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This article will explain some steps you can take to find help with Banner.
Intended Audience:
This article is intended for current faculty and staff who need help performing a task or just want to learn more about Banner.
Requirements:
To follow this article, you will need to have a Banner ID and DUO Authentication for Banner access and any resources within Banner. To obtain a Banner ID and DUO, please refer to the article What is Banner?
Where do I go to get help with Banner?
When looking for ways to get assistance with Banner there are a few ways to go about this. First, check with departmental colleagues who may have the knowledge you are looking for. Next, try looking at the documentation that is offered. Finally, you can contact the ITS Helpdesk where we can gather information and work towards resolving your issue.
Check with departmental staff
We recommend that if you are having trouble with something in Banner, that you first check with someone within your department. Checking for the department's procedure for the task (Does your office have internal documentation that might point you in the right direction?) or with another department that may do similar tasks in Banner or use the same Banner pages would be the fastest way. For example, if you are in Undergraduate Admissions you may want to check with a colleague in Graduate Admissions or if you are an Academic Secretary you may want to check with another Academic Secretary to see how they are doing it or if they are having problems. You can also check with your colleagues at other schools to see how are they doing it.
Look at documentation and training
There are a lot of possibilities when we talk about documentation. If your office doesn't have documentation, try using the Online Help, Banner 9 manual, Banner articles, or the Ellucian Customer Support website. These are described in greater detail below.
UM-Flint Training
Check out our self-paced Computer-Based Training (CBT) by navigating to https://umflintpd.pdx.catalog.canvaslms.com/browse/its/courses/banner-9-training (Please make login before clicking the Enroll Now button)This training course is in Canvas and used for basic Banner navigation help.
Online Help
When you are in Banner, to look at the Online Help, click the question mark (?) on the menu to open the help for the Banner page you are in. Help will open in a new browser tab and will display a further explanation of the page in context. You can also search for topics and/or print the information. Online help is not available for every page.
UM-Flint Banner 9 Manual
Banner 9 Manual provides a brief overview of the Banner system here at UM-Flint. You can find a copy of this manual at https://go.umflint.edu/bannermanual. You will need to log in with your uniqname@umich.edu and current password.
UM-Flint Banner articles
ITS Helpdesk provides a series of Banner articles to assist you in performing common Banner functions. These articles can be found at https://go.umflint.edu/bannerquicknotes.
Ellucian Customer Support Website
Ellucian is the software manufacturer for several products we use on campus, namely Banner, SIS, and DegreeWorks (known as MyDegreePlan here at UM-Flint). The Ellucian website https://www.ellucian.com/customer-center offers several resources to assist users. Please keep in mind you will need an account to access these resources. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up for one by navigating to https://clientapps.ellucian.com/SignUp. Customer center, documentation, and Community are all great ways to learn about Banner and are available through the Ellucian website.
Customer Center
The Customer Center is where you can ask questions directly to Ellucian (instead of the user community). This is the place where you go to research, investigate, or troubleshoot/problem-solve issues. This is also where the Banner documentation is located.
How to search the site for help
Once in the Customer Center and search for the topic. You may find articles, documentation or eCommunity threads related to the topic to give you an in-depth understanding.
My Cases:
This is where you would go to put in a support case in with Ellucian on an issue that you need further assistance with and they may answer your question, direct you to documentation or suggestion asking colleagues on Community.
How to submit a ticket with Ellucian
To put in a case, once you are in the Customer Center:
- select My Cases
- select Create a Case
Documentation:
Read the latest release notes, find the handbook for the app you use most, or research an app you want to learn more about on the Ellucian site.
How to search for documentation
Once in the Customer Center:
- select Resources
- select Banner under Documentation
- select Banner Student (or whatever module/app) & Search
What version of Banner are we on?
When putting in a case or searching for documentation, you will need to know what version of Banner we are on. The version numbers can be found in Banner, on the GUAABOT page.
Community
This is like a social network for Banner users. You can connect and collaborate with other Banner users in the Community. It allows you to post/ask and respond to questions. It is also a place where Ellucian communicates with clients about upcoming changes or new releases. You will see Ellucian staff also respond to questions posted.
Once in the Customer Center, click the Resources tab and select Community. You can search, post a question, or follow an area. In any area, there are featured content on the right-hand side, too. To search enter a topic in the search field at the top of the page and click the magnifying glass. For more help or details on Community, check out the Getting Started videos, located on the right-hand side, available on how to use the Community, like How to follow an area and how to post content.
Other Banner Communities
BUGMI
BugMI is the Banner User Group of Michigan. This is a great Banner community to connect and collaborate with other Banner users in the state of Michigan. They hold a conference annually (with a nominal registration fee). For more, see http://www.bugmi.org/
CoHEsion
CoHEsion is a consortium for Higher Education for Ellucian customers. This is another Banner community to share and collaborate with knowledgeable colleagues. CoHEsion offers two conferences with similar content in different locations per year. Attendance is approximately 350 users. For more, see http://cohesioncentral.org/.
Additional Resources
For a more detailed look at Banner please refer to the Banner 9 Manual.
Troubleshooting:
If you have any questions or experience any issues with this article, please visit or contact the ITS Helpdesk for assistance.
Location: 206 Murchie Science Building
Hours: go.umflint.edu/hours
Phone: (810) 762-3123
Email: flint.its.support@umich.edu