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10/6/05
Banner transition moving forward
The campus-wide initiative to integrate administrative processes and technologies, 1College Project, is progressing. This summer, three areas-financial operations, development and college relations-began making the transition to the new Banner software system, going live on July 1, as scheduled. Banner was developed specifically for higher-education institutions to integrate student, financial, human resources, financial aid and alumni data.
Areas yet to undergo the changeover are: financial aid (projected live on Nov. 15), student records (projected live on Dec. 1), human resources and payroll (projected live on Jan. 1) and accounts receivable (projected live on July 1). About four to six weeks before each implementation, training sessions will be available for individuals.
With more than 100 administrators, faculty, academic and administrative staff associates now trained to use Banner Finance, critical financial reports are being developed in concert with the year-end closing process.
Benefits achieved thus far in the financial-operations area include:
- More professional-looking, laser-printed checks
- Easier information retrieval
- More accurate reporting capabilities
- More efficient, logical general ledger structure
- Easier access to budget information.
In the next few months, the project team expects to:
- Continue training Banner system users
- Improve reporting and information access through Banner
- Implement fixed-assets, position-budgeting, endowment-management and grants-management functions
- Assist in developing a state-of-the-art purchasing card (as opposed to the customary credit card) program.
Financial operations is not the only area to undergo transition. A massive data conversion to Banner Advancement was planned and executed in July for development and college relations. The conversion included approximately 120,000 names of people, 238,000 addresses and 250,000 gift records. The 1College Project team trained about 70 administrators and staff.
Among the benefits achieved thus far for college relations and development are:
- User-friendly electronic reports which replace paper reports
- Professional-looking gift receipts
- Easier information retrieval
- Easier information updating.
In the next few months, the project team expects to:
- Increase the number of electronic reports
- Improve reporting and information access for development officers, who are constantly traveling
- Integrate data from other offices into the system
- Prepare for the upcoming capital campaign.
When total conversion is completed next summer, the new Banner system will provide 24/7 Web access to college data and services for students, faculty, alumni and staff. Benefits include housing of all college records in one large database and avoidance of compatibility issues associated with former data systems. It allows easy, consistent access to information in a secure and stable environment.
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