Report to the Brown Community
Banner Student Information System Implementation
August 27, 2007
The Overall Project
The implementation of the Banner Student and Financial Aid system began in March 2006 and will be completed in December of 2007. During the last academic year, the project team brought into production the Admission, Financial Aid and Registration modules and completed two major conversions of course and student information from the old to the new system.
The team met two more critical milestones over the summer. General student data, including biographical and demographic information, was converted from SIS into Banner in early June and, at the end of the month, Accounts Receivable completed its Banner module. The first student bills produced in Banner were mailed the beginning of July.
Only one Banner module remains to be implemented, and that is Academic History. All academic history, including courses, grades, leaves, and other transcript information for students enrolled from 1983-2007 will be converted from SIS into Banner by December 2007, thus completing the Banner project implementation.
Lessons from Pre-Registration
At the close of pre-registration last spring, the project team surveyed students (over 1300 students provided extensive feedback), reviewed email contributions from faculty and staff, and assessed system performance. Here’s what we learned: (for additional information, please see the May Report to the Faculty and the Student Survey Results posted under “project news” on the Banner project website, www.brown.edu/banner)
Ø Students’ primary concerns prior to registering online were system failures and/or delays, and getting closed out of courses because of enrollment limits or other restrictions.
Ø The technical system performance was excellent. Students registered very quickly – most within the first 10 minutes of each day during pre-registration – and did not report delays in processing.
Ø Students did not seem to find the actual registration process difficult. Project staff received very few questions about how to use Banner to register either on the hotline or at the computing clusters. Even students who had used none of the resources available prior to registration were able to successfully register.
Ø While many students encountered a registration restriction of some sort, a relatively small percentage of courses were full by the end of the pre-registration period and the majority of students encountered no course restrictions.
Overall, nearly three-quarters reported that pre-registration was what they expected or better.
While registering for courses went relatively well, finding courses was another matter. The vast majority of student complaints focused on the quality of the interface used to search for courses prior to registration. Many students complained that the Banner Class Schedule and Catalog databases are not easily searched and emphasized the importance of having course schedule information and course descriptions linked.
Other common concerns about the registration process included confusion about Banner terminology, difficulty understanding error messages, finding instructor permission requirements, and getting faculty overrides.
Preparation for Incoming Students, Online Registration and the Add/Drop Period
To address some of the concerns about pre-registration, the project team developed new resources and revised some existing ones to support students and faculty during the fall registration process. All of these resources are available on the Banner project page: www.brown.edu/banner.
Ø A Banner Registration User’s Guide includes answers to the most common questions and solutions for the most frustrating problems in a format that allows for quick reference.
Ø Revised Online Tutorials: Students recommended that we shorten the video tutorials and limit each to a single topic. There are now individual tutorials on adding courses, dropping courses, and changing grade options.
Ø A PDF version of the fall course listing is available on the Banner project and Registrar’s websites. This listing allows users to search both course titles and descriptions for specific words and phrases and to print specific sections for personal use.
Ø Instructor Permission marker: In the fall printed summary course list, all courses that require instructor permission are marked with an asterisk (*) next to the Course Reference Number (CRN) to make these courses easier for students to identify.
Ø The Registrar’s web page will maintain lists of cancelled courses and courses that are new to the curriculum.
Ø MOCHA will be maintained as a student project this year. MOCHA creators and CIS are working together on evaluating the ongoing relationship between the two systems.
Ø The FAQ site is still available and has been reorganized to make finding questions and answers easier. There are subsections for faculty, students, and specific aspects of Banner registration.
Ø The Registration Hotline 3-2300 will be available 8:30-5:00 during the add/drop period.
Looking Ahead:
The project team must necessarily remain focused on the primary goal of completing the academic history conversion by the end of the semester. All academic information on students enrolled from the fall of 1983 until now, including courses, grades, leaves, and other basic components of an academic transcript, must be converted into Banner. Once this final data conversion is completed, students will be able to see their academic history online, and faculty advisors will have online access to their advisees’ academic records. Indeed, all student information will be in the Banner integrated system, and the implementation project will come to an end.
Meanwhile, the project steering committee, sponsors, and management team are planning the next steps for Banner. The project team will work with academic administrative offices as well as student and faculty committees throughout the fall to prioritize enhancements to the Banner student information system.
Nancy R. Dunbar
Associate Provost, Banner Project Owner