eNews - October 2003

In this issue...

  Verizon Wireless preferred cell phone provider
  Where is the Banner Folder from Q:\Drive?
  Online Campus Directory
  Banner: Future Upgrades
  Upgraded anti-spam and anti-virus tools
  A "Banner Year" for Banner
  New Novell Transition
  A New Email Program
  New Banner Data/Report Request Form
  How to Copy and Paste Class Roster

Verizon Wireless selected as the preferred cell phone provider for EC
For personal use:
As a result of the recent corporate agreement with Verizon Wireless (VW), all faculty, staff, students, and family members are eligible for a 15% discount off monthly access on eligible rate plans. An account representative from VW was assigned to work with you and your cellular needs.
Go to www.eckerd.edu/its for complete details and contact information.

For Eckerd College use (cellular bill is paid for from your budget):
The corporate agreement with (VW) provides Eckerd College with a 25% discount off monthly access on eligible rate plans. Please email pawlowdj@eckerd.edu if you or a few members of your department are in need of consultation or needs analysis. There are just enough choices to make decision making easy.

If you currently have a cell phone, paid by your EC budget, please email pawlowdj@eckerd.edu to discuss your current plan and benefits of switching to VW.

Similar to the agreement with Office Depot, Eckerd will now benefit from once a month, one invoice billing for campus cell phones on VW. This means fewer invoices to be printed, mailed, delivered, opened, and processed by Eckerd staff. The college will be sent one bill and the Business Office will charge each department in a process similar to the way copy charges are done now.

Where is the Banner Folder from Q:\Drive?
As some have noticed, the Q:\drive no longer exits. The folder that contained the Business Office and HR forms on the Q:\drive has moved to the N:\drive. You can find the forms under the Eckerd Forms folder.

Online Campus Directory
In an effort to get the campus directory more complete on the web Telephone Services has agreed to update campus telephones in Banner. If your number is incorrect on the Campus Directory on the Web, then please contact Linda Bradford ext. 8389 or email her at bradfold@eckerd.edu. Thank you for helping to update the Campus Directory.

Banner: Future Upgrades
ITS will be upgrading all software associated with Banner over the next few months. Here is a brief summary of what we will be doing.

Operating System
An operating system (OS) is a set of programs that manage all the other programs on a computer. Your PC is running an operating system called Windows (95, 98, 2000, NT, 2000) from Microsoft. The database server is running an operating system called Solaris from Sun. We will be upgrading from Solaris 2.6 to Solaris 9.

Relational Database Management System
A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a set of programs that allow you to create, update, and administer the database as well as its data. Banner runs on a RDBMS called Oracle from Oracle Corporation. We will be upgrading from Oracle8i to Oracle9i.

Application Server
Defined loosely, an application server is a set of programs which deliver dynamic content to the Web. Generally, an application server consists of a Web based interface, a set of applications that process data, and a database. ECWeb is an example of this technology. We will be upgrading from Oracle Application Server to Oracle9i AS.

In addition, we will also be upgrading the Oracle client to Oracle9i, upgrading to the latest ODBC version and Banner 6. As you can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us. ITS will notify the campus of any downtime. If you see the lights in ITS on late at night, please bring us some coffee. Thanks.

Upgraded anti-spam and anti-virus tools for EC E-Mail

Messages that originally contained viruses are now identified by the subject line tag [PMX: VIRUS].

Eckerd College uses the PureMessage system from ActiveState.com to stop E-Mail viruses and identify spam. During one two-week period alone we detected and stopped more than 20,000 messages containing the Sobig virus.

You will continue to receive messages that MIGHT be spam with the subject line [PMX:#.. Messages that are VERY LIKELY to be spam (70% or more likely) are no longer delivered. Instead, you will receive a once-daily list of the messages held in quarantine.

Here is an example of the quarantine message.

> The following messages were quarantined by PureMessage because they appear to be spam. By replying to this email, you can automatically release some or all of the messages. Delete the lines from the reply for those messages you don't want approved.

>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Id Time Score From Subject
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> [#iuNu] 20:15 84% Jeff Mansfield Got 026 email spams again ?
> [#iEkg] 20:48 78% BuyNow.com Got 026 email spams again ? czxnk
>
> The Management
> "PerlMx Admin" <postmaster@eckerd.edu>

When you see a message you want in quarantine, just hit reply. Delete the lines containing messages you DON'T want, and leave the ones you DO want in. The server will ignore the removed messages (and will delete them in a few days anyway). The lines you leave in it will know to forward to you.

A "Banner Year" for Banner
A time to reflect on how much this campus has accomplished

Here are examples of some of the improvements and processes performed over the last year.

Providing greater control for populating and maintaining names and addresses

Banner is supplying data for the new Campus ID card system and Meal Plan software

Faculty, Staff, and Students can update their address information via EC Web

Admissions Recruitment module in process

Registrar

On line registration

On line entry of grades

On line transcripts

Degree audits

Student locator module

Institutional Research:

Banner gives IR more detailed information about our students to enhance our reporting

As the College enters the 3rd year of implementing and refining the student module, the faculty module and the human resources module in Banner, all of the reporting by IR is more efficient

Implementing Mentor Evaluations on the Web via Banner

Of greatest importance is that Banner is allowing IR to perform quality control on these data to ensure accuracy and therefore reporting -- a tremendous improvement over AIMS.

Data collection and reporting for external agencies is becoming a little less time consuming

Banner allows IR to collect data from students, faculty, staff/administrators on specialized projects (ie, the library assessment)

Business Office

Database queries from Banner made the audit work papers a breeze

Banner queries facilitated explanations of transactions details to auditors

Direct deposit for payroll

New reconciliation reports for accounts payable and student accounts

Streamlined posting (automation) for Office Depot, printing, phone charges.

Automation of the loan process

Memo aid now on PEL bills

Selection for mass email to students for student accounts notices.

Advancement Office:

Banner is now officially up and running!

Our staff have been trained on general navigation in Banner

Our staff is trained on how to access up-to-the-minute information directly from the Banner system to generate customized reporting using Excel and ODBC

Gift entry and processing is now being done in Banner

Financial Aid Office:

Major improvements regarding progress in processing and disbursing of student loans

Using electronic loan application vs. manual loan app., we have avoided duplicate loans in the system

Processed parent PLUS loans electronically for the first time (in addition to Staffords), meaning that when the disbursements came in, we did not have to feed them into Banner one by one, nor did we have to post the money one student at time

Using the "hold/release" option, we processed most of our loans electronically. This tremendously reduced the amount of funds we needed to return. Of about 1,000 transactions thus far, approximately 5 had to be refunded and less than 3% needed to be fiddled with manually. HUGE improvements from last year!

PEL

Developed new add/drop/withdrawal policies

Developed Banner General Ed CAPP Module and CAPP Report [degree plan]

Implementing online changes for permanent, emergency, and employer address information

Developing Title IV refund procedures and timeline [with business office, financial aid/services]

Developing SSCR [Clearinghouse] procedures and timeline [with financial aid, residential registrar and ITS]

New Novell Transition
During the schedule listed below, ITS will be moving you to the new Novell. An ITS staff member will need to spend a couple of minutes on each computer. During this time you will be required to change your Novell Password - after that you will be required to change your Novell password at least every 180 days. The systems will automatically ask you to change it- and prompt you through the process.

Week of Oct. 22th – Oct. 24th
HR
Advancement:
  Alumni
Financial Aid
Admissions
Business Office
ITS:
  ITS
  Copy Center
  Mailroom
  Switchboard

Week of Oct. 27th – Oct. 31st
ASPEC
Creative Arts:
  Art
  Theatre
NAS:
  Comp Science
  Mathematics
  GMSL
  Chemistry
Comparative cultures

Week of Nov. 3rd – Nov. 7th
Letters
President's Office:
  Institutional research
  Communications and Media Relations
Foundations
Library
Registrar
Dean of Faculty

Week of 10th – 14th
BES
Special Programs:
  Conferences & Summer School
  CEC
  Elderhostel
  LDI
  PEL

Week of 17th – 21st
Student Affairs:
  Athletics
  Campus Activities
  Career Services
  CALA
  Chapel
  ECOS
  Health & Counseling Center
  Residence Life
  Security
  Waterfront

A New Email Program
ITS is working with a few departments on testing a mass email program called Aureate Group Mail in conjunction with Banner. This allows a department to send a personalized message to the student. This is a faster, less expensive, and more effective way to communicate with students than traditional mail. Since we are only using it with Eckerd email addresses, if you know a student who does not have an Eckerd email please have them stop by ITS. If you are interested in the possible use of the product in your department, please drop a line to bannerhelp@eckerd.edu

New Banner Data/Report Request Form
ITS implemented a Report Request Form for departments requesting data. A few departments have tested the procedure and have found it a tremendous time saver for both ITS and the department. It has reduced the time required in clarification and layout design. So if you use data and need reports, please request a copy of the form and instructions by sending an email to bannerhelp@eckerd.edu.

How to Copy and Paste Class Roster
A class roster can be copied into Excel (create a grade book) or Word (attendance) from the Student Information – Class Roster menu option on the Faculty or Staff Resources pages on the intranet.
a. Choose the Edit options on the toolbar, then click on the Select All (or keystrokes Ctrl A).
b. Choose the Edit options on the toolbar, and then click the Copy (or keystrokes Ctrl C). Hint: it is easiest to do a Ctrl A and then a Ctrl C.
c. Open Excel and choose the Edit options on the toolbar, then click paste (or keystroke Ctrl C).
d. The cells will need to be formatted, so right click in the uppermost cell, before A and above 1, and select Format Cells.
e. Click on the Alignment tab, uncheck the Wrap Text box, and click OK.
f. To format the cells, even more choose the Format options on the toolbar: then choose Column and then choose the AutoFit Selection option. Hint: it helps to change the Page Setup to Landscape and delete unnecessary columns.

If you need any assistance, please contact pchelp@eckerd.edu

Posted by Chris Price at 8:27 AM in eNews