The campus community can celebrate April 16 as the day Old Dominion is officially prepared for The Year 2000, nearly eight months early. On that date, Old Dominion plans to implement the student module of Banner, the university's new computerized administrative system.
The Student Information System, known as ISIS, will be replaced by the Banner student module April 16. Once this fourth and final module is completed, all of the university's administrative software will be Y2K compliant, according to Catherine Austin, assistant vice president for administrative services.
As part of the Banner system implementation, employee paychecks arrived on Feb. 16 issued by Old Dominion University rather than the Commonwealth of Virginia. In January, the Human Resources Department and payroll office began running parallel with the state payroll system, which allowed the university additional processing time as well as completed the decentralization process from the state.
Decentralization gives the university the ability to issue all payments directly and submit requests to the state to draw state funds to support the payments. Decentralization rights have only been granted to institutions that demonstrate financial responsibility and the capability to perform the functions required. Only five Virginia universities are decentralized.
The university was partially decentralized from the state when Finance, the first Banner module, was implemented in July 1998. Banner/Finance allows Old Dominion to process all checks locally and receive reimbursement from the state daily. This has sped up the check issue process by days, said Austin.
"Banner will change the way business is done at Old Dominion University. People who utilized ISIS to perform their jobs will now have to learn Banner. Some have been involved in the implementation by participating in committees, but others have not had the opportunity," said Austin.
Once the student segment is completed, students will have only one record on Banner. Their university record will contain academic, financial aid, payroll and all other relevant information. Austin hopes for a smooth transition during the first advising and registration process, as people learn Banner yet still access ISIS for academic history.
"A lot of people have to be trained in a short period of time (March and early April)," said Austin. "Information has to be developed for students on Web and voice-response features, and all of this must be done at the same time we are trying to complete the implementation of the student module."
Training is currently available for Banner/Finance. Training for Banner/Student will begin in March.
"Many implementations can take up to five years, but Old Dominion will complete the process in 16 months from installation of the software to full utilization. As one integrated database, coordinating the combination of all the data into one database and understanding the relationships and dependencies has been a big challenge," said Austin.
The Office of Financial Aid will begin processing aid for the fall 1999 semester using Banner, while summer semester financial aid will still be processed using the existing financial aid system.
"Banner provides a lot of flexibility and possibilities for the future. We are implementing the baseline system that will enable us to continue basic business," said Austin. "Additional features and enhancements will be implemented as time permits."
Banner could eventually allow the university to become a paperless campus, as Austin sees it, by processing all required information on-line and routing information through e-mail for approvals. Web applications will soon be available that will allow registration, advising, grades and eventually financial aid and admissions processes to take place on-line in real time.
To access Banner, an account request form must be completed and submitted to the appropriate office for signature (this form is available on the Web). The office that would approve user participation would depend on the type of information the individual needs to access.
Information about security classes is explained on the university's Web site at http://web.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/AF/OCCS/occssite.nsf/pages/custserv10c.
Questions about Banner? Call the hotline at 683-3030 or contact:
Linda Webster - Banner/Finance
Glenda Humphreys - Banner/Human Resources/Payroll
Betty Diamond - Financial Aid
Catherine Austin - Banner/Student
Mike Little - Technical
David Kozoyed - Database
Rusty Waterfield - Unix and network support.
