Sisu (Unified Selection System) had its first edition of 2023 held between February 16th and 24th and the results reinforce the success of the partnership between the Ministry of Education (MEC) and RNP, which took care of the entire cloud operation for the fourth consecutive year. The portal had 100% availability during the period, totaling 2,062,815 registrations, 1.76% more than that registered in the selection for the first half of 2022. It is the first time in eight years that the number has increased in relation to the previous year.

Main numbers of the edition

According to RNP's Deputy Director of Specialized Digital Services, Marcello de Jesus, the edition was marked by the overcoming of challenges and demonstrated the maturity of the operation process, as well as knowledge management by the RNP team involved.   

“Throughout 2022, we had significant losses of specialists in our technical staff for the overheated IT market, however, the operating strategy of Sisu 2023.1 focused on disseminating knowledge to all team members, that is, despite each one having a specific role, everyone knew the end-to-end process, which allowed, for example, to experience new team members in leading the ranking process that took place every day at 00:01. The ranking process is the most sensitive moment of the operation, when we stop the system and for ten minutes we process the result of the previous day, releasing the updated system for future students”, explains Marcello. 

New structure in Brasilia

What do big events have in common? Whether sporting or cultural, they need huge infrastructures to serve crowds. With Sisu (Unified Selection System) it is no different! The “educational event” held twice a year and operated in the cloud by RNP since 2020 has robust planning and structure to ensure that thousands of students enter higher education in the simplest possible way. 

Unlike the last three years, when it set up the operations center in Campinas, RNP transferred the entire infrastructure to a hotel in Brasília, where a multidisciplinary team of 21 professionals, made up of specialists in software architecture, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, information security, database and technical managers. The team acted by scale to guarantee the operation on a 24/7 basis, between the 13th and the 25th of February, thus guaranteeing 100% availability of the Sisu website.  

To get an idea of the back office involved in the operation, the assembly of the "HQ" was made possible by hiring 15 monitors, 12 50-inch televisions, 01 generator, 02 processors, network cables, Switch. In terms of connectivity, RNP had a partnership with GigaCandanga, Metropolitan Education and Research Network (Redecomep), a member of the RNP System, which serves research and higher education institutions in the Federal District region, and the BR.Digital company in making 10 GB/s links available.

“It is very gratifying to be able to support the preparation of the Sisu operation. Each edition is always a new challenge in setting up a safe, adequate structure that provides the team with the quality to perform a good job. The synergy of the areas involved at RNP (purchases, contracts, travel...) is fundamental for the results we have achieved since the beginning back in 2020”, highlights the Business Analyst at RNP responsible for contracting the structure, Karla Souza.

Visit of the future STIC/MEC

At the opening of the registration window, in the early hours of 2/16, the future undersecretary of Information and Communication Technology of the Ministry of Education (STIC/MEC), Fábio Campelo, went to learn about the structure for Sisu's operation in Brasília. 

“RNP is a fundamental partner for guaranteeing the success of the Sisu operation, either through monitoring and with the entire situation room set up in a hotel and which we replicated this year at the MEC. Without the support of RNP, since 2019 in this process, it would be very difficult for us to achieve today the maturity and tranquility in the monitoring and response that we have achieved. If we were able to reach this level, without a doubt, it was due to the fundamental support of RNP”, stated the future STIC. 

For the deputy director of Solutions, Claudio Fabricio, the visit of the future Undersecretary was important for the new management to become familiar with the complexity of the process that guarantees the availability of the application for thousands of students benefiting from the program.