Meet Tuan Mai

By Anne-Marie Curatolo, Communications Co-ordinator, IITS

As project leader for Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS), Tuan Mai has played a major role in transforming Concordia University into an institution of cutting-edge technology.

Tuan earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in New Zealand. When he began his career at Concordia in 1983, it was to do a master’s student in computer science. He was hired after a friend, an IITS employee, referred him for the position of intermediate programmer.

Tuan’s work with IITS, formerly known as Computing Services, began when he joined about 60 fellow employees in an office building on Ste. Catherine St. at the corner of Mackay St.

“At that time, most of our time was spent designing, coding and testing programs. Now we are involved in designing systems at a higher level, rather than designing programs,” Tuan said.

Although he was attending classes four nights a week, he was soon leading projects. “I started to move from one system to another and gained a more global knowledge of the SIS [Student Information System].”

In his next role as database administrator, he was also working as a systems analyst and programmer. The first major project he managed involved converting the entire SIS from an old cyber machine (Control Data Corporation) to the new digital VMS (Virtual Memory System).

“We changed it from a flat-file structure to a relational database structure and moved all of the applications to a new operating system.” The project was scheduled to take two years and was complete six months ahead of time and several hundred thousand dollars under budget.

Ten years after joining IITS, Tuan began work on a bigger scale when he developed the Data Warehouse project.

“University information for executives was in high demand, but it was not easily attainable,” he recalled. “We gathered our financial information, HR records, student data, and so on, and put them into one big database. This process allowed us to compare and link the information logically.”

The database stores myriad information, making it accessible to staff and faculty. “A vice-rector can see who is set to retire in June, while Financial Services can find out how much money the university spent this month and on what,” Tuan said.

In his 21 years at the university, the coming of the new millennium stands out in Tuan’s mind.

When the Centre for Continuing Education was grappling with the Y2K issue, Tuan and his co-worker Bill Miller (Manager, Administrative Systems) implemented a plan to re-program their system. The project was successfully completed just before the new millennium. This marked the first time Concordia would have a completely web-based SIS with a graphical, user-friendly browser interface.

One of Tuan’s recent developments includes online grading at the university. As chief developer of this project, Tuan began working with the Department of Political Science in the fall of 2001, testing the new FCMS. By January of the following year, several other departments were involved in the process.

Currently, each faculty is on board the new system, submitting all grades electronically. Along with a list of student names, identification numbers, e-mail addresses and grades, the FCMS provides the average, maximum, and minimum GPA for the class, as well as the percentage of failure. Bar graphs display the number of students who obtained each grade. These statistics can then be used for comparative purposes (i.e., comparing the class average of a course this term to the same course last term).

“The goal of the SIS is not just for record-keeping, but for the extracting of information as well,” Tuan said. Web reports mean information can be acquired with one click of the mouse and eliminates the needs for wading through a thick pile of paper.

Tuan has also played an extensive role in reducing line-ups through technological innovation. Students no longer have to wait at a service counter for their username and password to be printed on a yellow slip of paper. They can now get their computer accounts at home through their MyConcordia portal via computer account self-service.

Tuan said his development method involves putting himself in place of the user. “I think of being a professor or a student who wants an account. What would I want to happen without having to go to a counter? Everything follows from that.”

What’s next on Tuan’s list of projects?

“I think this is an exciting time. We are more adventurous now and we can aim higher. Our scope has broadened.

“Throughout my years at IITS I have watched my kids grow up and change. The department is the same – there is always something new.”