Administrative Computing

The management of the University of Southern Indiana's core business functions is done through an ERP system based on Oracle's Relational Database Management System (Sungard’s “Banner”). The Banner System positions the university to take advantage of technologies that are not only proven and powerful...but flexible as well. All our mission-critical administrative applications (see list below) are integrated under a common presentation framework allowing users to navigate across functional boundaries in order to perform the task at hand both simply and seamlessly. Several ancillary applications are also available for the purpose of supporting and complimenting the mission-critical systems.

Hardware:
The university's Banner system consists of multiple Sun Microsystems servers that perform specific tasks with regard to Banner's daily processing as well as ancillary Hewlett Packard (HP) Intel server systems that provide additional application extensions and reporting capabilities. The Sun servers that encompass the Banner system include back end database and test systems, application server front-ends, and an end-user portal and email system implementation known as MyUSI. The Sun servers have a combined disk capacity of over 1.1 Tera Bytes and over 52 Giga Bytes of Random Access Memory (RAM). The HP Intel systems that encompass the Banner ancillary systems include reporting and process scheduling systems, degree analysis systems, and document imaging and archival systems. The HP systems have a combined disk capacity of over 2.2 Tera Bytes and over 13 Giga Bytes of RAM. Access to the Banner systems is either through the web-based portal mechanism, the administrative software described below, application specific client software, or secured terminal emulation sessions. Various high-speed impact printers are also configured to work with the Banner systems via high speed network connections and 2 directly attached tape robot units, which manage a total of 4 LTO 1 drives, serve to backup both the HP and Sun Microsystems servers. We use a variety of Sun Sparc systems running Solaris.

System Software:
The USI Banner system makes use of several operating systems, which control different aspects of the software and data used. The native operating system (or operating system that actually communicates with the hardware) is known as kernel. The kernel's primary function is to manage and facilitate the sharing of the resources mentioned in the hardware section above. The various component servers in the Banner system make use of either a Windows server or a UNIX kernel. Both Windows and UNIX are multi-user operating systems that are used for controlling the mission critical applications mentioned in the general and administrative software sections. Both operating systems are used to manage hardware interactions, configure and control network and application access, and maintain and control user access and privileges, among other duties. Each operating system is applied to its specific function within the Banner component tree based on application requirements of each particular component. We run Banner with Oracle

Administrative Software:

Mission Critical Applications:
The Banner applications are available through the Internet-Native Banner (INB) web interface. This interface is available via an automatically downloaded Java Plug-In (“JPI”) available through the Oracle Application Server. Through this interface, all facets of the Banner system are potentially accessible to University faculty/staff within the university intranet.

The Banner mission-critical applications are as follows...

• Alumni
• A/R
• Student Records
• Financial Aid
• Finance
• Human Resources

Self Service Applications:
The Banner Self-Service applications are directly tied to the data from the mission-critical Banner systems listed above. They are available through the Self-Service Banner (SSB) web interface available from within the generally available MyUSI portal. Through this interface a limited subset of Banner functions are available to University "customers".

The self-service applications are as follows...

• Alumni Self-Service
• Student Self-Service (including Financial-Aid)
• Finance Self-Service
• Human Resources Self-Service

Ancillary Applications:
These systems work in conjunction with associated Banner systems and data in areas that either may or may not be specific to a single mission-critical application.

The ancillary applications are as follows...

• Appworx (job scheduling)
• Cognos (reporting)
• DarWin (degree auditing/transfer articulation)
• Extender Solutions (document imaging management)
• Workflow (process management)

If you should have any questions regarding these services, please contact our Help Desk at (812) 465-1080 or contact us via email.