Submitted by:
Jamie Axelrod Director, Disability Resources, ADA Coordinator/504 Compliance Officer
Northern Arizona University, Past President, Association on Higher Education and Disability
Disability Resources at Northern Arizona University was motivated to migrate to the hosted version of clockwork for a few reasons. After using the on-site version since 2012, our CIO let us know that on-site systems would no longer be supported. If we did not find a hosted version by the end of the current contract period, we would have been forced to move to another product. Since we are very satisfied with ClockWork, we did not want to do that. Luckily, a new hosted version was available. The hosted version also gave us the opportunity to deploy the Alt Format Module. This was something we had been working on for years but found that our server's operating system was not robust enough to do it. Moving to the hosted solution has enabled us to now use Alt Format.
The transition was seamless and easy. TechnoPro handled all of the details and the system was only offline briefly. We did the transition over the winter break and no operations were disrupted. The best part was that the hosted version was an exact replica of the on-site version, so everything looked and operated the same. There was no learning curve or adjustment necessary on the part of Staff, Students or Faculty.
While the hosted version is a bit slower than the on-site version it is not significant. It is nice to be able to contact CW support to address any issue or glitches that arise. They respond quickly and we are no longer at the mercy of our local IT department to help address issues.