Information system earns face-lift

The Banner student information system is what holds the academic information, parking, housing, meal plans, financial aid and all of the student's experience, Clinton Smullen, professor of computer science and director of academic and research computing services, said."When you go through MocsNet, that is really our home front for a system we have had since the 70s," Debbie Parker, associate vice chancellor for business and finance, said.

Smullen said it is old technology that needs to be replaced.

"So we're moving to a new system," Smullen said.

Parker said all the UT campuses will eventually switch to the new Banner System. Parker said he predicts that the student experience with the new information system will be much better.

"Everything will be online," Parker said. "Students [will be able to] do things more automatically than they could do in the past."

"Whatever [students] need to do at anytime, day or night, they will be doing [by themselves] online," Smullen said.

According to Parker, the faculty members will also benefit.

"The faculty will be able to submit the information that students need [regarding grades, etc.] online," Parker said.

With the new system a department can set up a waitlist for student who want to register for a course, so a student can request for a spot in the class online Smullen said.

"Students won't have to go the department secretary with a piece of paper," Smullen said.

Current plans are for Fall 2010 registration for all students to be done in the new Banner student information system Smullen said.

"UTC actually started working on the Banner project ten years ago," Smullen said.

Parker said students will even pay fees online with a credit card, debit card or an electronic check.

She said the Bursar's office will not go away for students who prefer to pay a person rather than a machine.

"This winter we will have a mock registration to test out the system," Smullen said. "We'll also have training for students in March, in the summer and in the fall."

Jessica Costner, a junior from Hixson, said she thinks the new Banner information system will be great.

"It's really convenient.and it would be so easy to do everything online," Costner said. "You could go anywhere [to access the internet] because the internet's everywhere."

Parker said the new student information system will have a positive effect on the campus.

"It should help alleviate so many of the problems that students have," Parker said. "The students with exceptions will only have to come face to face on campus."

Parker said the information system switch is not a choice.

"We didn't just decide to do Banner because it's innovative," Parker said. "We are compelled by current technology to move to a new system."

Smullen said the money used to fund Banner has been saved up over the past eight years.

Parker said the switch will be more environmentally friendly.

"We will be scanning documents and storing them electronically," Parker said. "Students can electronically submit [documents] and within a couple of years, we won't see much paper.