USU considers enterprise system upgrade
As part of a statewide licensing agreement with a company called SCT, Utah State University is prudently considering an upgrade to the administrative data processing system.
The new system will better meet the information needs of students, faculty, staff and administrators.
Barbara White, vice president for Information Technology/CIO, said IT staff and USU administrators have been working over the past two years on strategies for a multi-year conversion to the next-generation software platform.
“We recognize that to be competitive in the higher-education arena, we must offer a high level of connectivity, functionality and access,” she said.
The system is called SCT Banner. It will have four main parts: a finance system, a student system, a financial aid system and a human resource system. All four systems will be fully integrated, which means data, such as a student name, need only be entered one time and will be accessible by all modules.
“When you multiply that by 20,000, it’s easy to see the savings in human cost, time, effort and accuracy,” said Rory Weaver, Enterprise Resource Management project manager.
SCT Banner will also include 24-hour, everyday Web access, recruitment and enrollment tracking, and online forms and signatures. The system will eliminate the QUAD’s restricted capacity problem. It will provide a single source for accurate data, as well as reporting capabilities, and clear and consistent data definitions. It will also create an assigned student ID, eliminating the misuse of Social Security numbers.
Other Banner features “will be largely directed by the administrative offices using the system,” Weaver said. “The Controller’s Office will define the rules and roles of the Banner Finance system users.”
USU is waiting for three different “vendors’ responses on readiness assessment with a plan of action, which includes a timeline and the budget necessary to successfully implement Banner,” Weaver said.
The responses are due Friday.
A Utah State University evaluation team will then review each of the proposals and make a recommendation to President Kermit L. Hall, who will select the vendor.
The SCT Banner transition will give USU an opportunity to “come to a common platform and meet the requirements of the core system,” White said. “Control is not the name of the game. Common definition and understanding of the system is the name of the game.”
Weaver said, “Banner is an enterprise system, not an IT system.”
It is a project that encompasses the entire university. Many different entities on campus have contributed ideas and suggestions for the migration. Each vendor USU is considering met with more than 100 people from the university.
Steve Jenson, director of Housing and Food Services, said, “We really appreciated the opportunity to become involved in the Banner implementation process these past few weeks. This approach of receiving input from each of the departments that will be dependent on the Banner software will pay big dividends in the future. Our operations are looking forward to the added benefits we will receive with the Banner system.”
Celestial Bybee, president of the Associated Students of USU, said, “The Banner implementation process needs to begin as soon as possible, and we as students understand the ramifications of the system that we have in place. It is a benefit to the whole university, including students.”
ASUSU agreed to one-time funding from Tier II Tuition projected moneys of $1 million to help with the transition to SCT Banner.
“It’s our buy-in, in the effort to better our university through the system it operates on,” Bybee said.
Another crucial part of the implementation process is the business process analysis (BPA).
Weaver said, “BPA will give the university a chance to examine why we do the things we do, improve processes and automate many of them to bring efficiency and ensure accuracy.”
USU’s processes, from class registration to travel authorization, will be evaluated. These actions support the university’s goal of a new business model.
“Funding for this project is not E&G dependent,” Weaver said. “The vice presidents, deans and over 100 USU representatives have acknowledged that even in the face of such a difficult budget crisis, the existing administrative computing system is broken and needs to be fixed.”
Martha Dever, Faculty Senate president, said, “I think USU is correct to have a competition for the implementation contract. I also know that some faculty are frustrated with the current system and would like to see something new. The question I have not yet been able to answer is: Is the cost of getting the new system a good trade-off for having a more efficient one? I just don’t know but do know that faculty do not want to spend any unnecessary money.”
The total cost of the system and the exact timeline for implementation will be determined after the vendors give their responses and Utah State University evaluates their proposals.
–dhegsted@cc.usu.edu