SCT Banner YES Implementation Team
Meeting Notes
MEETING LOGISTICS
Item
Date
Time
Location
Description
April 15, 2009
8:30 a.m.
MESHEL HALL – Computer Center Conference Room
ATTENDEES
Facilitator(s)
Note Taker
Participants
Not Present
Eileen Greaf and Rick Marsico
Cheryl Beil
Pam Balent (for Catherine Cala), Mary Lou Castner, Troy Cross, Brian Godsen, Bob Forchione,
Dona Madacsi, Monica Mastran-Czopor (for Sue Davis), Liz Nelson, James Stanger, Bob Tupaj,
Donna Wainio and Beth Yeatts
Catherine Cala, Sue Davis, Becky Geltz, Jeanne Herman and Betty Jo Licata
AGENDA ITEMS
CORRECTIONS
Impl Mtg –3/18/09
Notes
List of attendees not present was corrected to delete Cindy Miller, since Donna Wainio is the
person currently reporting for Human Resources/Payroll and was present. Revised Action Item
#4 update to read as follows: Goal is to not duplicate messages by using both mass email and
portal Announcements.’ Email any other corrections to Cheryl Beil.
REVIEW PRIOR
ACTION ITEMS
See updates on items #2, 9, 10 and 11.
TEAM UPDATES
1. Student
a. Regis/Records
b. Admissions
c. Student Accts
2. Financial Aid
YES Implementation Team
Donna W. reported that Fall ‘09 registration is underway. Resolved one issue with Promise-toPay screen by removing a link from the Registration area. Staff continues to clean up ~996
records remaining for conversion. Resolving some issues with registration to verify pre-reqs.
Questions regarding authorization to do overrides should be referred to the document outlining
the University policy limiting who is authorized to do overrides (was distributed to all deans,
department heads, program chairs, and advisors).
Monica C. reported that work continues on the EMAS bridge. Tim K. completed the residency
discrepancy report; will verify with Sue whether this applies going forward or to cleaning up old
issues.
Beth Y. reported on a webinar with TouchNet regarding a solution for the Java payment screen
issue; must be completed by October 1 due to de-support by Banner. Will be delivered as an
upgrade to Bill Payment Suite at a one time cost of $5,000; each additional module is $1,500 –
we should consider transcripts in addition to Advancement/Admissions. Areas of Advancement,
Admissions and Transcripts need to submit GMRs to install Payment Application Pages – still
must be purchased. CMS (Commerce Management System) must be upgraded to 5.0 to be PCI
compliant by FYE 2010. After the 5.0 upgrade, Marketplace needs to be implemented as well;
may offer some solutions to PCI issues. Can also install new software Dashboard with 5.0 for an
additional cost of $9500; will waive licensing fee this year only. TN recommends that we get in
the queue now for earliest implementation in ~ 90 days, but the solution may not be ready until
~June 1. Rick will contact Beth regarding the recommended timeline and cost involved. Will
require limited tech support.
James S. reported that the 2009-2010 processing is ready to go; sent ~6,000 award letters. Selfservice is working well. Wrote several ad hoc reports to catch errors. The Summer financial aid
application is available on website. Have had conference calls with Great Lakes regarding hold
release processing; beginning Summer semester, GL won’t release funds to YSU unless students
are registered. Liz has written Ohio scripts for 2009-10 and is developing a profile work form
for staff use when counseling students. April upgrade to federal loan programs needs installed.
Meeting Notes
1
3. General Person
4. HR/Payroll
5. MyYSU
6. Finance
7. Advancement
8. Communication
9. Reporting
10. Training
11. Technical
YES Implementation Team
Bob F. reported that the GP team met on 4/2 to discuss a policy for notifying the group when an
issue arises. Will test a new automated feature for entering social security numbers in Banner.
Discussed making the entry for Race mandatory for Graduate students as it currently is for
Undergraduates. Next meeting is set for 4/20 to discuss address issues.
Donna W. reported that 2010 (rather than 2009) will be the year for the 27th pay for bi-weekly.
An issue with double accruing of semi-monthly leave time occurred when the job was run
simultaneously with a FinAid packaging run. Since the HR job did not come back promptly it
was rerun, causing a duplication in updating employee records; error was corrected and affected
employees were notified. Submitted GMRs to automate a few processes which will hopefully
eliminate a reoccurrence. Continue to work on summer faculty pays to resolve some tax issues;
have contacted other Ohio schools to seek a resolution. Have experienced problems with INB
self-service single sign-on from the portal and with J-initiator when staff are installing Firefox
rather than Internet Explorer as their browser; infrequent users of INB are installing IE Java
updates that block the function of J-initiator – or users are not designated administrators and are
unable to download and install J-initiator updates themselves. INB and portal passwords must be
in synch. Banner 8 upgrade has a Java solution that eliminates J-initiator.
Bob T. reported that Summit promoted Luminis 5 this year and shared the new features. He
attended a session on Course Studio and reported that we have to make a decision to provide
faculty with either CS or WebCT – we could possibly provide a link from within CS to WebCT.
Plymouth State University designed ~40 custom roles and demo’d a few of them. Montgomery
Community College provided some information on Tabs, a feature we currently do not utilize.
A member of the portal workgroup developed a survey for faculty/staff and one for students to
gather feedback on portal usage and preferences for receiving Campus Announcements and
email forwarding. Began a decision document on using either the native Luminis email (built-in)
or another application available from Sun One Communication.
Mary Lou C. reported that the 6/1/09 date for shutdown of CICS/Advantage is acceptable to
Grants Accounting, and A/P staff is OK as long as there is a process to extract data if needed.
(SciQuest Update – see item #12 below.)
Pam B. reported that they are working with IT staff on the APPCUPD delivered report. Have
encountered a problem with a temporary table directive for payroll deductions; donation pledges
are randomly becoming inactive rather than dropping off when paid. Dennis/Maureen developed
a script to run nightly that should resolve the issue; needs to be tested in Appworx.
No report given.
No report given.
Rick M. reported that the training task force will research a decentralized approach to training
needs. Will contact the team lead from each area to determine if there is a staff member who can
handle training needs specific to their area. Beyond Banner, their goal is to identify potential
resources across campus to address other technical training requests (i.e.- MS Office Suite, etc.).
Rick is working to define a new technology position for a Business Support Specialist and is
seeking Cabinet support to fill it in FY2010. Responsibilities would include serving as the
coordinator for decentralized training, and filling the gaps to conduct sessions when cancelled by
trainers; would also serve as liaison between the technical and functional areas and assume some
of Carol Chen’s responsibilities. Donna W. agreed to handle critical training needs in the interim
for both Banner and MS Office. Notify Rick of any immediate training needs.
Jason T. reviewed a draft timeline for the next year to prepare for the Banner 8 upgrade.
Currently is in the process of converting the database and completing all Banner 8 and 8.1
upgrades by mid-July to provide a full testing environment for areas to test for 6-7 months. He
noted that FTP files/interfaces may encounter problems since schools attending MABUG reported
that some vendors do not accept the UTF international 8-character set. We do not currently use
this and must test thoroughly; will use a list of 3rd-party transfer files/vendors prepared by Dona
M.’s group as a checklist. There is a built-in buffer Jan./Feb. 2010 for cleanup. Functional areas
need to agree to a feasible downtime for INB and SSB systems (~ 4 days spanning a Friday thru
Monday) to install Ban 8 and 8.1 upgrades (target is mid-February); team leads should discuss
with staff and come prepared to discuss suitable dates at next Impl Team meeting. Jason will
email request to Jeanne Herman and agreed to post a summary of systems availability. Troy
proposed an option to adjust office hours to accommodate the downtime and operational needs.
Meeting Notes
2
12. SciQuest
13. PeopleAdmin
NEW BUSINESS
NONE
Mary Lou C. reported that they are working with SciQuest to set up a test site and provide data
loads of vendor information, etc. SQ was on-site early April to provide a hands-on demo to staff
from various departments – they use a Shopping Cart approach and staff could practice entering
requisitions which was well received. Schedule is to train the main campus body during May
and June and go live 7/1/09 for the new fiscal year.
No report given.
ACTION ITEMS
New Action Items / Issues
1. SETA Conference – Oct. 4-6, 2009
Orlando, FL
Owner
Rick Marsico
Due Date
2. Solution for undeliverable email when
forwarded to a 3rd party provider
Rick Marsico
ASAP
Prior Items / Issues
Owner
Troy Cross
Due Date
2. Review of portal usage policies
Bob Tupaj
ASAP
3. Decision document re: MyYSU email
addresses for alumni and current
graduates
Catherine
Cala
ASAP
1.
ePrint
YES Implementation Team
ASAP
Bob Tupaj
Meeting Notes
ASAP
Status
Pam Balent and Dona Madacsi expressed
interest in attending. Donna W./ Jeanne H.
may be presenting the module they developed
in SSB for advisors. Travel expense will be
paid from Banner budget this fiscal year; will
then transition to dept budgets next year.
Proposed creating a workgroup to discuss an
interim solutions and a permanent plan for
emails that bounce back when forwarding is
set up; must consider impact on eBilling and
FinAid notification. Will contact other Banner
schools that allow forwarding plus research
another MS solution prior to disabling the
forward capability.
Current Status
Housed on separate server as a repository for
reports; accessibility is determined by Banner
security. Troy to define each report in ePrint;
team leaders should forward a list of reports
for their area. Troy will demo to Impl Team.
Proposed policies are still in Exec Committee.
Clarified that our goal is to not duplicate
campus announcements by using both portal
Announcements and mass emailing. By NOT
processing MyYSU mass emails 9AM-3PM,
portal performance is improved. Classified
Channel may not be implemented. Marketing
of the portal is still on the table. Continue to
discuss forwarding of YSU email to a 3rd party
provider or disabling forward entirely. E-bills
are bouncing back from 3rd party addresses,
and student does not receive notice at all; will
also impact FinAid notices next year. G-mail
can provide greater storage while maintaining
the ysu.edu address – Kent State currently
offers this for student accounts. SunGard is
working on channels for Google mail and
calendar feature.
Need to develop a process to deactivate
alumni Banner email addresses after 1 year
free membership. When student record loads
are completed, will activate the disabling
function; must develop a method to notify
when deactivated. Email addresses are
currently assigned when student applications
3
Jeanne
Herman
In process
Sue Davis
In process
6. Evaluate if WYSU should use Banner
Advancement for pledges
Advancement
Team
In process
7. SCT Quality Assurance Council
Project
Managers
Project
Managers
Rick Marsico
ASAP
Complete
Rick Marsico
Complete
Rick Marsico
Complete
4. Classroom/Events Management
Scheduling – Ad Astra
5.
8.
9.
XML Transcript
Policy/procedure to create/maint.
off-system mini-databases
Processing requests for reporting
10. Assistance for accessing TouchNet
Deferred
In the portal
11. Retiring CICS/Advantage subsystems
are accepted and a notification letter is sent.
Return students and staff are not notified of
prior email address. Jeanne updates email
addresses for current students; will need to
formalize a procedure for Registration staff to
correct personal info. John Dalbec currently
batch processes changes, but significantly
slows processing of ID cards, etc.
Jason T. loaded Astra into STFA test instance.
ASTRA team will meet to best determine what
needs completed & provide realistic timeline
when ASTRA will be functional. Team still
needs to manually build room preferences,
which is labor intensive and time consuming.
Continue to make good progress but need to
resolve some technical issues. Capability for
one school to create a transcript and transmit
to the State site; another school can then
download as an XML file. Testing to see if
output matches info on the State site. DARS
piece is being developed but is currently in
litigation regarding ownership rights.
Catherine C. to meet with Kami Greene in
Gen Acctg; will add finance component to
decision document and resend to Impl team.
Recommend YSU gets involved in Council to
assure issues are shared/addressed.
Will determine policy for departmental
databases after Banner is fully implemented.
Enterprise reporting workgroup meets on an
ongoing basis to discuss reporting strategy.
Beth Y. reported that Jon Jenyk worked with
Tech Desk to resolve all access issues – no
longer a need for FAQ link. Tech Desk phone
# is posted on the SAUR portal homepage for
users having problems logging in; a blurb
regarding pop-up blockers was added. A
redirect link has been added to the Stud Accts
homepage.
Rick sent an announcement to Executive list
and cc:’d Impl Team; received only positive
feedback. Will send campus announcement
next week that subsystems will no longer be
available as of 6/1/09.
Next Meeting – Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in Meshel Hall, 4th floor conference room.
YES Implementation Team
Meeting Notes
4
ADDENDUM
High Level Banner 8 Upgrade Timeline
PHASE 1 – Technical configuration and data conversion in Testing Environment
Dates: April 1, 2009 – July 31, 2009
 Clone database that will be used in the Banner 8 conversion (DUP)
 Run scan programs to identify possible data issues during conversion.
 Choose method of conversion (cssalter or datapump)
 Create database with UTF8 character set
 Run process to convert the data to UTF8
 Setup Banner 8 code tree
 Download all upgrades and required patches.
 Apply the Banner 8 upgrades, plus any required patches
PHASE 2 – Functional Testing
Dates: August 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010
 Functional users must test all forms/processes with new character set data
 Test all “interfaces” to banner (will require technical assistance)
o THIS IS WHERE MOST PROBLEMS WILL OCCUR.
o If 3rd party applications/vendors don’t accept UTF8 character set or if they send non-UTF8 character set
files for us to load.
 Resolve any issues with technical staff assistance
 Apply any additional patches
 Make sure all business processes are tested during this phase.
 Check critical reports
PHASE 3 – Misc. clean up and buffer time
Dates: January 1, 2010 – February 1, 2010
 Anything that needs finalized
 Just some time in case something arises that we didn’t plan for.
PHASE 4 – Go live
Dates: TBD {Need to get this document to the functional leaders so they can sit down and decide when the best time
would be for an outage.}
 Drexel University converted in December 2008, 150GB database using datapump – 5 days
o 12/24/2008 – Production down took complete cold back
o 12/25/2008 – UTF8 Conversion using datapump {150GB}
o 12/26/2008 – Banner 8 & 8.1 upgrades
o 12/27/2008 – Restricted session only programmers allowed access
o 12/28/2008 – Functional leads and INETMGR allowed access
 YSU has 100 GB database
YES Implementation Team
Meeting Notes
5