Welcome!
Using Argos for Letter Generation
Presented By
Jim Ollerhead
Banner & Argos Support Team Leader
University of Salford, England, UK
Please remember to silence your telephone
Thank You!
A bit about me…
1995 – 2001
Banner Developer
2001 – 2004
Various Other
Oracle Roles
2004 onward
Banner Support
Team Leader
University of Salford, England, UK
The University of Salford is in the North West of England close to
Manchester
The University was founded in 1896 and has a student population
of approximately 19,000
SunGard HE products (Banner Student, Financial Aid and
Accounts Receivable) have been in use at the University of
Salford to hold information about our students since 1999
We began trialling the use of Argos at the beginning of 2007
The Joy of Banner Letter Generation…
Before you begin….
Find the User Guides!
(General, Chapters 3, 5 and 6)
Learn about the Banner ‘mark-up’ language
Teach yourself SQL
Finding the User Guides
Open up the Banner
Bookshelf
Index the PDF’s if
necessary
Perform an advanced
search for ‘Letter’
Find the relevant sections
from the 2884 hits
Read them!
Learn the Banner ‘Mark-up’ Language
23 ‘tags’ some of which have a multiple parameter
format (e.g. tables)
Complex syntax needed for simplest things, e.g:
#CONCAT x Concatenate — Place x next to the preceding word without
inserting a space between them. Frequently used to place punctuation
after a variable
Note: A backslash (\) is required to concatenate a period (.), for example:
*VARIABLE
#CONCAT ,
*VARIABLE
#CONCAT !
*VARIABLE
#CONCAT \.
Note: A trailing space is required after the
#CONCAT command and before the x string.
Teach yourself SQL for
368 Pages
0.66kg
Teach yourself SQL for
432 Pages
0.54kg
Building your Letter (1)
Create an
Application in
GLRAPPL
Building your Letter (2)
Create
Variables in
GLRVRBL
Building your Letter (3)
Create a
Letter Code in
GTVLETR
Building your Letter (4)
Create
Paragraph
Codes in
GTVPARA
Building your Letter (5)
Create
Paragraphs in
GUAPARA
Building your Letter (6)
Assemble
Letter in
GUALETR
I can print my letter now, Yes?
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE!
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
Deciding who to send your Letter to (1)
Create a
Population
Selection in
GLRSLCT
Deciding who to send your Letter to (2)
Check
PopSel
is OK in
GLIEXTR
NOW I can print my letter, Yes?
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE!
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
Running the built-in processes (1)
Run the
Population
Extract
GLBDATA
Running the built-in processes (2)
Run the
Letter
Extract
GLBLSEL
Running the built-in processes (3)
Run the
Letter Print
Process
GLRLETR
Finally – Do I get my Letter now???
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
OUI, JA, SI, YES, AT LAST!
Wasn’t that fun?
Pre-Argos Solution
Use 3rd-party
Reporting tool
To build list
of recipients
Extract
Into
Excel
Mail-merge
Into Word
Drawbacks with MS solution
Users must have (and be able to use!) MS Office
Only addresses are extracted – other data will
require additional programming
Ownership and uniformity of template letters
Data can be changed after letter production
No record of letters sent/produced
held within Banner
Argos in France
Argos in Greece
Argos in the UK
USA on trial in the UK
Another Acronym!
P roblem
I n
C hair
N ot
I n
C omputer
B eyond
A ny
N ormal
N eed for
E ducation
R ecords
A nother
d-Hoc
R eason
eport for
G oing
eneration and
O ff
utput
S ick
olution
Up-front advantages
Web interface – no installation needed
Training? What training?
Control over who can change what
Central store for letters facilitates good CM
PDF Output = no post-production changes
User empowerment ( = less work for IT support!)
How we implemented Argos at Salford
Initial decisions:
Single user sign-on to the Banner database
All Argos-specific objects held in the
ARGOS_USER schema
Setting up of Argos key-users
Creation of a BI Data Dictionary
Single-User Sign-on
All users connect as ARGOS_USER
ARGOS_USER given full query-only access
Access to individual Banner tables controlled by
BI Data Dictionary views (mostly!)
No impact from Banner upgrades
Advantages of Argos-specific objects
No impact from Banner upgrades
Facilitates ‘soft parameter’ reporting
Objects created so far:
6 Business Intelligence Views
GYRSIGN table for recording signatories
Argos package containing 5 functions
BI Data Dictionary (Views)
Evolving with time and usage
Six objects so far (roughly chronological order):
SYRAPPL - Applications
SYRDEMO - (Person) Demographics
SYRSTPR - Students against Programs
SYRMODL - Academic History Module Marks
SYRINTR - Interruptions to Study
SYRSTOU - Learning Outcome
Example BI View: SYRSTPR
Students against Programs
Joins 16 tables
Uses library functions to look up coded values
 Additional User-friendly definition document
New table for Signatories of letters
Connect in seconds
First Version of Offer Letter Parameters
Second Version of Offer Letter Parameters
Quickview for record of sent letters
Users Q & A on Argos…
Q. Can we have separate letters for overseas?
A. No.
Q. Can we have separate letters for conditional offers?
A. No.
Q. Can we have different letters for different
signatories?
A. No.
Q. Can we have a separate report for Address Labels?
A. No
Why Not???
Because
we don’t
need them!
Sample Output from Offer Letter
Three Samples, One Letter!
‘Home’ Student, Unconditional Offer
‘Home’ Student, Conditional Offer
Overseas Student, Conditional Offer
Mailing Labels from same Datablock
But what if the wording isn’t right…
Is it the wording, conditions or the source data?
Wording: Change it but be aware that we only
version control the Master Copy
Conditions: Speak to business process owner
then Key User to change it
Source Data: Speak to IT support
Pictorial
Class List
using same
Datablock
as for
Letters
and Report
Overall Argos User Experience
Log in (Double-click Icon) < 1 minute
Choose the letter to run
< 1 minute
Enter parameters
< 1 minute
Run preview
1-3 minutes
Print
Done!
Difference to User Community
Banner
MS Merge
Argos
Thank you for your Attention!
Any
Questions?
Contact Me at…
j.ollerhead@salford.ac.uk