Ellucian Student

The three biggest impacts we have seen from our transition to the Banner SaaS Student platform are: (1) Improved User Experience - The platform is mobile responsive allowing our community to use access it anytime on any device from any location. The platform meets our users where they are at and empowers them with tools - like the all encompassing search bar feature - to do what they need to do quickly and effortlessly. (2) Democratization of Development - The Banner SaaS Student platform is a no / low-code solution that allows for development on the platform outside of our traditional student information system team housed in central IT. It allows for our registrars' offices and even our academic deans' offices to set up workflows and build upon the platform in a way that was not possible with an on-prem, code-based product. (3) Safe and Scalable - Ellucian is able to provide tighter and more comprehensive security than our staff and team could. Updates are pushed out more frequently, increasing the security of the platform. We are also able to scale as needed around peak usage - like registration - something we were unable to do on-prem. This has allowed us to increase our registration band size which was a major win for our academic stakeholders. Finally, we were able to achieve these improvements while also decreasing the number of FTEs maintaining the system and re-purposing them toward other university priorities.

It can handle a large volume of students registering for courses.

The system handles the full complexity of higher Ed operations, from intricate academic policies and degree requirements to financial aid processing and student records management. We are able to reconfigure the system to match our institutional needs rather than focusing on processes into a. Framework. As we are on their cloud product, we are able to utilize their computing resources to increase. The port and. Computational resources to ensure our students, faculty and advisors are never met with a slow loading time.

One area of the product that is being actively improved is the Insights data transport and reporting system. It has an aggressive roadmap and the attention of senior Ellucian leadreship.

Years-old product defects go without being addressed, and each release introduces new defects that would have been obvious in testing.

The billing structure is frustratingly vague and complex. Even Ellucian's own billing team struggled to clearly explain what we've been charged for, which creates significant challenges in budgeting and financial planning. Line items are often unclear, and getting straightforward answers about costs require multiple conversations. That don't always result in clarity. For a product this mature and widely used in higher education, the billing process should be far more transparent and easier to understand. This makes it difficult to evaluate the true cost of ownership and plan for future expenses, which is particularly challenging. For higher ed's future.