The SHSU Banner Project Management Team is hosting a series of Town Hall Meetings throughout the month of September to update students, faculty and staff on the progress of the new campus ERP system commonly known as Banner. The first meeting, an “Intro to Banner”, is scheduled for Sept. 3 from 3-4p.m. in the CHSS C090.
The meeting, according to Jacob Chandler, director of Administrative Applications, is to inform the campus what an Enterprise Resource Planning system is and why these changes are necessary in order to accommodate Sam Houston’s growth.
The “Intro to Banner” meeting is will be accompanied by a powerpoint presentation and a question and answer session. Later Town Hall Meetings will highlight more information on the different modules they are implementing as well as offer status reports on Banner’s progress.
Although many students met the new banner ERP system with anxiety at the beginning of the year due to delays in financial aid, Chandler hopes that these Town Hall Meetings will answer any questions students, faculty, and staff may have concerning the new database as well as smooth out any of the glitches experienced previously.
“The support and coordination of the entire campus is needed for the successful implementation of a new campus-wide system. We appreciate the students, parents, faculty and staff for all the patience and cooperation they have shown during this transition,” Stephanie Brim, Marketing Coordinator, said.
The new ERP system has been a long time coming. In August 2008, university president, Dr. James F. Gaetner, announced the organization of an ERP Steering Committee who would evaluate the long-standing Legacy ERP system and make recommendations on whether or not to improve upon it or purchase a new operating system.
SanGard Higher Education’s Banner program was met with much enthusiasm by several departments on campus and was unanimously approved and purchased by from SanGard Higher Education as a replacement for SHSU’s 40-year old Legacy ERP system by the Texas State University Board of Regents in December of 2008.
Financial is not the only department that will experience change in the near future. Once it’s fully operational, components of the Banner system will include Student, Finance, Human Resources and Payroll and Enrollment Management modules. Financial Aid is currently operating on Banner 7 and will be upgraded to Banner 8 sometime in early October or late November of this year. Students will notice little change when this transition is completed.
Banner, a comprehensive computer information system that contains information on courses, students, faculty and staff, will help the university administration become more efficient by allowing consistent and timely data access and sharing.
Banner is scheduled to be fully operational in December of 2011. For more information on the Town Hall Meetings and additional information on Sam Houston’s new ERP system please visit http://www.shsu.edu/banner . To recieve regular status updates on Banner’s progress subscribe to banner’s monthly newsletter at http://www.shsu.edu/ERP/newsletter.html