1. Just Don't Call It "Banner": NMSU's Integrated ERP Project
Michael Hites Chief Information Officer
New Mexico State University
Educause 2006

2. The Title
Why Banner became a dirty word at NMSU and what we did about it.
Famous quotes:
“I can’t get anyone to be on a committee because the are all ‘busy with Banner.’”
“It’s Banner’s fault!”
“Banner made me do it!”
Good thing the union, spaceport, and convention center came along…

3. Outline
NMSU
The UNO project
Mechanics of implementation
System changes
A few results

4. NMSU

5. NMSU’s Presence in New Mexico
NMSU Campuses

6. Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment Distribution NM Public 4-Year Universities Main Campuses -- Fall 2004
UNM;
20,425; 48%
NMIMT;
1,477; 3%
NMHU;
2,327; 6%
ENMU;
3,099; 7%
WNMU;
1,997; 5%
NMSU;
12,910; 31%
Total: 42,235 Students
NMSU New Mexico State Univ.
UNM University of New Mexico
NMIMT N. M. Inst. Of Mining & Tech.
WNMU Western New Mexico Univ.
NMHU New Mexico Highlands Univ.
ENMU Eastern New Mexico Univ.

7. NMSU Undergraduate & Graduate Enrollment by College -- Main Campus -- Fall 2004
Total = 16,428 Students

8. Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) NM High School Graduates and Projections
17,972
Actual numbers through
Projections through
Source: Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State, Income, and Race/Ethnicity, 1988 to 2018, December 2003
Revised 6/28/04

9. Structure and Personnel
The UNO Project
Structure and Personnel

10. Evaluation of Need and Decision
NMSU reviewed existing administrative systems in 2003
The review included interviews with staff at NMSU and comparison of written system evaluations performed by other institutions
In September 2003 NMSU chose SunGard HE Banner
Banner aligns NMSU with existing four-year institutions in New Mexico
SunGard HE is considered to be a “best practices” vendor of university administrative software
Educause study of ERP systems found a common level of institutional satisfaction across all of the primary ERP systems, regardless of the vendor
NMSU has little money

11. Why is “UNO” important to NMSU?
Provides single integrated data store
Replaces NMSU’s legacy systems (5)
Integrates with other schools and software
Establishes (less) partners for the future
Eliminates social security ID number use
Provides web-based customer service
Improves methods of tracking recruitment and enrollments
Becomes the cornerstone of “information culture”

12. What was purchased? Software Modules: Advancement Finance
Financial Aid
Human Resources
Luminis (Web Portal and CMS)
Student (Registrar, Admissions, Accounts Receivable)
Data warehouse (ODS/EDW)
Self-service Products
Workflow
Xtender (imaging)
Matrix (Student Marketing)
Cognos ReportNet and PowerPlay

13. Software Replacement at NMSU
Old System
New System (Banner…)
FRS
Finance
HRMS and EAF
Human Resources
Vistas and SAR
Student
SAM
Financial Aid
CMDS and AFW
Advancement

14. Milestones September 2005: October 2003:
Admissions Phase II & Student Marketing System
November 2005:
Higher Markets (missed milestone)
January 2006:
ODS for Finance
July 2006:
Go Live for Banner Catalog and Schedule
October 2006:
DARS & Student
February 2007:
EDW & Financial Aid
May 2007:
Advancement
October 2003:
Project Kickoff Meeting
September 2004:
Admissions Phase I
January 2005:
Human Resources, Luminis Portal,
e-~print, Evisions, & Workflow
February 2005:
Xtender
March 2005:
PSL Timeload Interface
June 2005:
Finance & Appworx
July 2005:
Content Management System (pilot)
August 2005:
ODS for HR

15. Project Management Organization
Hites – Project Director
Project Coordinator - Arroyo
Project Manager - Bamford
Contract Admin - Parra
Functional/Technical Consultants
SunGard HE Project Manager - Churchman
ERP Steering Committee
SunGard HE Account Manager - Davis
Technical PM - Virnave
HR PM - Noel
Matrix PM - Aranda
Finance PM - Bamford
Reporting PM - Conter
Student PM - Aranda
Advancement PM - McKinney
CMS, Portal, & Self service - Chavez

16. ERP Steering Committee
Approve or disapprove changes in policies and procedures in order to implement the Banner software
Members include: Vice Presidents, Faculty Senate Representatives, Associate Provosts, Executive Vice President & Provost, ASNMSU Representative, Academic Dean, Campus Executive Officer & Chief Information Officer
As of October 1, 2006, 34 policies have been approved by the ERP Steering Committee
(3) Luminis Portal policies
(3) General Person policies
(3) Finance policies
(23) Human Resource/Payroll Policies
(2) Student/Financial Aid policies

17. A Few Important Policies
L01 – Password reset every 120 days to access “myNMSU”
L02 – Set a security password to reset your NMSU password
G01- A 9 character ID number replaces SSN
F01: The number of approvals required for processing a purchase requisition in both departmental and central offices will be limited to two levels
H01 - The terms “classified” and “professional” will be eliminated and replaced by the term “staff”
H11.1 – New full time regular faculty can choose to be paid on an annual basis (24 checks) rather than an academic year basis (18 checks)
H NMSU employees will enter their hours worked and hours of leave taken directly into Banner Human Resources Self-Service via the web

18. One Change from “Vanilla”
…but it was a big one: NMSU’s e-hire

19. Committees
General Person - help with the design of the general person module implementation and the development of data entry standards
Budget Office, Placement and Career Services, Athletics, Institutional Research, Office of Controller, Student Services, Office of Grants and Contracts, Advising Center, Housing…
Administrative Matters - review information on administrative matters. The committee is for informational purposes
Comprised of business managers, department heads, and directors
Chart of Accounts - trouble-shoots, implements, and converts chart of accounts
Comprised of Finance personnel

20. Committees Cont’d
UNO Student Business Process Owners - Ensures all areas are engaged throughout the project and discusses and resolves academic and administrative issues related to UNO student projects
Comprised of all academic and administrative student-related areas throughout all five campuses
UNO Student Business Process Workgroup - participates in Banner training and configuration and represents BPO areas
Employees with working knowledge of student records processing and its current and future impact on their area
Technical Reporting – evaluates and creates all reports for the UNO project
Comprised of technical staff in each departmental area

21. Documentation
UNO Project Definition - scope, approach, timeline, and other deliverables
Resource Matrix – roles and responsibilities of each team member
Communication Plan – defines various communication needs of the stakeholders and aides in managing the relationship between parties
Training Plan – guidelines for system testing and acceptance testing
Quality Assurance Plan – identifies the work products that require validation and verification and identifies which processes will be tracked via the work product, in addition to the process improvements for the project

22. NMSU UNO Communication: Overview
“Big” committees (monthly, weekly, daily)
Technology Day (semester)
Presentations to small groups (semester)
Campus administration (ABCD) memos (weekly before go live)
NMSU Hotline announcements (weekly, monthly)
Campus Newspaper (semester)
Poster sessions (semester)
Information tables (monthly)
System Testing - mock registration, pilot groups (semester)
Website – (daily)
Secure Website (daily)
Listserve: (monthly)

23. NMSU UNO Communication: Website
UNO News (updates)
Milestones
Feedback button
Directory
Documentation and tutorials for myNMSU

24. Routing of Major Communication
Draft of message created by team member
Lead time expected 5 days
Provided to PM’s at weekly meeting for approval
Given one week to review
Reviewed by ICT Training Services
Given two days to review
Routed to university campus or group via /paper/poster sessions by creator of message or Project Coordinator/Project Director

25. Project Management “manlaws”
Open discussion once per week leads to collaborative decisions

26. Banner Databases - Yes They’re Shared
Default - SBAN - Baseline Banner, used to apply new releases
Training - TBAN Development – DBAN - Used to support development and testing of NMSU code
Conversion - CBAN - Supports data conversion, rules development and validation Pre-Production - UBAN - Supports collective shared testing and sign off Production - PBAN - Supports daily business operations Migration - MBAN - Database clone for migration only.  Does not include INB or SSB.

27. Project Management “manlaws”
UBAN on Thursday
Open discussion once per week leads to collaborative decisions

28. HR and Finance Tracking
HR, Finance, and Luminis Timeline had a vertical structure
Team was smaller compared to Student and FinAid

29. Student Implementation Tracking

30. Core Systems and Services
The UNO Project
Core Systems and Services

31. My.nmsu.edu: Luminis

32. Credentials Before Luminis Portal (myNMSU)
Multiple credentials
NMSU Username
NMSU Password
NMSU Global ID
NMSU Global Password
Personal Identification Number
Social Security Number
Username for NMSU
Password for NMSU

33. After Luminis Portal (myNMSU)
NMSU Username NMSU Password
NMSU ID # NMSU PIN
Secret Q & A Secondary Credentials
Luminis
Student/ Faculty etc.
Banner (GOBTPAC)
NMSU Username NMSU Administrative Password
NMSU ID # NMSU PIN
ORACLE
Administrative User
Banner (GOBTPAC)

34. Web Services: Past, Present and Future

35. myNMSU (Luminis portal) go live
1/3/05: Activated my.nmsu.edu (Luminis portal)
About 30,000 accounts converted
Successful except for a few problems with “executives”
Benefits
Single sign-on access to all web applications on campus
Integrated self service for personal administrative information (pay stubs, registration etc.)
Access all your from the web or other client
Announcements to targeted audiences only
Community building tools like chat and message boards
Course tools for students and faculty
Made LDAP “the law”

36. Administrative systems: Banner 7

37. Banner INB Security Spreadsheet Example

38. Statistics: Banner INB (Internet Native Banner)
Used to log into the Banner administrative system
12/14/04 – paper memo distributed with credentials
Memo provided users with their NMSU Username and INB password
Wanted unique credentials, not “default”
1/6/05 – 1,435 total users (+ 500 time approvers)
1/7/05 – only 30 resets

39. Overall benefits Consolidated data source
Opportunity for better business intelligence
More dexterity in developing and deploying enterprise level IT solutions
Integrated identity and role management solution
Enables standardized application and data platform for the university
Web-ification of a growing number of e-services
Decreased help desk support

40. Help Desk Statistics Help Desk Trouble Ticket 2004 2005 2006 Global ID
1794
my NMSUUsername/Password 96
3007
888
Total ID
1890
Related Systems
WebCT Logon
797 52 39
Logon
675
receive/send
572 65 28
PIN
510
143 86
Programs
128 30 22
SCS Ventana 29 2
WebMail 16 3
WebCT Error 49 17
Dialup
245 18
Total Related Systems
3021
330
214
New Sytems
my.NMSU.Edu Portal 9 44
Work-Flow 10
INB Password 57 51
Web-Time Entry 76 7
Total New Systems
187 77
Grand Total
4920
3524
1179

41. and Development Strategies
The UNO Project
Information Services
and Development Strategies

42. Reporting Strategies and Tools
Responsibility for Data Integrity and Reporting is distributed throughout NMSU
Based on ODS/EDW
Banner--> ODS --> Cognos
Focus --> Cognos
Cognos tools: ReportNet and PowerPlay
Other tools include Banner reports, Eprint, ODS/EDW and direct access (TOAD)

43. BANNER PROCESS + Perl Processing == EPRINT
We use e-print because the security is already there

44. Cognos Reports -> PDF to TEXT Eprint Report

45. Business intelligence using EDW/Cognos
Centralized data allows for easier analysis and cross referencing
Cognos allows aggregation of data into cubes
Examples: SCH, Roll-up finance

46. Job Scheduling with Appworx
Banner fundamentally changed the role of “production control”
Ability to run Banner processes
Ability to Run Cognos Reports, convert to text and post to E-print
In general, whatever you can write in UNIX script, you can integrate into Appworx

47. NMSU Month End Close

48. Support for distributed development
Docs, Product validation & approval
Centralized developer support
Developers on Campus
Open
Standards
XML,XSL,
RSS
Channel Development Kit
Sample blank channels
Data Access
Access to relevant
developer databases
Luminis Portal Framework
LDAP Authentication &
Authorization
Layout Presentation &
Branding
Channel Session
Management

49. Enrollment Management
The UNO Project
Impact on
Enrollment Management

50. Enrollment Goals (3% growth)
Increase Native American enrollment
Increase Engineering enrollment
Increase Student Credit Hour (SCH) production

51. Targeted Communications
Very custom, but needs technical staff to build Comm. groups

52. Example Letter
Letters are far superior to Banner, but slower to generate
Simple to format
(Branding goes here)
Highly personal

53. Freshman Statistics
Headcount
New Students Change
First time Freshmen %
Retention (Fall semester)
First-time, full-time, degree 71.7% % % % seeking freshmen
Persisting to second year
After two years of decline, Student Credit Hours up 1.5%!

54. Native American and Engineering Enrollment Statistics
Fall Enrollment Native American Percent
, %
, %
, %
, %
Engineering (Fall) Difference Change
First Time Freshman %
Undergraduate Continuing 1, , %
Undergraduate Readmitted %
Undergraduate Transfers %
Total 1, , %

55. The UNO Project
Training

56. Core Team Training
Identified and delivered organizational change, navigation, module introduction and overview, and application training for end-users to:
Training Coordinators
Training Committee
Functional Teams
Functional Trainers
Functional Experts
Documentation & Training Team
Technical Coordinators
Implementation Team

57. Core Team Training

58. Example: End User Training Dates
Banner Finance – ARC 30
May – 8:30am-4:30pm
May – 8:30am-4:30pm
May 31 – 8:30-4:30pm
June 1 – 8:30am-4:30pm
June 3 – 8:30am-4:30pm
June 6-9 – 8:30am-4:30pm
June – 1:30-4:30pm
June – 1:30-4:30pm
Banner Navigation – ARC 24
October 19, 2004
October 21, 2004
October 25, 2004
November 1-2, 2004
November 29, 2004 – Ag Extension ONLY
December 1-2, 2004
January 24, 2005 (AM ONLY)
January 26, 2005 (PM ONLY)
HR Training – Skeen W147
November 9-11, 2004
November 16-18, 2004
January 25, 2005 (FSA Training Room)
E-Hire Training – ARC 24
December 6-10, 2004
December 13-17, 2004
January , 2005
Procurement Card Update
June 27 – 1:30-2:30, & 3:00-4:00pm
June 28 – 9:00-10:00am, 10:30-11:30am,
1:30-2:30pm, & 3:00-4:00pm
Banner Finance Self Service Overview Session
May 23 – 9:00-10:00am, 10:30-11:30am, 1:30
2:30pm, & 3:00-4:00pm
June 2 – 9:00-10:00am, 10:30-11:30am,
1:30-2:30pm, & 3:00-4:00pm

59. Example: General Navigation Training
Designed to introduce basic navigation and query processes for Banner
Course covers different types of Banner forms, how to use Banner application menus, how to navigate through forms and perform queries, how to create personal menus, and other aspects of Banner usage

60. Speed up document generation
Documentation Design Guide – guidelines for all documentation for the UNO project (training materials, announcements, etc).
Training material can be found via the UNO project website at (demos, FAQ’s, and hard copies of training manuals)
Text and Margin format Margins
Top - 1”
Bottom - 1”
Left ”
Right - .75”
Page Orientation Portrait Paper Size
Width - 8.5”
Height - 11”

61. Go Live Support:
Help Desk (support centers): end user calls, trouble-shooting, reset of passwords, etc.
Documentation:
Voice mail for after hours
On-call support (on-site and off-site)
IT support at each college/department level (NMSU ACANS)
Campus administrator updates
Daily Debriefings

62. Biggest Issues
Change management - Example: time and leave entry
Batch processing changes
conversion was a nice gesture, but created problems
Groups that still did not want to conform to processes (bad career move)
CMS isn’t the most customer friendly
Reporting gap from Focus>>Cognos

63. Biggest Benefits Team building and huge campus collaborative effort
One stop web services
Vendor supported solution
Faster implementation of services
Information widely available (well, almost)
More excitement about “what’s next”
Recognition that Banner, LDAP and ODS are shared, primary systems
Statistics show that it actually did something good
Staff may get to sleep soon

64. Questions? Selected answers: $15M capital $1M additional operating
None in IT, but about dozen total throughout functional areas like finance, enrollment management and reporting.
Dead Guy Ale

65. Just Don't Call It "Banner": NMSU's Integrated ERP Project
Michael Hites New Mexico State University
Educause 2006