A new system called Filr will be replacing the current file manager of the J: drive and G: drive on the Wayne State College eCampus beginning Friday.

Network and Technology Services (NATS) has had Filr up and running since last summer as an option for students to use. It will be the only option as of Friday.

The current file manager on eCampus has been in use since 2002 and is becoming outdated. The main updates that are necessary are mobility and reliability.

“Being more mobile-friendly was one of the biggest driving factors for us,” Brandon Eckmann of NATS said. “It’s more comparable to drag and drop and Google Docs.”

The majority of students consider a hand-held mobile device important for academic purposes. However, only about half of students at WSC use hand-held mobile devices for academic work, according to an on-campus survey. NATS believed this was because eCampus was not mobile-friendly.

“The old eCampus is a hindrance on a mobile device,” Jeremy Nelson of NATS said.

Some of the problems with eCampus are that it doesn’t support modern file management features, such as drag and drop and multiple file uploads/downloads. Also, when the J: and G: drives become too large, the servers tend to crash and require a restart.

Filr will work better in a mobile browser and supports native apps for Apple and Android phones.

It will be faster and will support drag and drop file uploading and the downloading of entire folders.

NATS has already made email on eCampus more mobile friendly by transitioning from Willy Webmail to Outlook. Implementing Filr is the next step for improvement of online content.

A big question is why the new system is being implemented in the middle of the semester.

“If people have issues using the new system, they will be here and we can help them, instead of them being off campus over the summer,” Eckmann said.

It will also be an opportunity for faculty to get used to the new system.

“This way we will be able to get feedback from faculty,” Nelson said. “ECampus is such an important tool for faculty.”

NATS encourages students and faculty to check out Filr as soon as possible. It is accessible in the same location as the J: and G: drives. There is a feedback link on Filr.

“I think it’s a lot better than what’s currently on eCampus,” Nelson said.