The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has launched a major five year project to upgrade the university’s administrative systems and expand reporting and data analysis capabilities providing greater functionality and accessibility to the campus community. The project, dubbed Nautilus, will convert the University’s SCT Plus2000 suite of administrative systems to the SCT Banner solutions and implement Cognos Business Intelligence solution for reporting and data analysis. In 1985, UNCW purchased the Information Associates suite of administrative systems, implementing Financial Records, Student Information, Alumni Development and Human Resource/Payroll over the next five years. In 1989, the University began using IBI’s Focus to report off their legacy systems. After eighteen years, numerous upgrades and releases, and the implementation of different add-on modules to include web services for students and faculty (SeaWeb), the university has decided to migrate to the SCT Banner solution, a true enterprise resource planning system for higher education. UNCW is joined in the Banner migration with twelve other UNC universities in a joint project with the UNC General Administration’s Shared Services Alliance. SCT Banner is a fully integrated, Oracle-based, Internet-native technology offering 24x7 access to administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and prospective students. Applications within the suite include student information, advancement, human resources, financial aid, faculty and advisors, finance, self-service modules for faculty, staff and students, and more. The implementation of Cognos BI in conjunction with SCT Banner will offer report users enhanced reporting and analytical capabilities through a web-based portal. Together, SCT Banner and Cognos BI will position the University to better address current and future administrative needs in the twenty-first century.

In April 2002, UNCW’s cabinet approved the university’s migration of the SCT Plus2000 suite of administrative systems to SCT Banner® solutions.  The following June, UNCW joined the UNC General Administration Shared Services Alliance in a collaborative initiative with other Alliance universities to migrate to Banner® over the next four to five years.   Banner® solutions include Advancement, Finance, Financial Aid, HR, Student and Workflow. As part of the Banner® initiative, the university is also implementing a new reporting/data analysis solution, Cognos Business Intelligence; Miami University’s Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS); and several smaller software solutions which integrate with Banner® to create a robust enterprise-wide resource planning (ERP) solution.  This multi-year, multi-system initiative which will involve much work from many individuals cross campus and eventually be used by all university faculty, staff and students has been named Nautilus. 

The SCT Banner® is perhaps the most widely used collegiate administrative solution in the world.  The Banner® suite provides fully integrated solutions for Advancement, Finance, HR, Financial Aid, Student and Workflow using Internet technologies on a single database.   Brief summaries of these applications follow.

Banner® Projects

SCT Banner® Advancement

SCT Banner® Finance  

SCT Banner® Financial Aid

SCT Banner® HR

SCT Banner® Student

Cognos

With the migration of the SCT Plus2000 suite of administrative systems to the SCT Banner® solutions a new reporting tool was necessary.  A Banner® Reporting Sub-Committee was formed in July, 2002 and charged with recommending a purchased reporting solution for the Banner® environment. The team viewed the charge as an opportunity to significantly improve reporting capabilities at UNCW through the application of new reporting technologies.  Specifically, the team was interested in selecting a tool that would empower the end user in a self-service, web reporting environment. 

After extensive research and vendor demonstrations Cognos was selected as the new business intelligence tool for Banner and other university administrative databases.  The team selected the Cognos product due to ease of use (point and click; drag and drop), strong dynamic reporting (color, pictures, charts, and graphs), product integration, extensive administrative/security capabilities and a high level of confidence in vendor support, education and experience.  Furthermore, the integrated cube functionality will provide strong drill-down reporting capabilities and provide future opportunities for online analytical process (OLAP) reporting. 

The Cognos product installation at UNCW occurred in July, 2003.  Technical training followed in September with functional training in November.  Banner® Advancement went live in September, 2004.  Currently, Advancement personnel are using both Cognos Impromptu and the Upfront web portal to include scheduling of reports to fulfill their reporting needs.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Cognos is the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and performance planning software for the enterprise. Founded in 1969, Cognos employs 3,000 people and serves more than 22,000 customers in over 135 countries.

DARS

evisions

ProVenue