Enrolling through OU’s new enrollment system sucks.

It’s complicated, aesthetically nauseating and it doesn’t offer students flexibility in planning their spring schedules.

This is in stark contrast to the old enrollment system, which was extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate. We miss that system.

And we think we are not alone, as we have not heard one (not even one) student say he or she likes the new system.

Before the new oZONE enrollment system was unveiled, we heard nothing but good things from the oZONE team. But since its release, we have been disappointed, frustrated, upset and pissed off. The list goes on.

And this has created headaches for enrollment advisers, too.

The reason why this system was necessary is that OU’s mainframe system, which housed all student records, was built in 1968.

In computer years, it was ancient. And it needed to be updated.

We understand this. A major university like OU should not have a mainframe that is over four decades old.

oZONE was created as a solution to transfer all of this data from the old mainframe. We understand this was needed.

But we wish the changes that impacted students most, like enrollment, financial aid and e-mail, were implemented more gradually, as opposed to all in one semester.

We do not pretend to fully understand all of the technical aspects of a transition of this magnitude, and perhaps there was no better way.

But it is frustrating that those of us who attend and work at OU right now are dealing with the brunt of the negative effects of this transition, especially when one considers that this is a transition 40 years in the making.

And the worst is yet to come.

Right now, the old enrollment system is still available for students to use as a tool while planning their spring schedules. But we have been told that this system may be unavailable for fall enrollment.

So what can be done now?

Apparently improvements and trial schedules are on the way, but we have no timetable and that’s not encouraging.

We understand things aren’t going back to the way they were, but we implore those who are still working to fully implement the oZONE system to do their best to make the new system have as many of the convenient features the old system had, especially power search and trial schedules.

This is only fair to us, those who are not seeing any real benefits from the new system, but who are all too familiar with the system’s problems.