Banner 9 Project Update – January 2018

First migrations scheduled for January 2018

As we mentioned in July 2017, we are organizing the migration from Banner 8 to Banner 9 by business processes. For example, all of the Banner 8 forms related to check printing will be migrated to Banner 9 at one time.

We are starting the migration to Banner 9 with some business processes that are relatively simple and whose migration to Banner will impact fewer people and departments on campus.

Working closely with the stakeholder leads for Banner’s Financial Aid, Payroll, and Finance modules, Information Services has scheduled the first group of business processes to migrate to Banner 9 in late January — namely, finance-related business processes used internally by Business Affairs:

  • Check Printing
  • Check Cancellation
  • Chart of Accounts Maintenance

Testing and training: A key part of the migration process

Before we move a given business process to Banner 9, Information Services (IS) or the stakeholder leads in that area will communicate with staff who are using that process. We will also do testing and allow time for training.

Because Banner 9 uses a different programming language than Banner 8, developers in IS must re-engineer Banner 8 forms for Banner 9 if those forms were originally designed or customized for UO. Although our campus partners have helped dramatically reduce the number of modifications that need to be made, there are still a considerable number that will require re-engineering.

For the first few business processes to be migrated, the forms have been redeveloped and are now being tested by staff in Financial Aid, Payroll, and Finance to ensure the forms still function as they should. If those testers identify problems, the developers will work to resolve them, continuing the feedback loop until the forms seem ready to go.

Once the Banner 9 versions of the forms pass that first round of testing, a larger group of users — in this case, Finance, Payroll and Financial Aid staff — will be invited to perform something called “user acceptance testing” (UAT). The UAT process asks Banner users to confirm that forms are indeed complete and ready to go, and that no further adjustments are needed.

User training on the Banner 9 forms will then be offered, and the business process will be migrated to Banner 9.

Here is a visual representation of the process:

Business processes to be migrated in early 2018

In addition to the finance-related business processes mentioned above, the following business processes will be some of the first ones migrated to Banner 9, in January and February 2018:

Financial Aid

  • Federal Pell Grant Calculation
  • FAFSA Loading
  • Reporting Stipends & Outside Scholarships
  • Award Letter Printing

Payroll

  • Benefit Administration
  • Biographic Demographic
  • Group Hire