Part 1 - Background
Missouri State University is the second largest university in Missouri. The university was founded in Springfield in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School. Since then it has changed its name over 4 times. In 2005 it made its final name change to Missouri State University. The main campus is in Springfield, MO with other smaller campuses located in West Plains and Mt. Grove, MO. They also have programs abroad with other Universities in China. Missouri State University has over 20,000 students, 700 full time instructional faculty members, 1,300 full time employees with over 900 employees working part time.
The system that we will be improving (Self Service Banner) is a part of the Banner system. Even though the University just implemented the Banner system last year, it still needs some kinks worked out.
Banner (aka Unified Digital Campus) is the world's most widely used administrative collection of student, financial aid, finance, human resources, and advancement modules.
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Figure 3It is a tightly integrated suite of proven, scalable, enterprise-wide applications on a single database, designed to support institutions of all sizes and types. Self Service Banner (SSB) is the primary interface used by faculty, staff, and students to access the Banner system, which is web-based provided by the Luminis Platform.
The Luminis Platform gives each person a customized, 24-7 access to information and services previously limited by location or hours of operation. Information from Banner helps personalize the Luminis Platform, and users can work through Luminis to supply information back to Banner. Because the Luminis Platform is based on open standards, it is easy to integrate the University's legacy system with the new system. This means that they didn't have to replicate existing data. The Luminis Platform creates a portal between the user and SSB, which can...