Higher Education Finance Blog

Supporting Good Habits

Posted: June 14, 2010, 7:12 am

Change magazine recently published an article by Dennis Jones and Jane Wellman entitled, Breaking Bad Habits: Navigating the Financial Crisis.  The article describes the impacts the economy is having on higher education as well as recommendations for strategies and plans they believe are necessary to see higher education through this financial crisis. Jones and Wellman pull no punches with their analysis and recommendations in this article and one paragraph made a particular impression on me:

“This time, however, there is a focus not just on fund-raising but on ways to reduce spending. Across the country, institutions have started efforts to reevaluate costs and to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The mantra of the moment is that the “cost model is broken” and that the “new normal” will require attention to cost management and efficiency on a continuing basis. In an academic culture that has long viewed the “productivity” word as anti-intellectual bean-counting, it’s a new day.”

While you may disagree with some of Jones’ and Wellman’s recommendations in this article, everyone can agree that the current economic situation is driving higher education administrators to improve financial management and resource utilization. It’s the first step in the direction towards the goal of being able to compare and contrast program budgets and make the tough decisions that this economy is demanding of higher education. Budget development in higher education should be driven by an analysis that highlights those programs that are most successful and meeting the institution’s mission and identifying those that are consuming a disproportionate amount of resources or are not supporting the institution’s mission. Administrators today must be able to:

  • match utilization of resources with program demand;
  • obtain a better sense of the effective use of resources within and between departments; and,
  • support the discussion at the institutional and system level of the most efficient and effective allocation of resources necessary to meet the institution’s mission.

The key to supporting these needs is to leverage best practices like Activity Based Costing (ABC): a financial management process that seeks to identify key activities across the institution and assign the cost of each activity resource to a program that uniquely exists within the organization structure of the university. While activity based costing is not a new best practice, it does require the institution to value and adopt it. This has not happened on a wide scale basis in higher education primarily due to the perceived time, effort, and financial investment it takes to implement it. It also presents a requirement of higher education systems vendors to provide new features and integration of existing systems and data in our transactional and business intelligence solutions.

But without some level of activity based costing to support the analysis of sorting out those programs that support the institutional mission from those that are missing the mark, how can administrators make the tough choices they will need to make? In my view, it’s going to be very difficult and frustrating without the proper data to support these decisions. We must work together towards a goal of providing clear and consistent information to decision makers so that they can focus attention on strategies to see us through these difficult times.

SunGard Higher Education’s existing products and consulting services already provide the basis for implementing activity based costing. Remember FOAPAL? There’s a great deal of support already there to put an activity based costing program together. Our business intelligence infrastructure also provides great support for assembling the information in a way that can be trended, summarized and compared, supporting an analysis of the institution’s revenues and spending by program. But that’s not the end of our plans; we are focused on working with our customers to develop better budgeting and reporting capabilities to support their needs.

Jones and Wellman end their article saying, “times have changed, but not that much—and there’s no time like the present to get on with the business of creating a better future.” I couldn’t agree more, and we at SunGard Higher Education are poised to be your partner and support that “better future.”

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Community Source Initiative Webinar Series

Posted: May 16, 2010, 1:10 pm

In case you missed the post from Deborah Elias-Smith, here’s a great way to catch up on the Community Source Initiative.  What it means, and how you can get involved!

-Dave

——————————

Community Source adds additional wheels to our Development engine, so that we can bring solutions to you more quickly!

Every day, your institution uses software from SunGard Higher Education to help you meet the needs of your students, faculty, alumni, and staff. What if your great ideas, including enhancements to SunGard products developed at your institution, could be shared with others and even become part of the solutions supported by SunGard?

Through the Community Source Initiative, your great ideas and the power of the community can make that happen.  The Community Source Initiative is a software development model driven by you, our customers.  Community Source leverages the expertise and collaborative power of the far-reaching user community to bring more functionality and better solutions to your institution.

We will be offering a four part webinar series that focuses on the ins and outs of the Community Source Initiative.  The first webinar will be an overview of the Community Source Initiative co- presented by Bill Thirsk, CIO of Marist College and Chairperson of the Community Source Board of Directors and SunGard.   Join us for this complimentary webinar on Tuesday, May 25 to learn how you and your institution can become involved in this exciting initiative.   Hopefully you will be able to join us for this seminar, however, if you can’t, we will record the session and post instructions on how to access the recording.

Community Source Initiative Overview

Tuesday, May 25, from 2:00-3:00 pm Eastern

To register for this event, click registration link below

Registration

<https://sungardhe.webex.com/sungardhe/onstage/g.php?d=3D713958=208&t=3Da>

Once the host approves your request, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting.

Regards,

Deborah Elias-Smith

VP Community Source Initiative

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Guest Blog from Dr. Edwin Bemmel, Director of Research Accounting from Florida Atlantic University

Posted: May 11, 2010, 7:07 pm

SunGard Higher Education asked me to write about my experience with the new effort certification module.  For those of you who are not familiar with effort certification, this enhancement is designed to assist in developing a systematic certification process and formal effort report which is essential to ensure that you are always prepared to respond to sponsors with the required information, as defined in the OMB Circular (A-21). OMB A-21 requires faculty and staff involved in federally sponsored research to confirm the activities for which they are compensated on a regular basis but no less frequently than 6 months.  Sponsors use these reports to confirm that the effort expended by an individual working on the research matched what the sponsor paid.

It’s already been over a month since we went live with the effort certification module.  Now that almost  all the pre-reviewers have reviewed their records (all but about five records have been reviewed), and about half of all records are certified, I can comfortably say that this has been a successful implementation (the certifiers have a month to certify their records and have about two weeks left to do so for this period).

I recall when I first heard about the Effort Certification module in Banner 8.1.  It was about eighteen months ago when we were reviewing different third party effort certification systems. Of course, we were considering the well known systems with all the needed bells and whistles. When we heard about the Effort Certification module in Banner, we decided to consider this. I have to say, initially I was skeptical about getting a product that was not even out yet and that certainly has not been put to the test. However, after receiving a webcasted demo, and attending Summit in 2009, during which I was able to “play” with the system, I became very excited about this product. Where else would I find a product that is A-21 compliant and is fully integrated with Banner at no additional cost to the university? After all, this module is part of version 8.1 and the upgrade is free.

The actual implementation was the easiest Banner implementation I ever experienced. Since we were already using the grants module, as well as Banner HR, there was not a lot to be setup. Even the training was straightforward. We learned everything there was to learn about this module in three days. It then took us about six months to establish our business rules, establish policies and implement the system.

Several faculty members commented on the ease of use of the system. The system is very intuitive and does not require a lot of effort (no pun intended) on the certifier’s side in order to certify.  I am personally impressed with the “lock” feature of the system. All records automatically lock after effort is certified (if you require post review, the record will lock after the post review is completed).  Once a record is locked, payroll cannot process any labor redistribution or cancel a check. One issue less on my list of worries with the auditors!

About Dr. Edwin Bemmel:

Edwin Bemmel serves as the Director of Research Accounting in the Division of Research at Florida Atlantic University. In this capacity, Dr. Bemmel oversees all post award functions of the University’s research enterprise including all billing, financial reporting, financial monitoring, effort certification compliance, and sub-recipient monitoring, as well as the Facilities and Administrative rate (Indirect Cost) and Fringe Benefit rate calculation, submission, and negotiation. Dr. Bemmel also serves as the Treasurer of Florida Atlantic University’s Research Corporation and is an adjunct faculty in the College of Business at FAU.

Dr. Bemmel is a native of Paramaribo, Suriname (South America), and joined FAU as a student assistant in 1989. Since then, he has worked as an Accounting Coordinator in Contracts and Grants, Assistant Controller, and Associate Controller in the University’s Controller’s Office. In these positions, he oversaw different areas including Accounts Payable, Payroll, General Accounting, and Property Management.

Dr. Bemmel earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting, a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Information Systems, a Masters in Accounting, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

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Summit 2010 Recap

Posted: April 29, 2010, 8:29 pm

Hard to believe that Summit was two weeks ago!  After a brief trip to wine country in order to recharge the batteries, followed be a trip to Texas Tech University to see the exciting integration they are building between Salary Planner and Budget Development (thanks Kay, Jeff, Rose, and everyone else!), I’m officially ready to end my blog-cation!  I’m back!

I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on Summit 2010, and to solicit your feedback!  (Really, you can respond to these posts!)

Sure to be popular around the office…FOAPAL mugs! What’s in those mugs anyway…

Walking through the exhibit hall the first day of Summit, Laura Weathersby and I were stopped by one of our customers.  He literally grabbed my arm.  He said that he had to tell us how “he can tell the tone is changing” and that “everyone is talking about how SunGard is listening” and that “people are excited again”.  People usually stop me in the streets of Philadelphia twice a day and say the same thing (OK, maybe not), but this guy was excited!  I actually wish I could remember his name (somewhere in Canada as I recall)!  Those comments were heard throughout the halls.  There was a buzz!

Let’s look at the Finance and HR Community Day as one small proof point.  Here’s an example where we tried something completely new (And no, “Community Day” was not about painting fences!).  We didn’t focus on software, we focused on PEOPLE.  We focused on how we can work more closely together with YOU, our community; how we can respond more effectively to YOUR needs; and how we can provide the leadership YOU expect from SunGard Higher Education.  The feedback was incredible.  It really was better than any of us expected!  Consider these results from a survey that Nick D’Addezio collected:

  • 100% of attendees found the day beneficial
  • 75% of attendees said they day exceeded their expectations and 95% said it either met or exceeded expectations
  • The ratings for satisfaction of the sessions on a scale of 1 to 10 were all above 8.
  • 90% of attendees said they would attend again if offered and all but 1 said they would either attend again or recommend to someone to attend. 

Some of the quotes we received back:

We have heard lots of Banner promises from SunGard and its predecessors over the years.  I think it’s clear that this time, things are changing in a big way.

Bottom line, it was time well spent for me.  Thanks for presenting the opportunity.

It was nice to have a whole day devoted to Finance and HR and to meet with folks who care about everyone’s success.

I thought it was great and gave insight on not just Banner but how other institutions were managing their needs

It is good to see that SunGard is involving it’s clients in improving processes that not only help SunGard to be a stronger provider, but to also to the benefit of the clients.

For your Product Management team, it was validation, learning, and momentum all wrapped together. Validation, that we are on the correct course.  Learning, around what we can do better.  Momentum, that we will carry forward to execute on our promises.  In my next post (coming up…promise!), I’ll be detailing out some of the ideas and thoughts from Summit, so stay tuned…, but first some other high points:

  • 4 Banner Travel and Expense Management Sessions in a row, including from Michael Biagini (University of North Florida) were very well attended.  People were not only excited about what we have delivered, but also where we are going with travel advances (go development team!)
  • Learning Lab was PACKED!  SunGard’s Vince Pinto led the lab activities this year and did a great job of ensuring that we had coverage from across the company…Services, ActionLine and Development.  I’m not exaggerating when I say this…every time I stopped by the lab, half of the computers had Banner Travel and Expense Management up on their screens.  I think people thought they would actually get a live check from the system…
  • Awesome Customer sessions- Our policy this year was to have as many customer-led sessions as possible.  Nothing is better than seeing how your colleagues are getting the most out of their investment.  We’ll be reviewing feedback from all the sessions, and determining the best way to get this content to those that were not able to attend Summit.
  • Great Finance and HR Kickoffs!  Laura and Jeff both presented to packed houses.  About a 1000 people in each session.  The tone was upbeat, positive.  There was a lot to talk about!  While Jeff and Laura got the audience caught up on everything from Roadmaps to Webinars, I talked about what else we were working on.  We’ll be re-recording those sessions, so that we can post them on the Commons as Innovation Webinars so that everyone can get their “Summit fix”.
  • Hello Commons, bye bye listservs- We are still determining the exact date that the listservs will be shuttered…but they will be shuttered!  In their place will be the Commons!  By now, you probably know that the Commons will provide a richer and more engaging user experience.  Searches can be done by tags and key words.  Posts can be rated with stars to indicate helpfulness.  Your comments can be ADJUSTED after the fact (just in case you write something you regret…never happens to me!).  The Commons also provides a simple interface by which to access our innovation webinars, segment news, product roadmaps, etc.  It’s a one-stop shop!

  

Some more points on the Commons. 

Some of you have heard that your Banner Finance/HR Product Management team laid down a challenge to the other SunGard Higher Education Product Managers.  The challenge was to see who could get the most members of their community signed up for the Commons while at Summit.  I am happy (and frankly, relieved!) to report that our segment registration was 279, more than the other Banner areas…combined!  WOW.  Let’s keep it going.  If you haven’t signed up yet….it will take 5 minutes…

Also, we’ve unshackled our consultants!  A shackled consultant was a sad consultant.  They would faithfully read the listservs every day, longing to respond to posts that they knew they could help with.  Why didn’t they respond?  I have no idea.  But in order to build a stronger community, we need to be part of it.  You’ll see more comments, tips, responses, and guidance from our consultants within the Commons in the future!

  

Get Involved!

Our “Banner Nation” is only strong if everyone gets involved and helps get others excited.  I am asking for each of you to do this:  sign up for the Commons (you should have already done this by now :-) ; contact your 3 closest friends and get them to sign up; ask that they pass the word along!  (Hey, I could have made this into an annoying chain letter, if I was truly evil…)

Sure, we could let the Commons become “listserv 2.0”.  Or we could do something more with it.  We can create an even more thriving community through our collective involvement!  I say we go for it!  See you out there!

The easiest way to get more detail is to check out Nick’s blog post!

  

PU? No...PI! New FRAGRNT perfume takes the effort out of smelling nice!

Last Words…

And of course, there was a lot of fun at Summit this year as well…and even some Banner humor (see pics in this post)!  And trust me…as difficult as it is to come up with Banner humor, I know it’s probably even more difficult to digest!  :-)

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who made it out to Summit.  Especially the presenters.  I felt the customer-led presentations were especially valuable this year (even when the lights went out)!  Budgets are tight, and your time is tighter.  Getting to San Francisco wasn’t easy for many of you.  We genuinely appreciate your continued support and involvement!

For those of you who were not able to attend Summit…no worries.  Over the weeks ahead, we’ll be looking to take content from Summit and push it out through the Commons.  If you can’t make it to Summit, we want to bring it to you!

Finally, a special thanks to everyone on our Customer Advisory Boards, our Functional Review Boards, and our especially your Summit Chairperson, Cara Piperni (McGill University).  These folks helped make Summit 2010 the best yet!  They have put tons of enthusiasm and effort in to building a stronger and more responsive community.  I’m proud to be working with these folks, and know that we will accomplish great things together in the months ahead!

Thanks again.  Looking forward to your comments, ideas…and Banner humor?

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The Summit RPE Election Results

Posted: April 28, 2010, 9:17 am

Remember these?  The first time I was eligible to vote, I remember entering this machine, pulling that red lever, and the curtains closing behind me.  It felt a little weird at first, but then, as I looked at the names of the candidates and the ability to make a selection by pulling a lever, I realized I had power through my right to vote.  It was a really good feeling and something I’ve never forgotten.

Earlier this month at Summit during the Banner Finance track kickoff I announced an election of sorts:  we will develop and release one of three RPEs based on your votes in the Commons.  Dozens of customers registered for the Commons and used our new polling app to select one of the following RPEs:

RPE

 1-4DC628

Summary

 Expansion of address fields on FPAPORD and FPACORD output

Description

 “Expand address fields on FPAPORD, FPACORD
output.   FTMVEND allows many more characters than
what prints on the Purchase Order or Change Order.    Some
addresses use and need the extra characters to print.   May not have room for all of the characters on the output but expand it as much as possible.”

RPE

 1-44BOBN

Summary

 Ability to drill down to receiving documents in Self-Service

Description

 “We would like to be able to drill-down in self-service to see receiving in self-service.”

RPE

 1-4S2FY2

Summary

 Update Index functionality of Self-Service budget
transfers so that they are consistent with INB

Description

 “Would like the Index feature to work in SSB as it does in INB, using the defaults and override flags, keep the index on the screen and populate the FOAP when the index is entered instead of having to hit Complete first.  Now if you enter the index it does not populate the fund, orgn, prog until you hit Complete, which wipes out the account number that was entered.  It also lets you change one of the default even if it’s set to not allow override.”
RPE Voting Results

RPE Voting Results

And here are the results!

The election was close, but RPE 1-44BOBN – ability to drill down to receiving documents in Self Service – was the winner! We’ll get this queued up for  development [it’s already on my Kanban board!]. Look for this in the second half of this year.

Thanks to all who voted and for taking the time to register and join the Commons. The conversation has started and we’re seeing people engage and leverage some of the great capabilities there. If you haven’t signed up for the Commons yet, it’s easy:

  1. Simply go to http://www.edu1world.org/submitform/SunGardHECommonsInvitation/
    and fill out a brief form.  This will create your profile on
    edu1world (the platform that we are using for the Commons) as well as register you for the Commons.
  2. After you sign up, be sure to join the Banner Finance Community http://www.edu1world.org/CommonsBannerFinance/

As we continue to build our Community on the Commons, one of the things that we would like to do is leverage it to improve our communications and give you a voice.  Just like that voting machine!

There are a number of ways we could engage, and one that I’m particularly focused on is engaging the customer base to help us prioritize RPEs. From the ability to vote and prioritize to engaging in a conversation with customers representing institutions of all types and sizes online, I think we would all benefit. Raise your voice and let me know what you think either as a comment here or in the Commons.  I’m looking forward to the conversation!

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A New Way to Collaborate

Posted: April 21, 2010, 12:52 pm

You may be wondering “why is a guy from marketing posting to the finance blog today?”  Well, I have the honor of telling you about an exciting new initiative that we highlighted last week at Summit 2010.

But before we get to that, let’s start with a little scenario.  Imagine that you’re at your desk, thinking about the new Banner Travel & Expense Management solution, and wondering what other customers think of it.  In today’s world, you send a message out to the listserv.  You post a message, in all plain block text I might add, hoping that SunGard Higher Education doesn’t send out one of their “what’s new” messages, pushing your question to the bottom of the digest.  Then, you hope and wait for people to respond.  If they do, and you don’t miss the email in your inbox (let’s face it, it’s huge), you need to search through.  Or, I guess you could look through the listserv archives, and if you’ve done that before, you know you don’t even want to think about that.

Now, let’s talk about what this process could look like.  Before you even post anything, you go to an interactive website and search for the topic.  You find 3 different discussion threads out there on Banner Travel & Expense Management.  And before you even begin reading, you look at the one with the highest rating that also has comments from 4 different schools in a single place.  One of them even references an online demo of the solution, and you simply click a link to view it.  Some of the comments are so good, you decide to link to the author profiles for networking purposes.  And now you realize you don’t even need to post anything anymore!

I know, I know, you’re probably asking yourself how this is even possible.  Well, it’s not only possible, it’s available today!  Last week, at Summit in San Francisco, we announced SunGard Higher Education Commons.  The Commons is an online community where our customers and employees can share experiences, ask questions, find answers, and connect to a collaborative and informed network.  There are articles, news, blogs, reference materials, document libraries, discussion threads, and more.  All of this provides you, the community, with tools to share, learn, explore, and create.

The Commons takes the idea of the listserv, collaborating together, sharing knowledge, and answering questions, but takes it a step further with more robust community and collaboration tools.  Instead of sending something out to a black hole and hoping for responses, you can now post your questions on an easy to use (and more importantly, search) online community where others can review, post comments, and even rate.  And it’s for more than just questions!  You may just have a success story you want to share, or a great tip or trick.  The list is endless!

One other thing to note about the Commons is SunGard Higher Education employee participation is encouraged.  We’re asking our employees to be more involved and more proactive.  If we see a question that we know the answer to, we’ll respond.  If there is a clarification that is needed, we’ll share.  We’ll be working together, collaborating, and building a community!

If you haven’t signed up for the Commons yet, it’s easy.  Simply click here and fill out a brief form.  This will create your profile on edu1world (the platform that we are using for the Commons) as well as register you for the Commons.  Now, you can access the Commons.  Once there, share, learn, explore, and create!  Take advantage of all that the Commons has to offer.  And once you sign up, be sure to join the Banner Finance Community.

So now I hope you understand why a guy from marketing was posting to the blog today (and so excited to do it)!  And I hope you join the Commons!  Once you do, or if you already have, let us know what you think!

Nick

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Enhancing our RPE Process

Posted: March 28, 2010, 8:16 pm

In past blogs, I’ve talked about our new focus on YOU.  We’ve introduced the concepts of community source, talked about how we will build a stronger bridge with the community we serve through our customer advisory boards, and how we are prepared to listen through our Community Day pre-conference activities at Summit.

There are many more new initiatives that I will discuss in the days ahead.  For those going to Summit, I hope they pique your interest in attending sessions that will review these programs in more detail.  For those not attending Summit, I want to make sure you are informed, and solicit your feedback.  Of course, I will also provide recaps from Summit throughout the conference on this blog…so stay tuned!

One of the initiatives I know will have an impact on everyone is how we are refreshing our Request for Product Enhancement (RPE) program.  This was announced on the listserv last week.  In case you have missed it, I have pasted the announcement below.

For me, updating our RPE process is just about a matter of respect for you, our customers.  If you have an idea and take the time to document it, you deserve similar efforts from us in the form of feedback.  How do we view the idea?  Does it coincide with our strategic direction?  If not, why?

Frankly, in some cases, we at SunGard Higher Education just need to do a better job of saying, “no”.  Hearing “no” can hurt, but we need to be realistic about what we will and can address in the near-term future, so that when we do say “YES!”, it means something.

Finally, we’re not alone in this initiative.  We will be relying on continued feedback from our Customer Advisory Board.  We will also be gathering feedback from a wider audience, once the Commons is formally deployed (I’ll be blogging about that soon!).  With the Commons we’ll engage our community in an even more democratized fashion to make sure you all have a voice in our decisions.

So take a read.  Post a comment.  Send an email.  This is your RPE process, and we are interested in your thoughts.

New product idea? Get our feedback more quickly with your new RPE process!

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM JACK KRAMER POSTED ON LISTSERV BELOW:

Important components of the vision of an open digital campus are transparency and collaboration.  At SunGard Higher Education, we are continually evaluating our processes and identifying where we can incorporate more transparency and customer collaboration.  Submitting a Request for Product Enhancement (RPE) is one way in which customers collaborate with us to ensure our solutions meet the diverse needs of all customers.

Unfortunately, over the years, the current RPE processes for prioritizing and reporting our progress have resulted in an inventory of thousands of RPEs without decisions or closure, some dating back more than a decade.  This large volume, and the age of these requests, has created frustration for many of you, especially after you have taken the time to submit an RPE and received no indication as to our intentions.

To turn this situation around and provide you the feedback you deserve, we have developed a new RPE Management process that will allow us to better collaborate with you and to utilize your suggestions in these RPEs to influence our product plans and ultimately create a better product that addresses all of our customers’ needs.  We intend for this new process to be utilized for all SunGard Higher Education software products, however the initial focus of this initiative will be for the following products:

  • Banner Student and Student Self Service
  • Banner Financial Aid
  • Banner Finance and Finance Self Service
  • Banner Human Resource and Employee Self Service
  • Banner Advancement
  • Luminis
  • Banner Document Management Suite
  • Banner Workflow
  • PowerCAMPUS

We designed this new process with extensive customer input and we reviewed the final draft of this new process with the customer advisory boards or the equivalent group (as appropriate) for each of our products.  Through these reviews, customer feedback has been very positive.

One of the key goals of the new RPE Management process is to respond with a clear statement of SunGard Higher Education’s decision regarding all newly submitted RPEs within 45 calendar days of receipt.  Once received, we will:

  1. Contact the submitting customer within 14 days of RPE submission to acknowledge receipt and clarify any details contained in the request.
  2. Identify if this is a duplicate RPE, part of a Community Source submission, or a defect and respond to the submitting customer accordingly.
  3. If, after this screening, the RPE represents a new request, we will review the new RPE and recommend a path forward, which includes prioritizing the RPE, converting it to a defect, or, deciding that it will not be addressed for a specific reason.
  4. Review, on a monthly basis, the most recent RPE decisions with the Customer Advisory Board for the RPE.  They will have the opportunity to review SunGard Higher Education’s recommended decisions on each RPE and provide feedback.
  5. Notify the customer of the decision for this RPE, based on the Customer Advisory Board’s feedback, via email and the Customer Support Center.

This new process will allow us to better respond to your needs; however, it does not address the incredibly large number of existing RPEs.  For this reason, we have created an update process for the existing inventory of RPEs.  In an effort to create a “current” inventory of RPEs, during the month of May 2010, all RPEs that were submitted prior to January 1, 2006 will be marked as closed.  The submitting customer will be notified of the closure of the RPE and will have the opportunity to appeal the closure if they feel the RPE is still relevant.  RPEs that are appealed will be evaluated using the process previously described for newly submitted RPEs.

We are currently evaluating all RPEs submitted on or after January 1, 2006 using the new RPE evaluation process.  These will be processed in a phased approach as follows: 16% evaluated by the end of March, 33% by the end of April, 66% by the end of June, and 100% by the end of August.

After completing the final phase of the review in August, we will have created a current and manageable inventory that is prioritized to help us address the most important and valuable Requests for Product Enhancements first.

Our customer base is one of the keys to SunGard Higher Education’s success.  Ensuring that we are reviewing your feedback, and responding in a timely manner is crucial.  And by soliciting feedback from our Customer Advisory Boards, your advocates, we ensure that our decisions make sense for our customers.

We will continue to provide feedback to you at each of the RPE inventory update milestones via the Customer Commons, our new customer collaboration site, which you will be learning more about as we launch it at Summit.  For more information, please visit FAQ 1-B2T8YC on the Customer Support Center.  You’ll also have a great opportunity to talk to us about this new process at Summit – we’re looking forward to your feedback and ideas!

If you want to submit a new RPE, please log in to the Customer Support Center and click the “Submit an RPE” link in the “My Account” section.  This will take you to the Request for Product Enhancement page to capture your ideas for new product features.

If you have any questions, please contact the Action Line.

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Investigating CSI: Your Community Source Initiative

Posted: March 16, 2010, 2:07 pm

Well, it’s been a few weeks since my last post; I guess I can’t blame the snow anymore!  If there is a reason for the limited posts, it’s because your Product Management team has been hard at work ensuring this will be the most interactive Summit to date.  In addition to the dozens of HR and Finance presentations being given by your colleagues and peers, we’ve also been mapping out exactly what our focus on the OPEN DIGITAL CAMPUS means for you. 

One of the most important facets of the Open Digital Campus is how we can work more closely with our customers, and give you a louder voice in the direction we take.  In a previous post, I explained how many of these details will be discussed and refined during our Community Day at Summit.  One of most exciting efforts we will review during this day is the Community Source Initiative.

When I first joined the Product Management Team last Fall, this was one of the initiatives that showed the most promise for helping our entire Banner base.  I immediately wanted our Finance and HR communities to participate.  Sure, we have all heard about community and open source code, but the power of that promise is magnified in the Higher Ed community.  Unlike the commercial world, we already share ideas, best practices, and even code.   All we really need to improve our Finance and HR communities is some processes, some technology, and a little alignment.

In order to get things off the ground, we decided that we would launch a Beta program, with the expressed goal of defining two enhancements for inclusion on the Product Calendar by Summit 2010.  And since there was no Customer Advisory Boards at the time, we relied on the leadership from the Large School Consortium to get the program off the ground.

We created a Banner Finance Functional Review Board:  

Name Institution
Barbara Doane George Mason University
Evelyn Michaud University of Illinois
Richard London McGill University
Alice Samuel University System of New Hampshire
Trevor Batters University of Saskatchewan
Wendell Vest Virginia Tech
Amy Douglas Auburn University

 

This Board was tasked with helping to identify code from member schools, evaluate, prioritize, and work with SunGard Higher Education to bring the best solutions from our customer base into our baseline code.

Several months later, we are close to our goal, and have a defined process for the future!

I’ve outlined a brief summary of the process that we follow here, but expect many more details at Summit and a more formal rollout after Summit (hey…you get the inside and early word for being a loyal reader of our blog!)

  • New Submissions are entered through a common submission form that provides details of the customer code.
  • Submissions in Review- submission details are reviewed by the Functional Review Board (described above) where the merits of each enhancement are discussed.  Valued submissions are advanced to the demo stage.
  • Submissions in Demo – submissions are demoed and recorded.  Feedback is collected from the functional review board, and some submissions are marked for test drive.
  • Submissions Accepted for Test Drive – sample code is loaded into a shared environment where Functional Review Board members can test usability and functionality.
  • Submissions in Code Review – Submissions are sent to SunGard Higher Education to ensure they are consistent with baseline code needs (consistent, documentation, etc).  If rework is needed, adjustments can be made by the submitting institution
  • Submissions Released – Submission details noted on product calendar and eventually released via Banner release schedule.
  • Submissions Not Accepted for Baseline – For submissions not accepted into baseline, the functional review board will document the reasons why.  In some cases, code may be resubmitted.
  • Submissions Recommended for Code Repository – For submissions not incorporated into Banner baseline, option to share unsupported code with other schools via a code repository.

It might seem a little overwhelming, but the process is really taking shape.  I really cannot thank our Functional Review Board enough!  They have shown extraordinary leadership and of course a lot of patience (mostly from working with me)!  They have laid the tracks that the rest of us will follow.

So while CSI may conjure up images of a certain TV show (that seems to be on every day!), we hope that our CSI will mean even more to all of you in 2010 and beyond.  I’ve said many times before, that the value of SunGard Higher Education is in the value of the partnerships we have with our customers.  This will be one of the proof points.  We will work together to build a stronger Banner. Your ideas will be the build blocks.

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Ready for International Travel

Posted: March 4, 2010, 6:22 am

It’s been a rough winter here in Philadelphia where I live and work.  During the times when the snow came in rounds of a foot or two per day, I found myself thinking about places with warmer weather, exciting things to see and experience, and… did I say warmer yet?  Some golfing, perhaps some time at the beach, take in a  pre-season baseball game… sorry, day dreaming again.  But if I was lucky enough to travel to a sunny and warm place in a foreign country, I know Banner Travel and Expense Management is ready to support my needs!

I’m proud to tell you that we just released Banner Travel and Expense Management version 8.3.  This release contains support for recording receipts in foreign currency, payment of reimbursements in a foreign currency, and the ability to process various taxed expenses incurred during travel.  With these new features, Banner Travel and Expense Management is ready to support our customers whose staff and administration travel internationally on institutional business or a grant funded project.

There were a number of people involved in the design and development of this release at SunGard Higher Education – all of whom worked hard for months.  But this release would not have been possible without the contributions and commitments of our customer development partners.  With representation from McGill University, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, Salk Institute and University of Alaska, the detailed accounting, currency conversion rules, and user interface requirements of international travel were captured and realized in our software.  A huge thank you to all of the customer development partners – your contributions are greatly appreciated!

This release is another example of our commitment to this product line – the third major functional release since we first brought the product to market last year.  We are now in the process of designing and building the next release to provide travel advance management and then later this year we’ll bring you support for procurement cards (pcards).

With out-of-the-box integration to Banner Finance, Banner Workflow and Banner Document Management Suite, and functionality designed to meet the specific needs of college and university staff and administration, Banner Travel and Expense Management is the most effective solution for travel and expense management in higher education.  If you haven’t already had a chance to check it out – call your account team and ask them for a demonstration.  I’m confident you’ll really like what we’ve done.

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Training Services that Provide Godzilla-sized Impact

Posted: February 9, 2010, 3:56 pm

Living in Philly, I only have minutes to write this blog before another snow storm hits and I am drafted into shoveling duty.  We had 28 inches over the weekend, and with 20 more on its way, this will be the snowiest winter on record in Philadelphia.  For my Northern friends, those totals may seem a bit of a yawner, but as I mentioned during a recent visit to Montana State, this many inches of snow is the functional equivalent of Godzilla attacking the city.        

Godzilla attacks Philly. You know it’s Philly, because he’s eating a cheesesteak.

So while many of us are preparing for another round of snow and thinking about the upcoming choices we need to make while trapped at home (do I shovel snow in the cold for three hours, or watch “Cars” with the kids for the 23rd time?), I wanted to propose yet another choice you may have missed:        

Learn more about Banner from home!

Nothing feels “cozier” than a cup of cocoa, snow falling, a warm fire and a Banner CBT fired up on your computer.  It’s less “Donner party” than you might think…and of course, CBT courses are useful for more than just when the weather is bad.        

If you are a new employee, our Training Services can help serve as an easy way to get up to speed on Banner.  If you have been around for awhile, they can serve as a useful refresher tool in order to make sure you are utilizing as much of the software as possible.  Regardless of where you fall in that spectrum, the benefit of taking the course you want, when you want it, means more flexibility and getting the training you need quicker.        

I recently talked with our Training Services group who took me through a bunch of the options.  These training solutions are continually evolving, so I was pleasantly surprised at the depth and choices we provide.  I’ve outlined some these below, but you can get a better idea simply by going to Training Services Website.        

Training Workbooks

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of our training workbooks, contact the Customer Support Center.  PDF versions of the workbooks are available at no charge to our clients.        

Computer Based Training

 Just-in-time product training that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with SunGard Higher Education’s self-paced, computer-based functional training.        

Individualized instruction focused on specific learning needs, such as Banner Finance Overview, Fiscal Year-End Processing, Purchasing, Spreadsheet Budgeting, and Banner Workflow Overview.      

Digital Campus Academy

The Digital Campus Academy is SunGard Higher Education’s Web-Based Training Subscription Service, a self-paced, asynchronous training solution. Since it is self-paced, it is ideal for busy administrative users who need to balance their current job responsibilities with functional and system training. A comprehensive, online resource, the Digital Campus Academy supports just-in-time training and guidance on how to complete primary business processes within Banner. There’s a demo on this site that explains more on the concept       

 Sample training topics for Banner Finance:  Purchasing Goods and Services, Managing Accounts Payable, Managing Fixed Assets, Managing Stores Inventory, Managing Cost Accounting, Managing Budgets, Reconciling and Balancing General Ledger Accounts, Managing Endowed Funds, Managing Grants and Sponsored Programs Pre-Award (Research Accounting), and Managing Grants and Sponsored Programs Post-Award (Grants Billing).       

Live Instruction

Of course, if you are feeling buried and need a deeper level of support, there’s always the option of live instruction, either on-line or at your campus.  If you have specific questions, you can contact us directly at edcenter@sungardhe.com.        

Hope this provided some insight into your training options.  Hope you have a safe week everyone!  

Truly buried in the snow (before Godzilla arrived), proud papa takes a picture of his 3 year old daughter. 18 more inches of snow? No problem...

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