The implementation team will seek feedback on training materials from faculty who participate in the training opportunities in the spring and summer of 2025.
Administrative users of the SIS will learn the new system through the implementation process. Training will initially involve staff members who are subject matter experts participating in the project, commencing in summer 2024. Staff who will be system end users but not involved in the implementation should anticipate training in the spring and summer of 2025. Staff will have access to a library of job aids, reference materials in multiple formats, and support from the TCCS project team.
The new SIS will include a new student portal. Students should anticipate navigating a new portal system to register for courses, view grades, and review their student accounts. They should also anticipate changes to the way routine academic business gets done. Some examples include new forms, approval processes, or system-generated messages. As we progress through each data conversion and testing cycle with Anthology Student, we will document such changes for training purposes.
Currently, training for students is scheduled to commence in April 2025. Students will be offered training opportunities and access to comprehensive resource materials in multiple formats.
Anthology Student is a cloud-based system, so the user interface and features available are largely pre-determined by the vendor. The implementation team will seek feedback on training materials from students who participate in the training opportunities in the spring and summer of 2025.
Only the last 10 years’ worth of historical data from CX will be imported into Anthology Student. Essentially, any student who has taken a course at any of the 5Cs since 09/01/2015 will have a record in Anthology Student. Note that the data points for imported student records may differ from those that are currently available in CX.
Between June 16 – 30, 2025, all integrations with the Jenzabar CX system will be taken offline. During this quiet period, no changes will be recorded in CX. Any data coming from upstream systems during the 2-week quiet period will then be synced into Anthology Student after 7/1/25.
The SIS Project Team has taken inventory of all the shared and campus-specific data integrations that rely on Jenzabar CX. These integrations are currently being redesigned to replace CX with Anthology Student as the system of record. A large part of these integrations will be developed and supported directly by Anthology. The remaining ones will fall under the purview of either TCCS or the individual colleges that utilize them.
Anthology Student includes a dedicated faculty portal for managing grades, class rosters, and advising information. Faculty should expect some changes to the academic processes (e.g., new forms, approvals, system messages), which will be documented for training as the SIS implementation progresses.
The Anthology Student portal will give 5C students the ability to request permission to enroll in a course. Instructors will use the faculty portal to access and review these requests. It will function much like the Permission to Enroll (PERM) request does in the portal today.
Because Anthology Student and the current campus portal are built with different technology, only a small number of existing custom features are being replicated in Anthology Student and will be made available at go-live.
All students that will be continuing their enrollment for Fall 2025, will pre-register for courses in April 2025 as they usually do. At the start of the Fall 2025 semester, all students from across the 5Cs will use the new Anthology Student portal to register for courses.
All undergrad students from across the 5Cs will use the new Anthology Student portal to register for courses prior to the start of the Fall 2025 semester. More detailed information about pre-registration for students will be shared at a later date.
The new Anthology Student portal will include a dual feature called Anthology Degree Progress Audit and Degree Pathway, which will work similarly to the degree audit that is currently available through the portal.
The new SIS will contain 10 years of historical transcript records for all 5C students. Transcript records in Anthology Student will display all courses taken by a student in chronological order and will include program, area of study and degree progress information.
The Anthology Student portal will give students the ability to request permission to enroll in a course. This custom feature is being developed for all 5Cs and will function much like the Permission to Enroll (PERM) request does in the portal today.
Anthology Student is a cloud-based solution that is being implemented in a single tenant serving all 5Cs. While it will be a shared system, Anthology Student’s customized security models will ensure that authorized individuals can only access the data for their respective campus.
Anthology Student will support key functions such as academic records, cross-registration, degree audits, student advising, student accounts, and institutional research among others. It is also possible to extend the functionality of the new SIS through the development of new custom features.
