Shaped by Your Feedback
Community Guidance
To support the SIS Enhancement Initiative in aligning with community needs, substantial research has been gathered over the past few years. We will continue to collect feedback throughout the implementation process and will share general trends and anonymized snippets of feedback here to provide additional context.
Share Your Ideas for an Improved SIS Experience
We’re implementing an enhanced SIS—and we want your input! If you have ideas for features or functions that would improve your experience, we’d love to hear them. The more specific and detailed your suggestion, the better. Submitted ideas may be anonymized and shared on this page.
MyVassar Spring 2026 Office/Department Visits Feedback
Following our MyVassar Preview & Feedback sessions in late March, we’ve been meeting with individual offices and departments to demonstrate MyVassar and gather additional feedback. Community engagement and insights are invaluable as we continue to refine the platform in preparation for its January 2027 launch.
What We Heard: Suggestions
- Change the word Assignments to Active Classes on the Faculty Courses card.
- Review the midterm grade column (since it wasn’t historically entered in AskBanner) and change the language from “No access” to “N/A.”
- Add a direct link to Degree Works from the My Advisees page.
- Add links to the bookstore inventory, links to required books, and/or where to buy them.
- Increase the default number of classes shown (currently 10 and doesn’t show all at once).
- Add the ability to filter sports by specific athletic events or teams.
- Add a Financial Aid card.
MyVassar Training Preferences Survey
Throughout the 2025–2026 academic year, we gathered feedback on community training preferences to help shape our training program, refine our rollout strategy, and prioritize the training formats that generated the greatest interest.
Format Preferences
MyVassar Preview & Feedback Sessions
Thank you to everyone who attended our recent MyVassar Preview & Feedback sessions 3/23/26–3/27/26. Your engagement and insights are invaluable as we continue to develop MyVassar in preparation for the January 2027 launch. If you were unable to attend or would like to revisit the presentation, you can watch a recording of the role-based sessions below. We recommend any interested employees from all other areas view the Student session, as that will most closely align with their MyVassar experience.
Session Recordings
Faculty & Advisors
Student
Department Chairs & Office Staff
What We Heard: Review Community Feedback
We received a great deal of helpful feedback during these sessions. You can review the community feedback using the button below. Didn’t share any feedback yet? We still want to hear from as many people as possible to ensure that MyVassar best serves the entire Vassar community. Please take a few moments to share your feedback by reviewing the recorded sessions and sharing your feedback below.
Course Match Fall 2025 Rollout: Lessons Learned & What We Heard
The first all-campus pre-registration with Course Match was completed in Fall 2025 and was followed by a comprehensive review of user feedback that will guide us through enhancements for future pre-registrations. You can review our findings and plans on the Course Match Infosite.
SIS Enhancements First Look Event (4/30/25 & 5/1/25) Awareness and Engagement Survey
Survey audience: Paper surveys were available for SIS Enhancements First Look event attendees, and a digital version was sent to all employees and students following the event.
This survey was conducted both during and following our SIS Enhancements First Look event. Questions and response rates are shared below.
Survey questions & response rates:
- I understand the reasons for the SIS Enhancement Initiative
- 96% responded “yes”
- I understand the risks of Vassar not doing the SIS Enhancement Initiative
- 81% responded “yes”
- I understand the impact of a new SIS system on my day-to-day work activities
- 76% responded “yes”
- I am motivated to contribute to the SIS Enhancement Initiative
- 94% responded “yes”
- I have talked with my peers about the SIS Enhancement Initiative
- 87% said “yes”
What We Heard and How We Plan to Adjust
- Clarity on urgency: While the community understands the need for changes, there’s some uncertainty about the risks of not undertaking this critical initiative. We will update this site with more context on why this work is essential now.
- Impact on day-to-day work/studies: At this phase of the initiative where a lot of the specific details are still unknown, it’s hard to visualize in detail how this change will affect individuals’ work/studies. We’ll be continuously updating this site with more detailed information as it becomes available, but for now, you can anticipate some changes around where you access student information. For example, Ask Banner will be replaced with Ellucian Experience and will have different features and reports to access the same information that you have historically accessed through Ask Banner.
- Event format feedback: Some found the event too long or hard to attend. In response, we’re exploring shorter, spread-out sessions, tabling events, department visits, and “freeplay” demo stations. We’re planning our next round of demos for the fall 2025 semester, so keep a lookout for more information! Have a format that works best for you, or any other ideas on how we could improve future demos and events? Let us know!
Student Information System (SIS) Assessment
A steering committee consisting of faculty and representatives from campus offices/groups that depend most directly on the SIS partnered with Huron Consulting to conduct an assessment of our SIS. This group collaborated with the Vassar community through several in-person and virtual workshops, surveys, and interviews to identify current SIS functions and areas for improvement.
Implementation Approach Preference Survey
Survey audience: faculty and academics AAs
This survey was conducted after sharing our SIS enhancement project research findings with the community. The survey was completed to identify if there was a general community preference for approaching the implementation phase of the project. Insight highlights are shared below.
Rollout Preference
“Big bang” rollout was the majority preference, but a considerable percentage preferred a phased approach.
Highlighted additional comments to provide context:
I prefer to have a consistent and unified experience with the new software from the outset.
An immediate transition will help alleviate and “change fatigue” as well as prevent any confusion as to which system should be used when.
I think it’s easier to learn the new software all at once as long as there’s ample training and support provided during the rollout and after. It also makes it easier for new hirers to just learn the new software from the beginning instead of the new and old software.
It is easier for me to prioritize short training sessions for each phase rather than the longer training that is likely needed for a big bang rollout. Additionally, I suspect that even small changes implemented in the phased rollout could significantly improve our workflow even as a other changes take longer to implement.
I value the gradual adaptation for the system.
A gradual transition should be easier to process if possible and will not result in immediate problems in adapting to the new system.
There is no way that we will be able to anticipate and solve all the problems that will crop up when we implement a new and complex technology solution, without first undergoing incremental and iterative testing. We will create a more robust system if we integrate it slowly, testing different components in different contexts, until we are confident that it is meeting the needs of students, admin/staff, and students.
• Big Bang Rollout: In this approach, the entire new SIS is implemented all at once, leading to an immediate transition to the new system.
• Phased Rollout: In this approach, the new SIS is implemented in stages or phases, allowing gradual adaptation to the system
• No preference
Additional Comments
The survey included the opportunity for responders to share any additional comments or concerns about the implementation rollout.
Highlighted additional comments to provide context:
I think as long as the main customers of the SIS systems (front-end daily users) are included in the testing phase and the process/manual writing stage we should be in a strong starting place. Thank you for all this work.
Whichever approach is decided on, making super clear about the list of team members to contact with questions and frustrations (which is inevitable) is paramount. Training should be kind and easy to get. Good luck to us all!
I know there’s going to be grumbling, but THANK YOU for making this change. I’m excited about having better tools available regardless of how they are rolled out.
One of my concerns is that I hope that we have a strong support group to help us through this.
I think you should inquire if AAs are willing to be a part of the support team. If you could get several AAs to be trained and learn the system prior to the rollout in order to help others.
SIS History & Evolution
Our SIS is one of our oldest and longest-running systems, having undergone numerous changes and enhancements over the years. Check out some of the key highlights and major milestones.