While CSU's officials may be the most vocal about problems with PeopleSoft, they are not the only administrators who have struggled with system installation nationwide.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, the package that PeopleSoft sold Ohio State University (OSU) in 1995 was to cost $53 million over three years. Instead, the project will take six years and cost $85 million.

In November, OSU and six other Big Ten Schools--the Universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan and Northwestern University--wrote a letter to PeopleSoft President Craig A. Conway, complaining users find the system too slow and calling its performance "simply unacceptable."

But Edward J. Ray, executive vice president of OSU, told the Dispatch that the intentions behind the letter are constructive.

"We are eager to work with you to solve many of these problems," the letter said.

"The point of this letter is not to complain but to say there really is value in our getting together," Ray said. "We told them we could kind of collaborate to see how we can get [PeopleSoft] faster to our needs."

Now, OSU officials still complain that their system remains too slow, but say they are otherwise pleased with it.