Dear All,

As the Fall Semester gets underway, we are writing to inform you about a project that will take place throughout this semester.  No action is required at this time.

CIS and the Dean of Faculty Office are collaborating on a project to conduct a Readiness and Requirements review of Vassar’s Student Information System (“SIS”).  We most commonly refer to our SIS as Banner, but it also includes other systems (e.g. Slate, PowerFAIDS, and Residence).  Our SIS supports all aspects of a student’s educational experience–from registration to graduation–and includes demographic data and information related to scheduling, conduct, health, billing, grades, and academic programs.

The last time we conducted a review of our SIS was in 2017; given the critical nature of these systems, it is common to assess periodically and ensure the system is meeting an institution’s needs and expectations–for faculty, students, and administration.

The goal of this review project is to solicit broad input from throughout the college about how Vassar SIS processes work today.  In addition, the review will seek input on how those processes will need to work going forward, and what is important to people in managing potential system/process changes that Vassar may undertake in the future.  The review aims to capture current state, goals, and “pain points” in all areas of the student records lifecycle–as well as in faculty and staff interactions related to that lifecycle.

We anticipate soliciting this input through a variety of means, including targeted meetings, open feedback sessions, and surveys that will include faculty, students, administrators, and staff.  Vassar is engaging outside resources as needed to leverage experiences of other institutions and to gain the most current insight and highly informed recommendations and analysis of both common practices and available solutions.  Vassar recognizes that, given the criticality of the SIS, this project requires a high level of subject matter expertise with maturity in the Higher Education landscape.

Realizing that external factors, such as SIS market changes, education-specific regulations, and information security trends, may from time to time require Vassar to make SIS changes, this review will also give Vassar a deeper, evidence-based understanding of the change impacts and efforts required to successfully make potential changes.   Depending on the results of this review, a subsequent effort may be undertaken–guided as appropriate by the College Governance–to determine how best to navigate potential SIS changes, which may range from transitioning Banner to the latest version, choosing a new SIS product to implement, or remaining with our current SIS implementation and working to modify those processes that have the greatest need, while we wait for the market of SIS offerings to mature.  

The project has a steering committee, whose role is to represent the needs of major units that depend most directly on the SIS and to inclusively source feedback from across campus. The members of the steering committee are as follows, listed alphabetically:

• Angela Anderson, Registrar
• Renee Behnke, Bursar
• Brian Daly, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Academic Resources
• Lioba Gerhardi, Class Advisor
• Kathleen Giblin, Senior Associate Registrar
• Alicia Harklerode, Associate CIO for Enterprise Systems and Data Integration
• Luis Inoa, Associate Dean of the College for Residential Life and Wellness
• Melissa Naitza, Assistant Dean for Academic Administration
• Colleen Mallet, Director of Veteran Students Outreach and Support
• Gary Manning, Director of Application Services
• Laura McGowan, Associate Director, Application Services
• Jacqueline Perez, Director of Student Financial Services
• Tom Porcello, Dean of Studies
• David Toomer, Director of Admission
• A faculty member who is a current or recent member of CCP, to be appointed by the Dean of the Faculty

There will be more information about  this project in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Carlos García or Bill Hoynes.

Sincerely,
Carlos García and Bill Hoynes