TrustRadius Insights for Ellucian Banner are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Business Problems Solved
Banner is a comprehensive software solution that is widely used across organizations, particularly in the higher education sector. Its primary purpose is to manage student functions such as registration, class scheduling, grades, and GPAs. Users can easily access information on specific students or classes, making it an invaluable tool for academic advisors, registrar's offices, and faculty members.
With Banner, universities can create programs and databases, allowing for seamless integration and data retrieval between departments. It helps keep everything organized and flowing smoothly, from managing student accounts and financial aid to tracking course enrollment trends and adding new class sections as needed. Moreover, Banner Student provides simple and easy data access, improving work efficiency for all departments involved in managing student and faculty data.
Beyond academic functions, Banner also serves as a central hub for various administrative tasks. It supports financial reporting, accounts payable, human resources management, alumni records, addresses, giving history, and faculty information. Additionally, Banner ensures compliance with educational privacy and financial aid regulations.
While Banner is widely praised for its functionality and ease of use, some users have experienced challenges with its design complexity. Extensive customizations and additional purchases may be required to tailor the system to specific organizational needs. Nonetheless, many users appreciate the ability to add program changes within Banner itself, such as implementing automated accounts payable systems.
Overall, Banner is an indispensable tool for institutions of higher education that rely on it to manage student data effectively across multiple departments. Its user-friendly interface and extensive capabilities make it a reliable solution for streamlining administrative processes and maintaining accurate records.
Before COVID we were having multiple systems for student registartions to account creation. As always it was pre pandemic so if anything is required we have the students coming into the relevant offices and getting their issues sorted. However, we were moving towards the digitization project for which we wanted to have a One Stop Solution for all our students, faculty staffs, services staff and alumni. Banner was the solution which satified all the above requirement.
Pros
Student Registration
Student Portal
Faculty Portal
Automated Student Admission
Cons
Defenelty the user interface needs to be enhanced alot to be more appealing
Application upgrades needs to be managed easily
Students would like to see more notifications regarding there progress and courses
More communications methods to be intergreated like SMS, whatsapp
Likelihood to Recommend
It is very well suited for higher education organization. This applicatio helps us in a lot ways to keep track of Alumni records etc which is very much handy. The whole admission process can be easily automated from application to acount creation which helps the helpdesk save a lot of time.
The application is less suited for organization such as high school as I am in doubt weather it is wise to implement such an expensive solution for schools. The application can have a cutom tuned one for schools which would see a great impact.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (501-1000 employees)
Ellucian Banner is an integrated ERP system that was used for financial reporting, accounts payable, and human resources at my organization. The product provides a large amount of functionality including entering journal entries and using queries and reports for financial analysis. This product addresses the need for a system for financial reporting at my organization. The program also has a built-in accounts payable module and HR module.
Pros
Detailed reports
Simple Interface
Ease of use for journal entries
Cons
Limited functionality
Reports are not easily customizable
Basic compared to other ERP software
Likelihood to Recommend
Ellucian Banner is well suited for smaller institutions where a basic ERP system that is cost-effective will work well. Banner has enough functionality for a small institution and will meet the financial reporting needs. However, this program has limited functionality which may not be the most appropriate option for a larger institution. For example, Ellucian Banner does not have easily customizable reports, which may cause issues when performing financial analysis
Used it as a student, employee, and then worked with Ellucian Banner employees to manage add-ons. It was pretty robust and it does take some time to implement and get everyone trained like any ERP. It's mostly straight-forward and I've had good reviews from colleagues as well. We had some issues with getting data back out but there are approved add-ons to help with that.
Pros
The user experience is pretty clean
The user experience has a lot of resources
The support team is fairly good about getting back to you
Cons
The data can be hard to report
The major delays are handled quickly but some upgrades are slower
The team seems to change a lot
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have multiple uses for the ERP and have complex accounting, this is a great tool for the whole institution to work as one.
We use Ellucian Banner as our SIS (student information system) to manage student functions like registration, but also to manage personnel, administer financial aid, and manage student accounts. I work primarily in the "S" pages of Banner, which have to do with the student experience on campus. My office directly manages registration, the class schedule, degree audit, graduation, transcript evaluation, standing, academic records, and other pieces of the student academic experience on campus. Banner is our primary tool for all these things and requires an intermediate to advanced level of knowledge to use efficiently.
Pros
"Quick Flows" allow me to create a chain of pages that automatically flow from one to the other. This is very helpful when I have to do the same thing repeatedly. It saves on typing and having to think about where I'm going next.
Validation tables show all values that can be used in a particular field. This can be very helpful when needing to reference, add, or clean up values.
In CAPP, using attributes to easily code changes in a student's curriculum is a dream. It's a great way to avoid having to make custom changes to a student's area, which means that changes made to the base area will always copy forward. I only use attributes when a change is common, so that I'm not multiplying attribute unnecessarily.
Cons
The Banner 8 to Banner 9 (aka Banner Pages) transition was really rough. The speed of the system dropped by at least half. It has gotten better, but it's still not what it was.
Banner Pages seems to preference mouse users. As someone who works with a lot of data, I loved how smoothly Banner 8 allowed a person to get around with just their keyboard. With the version change, some of the keystrokes changed, which I adapted to, but then pages were changed or added that don't have as many keyboard-friendly options. This seems short-sighted.
There are parts of Banner logic that seem unnecessarily clunky. For instance, we have two different types of non-matriculated students that have two different credit ranges allowed. Credit ranges are controlled in a page called SFAMHRS. It seems to me that if both groups shared the non-matriculated type number, but one group had a unique student attribute and the other didn't that that would be enough to differentiate which range they get. Unfortunately, it's not. We have to code BOTH groups in SFAMHRS AND each individual student in SGSADD with an attribute because Banner pretty much ignores the one with the attribute if the other doesn't have one too.
One of the reasons why the Banner 8 to Banner Pages transition was so hard and why the speed of the system dropped was because Ellucian decided to try to make it more "pretty". I'm a pragmatist when it comes to a database. I need fields that are easy to find and navigate. I really couldn't care less what the form looks like. In that preferencing of aesthetics, I believe significant function was lost.
Likelihood to Recommend
As a SIS, Banner Pages is the full meal deal. There are multiple modules that integrate out of the box. Because Banner is all I've ever used as a SIS, I can't contrast it with another program. I can say, it gets the job done for us. I will also say that a tremendous amount of time goes into strategizing how to get new functions to work for us and there always seems to be some catch that requires even more work. In general, the university has been hesitant to build too many modifications into Banner because they take a lot of time to maintain. Inevitably, a new update (of which there are MANY for Banner) will break stuff that isn't "vanilla." This is unfortunate because we've had some great ideas for how to make Banner better for us, but also understandable. If you're looking for a highly modular system, this isn't it. Banner has lots of components, but the components work the way they work and that's that. Also, don't expect very quick responses to bugs or glitches. If the bug is major, yes, it will be addressed. But, little function issues seem to be regularly overlooked.
We use Banner for our student management information system; we use it for class searches, and purchase information. Students use it to register for classes. We can run reports on enrollment and class enrollment. We can use it to spot enrollment trends and projects when we need to add new sections of classes.
Pros
Class sections are displayed in an easy to read format.
We can run reports by instructor, location or level (grad or undergrad).
All university functions are located in one software.
Cons
Degree progress could be improved.
Printing function needs improvement.
Direct option for smoother data entry.
Likelihood to Recommend
It really seems to be running on antiquated programming. The print function is difficult, if not impossible, to use. It does a good job of displaying class information. The ability to run reports by the instructor, location, and level is very useful. Banner consolidates all university functions within one software which is a direct advantage.
I have used Ellucian Banner here at my organization for nearly 12 years, working in our Advancement Office. Banner is the fundamental platform that houses all of our data - alumni records, addresses, giving history, etc. Another cloud-based platform feeds data into it, essentially making it a nightly backup to that Blackbaud product.
Pros
Data storage
Searchable
Organization's file system
Cons
More user friendly.
Newer interface would help.
Direct option for easier data input.
Likelihood to Recommend
My organization is currently shopping around for a new product to replace Ellucian Banner - it has not kept up with the times and evolving technology, making it feel clunky and like we want more out of a data management product. It is still confusing on the back-end and that has limited how many of our staff members are fully trained on the full version of this product. Most of us use the more (but still not great) user-friendly Self-Service feature for our day-to-day needs.
Ellucian Banner is used across our whole organization for course registration, holds, degree changes, graduation, honors, financing, billing, library, course entry, and transcripts. All departments use the Ellucian Banner system to enter holds for various students: provisional students, housing, advising, probation, athletic, library, advising obligations, admission obligations, financial, and registration.
Banner allows Academic Advisors and Registrar’s Office to override prerequisite test score errors for registration purposes; furthermore, it permits departments to few and place holds on various students, or to override various holds. Several departments place holds; therefore, having the ability to view the holds, permits departments to better assist our students.
Academic Advisors use Ellucian Banner daily to ensure catalog dates are correct, advising, course overrides and create graduation entry the students major, minor, and honors. Advisors are also permitted to view transcripts and previous degrees and course work from students which is a great benefit to properly advise our students. Ellucian Banner 9 is great program to work with and screens our simple and easy to read.
Pros
Registration: Advisors can quickly register students and override prerequisite errors.
Record keeping: Update catalog years, change majors, and/or minors.
Graduation entry: Process or create graduation applications.
Holds: Permits Academic Advisors to view student holds.
Cons
One thing I miss from the previous version of Ellucian Banner, is the control + page down. I struggle with alt + page down.
I love the Ellucian Banner favorites; however, it is a little difficult to navigate.
I can honestly only think of 2 things that could be improved. I use Ellucian Banner daily.
Likelihood to Recommend
I can only provide scenarios for where Ellucian Banner is suited because I use it daily and it suits all our needs for the University I work for. The college I am housed in, we each have a hefty load of around 400-600 students; therefore, Ellucian Banner is gold in my book. We also use another program in adjacent to this program; however, the other program gets all of its information from Ellucian Banner. During advising, I can inform the students of various holds, midterm grades, missing admission requirements, etc. The ease of processing major changes and minors, I absolutely love in Ellucian Banner 9. I am unable to provide information where it is least appropriate. My opinion after work in two large Universities, I have found with Ellucian Banner 9 it is the easiest program to use. I was really worried about Ellucian Banner 9 update; however, I am sorry I doubted it.
Ellucian Banner contains all of our student data, which for a university is basically its lifeblood. Faculty and students use it for tasks including registration & advising; staff use it for financial and academic services. It also serves as a data source for near-real-time reporting. It handles financial aid, many communications (like financial aid award letter or enrollment verification documents, or transcripts), and admissions workflows. In addition, it interfaces to many other subsidiary programs that only handle a subset of business processes.
Pros
It stores data and manages users well.
It interoperates with other Ellucian products well.
It offer good role-based security, which supports compliance.
Important Oracle features like Data Guard and data encryption are well-supported.
Cons
It still runs on COBOL: the code base is getting stale.
The company's web portal is based on stale software stack, with little visible development.
Updates are slow and often interlocked with seemingly-unrelated modules.
Print output formatting is nearly nonexistent, requiring use of an expensive post-processor.
Likelihood to Recommend
It really is a market leader for higher education, but it's showing its age. So core features work well, because they're running COBOL routines that are years or decades old: well-polished, perhaps, but never cutting edge. I don't particularly like the software or the company, but it's dominant in the market segment where they operate.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)
We use Ellucian Banner across our entire organization. Being a university, it helps keep everything integrated and flowing smoothly between departments since it is a one-stop-shop. One thing in particular about Ellucian Banner that I find to be very helpful is the ability to add and program changes within Banner. This has been very helpful this past year when we started using an automated account payable system.
Pros
Adapt to changes
Easily integrate new programs
One stop shop for our entire organization
Cons
It tends to not be user-friendly
The accounting side is a little outdated.
Exporting data to spreadsheets is not very customizable.
Likelihood to Recommend
If you're looking for a product that can be used across the board for your organization, this is the product you should go with especially if you're in higher ed. However, if you're looking for a clean-cut program that is user-friendly and has the newest technology, I would look elsewhere.
We use Ellucian Banner for registration, admissions, student information, and basically everything. It communicates information to our degree audit system, articulations, and registration systems. I mostly use it to do registration overrides and assign academic advisors to students. I don't use it to hire or for financial services but I am sure our university does.
Pros
Registration overrides
Assigned academic advisors
Admissions information (admit term/major)
Cons
It doesn't always communicate well with other relevant software
It can be slow
Likelihood to Recommend
Ellucian Banner is well suited for assigned academic advisors and registration overrides. It has a good search capacity if you are looking for a specific screen to complete a task, as you can search it with key words.
It seems less appropriate for when you want to assign an office as an academic advisor because of some back-end functionality.