Banner Modification Standard

Introduction

The purpose of the Banner Modification Standard is to reduce--and if possible eliminate--modifications to Administrative Banner and Self-Service Banner.

Definitions

• Baseline Code: The code for a software solution as delivered by the vendor.
• Case: Term used to track Issues submitted by a customer to Ellucian.
• Product Defect (PD) or Product Enhancement (PE): An Ellucian ticket, usually instigated from a case or cases.
  • Formerly known as Customer Request (CR).
• Enterprise Technology Coordinator (ETC): Employees designated by the Module Steward who are considered “power users” or deep functionality experts of their designated ERP module.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business process management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back-office functions such as finance, human resources and in education, student information. Portland State University's ERP is Banner, a product delivered by the vendor, Ellucian.
• Modification: A term used to describe the application of  technical changes to a vendor’s baseline code which must then be maintained by PSU, and not the vendor, going forward.
• Module Steward: Designated steward of an ERP module (such as Student, Admissions, Human Resources, Finance, Accounts Receivable).  Usually AVP level, these employees provide leadership for their module, including authorization for data use, access, and module modifications.

Purpose and Applicability 

Modifications to Banner are costly and complex to maintain. University demand for the services of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) have increased, while resources have decreased. The object of this Standard is to provide the stated goal of minimizing Banner modifications, as well as to provide a process and criteria for review of new modification requests.

Standards and Procedures 

Requests for Banner modifications usually are due to one of the following reasons:

1. The baseline solution has a bug or defect, but PSU transactions can still be successfully processed.
   • Procedure: Report to vendor, wait for fix.
2. The baseline solution has a bug or defect that prevents PSU transactions from successfully processing.
   • Procedure:
     • Report to vendor, mark as urgent.
     • Follow Banner Modification Request/Review Process, below.
3. The baseline solution is inefficient.
   • Procedure:
     • Develop business process fix, if possible.
     • Report to vendor, as a usability defect.
4. New regulations cannot be implemented using the baseline solution.
   • Procedure:
     • Report to vendor.
     • Follow Banner Modification Request/Review Process, below, if vendor will not provide a timely solution.

Banner Modification Request/Review Process

1. Banner deficiency is brought to the attention of the designated Enterprise Technology Coordinator (ETC).
2. ETC confirms deficiency and researches alternatives to modification of baseline code:
   • Ability to resolve based on business process change.
   • Review vendor’s list of known defects and enhancements. 
   • ETC creates a Case, and requests that the case be linked to the Ellucian ticket, if one already exists.
   • ETC follows up with vendor to determine timeline for fix.
3. If modification is still needed, ETC prepares PSU Change Spec to be signed by the Module Steward and submitted to the Director of Enterprise Applications for approval.

Ongoing Modification Maintenance Review

1. With each redelivery of a modified object by the vendor, the ETC will review the PSU Change Spec and Ellucian release notes to determine if Mod is still required.  
2. If still required, ETC signs-off on PSU Change Spec that the mod needs to be reapplied.

Point of Contact

Karenna Wait, Director of Enterprise Applications