Banner Bulletins

April 11, 2008

General Project Information:

Sierra College is underway with the implementation of Banner Administrative Software. This district wide project will effectively replace our existing administrative system software and will provide quality and accountability as Sierra College moves forward with this integrated system to improve service to students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni. The Banner integrated system includes the modules mentioned below as well as other auxiliary systems.

• Finance - scheduled to go live on June 1st 2008.
• HR/Payroll - scheduled to go live on Jan 1st, 2009
• Student and Instruction – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Fin Aid – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Portal (Luminis) – tentatively scheduled to go live in Jan, 2009.

Your patience and support of the departments mentioned above is requested, as Sierra College undertakes this mission critical implementation. The Project Charter provides a lot of information regarding this district wide project. For the Project Charter and more information please see: www.sierracollege.edu/banner. For more detailed information on progress by functional module see the implementation team’s status below.

Implementation Team Status:

Finance –

BFIT (Banner Finance Implementation Team) would like to welcome Madhavi Katuri (IIT Senior Analyst/Programmer) to the team. We are looking forward to training on the upload process early in May and continuing to prepare for the Purchasing GO-LIVE date of June 1, 2008!!! Finance end-user training begins late in April and will continue through mid-May. BFIT will also be holding clinic sessions for end-users on Friday afternoon’s beginning in early May.

HR/Payroll –

We just finished another HR/Payroll training session with our wonderful consultant Melinda Wibby-Bryant. It is very exciting for us to see how Banner will electronically handle our many manual processes. Our assignment this month is to actually begin building our data in a database. This data will include employee classes, position control, benefits, leaves, salary tables, and earnings codes. A separate database will allow us to run various and multiple tests to ensure that all is interacting as required. Once this testing is complete, we will move this data to the live database. Many of us are busy with Banner trainings and workgroup meetings. We appreciate and thank you for your patience and understanding as we will be away from our desks periodically and will respond to your inquiries as soon as we are able to do so.

Student and Instruction –

The Student/Instruction team hosted a demo of how the schedule will look in Banner. It was decided that we will be putting together a schedule similar to Santa Barbara City College which had some really great features for our students. We are continuing to work on the catalog as well as the schedule. Our team leads will be attending the Banner Summit this month where we will be able to network with other Banner colleges and attend all sorts of great workshops. Then, when we get back, our team has a very busy schedule with admissions training, loading general person, and continuing to work on the catalog and schedule.

Portal (Luminis) –

Luminis is scheduled to be installed/tested on the week of May 5th and team will begin building portal channels after successful install/testing.

The Banner Bulletin will be sent on a monthly basis.

Scott Snyder, Systems and Programming Mgr., ext 2410

March 10, 2008

General Project Information:

Sierra College is underway with the implementation of Banner Administrative Software. This district wide project will effectively replace our existing administrative system software and will provide quality and accountability as Sierra College moves forward with this integrated system to improve service to students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni. The Banner integrated system includes the modules mentioned below as well as other auxiliary systems.

• Finance - scheduled to go live on July 1st 2008.
• HR/Payroll - scheduled to go live on Jan 1st, 2009.
• Student and Instruction – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Fin Aid – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Portal (Luminis) – tentatively scheduled to go live in Jan, 2009.

Your patience and support of the departments mentioned above is requested, as Sierra College undertakes this mission critical implementation. The Project Charter provides a lot of information regarding this district wide project. For more information please see: www.sierracollege.edu/banner. For more detailed information on progress by functional module see the implementation team status below.

Implementation Team Status

Finance –

Status: BFIT is looking forward to training on Fixed Assets the week of March 10 and Accounts Payable the week of March 24. With our very busy Banner schedule and in efforts to stay on top of our day-to-day workload the Business Office will be closed on Friday afternoons beginning March 7 continuing through July 2008. This time will be dedicated to our non-Banner responsibilities. The Business Office service window will be open Monday through Thursday 8:00am – 5:00pm and Friday 8:00am – 12:00noon On the horizon: We will go live with Purchasing June 1, 2008 and with Accounts Payable, Finance and Budget July 1, 2008 – VERY EXCITING!!!

HR/Payroll –

Our Team had its first (3-day) training session in mid-February with our HR/Payroll consultant Melinda Wibby-Bryant. We continue to look at ways to make our HR and Payroll processes more efficient as we learn about the ways Banner can help us. Our next (3-day) training session is March 11-13. Our Team will be working on earning, leaves, benefits, and employee classes and we will begin to build our data in Banner. Many of us are busy with Banner trainings and workgroup meetings. We appreciate your patience and your understanding as we will be away from our desks from time to time and will respond to your inquiries as soon as we are able to do so.

Student and Instruction –

The Student/Instruction team participated in another BPA (Business Process Analysis) during the week of March 3rd regarding the college catalog and schedule. We came up with some very exciting options and are hopeful we can implement these ideas soon. Our consultant Paddy Wong will be hosting a demo of how the catalog and schedule looks in Banner during one of her future visits to Sierra. We also spent time on solidifying our project plan with our consultant and will use this document as a measurement tool of our team’s progress.

Financial Aid –

The Financial Aid team has been busy doing our consultant assigned homework by building the foundation tables and loading 08-09 students – we are using current data! At the same time we are creating procedures manual for which we have currently title A-Z (could be soup to nuts). Financial aid was part of a recent BPA to review student accounts – what we took away from the meeting was several efficient ideas to manage student accounts in Banner and we were amazed and in awe of those folks who manage the refund process and what it currently takes to get a refund to a student. We are truly student services!

Portal (Luminis) –

Luminis Team members are beginning to determine the content and features of their pages. The hardware has been ordered and testing and installation will occur in May. This will allow the teams to develop their pages well before Luminis is available for use later in 2008.

The Banner Bulletin will be sent on a monthly basis.

Scott Snyder, Systems and Programming Mgr., ext 2410

February 4, 2008

General Project Information:

Sierra College is underway with the implementation of Banner Administrative Software. This district wide project will effectively replace our existing administrative system software and will provide quality and accountability as Sierra College moves forward with this integrated system to improve service to students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni.  The Banner integrated system includes the modules mentioned below as well as other auxiliary systems.

• Finance - scheduled to go live on July 1st 2008.
• HR/Payroll - scheduled to go live on Jan 1st, 2009.
• Student and Instruction – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Fin Aid – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Portal (Luminis) – tentatively scheduled to go live in Jan, 2009.

Implementation teams have been put together in the respective areas above. The vast majority of these employees will be doing double duty, implementing the Banner software while still providing service to the college through our existing system. Your patience and support of the departments mentioned above is requested as Sierra College undertakes this mission critical implementation. The Project Charter provides a lot of information regarding this district wide project. For more information please see:  www.sierracollege.edu/banner.

Implementation Team Status:

Finance –

Status:  The Banner Finance Implementation Team (BFIT) is continuing to develop the Chart of Accounts for both the College and Foundation. BFIT has received training in the Finance module focusing on the GL, Purchasing and Receiving; the team is currently developing the Banner Sierra College Purchase Order along with end-user training materials. 
On the Horizon:  Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable – here we come!

HR/Payroll –

In early January the HR/Payroll Team completed basic Banner Navigation training.  In late January the Team finished a 2-day business process analysis (BPA) session.  We looked at every step in the hiring process, from the PAR to the paycheck.    

For those of you who have participated in any of the several BPAs being held with in the various Banner Teams, you know what an "opportunity for discovery" this can be.  Due to the limitations of not having adequate software, we spend 95% of our time and energy manually tracking critical information and duplicating those efforts with shadow systems leaving little time to improve services.  

At the conclusion of our BPA, we had a wonderful brainstorming session and came up with some terrifc options that will save time and effort as we work to develop a more effective and integrated system through Banner.  The Team is looking forward to taking advantage of what technology can offer to provide better services and to attract new staff and students.  Several members of the HR/Payroll Team also participated in the Faculty Loading Business Process Analysis.

Student and Instruction –

January has been an extremely busy month for the Student / Instruction team.  We attended training on Banner navigation, catalog & schedule, and took part in a BPA (business process analysis) on faculty loading.  We started working on a timeline for implementation and are building a clearer picture of the intricate timing involved with going live.  The month of February will continue to be busy with team members practicing what we have learned thus far including: navigating forms, creating tables, transferring table data, creating catalog, section, and general person records.  The Student / Instruction, Financial Aid, HR kickoff is scheduled for February 14th.

Financial Aid –

Financial Aid will have their first training session Feb. 5 through 7th.  Training topics include; record creation, common matching, EDE dataload and requirements tracking. We are very excited to get started look forward to the process. 

Portal (Luminis) –

Sierra College will be implementing a new portal (similar to MySierra) which will be available to students, faculty and staff. This new portal will provide a great deal of self service functions for these groups. You may hear the term Luminis or Luminis portal as this is the portal provided by Banner. A readiness assessment has recently been completed for the Luminis portal and a team has been formed which represents a wide range of district functional areas.  We will keep you posted on this user friendly portal.

The Banner Bulletin will be sent on a monthly basis.

Scott Snyder, Systems and Programming Mgr., ext 2410

December 2007

General Project Information:

Sierra College is underway with the implementation of Banner Administrative Software. This district wide project will effectively replace our existing administrative system software and will provide quality and accountability as Sierra College moves forward with this integrated system to improve service to students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni.  The Banner integrated system includes the modules mentioned below as well as other auxiliary systems.

• Finance - scheduled to go live on July 1st 2008.
• HR/Payroll - scheduled to go live on Jan 1st, 2009.
• Student and Instruction – scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Fin Aid – scheduled to go live in 2010.

Implementation teams have been put together in the respective areas above. The vast majority of these employees will be doing double duty, implementing the Banner software while still providing service to the college through our existing system. Your patience and support of the departments mentioned above is requested as Sierra College undertakes this mission critical implementation. The Project Charter provides a lot of information regarding this district wide project. For more information please see:  www.sierracollege.edu/banner.

Implementation Team Status:

Finance –

Status:  The Banner Finance Implementation Team (BFIT) is further developing the Chart of Accounts for both the College and Foundation, focusing on element mapping. On December 4th and 5th BFIT and other District staff were involved in a Business Process Analysis focusing on the Purchasing/Accounts Payable process.

On the Horizon:  Wrapping up the calendar year with Chart of Accounts Training December 18th-20th.

HR/Payroll –

The HR/Payroll Team is continuing to meet regularly.  The HR/Payroll team will be attending Banner Navigation training in early January and participating in an HR/Payroll business process analysis to develop a more effective and responsive system through Banner.  Members of the HR/Payroll Team will also be participating in the Faculty Loading Business Process Analysis (BPA) in late January.

Student and Instruction –

We had our first Student/Instruction Team meeting and reviewed the Banner data standards document.  Great suggestions and ideas were generated at this meeting with Jim Langley and John Lervold leading the way!  We had our 1st conference call with our consultant on December 6th to discuss timeline and project plans.  This conference call will provide us with a general idea of what work needs to be done prior to our next meetings scheduled in January.

Financial Aid –

Financial Aid had their first discovery meeting Nov 19th & 20th.  We have scheduled appointments for the next 12 months to meet at least once per month for three days each visit.  When we are not meeting with our Banner consultant we will have tons of homework!  We have committed to going live for Fall 2010 which means we have to be up and running Feb 2010 just to bring in all the student data from the financial aid applications!  We feel we are up to the task and look forward to the process. 

Scott Snyder, Systems and Programming Mgr., ext 2410

November 2007

General Project Information:

As you may be aware, Sierra College is underway with the implementation of Banner Administrative Software. This district wide project will effectively replace our existing administrative system software and will provide quality and accountability as Sierra College moves forward with this integrated system to improve service to students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni. 

The implementation is currently underway with the following modules.

• Finance - scheduled to go live on July 1st 2008.
• HR/Payroll - scheduled to go live on Jan 1st, 2009.
• Student and Instruction – tentatively scheduled to go live in 2009.
• Fin Aid – tentatively scheduled to go live in 2009.

Implementation teams have been put together in the respective areas above. The vast majority of these employees will be doing double duty, implementing the Banner software while still providing service to the college through our existing system. Your patience and support of the departments mentioned above is requested as Sierra College undertakes this mission critical implementation. For more information please see:  www.sierracollege.edu/banner.

Implementation Team Status:

Finance –

Status:  The Banner Finance Implementation Team (BFIT) is currently developing the Chart of Accounts for both the College and Foundation.  The team has been testing the new account string and format by working through account translations from the current chart of accounts to the new. 

On the Horizon:  BFIT will be attending a general training session November 6th – 8th to learn how to navigate in Banner as well as participate in a Business Process Analysis focusing on the Purchasing/Accounts Payable process December 4th – 5th.

HR/Payroll –

The HR/Payroll Team is meeting regularly collecting and identifying current practices and procedures, and looking at those areas that have been problematic due to the limited functionality of our current software.  The HR/Payroll team will be attending Banner Navigation training in early January and participating in an HR/Payroll business process analysis to develop a more effective and responsive system through Banner.

Student and Instruction –

Ready, set, go!  We're off and running.  The Banner student/instruction team (aka BSI) was finalized just in time to get ready for the discovery sessions scheduled with our consultants on Monday and Tuesday November 5th and 6th.  Our go live date for registration is in mid April 2009!  There will be many additional target dates prior to this in order to make it happen. Stay tuned.

Financial Aid –

The Financial Aid team will meet Nov 19 & 20th with their consultant to map out the next 15 months of implementation.  We tentatively plan to go live Jan 2009 by drawing down FAFSA for the Fall 2009 term!

Scott Snyder, Systems and Programming Mgr., ext 2410