The last time IIT completely upgraded its campus-wide administrative system was before humans landed on the Moon. While the current system has been upgraded all along as new technologies have emerged, numerous advances in web-based services and the integration of ancillary business processes have led IIT management to conclude that conversion to a new, 21st-century administrative system will greatly benefit our university.

When the ambitious two-year implementation is complete, everyone in the IIT community will benefit from streamlined, more efficient procedures for everything from student registration to purchasing to checking benefits summaries to managing calendars and much more.

More than 100 IIT staff and faculty participated in needs assessment and a detailed review of potential vendors in 2004-05. In late 2005, IIT selected the SunGard Higher Education (SGHE) Unified Digital Campus (UDC) product suite, of which Banner is a major component.

The Unified Digital Campus Solution
The UDC solution is expected to improve the efficiency of IIT’s business processes by providing users with access to a university-wide shared database and automating many processes that were previously done manually.

Other objectives in implementing the Banner system are to achieve widespread access to accurate information, which will enable timely and informed decision-making and budgeting; to enable a higher level of user self service; to deliver efficient, user-friendly business functionality that meets user needs without the need for customization; and to eliminate IIT’s dependency on legacy system technologies that may have waning vendor support.

The UDC will replace IIT’s current PLUS administrative system (SIS, FRS and HRS), as well as a number of "shadow systems" currently being maintained by individual departments.

The project includes these SGHE UDC components:

• Luminis Platform/Portal and Content Management System
• Banner—Finance, Human Resources, Student, Financial Aid
• Workflow, Oracle, Data Migration Toolkit
• ePrint, fsaATLAS, Xtender imaging, and Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW)

IIT will continue to use its existing Recruitment Plus (recruiting), BlackBoard LMS (Learning Management System) and Raiser’s Edge (gifts and contribution) systems. These existing systems will be integrated with the new UDC products.

Single Sign-On
One of the most visible conveniences of b@iit is that when fully implemented, all users—faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni—will be able to access all of their permitted information with a "single sign-on" through the secure web-based myIIT portal. With one username and password, for example, faculty and staff can access a customized portal homepage, retrieve email, payroll and benefits information, see upcoming events, communicate with custom groups, maintain calendars, see important announcements, manage personal information and much more.

The b@iit Project Team invites you visit these web pages often for updates on the implementation progress of each module and as Milestones approach, are met and celebrated. Watch for additional updates in IIT Today and in materials distributed across Main, Downtown, Rice, ID and Moffett campuses.