Dear Colleagues;
I hope this message finds you all safe and healthy as we begin to lift some of the province-wide COVID restrictions. Thank you for your commitment, patience, and tireless efforts in keeping the university operating and for continuing to serve our students.
Over the last three months we’ve pivoted to remote working and have collectively adapted our work practices and procedures to keep the university open. These changes have highlighted the importance of communication, collaboration, and technology. They have driven us to look at how we deliver student and staff services. For example, we’ve successfully implemented MS Teams to faculty and staff to keep us connected and create remote collaboration opportunities.
As the Banner 9 Executive Sponsor a key part of my role is to provide oversight for the Banner 9 implementation. This is a major upgrade to the Banner ERP system for UFV and impacts multiple departments and users across our campuses. To help us manage the work it has been broken down in to multiple project phases allowing us to utilize the technology to align processes and focus on operational efficiencies. Phase II, the Technical Readiness stage, was recently completed which is a significant milestone in the ITS technical transformation for UFV. This was a behind the scenes complex technical implementation that provides the stable foundation for the next phases of the Banner 9 program. I wanted to express my sincere thanks and congratulations to the Phase II project team for their efforts ensuring the successful completion of the new Banner 9 environments.
We are now in the final preparation stage for Phase III, the Functional Upgrade stage. Currently, the Phase III team is busy working on identifying business requirements with subject matter experts (SMEs) from each area involved in the upgrade. In July we will formally kick off this phase of the project, and in partnership with our business SMEs, Phase III team and Banner consultants we will complete blueprinting to determine the right processes and functions are added and optimized in Banner 9.
For Banner users the Functional Upgrade stage includes:
- updating business processes;
- leveraging the core functions and new features in Banner 9;
- optimizing or retiring customizations; and
- refreshing reports.
We will be communicating our progress and involving you at the right stages throughout the implementation.
I’m excited to start this next phase of the project implementation. This is where we will see real change as it will open up new functions and increase information quality for students, faculty, and staff. I’m please to announce the launch of the project website where you can find information and updates. As the project progresses we will add additional pages and content to ensure the website is the go to space for all Banner related information, documentation and training. If you have a question please reach out through the website Ask Us page.
I look forward to sharing more information and monthly updates with you as the project progresses.
Jackie Hogan