FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
If we don’t answer your question on this FAQ page, you can reach out to us through our Contact Us page.
Completing this migration to the cloud will enable VCU to make additional improvements to our Banner ERP solution sooner, allowing us to support the strategic mission and goals of the university.
The Ellucian Banner Managed Cloud hosting environments offers the following benefits:
- Agility: Ellucian will handle the day-to-day system maintenance, which offers Technology Services the agility to assign technical resources where they can impact the university's strategic priorities.
- Business Continuity: Banner data in the Ellucian Managed Cloud resides in multiple secure remote locations managed by Ellucian and powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that are far less vulnerable to a single disaster or disruption than those running on-premises.
What Ellucian applications are being migrated to the cloud?
| Ellucian Applications |
| Ellucian Degree Works |
| Ellucian Banner Financial Aid (includes Financial Aid Self-Service and CSS Profile Interface) |
| Ellucian Banner Finance (includes Finance Self-Service) |
| Ellucian Banner General (includes Personal Information) |
| Ellucian Banner Human Resources (includes Employee Self-Service) |
| Ellucian Banner Student (includes Student Self-Service and Faculty and Advisor Self-Service) |
| Ellucian Banner Operational Data Store (ODS) |
During the maintenance window, the following data integrations to and from Banner and ODS databases will be INACTIVE:
| Banner Integrations | ODS Integrations |
|---|---|
|
AdAstra |
RealTime |
|
College Scheduler access to Banner |
Tableau access to ODS |
|
Real Source - Jaggaer - eInvoice |
Office of Research Database Servers |
|
Real Source - Jaggaer - eProcurement |
SAS VA Dashboards - Finance, Research |
|
Real Source - Jaggaer - TSM |
MS SQL Servers - multiple applications |
|
Touchnet - Tuition and Fees posting to Banner |
CCTR Database Servers |
|
SEM Blackboard Call Center access to Banner |
Facilities Management Databases |
|
Constituo Unicas Satellite - Admissions Application Flow to Banner |
myVCU Portal portlets |
|
DocuSign Data Transfer to Banner |
ImageNow |
|
Fischer queries against Banner |
Accounts Payable Check Run |
|
Banner eID processing from Fisher |
Cardinal Data Load to ODS on 1st of the month |
|
All file transfers from Banner and ODS |
|
|
Chrome River |
|
|
Real Source |
|
|
myVCU Portal portlets |
|
The Banner, Degree Works, and ODS Databases have significant amounts of data stored in them, and it takes many hours to refresh all of the data in the Ellucian cloud. The outage window is built around Ellucian resource availability to complete all tasks required for the Banner cloud migration and to allow sufficient time for the VCU project team to identify unanticipated issues and have Ellucian address them quickly as possible.
Not much will change for you after the Banner cloud migration. For most Banner-related work, our users will notice no changes. However, please note that if you have any browser bookmarks to Banner, you may need to update them.
- The Ellucian cloud will have new URLs to access Banner Admin Pages, Degree Works, and eServices (Self-Service Banner).
- The old URLs you use to access our Banner instance on-premises will not work in the Ellucian cloud. You need to update the URLs to the new URLs if you bookmarked or saved a direct link.
- After the cloud migration is complete, the new URLs will be provided to the VCU community on the Banner Cloud Migration Links Page.
- Before accessing Banner in the Ellucian Cloud, please clear your browser's cache and cookies on desktop and mobile devices.
As many of you know, VCU is working diligently on the collaborative 18-month Banner Cloud Migration Project with Ellucian to transition the on-premises Ellucian Banner ERP system to an AWS cloud managed by the Banner vendor, Ellucian. The pre-project preparation work began in September 2021. The Banner Cloud Migration Project kickoff was in January 2022. The technical and operational teams are working to verify and validate the Banner Core functionality, the ODS, Degree Works, the data, integrations, and customizations throughout three mock cloud migrations. Ellucian and the VCU technical and operational teams completed Mock 1 user acceptance testing (UAT) on August 24, 2022. On October 21, 2022, Ellucian and the VCU technical and operational teams completed Mock 2 user acceptance testing (UAT).
June 2 - August 24: Mock 1 Cloud Migration
A "mock" is a practice Go-Live of the production environment. Ellucian refreshes a copy of our current "on-premises" Banner production data and environment in the Ellucian Managed Cloud hosting environment. This practice opportunity is for Ellucian and the VCU teams to ensure that applications, connections, and functional processes work as designed. There is some limited technical and functional testing required for Mock 1.
August 25 -October 21: Mock 2 Cloud Migration
VCU functional leads from the operational areas will be involved in executing business workflows and validating 3rd-party integrations in user acceptance testing (UAT) at a department level. Initial Community UAT begins during Mock 2. Also, Ellucian refreshes a copy of our current "on-premises" ODS production data and environment for UAT for Mock 2.
October 24 - November 18: Mock 3 Cloud Migration
There will be Community testing of end-to-end business workflow processing using Banner and the ODS in the Ellucian Cloud. This testing aims to assess if the systems can support day-to-day business and user scenarios and ensure the systems are ready for go-live.
Friday, December 2 - Friday, December 9: Banner Cloud Migration Project Go-Live!
The final cloud production migration and UAT in the Ellucian Managed Cloud hosting environment will occur over several days. The first phase of the Banner migration to the cloud is complete. Banner, Degree Works, and eServices are now available and accessible.
This project is a VCU multi-departmental collaboration with representation from numerous operational areas. The Administrative Systems team leads this project, but the project team also includes representatives from other Technology Services groups and SEMSS, HR, and Finance departments. The chart below provides an overview of the VCU project team working on the Banner Cloud Migration project. In addition to the VCU staff working on this initiative, we are collaborating with teams from Ellucian to make this project successful.
| VCU Project Team |
| Administrative Systems (Infrastructure team) |
| Administrative Systems (Student/Financial Aid Applications team) |
| Administrative Systems (Finance/HR Applications team) |
| Administrative Systems (Business Intelligence and Analytics team) |
| Admissions |
| Finance |
| Financial Aid |
| Graduate School |
| HR (Human Resources) |
| Payroll |
| Registration |
| Student Accounting |
| Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success |
| Technology Services (various departments) |
Canvas
Yes, students, faculty, and staff will be able to access Canvas normally.
- The only anticipated impact on Canvas will be a delay in updating enrollment information.
- Functionally, this impact should not be visible to students, faculty, and staff.
- Visit the Learning Systems page to learn more about Canvas.
Records and Registration
|
Official and unofficial transcripts will not be available during this period, in any format (through eServices, in person, by mail or using the National Student Clearinghouse). You may want to consider ordering your official transcript in advance of this downtime, if you anticipate that you will need one during that time. Otherwise, you will be able to place your order when Banner comes back up. If you anticipate that you'll need a transcript to which to refer in degree/registration planning, we suggest that you print one from eServices in advance of the down time. |
|
Degree Works will not be available during this period. You may want to print a copy of your degree audit and your unofficial transcript from eServices in advance of this down time. That way you'll have a copy for degree/registration planning purposes. |
No, you will not be able to enter grades during this time. Please plan on entering your grades beginning on Thursday, Dec 8th, unless an announcement comes out sooner stating that Banner is available.
No, you will not be able to register for classes during this time. Registration for classes is expected to reopen by Thursday Dec. 8th, unless an announcement comes out sooner stating that Banner is available.
Student Success
|
Yes, students and staff will be able to access and use all features within Navigate desktop and the Navigate Mobile application, however, student information within these sites will pause updating after Thursday, Dec. 1 until the successful refresh of the ODS, approximately on Dec. 10th. For the most accurate student data (like grades, course registration, etc), please refer to eServices once Banner is operational again until Dec. 10th. |
|
Yes, Advisors will be able to access and use all features in University Academic Advising Administrative Tools, however, student information within this site will pause updating after Thursday, Dec. 1 until the successful refresh of the ODS, approximately on Dec. 10th. For the most accurate student data (like grades, course registration, etc), please refer to eServices once Banner is operational again until Dec. 10th. Information entered in the site will be sent to Navigate nightly. All auto emails sent to students and staff will be paused until the ODS refresh approximately on Dec. 10th. The Intake database will send admitted student Change of Major requests to Admissions, however they will not be processed until Banner is operational. |
|
Advising on these days may be challenging, however, with planning, you can print out students’ Degree Works statements before 5pm on Dec. 1st for appointments held during the outage. If approved by your Advising Director, this could be a good time to complete administrative tasks, or professional development. |
|
Advisors should work with their Advising directors in early November to make plans for this downtime. While figuring out plans, it may be helpful to block off time that week in your Google Calendars now to prohibit student appointment scheduling. As your and your unit’s plans solidify, you can always remove your Google Calendar holds to open up advising appointments to students. |
Financial Aid/Student Financial Management Center
|
No. Self-Service will not be available during migration, and you will not be able access your financial aid summary or accept, decline, or modify awards in an offered status. |
|
Financial counselors will not have access to Banner during the migration and will not be able to process any requests with the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships during the downtime. |
|
Status updates on any completed verification during the migration downtime will resume as soon as the migration is complete. |
|
No, it is not necessary. All files received from the U.S. Department of Education during the migration downtime will be imported and reviewed for processing as soon as the migration is complete. |
|
Yes. The Verification Gateway portal powered by Inceptia is not affected by the Ellucian Cloud Migration. |
|
The data that feeds into the Rams Scholarship Hub will be as of Dec. 1 and will not be refreshed until after the migration is complete. |
Student Accounting
|
No, the billing and payment site will be unavailable until December 8th unless an announcement is sent indicating that eServices is available sooner. |
|
No, this information will be unavailable until December 8th unless an announcement is sent indicating that eServices is available sooner. |
|
Yes, the payment due date will now be December 9th. If you previously scheduled a payment for the period when the migration is occurring, the payment should still be processed on the scheduled date. Once the migration is complete, the payments should be manually posted to your account. |
|
No, the payment should still be processed on the scheduled date. Once the migration is complete, the payments should be manually posted to your account. |
|
No, the VSSC will be unable to access your account information during the migration. The VSSC may be able to assist with general, non-account specific inquiries. |
|
The VCU Information Technology Services Team has created a web site that includes the official timeline, a FAQ list, and the links to the new location for Banner admin pages and eServices (available once the migration is complete). You can visit that site at https://administrativesystems.ts.vcu.edu/banner-cloud-migration-project/ |
Human Resources and Payroll
Yes. VCU RealTime is refreshed daily with new hire as well as job change data that are processed in Banner and pushed into the ODS. While Banner and the ODS are down, the automated daily refresh of RealTime will not take place, which means VCU RealTime data will be as of December 1, 2022, until the ODS is available. This has no impact on employees who have no changes to their job that affects their timekeeping or leave eligibility during the down time.
In order to have ample time to process PAFs submitted for the 11/25 - 12/9 pay period, PAFs must be submitted to VCU HR by November 28th.
Yes, you may continue to submit PAFs as you normally do. PAFs received by November 28th will be entered in Banner before Banner goes down at 5pm on December 5th. HRIS team will start entering PAFs again when Banner is available and will do everything we can to process PAFs received for the 12/25 - 12/9 pay period.
Departments will not receive the daily PAF transaction log from 12/2 - 12/12 while the ODS is down. Once Banner is available through 12/12, log into Banner to review and ensure transactions you sent to HR have been processed.
Yes. During Banner down time, HR plans to manually enter new hires and any job changes that affect benefit enrollment in Cardinal in order to allow employees to enroll or make changes to their health plans.
Banner will be closed out at 5pm on Friday, December 2nd and will not reopen until Monday, December. Due to system validations and other preparations for the upcoming opening of Payroll 23 on December 9th, we will not have a special check run during the week of December 5th - December 9th. Any changes or corrections to the December 1st pay will be corrected on the December 16th pay.
There may be a slight delay in viewing pay stubs in the cloud as the system is resetting. Employees needing current pay stubs should download or print them prior to December 2nd.
No, these features in myVCU portal will be down during the transition period.
Yes. Make sure that new hires that are scheduled to be in NEO during the downtime are entered in Banner Expresshire before Dec. 2nd so that the information can flow from Banner to Talent@VCU. If the new hire is not entered in Expresshire, their information will not be in Talent@VCU in order to register for NEO.
- Pay Assessor Tool will be down from Dec. 2nd through Dec. 9th. Limit personnel actions that require the pay assessor tool to only urgent needs and use the paper PAF to submit transactions to HR during the down time.
- HR Redesign enrollment site - classified employees who would like to enroll into the UAP employee plan will not be able to do so during the transition period. Employee should be able to return to the site after the cloud transition is complete and enroll in time before the next deadline of Dec. 15th.
- Talent@VCU - any employee that is already in Banner before Dec. 2nd should be able to log into Talent@VCU during Banner down time. New employees who were not entered in Banner before the downtime will not be able to log into Talent@VCU until sometime in the afternoon of Dec. 7th.
Yes. Any employee that is already in Banner before Dec. 2nd should be able to submit a ticket to HR using Cherwell HR ticketing system.
Finance and Treasury
|
RealSource :
Departments should anticipate needs and order ahead of time and if an emergency situation arises the pcard would need to be used. Chrome River: Chrome River transactions can continue to be processed, but all payments of those reimbursements will be held until Banner is back on-line and a check run is able to be scheduled. Accounts/Payable: A final check run will be run on Friday 12/2 that will pay all invoices due through 12/12. We will anticipate running another check run as soon as the system comes back up later during the week of 12/5. Grants and Contracts: Processing of new awards/indexes and financial reporting and billing based on activity in Banner will be on hold until both Banner and the research dashboard are up and running. Reporting & Dashboards: Research and Finance dashboards cannot be used while the reporting center is unavailable. |
Treasury:
Treasury will not be able to post any payments, etc. to Banner. This includes Cashiering, web check payments from Touchnet, Converge, ECSI, Bank of America funds in/out, Payment Runs (check and wire).
Important dates:
- Friday, December 2: Banner, Degree Works, ODS, and related systems will be unavailable beginning at 5:00 PM.
- Monday, December 5: Banner access will be limited to technical and functional testers to validate that systems are functioning properly. We estimate 2 days of validating between technical and functional.
- Wednesday, December 7: At approximately noon, the VCU community can access Banner production and eServices in the Ellucian Managed Cloud.
- Thursday, December 8: ODS access will be limited to technical and functional testers to validate that systems are functioning properly.
- Friday, December 9: At approximately 10 AM, the ODS, VCU Reporting Center, and dashboards will be available to the VCU community.
