UTHSC Banner Implementation FAQs

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What is the Banner project?

The SunGard Higher Education Banner project will replace core elements of the existing student information system at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) over the next several months. UTHSC will use the SunGard Banner product to support core student processes including catalog management, admissions, registration, student records, accounts receivable, and student self-service (web functionality). UTHSC is committed to using baseline Banner with minimal, if any, customizations to the software.

Why is the university replacing the current student administrative system?

Implementing Banner allows for long-term risk reductions for the campus, potential cost-savings, greater commonality and uniformity of definitions, processes, and workflow, and system-wide reporting. While the University of Tennessee system is currently faced with budget challenges, the prior allocation of $9.1 million enables the implementation process to continue, allowing for cost-savings in the years ahead.

Where can I get more information on the project?

UTHSC has tried to provide many answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions here on this site. The UT system has also set up a Web site with more information regarding the implementation. The site address is:

https://aasdsp.admin.utk.edu/sites/BannerProject/

Within the UT system site, there is a separate tab to describe UTHSC's implementation. When you click on the UTHSC tab a username and password dialog box will appear. The username and password requirements are:

Username: "uthsc\NetID" (replace NetID with your actual NetID)
Password: NetID password

If more specific information is required, please contact the project director, Matt Sanchez (msanche3@utmem.edu).

How and why did the university select Banner?

In 2006, a university taskforce was established at the system level to review the needs of the university's student information systems. A prior review performed in 1997 concluded that Banner version 3 had some significant shortcomings. Banner is now at version 8, and its flexibility and robustness, viewed with the continued success at UT Martin, have increased significantly enough to be a viable solution for Knoxville, Chattanooga, and UTHSC. Discussion and thorough review with campus implementers and key departments led the team to bid the implementation of Banner Student for UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, and UTHSC in 2008. Some additional software components were added to automate processes and enhance reporting capabilities. These include the Student and Financial Aid products for UTHSC, the Operational Data Store to assist with reporting requirements and Touchnet products to assist with electronic billing and payment. By negotiating as a system, the University of Tennessee received a 40% discount on the needed software. Additionally, by committing to a 10-year deal for the Banner products, the university was able to get the software maintenance escalation rates down from 10% annually to 4% annually.

For implementation services, a competitive bid process was used to select a partner in the spring of 2008. Three vendors bid on the readiness assessment and software implementation, and SunGard Higher Education was selected as the best choice to assist the student information project on UT's campuses.

What are the benefits of Banner?

Current and future Banner products allow UTHSC to more effectively and efficiently serve the needs of students and to provide greater access to institutional information. From a student perspective, the required online functions are available and will be deployed on a 24/7 basis. From an administrative point of view, UTHSC will benefit from SunGard's years of experience and large client base. Implementing Banner allows for long-term risk reductions by replacing in-house developed programs with the most popular student management system in the United States, taking the burden off the limited number of existing staff members on campus.

From a UT system perspective, the implementation of Banner provides cost-savings in various forms, especially in regard to annual maintenance fees. The 10-year contract reduced current increases in annual maintenance fees across the university from 10% to 4%. Additionally, the mainframe is approaching time for an upgrade, and those costs can be avoided as well with a commitment to move to Banner.

Other benefits associated with implementing Banner include greater commonality and uniformity of definitions, processes, and workflow. Currently each UT campus uses separate systems with differing methods of reporting, making system-wide synthesis cumbersome and accuracy difficult. Outside of the UT system, Banner is the student software platform used by every public school in the state.

Banner offers many advantages over existing systems and will help the university achieve short- and long-term cost-savings, student access and success, and internal processing goals.

How is the implementation being funded?

The university system has been setting aside money to fund this implementation for several years. In addition, the system, within its current funding structure, will assume responsibility for annual maintenance on the Banner product, freeing UTHSC from this obligation.

Why is it better to implement Banner now?

From a UT system perspective, all UT campuses that owned Banner software prior to this initiative were experiencing a 10% increase in annual maintenance costs on the currently owned products. By leveraging the UTHSC core purchase and purchase of additional modules for reporting and integration, the UT system was able to get that escalation down to 4%.

When will Banner be implemented?

Picture of a Calendar

Initial work with key departments and campus facilitators has already begun and training sessions are scheduled throughout the spring. Working on a 20-month implementation schedule, full implementation is set to take effect for all activities related to the 2010-2011 academic year. To review a timeline chart, you can view a General Timeline

What does the Banner implementation really mean to me or my department/college?

UTHSC employees who work with students, residents, postdocs and/or their information more than likely currently use the Oracle information system. The Banner system will replace this Oracle system and will serve as the institution’s primary information system.

As a result, necessary data, report generating capabilities, and information to carry out day-to-day operations will be available only from the Banner system. Plus, the Banner system will help to integrate and connect work completed among individual departments with other student services offices. Additional questions related to this topic should be referred to one of the functional leads listed at the bottom of this page.

How do I get access to Banner?

While most departments affected by this change have received admittance through ongoing training, limited access will be granted to various other interested individuals. To request a Banner training account go to the Banner Training page and follow the instructions accordingly.

When will I get trained on Banner?

Training on the Banner system is determined by the user’s role in the institution, as well as by how much interaction he or she will have with the program when it is implemented.

Each of the student services areas that are going live with Banner, along with individual college administration, will select who and when individuals will be trained. It is anticipated that outside of the student services areas, training for other campus users will occur early in 2010.

Who can I contact if I have more questions?

There are many individuals involved in the Banner project; a list of the functional leads on the project and their e-mail addresses are listed below: