USU students satisfied with new Banner System
Utah State University’s transition to its new administration system, Banner, has been mostly smooth with only typical new-system frustrations, said project manager Rory Weaver.
The university’s vendor, SCT, was no longer supporting the old system and all state universities had to adopt a new system, Weaver said.
“Change can be painful and uncomfortable. Compared to the other institutions, however, Utah State University’s Banner migration has been comparatively successful. USU’s process has been envied,” he said.
Weaver predicts that everyone will be comfortable with Banner by the end of spring semester. Banner offers two big advantages over the old system. First, it offers 24-7 access, something students have been wanting for years, said Heidi Beck, associate registrar.
The old system had to close nightly in order to perform downloads that are no longer necessary. Now a student or professor can log on to register or view information any time, she said.
The second big advantage is Banner does not require social security numbers as logins. Rather, the system uses a random number that does not tie to any personal information, keeping students and faculty safe from identity theft, Beck said.
Banner also has a much larger capacity, Weaver said. The old system could only serve 150 patrons at a time, resulting in students sometimes getting booted off in the middle of registration. This has not happened yet on Banner.
“We haven’t hit the limit yet. That doesn’t mean it’s unlimited, but we haven’t hit it yet,” he said.
Michelle Zimmerman, an undeclared sophomore, is a member of the A-Team and helped new students register throughout the summer. She said she likes registering with Banner better than the old system.
“I like it,” she said. “It doesn’t kick you off and you can use the back button.”
The new system offers several advantages for teachers. It is Web-based rather than terminal based, so a teacher does not need to be at a specific terminal on campus to access information, Weaver said. It is also easier for teachers to obtain class lists and send mass e-mails.
“It’s now more of a one-stop shop for faculty and staff,” said Doug Garrett, the programming team leader for Banner.
Faculty and staff can now access all different systems in one place.
Student-related business, department head business and payroll are all together now, he said.
For the student, Banner makes registration easier by offering an expanded class search. Students can now search by a day, time of day or professor, Beck said.
On the university level, Banner integrated into one what the old system set up as three separate parts: finance, student and human resources/payroll.
Finance and student are completely functional and the human resources/payroll division will go live Jan. 1 2006, Weaver said.
The three-year implementation plan has gone very smoothly so far, he said. Complaints include mostly normal new-system confusions such as forgetting new usernames and passwords.
“We can boast that our project is on time and on budget,” he said.
The Banner migration was paid for by the university and ASUSU funds. The university has been planning and budgeting for several years, Weaver said.
ashchiller@cc.usu.edu