NGSS (Next Generation Student Systems) Moves Forward with Ellucian |
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September 17, 2013, Volume 60, No. 5 |
The Next Generation Student Systems project represents an exemplary cross-University collaboration to modernize the systems that manage student data and enable Penn to provide vital services to its students and the larger University community. Modernization of these systems will facilitate Penn’s ability to support academic innovation, including interdisciplinary and multiple-degree programs, novel course types and delivery modes and access by nontraditional students of all kinds. It will also help Penn maintain regulatory compliance while embracing these complex and fast-moving changes. In short, it will allow Penn’s staff to more effectively support the University’s missions of teaching, research and service.
The project will replace aging information systems—some more than three decades old—using a phased approach. First to be addressed will be student accounts and billing, along with core infrastructure and processes that support all the systems. Later phases will address student records and registration as well as student financial aid.
Thanks to the efforts of dozens of project team members, subject-matter experts, and advisory groups drawn from all the Schools and from centers across the University, responses to Penn’s Request for Proposal (RFP) and detailed product demonstrations by the two leading vendors were thoroughly reviewed and evaluated, as reported in the spring (Almanac April 9, 2013). Based on the results of this process, the team prepared formal findings and presented a recommendation to Penn’s senior administration for the preferred vendor partner and a phased implementation plan. The administration and the Trustees have approved that recommendation. Ellucian has been selected as the preferred vendor partner and a contract was signed on August 30. Evaluators judged Ellucian’s Banner suite of products to offer greater flexibility to accommodate Penn’s diverse academic structures, greater potential for a friendly user experience, and a technical roadmap that better aligns with evolving standards. The team looks forward to beginning work on the next phase of the project in the fall.
Student systems touch almost everyone at Penn. The project team welcomes your comments and ideas at ngsspm@lists.upenn.edu
—Andrew N. Binns, Vice Provost for Education
—Michelle H. Brown-Nevers, Associate Vice President,
Student Registration and Financial Services
—Thomas H. Murphy, Vice President,
Information Systems and Computing and University CIO
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