SunGard Higher Education Employees Chair Higher Education Industry Organizations
7/26/2010
Laura Weathersby, SunGard Higher Education’s senior product owner for
Banner Human Resources, has been named the chair of the Corporate Advisory
Council (CAC) for CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association for
Human Resources). Her one-year term began
in July 2010. Laura will work with CUPA-HR leadership and the corporate
partners on the council to develop new ideas for how the corporate partners can
continue to support CUPA-HR and its membership more effectively.
Sandra DeCastro, SunGard Higher Education’s general manager of events
and associations, was named the chair for the AACC (American Association of
Community Colleges) Corporate Council.
Her key objective for her term, which ends November 2011, is to raise
awareness of the broad expertise the council as a whole brings to the AACC
membership, and for the council to become more actively engaged in special
projects throughout the year to support the association.
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More SunGard Higher Education Advancement Customers Choosing iModules Online Social Engagement
7/21/2010
In the year since SunGard Higher Education and iModules launched an integrated advancement and online constituent community solution, 40+ institutions have selected the exclusive, best-of-breed partnership. Nancy Johnson, director of alumni and volunteer services at the University of Southern Indiana, is adding iModules to their Banner Advancement environment. “Banner Advancement and iModules’ Encompass are able to act as a single solution online,” she said. “We envision that the addition of the social networking capabilities will enrich our event and marketing efforts by bringing alumni together through social networks to enhance connections among alumni and with the university.” More than 700 higher education advancement offices rely on SunGard Higher Education to manage their alumni and donor relationships more efficiently, connect with constituents more authentically, and improve their accountability to the stakeholders they serve. More than 150 of those customers already use iModules Encompass to build better connections. SunGard Higher Education’s comprehensive advancement solutions, Advance and Banner Advancement, are developed specifically for use by higher education to help manage sophisticated alumni relations programs, fundraising campaigns and business processes. The SunGard Higher Education integration for iModules’ Encompass extends an institution’s current advancement system by providing new ways to connect with alumni, donors, and friends. Online community management tools help engage constituents when and where they want to be reached. The targeted, personalized communication options help foster constituent participation with the institution and can lead to stronger, more meaningful relationships. Tight integration between SunGard Higher Education’s advancement platform and iModules’ Encompass online community platform eliminates costly in-house integration or application development. Web services between the advancement platform and Encompass, as well as data movement between the two, provides institutions with a holistic view of constituent participation with the institution, both online and off. Learn more about the integration between iModules Encompass and SunGard Higher Education’s advancement solutions:
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Virginia College Savings Plan Implements SunGard Higher Education Banner Finance
7/20/2010
Congratulations to the Virginia College Savings Plan for
completing implementation of SunGard Higher Education Banner Finance and other
solutions in support of their GLAD initiative.
GLAD stands for the General Ledger Accounting Development project which
evolved to include three important components: Banner Finance to provide the
primary accounting system, Argos
to support reporting needs, and an interface to CARS, the state’s accounting
system. Banner Finance includes fixed
assets, procurement, budget, general ledger, operating ledger and accounts
payable modules. According to Vivian Shields of the Virginia College Savings
Plan, “The new system gives us efficiencies especially when it comes to
reporting and accounting functions. We will be able to eliminate some redundant
work and streamline tasks. Also, the reporting will enable us to better target
our markets and perform trend analysis.” There is a customer benefit as well, said Shannon Towles.
“We anticipate that it will reduce our operating costs and allow transactions
to flow through to accounting faster.” Congratulations to the GLAD team for a job well done. http://www.virginia529.com/
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Eye on Retention: Free University Business Webinar featuring Purdue University May 25
5/18/2010
Attend a free webinar and hear Purdue University discuss how they launched an intuitive early warning system to help students understand how they are performing in a course and what they need to do to improve. Course Signals, now available from SunGard Higher Education, uses predictive modeling to assign students to appropriate risk groups and then provides the tools faculty need to communicate with them appropriately. In the webinar, you will learn how Course Signals: Identifies students at risk of under-performing in a course Provides real-time feedback to students Provides early interventions, starting in the second week of class Informs students about available resources on campus to increase their academic success Can be implemented at other institutions
http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewpage.aspx?pagename=staticpage/webinar/sungard20100525.htm
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IMS Learning Information Services Standards Move into Public Review
5/17/2010
"SunGard Higher Education is keenly focused on improving the customer experience, which includes providing higher education institutions with more flexibility to shape how technology supports their evolving needs," said Fred Weiss, senior vice president, strategy and portfolio management. "The LIS standards will help make it easier and less costly to integrate an institution's choice of learning technologies, expand their capabilities, improve constituent service, and maximize the value of their digital campus. Public review is an important milestone. We look forward to continuing our work with IMS and others as we move toward our vision of the Open Digital Campus." Read the IMS press release at http://www.imsglobal.org/pressreleases/pr100517C.html
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SunGard Higher Education’s Alternative Delivery Models
4/13/2010
Enterprise applications, as critical as they are to institutional excellence, represent a significant investment for most colleges and universities. And not just in dollars, but in time and talent. Today, as campus leaders struggle to redirect scarce resources to their core teaching and learning missions, finding more flexible and cost-effective ways to support information technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. This thinking is key to our Open Digital Campus strategy, which combines alternative delivery models, modular assets and modern technologies. Increasingly our customers are asking us to think differently about how we deliver solutions to them. They want to be more selective about the software they adopt—using only those systems or features or functions that help them pursue their institutional mission more effectively. They want that functionality when they need it—not six months or a year later. They want us to think harder about how we can make our systems more open, flexible, and standards-based. They want delivery options that don’t require an across-the-board purchase of systems that don’t meet immediate institutional needs. In short, they want more choice. And that means radically rethinking how enterprise class systems are designed, developed, and deployed. New IT delivery methods such as software-as-a service, on-demand applications, and hosting have broadened the options institutions have for meeting their IT needs. For many institutions, the burden of implementing and maintaining enterprise administrative systems is simply too great. Administrative systems require secure data centers to function properly, a ready pool of specialized talent and 24/7 support. Finding more flexible and cost-effective ways to support information technology isn’t just about the software. It’s about the way that software gets delivered to you. SaaS-based models mean that many of today’s software applications can be quickly deployed, easily configured, and automatically updated and enhanced. That means we can design solutions for colleges and universities that answer very specific needs. And because those applications can exist “in the cloud” you can navigate to our dedicated registry, explore the options available to you, and procure that application with just a few clicks of the mouse. PowerCAMPUS Hosting from SunGard Higher Education provides yet another option. Power CAMPUS Hosting provides and immediate solution for institutions seeking a better way to secure all the benefits of a high-performing ERP system while eliminating the need for cumbersome upgrades. With alternative delivery models you get all the benefits, but leave the maintenance and upgrade of those systems to a vendor expert. Join the discussion about alternative delivery methods at Summit 2010 in the IT Lounge Room 300(S) and, if you missed it live, check out the session handout from Tuesday’s PowerCAMPUS Application Hosting breakout session.
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Christopher Gardner Brings Summit Audience to Their Feet - Twice
4/11/2010
Six thousand people rose to their feet at SunGard Summit 2010 before Christopher Gardner had even spoken a word. Gardner is known for his amazing journey from homelessness to success that was chronicled in his autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness. Gardner told the audience how he spent nights sleeping outside with his son in nearby Union Square. He recounted the events that led to him being homeless for a year. “There was no drop of alcohol or drugs involved, but something just as lethal – life – happened to me,” he told the audience. Yet through all the struggles, he kept his small family intact, safe and strong. “Having a child was the most important, precious and loving thing in my life.” As a child, Gardner did not know his father, and his stepfather repeatedly reminded the young child of his absence. As a result, Gardner was determined and committed to break the cycle of a son growing up without his father. At the same time, he needed to pursue his dream of being a world-class stock broker. Gardner reflected on how he had to balance “today’s priorities with tomorrow’s possibilities” – the theme of SunGard Summit 2010. Gardner’s life is replete with many instances of outright unfairness, such as when he was thrown into jail along with a murderer, rapist and arsonist for his meager “crime” of not paying parking tickets. Or when he and his young son were evicted from or denied housing because children were not allowed. Yet in spite of tremendous obstacles, he remained steadfast in the pursuit of his career while keeping his son safe, happy and within his father’s love and care. “The most important thing I did was I broke the cycle of men not being there for their children,” he said. And so a second time, the crowd rose in acknowledgement of a man who managed today’s priorities without ever losing sight of tomorrow’s possibilities.
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Congratulations SCAD - Receives Fourth Annual SunGard Higher Education Award for Institutional Performance
4/11/2010
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was awarded the fourth-annual SunGard Higher Education Award for Institutional Performance during the opening session of SunGard Summit 2010 today. In addition to the award, SCAD will receive $10,000 for student aid and scholarship. Harley Lingerfelt, vice president for Information Management and Technology, accepted the award on behalf of the college from Michelle Reed, senior vice president of marketing at SunGard Higher Education. SCAD received the award for its redesign of approximately 15 key student academic processes, resulting in increased student satisfaction, the elimination of redundant and many manual processes, and increased efficiencies and speedier resolutions. In addition, there is more consistent application of rules, eligibility requirements, and policies to student requests. SunGard’s annual customer-focused Institutional Performance award recognizes one institution of higher education for its measurable performance in areas such as community impact, accountability and accessibility. A panel of experts from education organizations and associations determined the winner. Immediately after receiving the award, Mr. Lingerfelt commented that he is most proud of the impact this project has delivered in giving better service to students. Prior to the redesign, the processes were paper based, manually executed, cumbersome, and time-consuming. Today, students can submit requests for various academic transactions from on or off campus using any Web browser, and are no longer confined to submitting requests during college business hours. Workflow technology eliminates the need for students to travel to multiple buildings to obtain manual signatures from multiple approvers. Since the first process went live in March, 2009, 8,296 student requests for academic transactions have been submitted. Students are freed to concentrate on learning, commented Mr. Lingerfelt. SCAD leveraged several SunGard Higher Education solutions to achieve its gains in institutional performance. The solutions include the SunGard Luminis portal solution; the SunGard Banner administrative system, and the SunGard Workflow engine, which was central to achieving the automation and efficiency related goals of the project. The success of the project has led to the creation of administrative redesign teams that are examining other business processes at the college, and exploring more ways to improve efficiency and better serve its students. The success of the project has led to the creation of administrative redesign teams that are examining other business processes at the college, and exploring more ways to improve efficiency and better serve its students. Mr. Lingerfelt’s advice for other institutions considering a similar project, he stated that you can do this. Take the chance to implement a great idea. You’ll learn a lot, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with peers and colleagues, and the bottomline, you’ll be able to server your students better. In addition to SCAD, SunGard Higher Education recognized the following eight finalists for the SunGard Higher Education Award for Institutional Performance: - Community College of Philadelphia
- College of William & Mary
- Georgia Southern University
- Michigan Technological University
- SAIT Polytechnic
- Savannah College of Art & Design
- University of North Carolina Wilmington
- Vermont College of Fine Arts
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Ron Lang: Higher Education is an Open, Collaborative, and Innovative Community
4/11/2010
Ron Lang, CEO of SunGard Higher Education, officially welcomed more than 6,000 attendees to SunGard Summit 2010 Sunday. During his address, he reflected on higher education’s unique and extraordinary community. “What I’ve learned in the past year is that this is an open community - always ready to welcome new ideas, new people, new experiences. It’s a collaborative community - generous with its knowledge and with its resources. And it’s an innovative community,” he said. Lang emphasized that SunGard has been transforming to become a true and valued member of the higher education community. “We at SunGard are leaving our vendor culture behind and are becoming a member of your community,” he told the audience. He gave several examples of how the company is executing upon its Open Digital Campus strategy to be more open, collaborative and innovative. Two key initiatives are the SunGard Higher Education Commons, an online global community and collaboration site, and the Community Source Initiative — the first and only vendor-supported community source forum dedicated to higher education ERP systems. “Only a true member would create a community source initiative run by its member, not by us,” said Lang. “We are doing it because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the way a member of a community should act.”
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Advancing the Discussion at SunGard Summit 2010
4/9/2010
At SunGard Summit, we expect to hear a lot of conversation around three strong trends: - Appreciating the value of collaboration and community;
- Improving and extending existing technology investments; and
- A growing interest in alternative delivery methods.
SunGard Higher Education’s Open Digital Campus strategy supports these trends. Following are some new offerings and initiatives that you may want to learn more about at SunGard Summit. Information and discussion can be found in sessions, in the SunGard Higher Education booth in the exhibit hall, in lounges, and in the new Commons online community. EMBRACING COMMUNITY: - SunGard Higher Education Commons - a new online forum for information, dialogue, collaboration and networking across SunGard Higher Education’s global customer community.
- Community Source Initiative - a forum for customers to share and submit enhancements and add-on modules for possible inclusion in SunGard baseline solutions. Using an open-source methodology, structured control boards composed of both customer and SunGard representatives review submissions to help ensure wide community and technical applicability.
EXTENDING THE DIGITAL CAMPUS: - Aurora - a common platform to support consistent navigation across products, regardless of technology. The first component in the Banner Self-Service user interface modernization, it is delivered as a light, modular and fast upgrade to Banner 8 rather than as a major release.
- Infinity Process Platform (IPP) - a combination of integrated application components that help institutions tailor functionality to solve specific business problems or increase operational efficiency.
- Course Signals - a new solution focused specifically on the pain point of student retention, and adapted from an application built by Purdue University that has been remarkably popular with faculty members and students.
ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY MODELS: - PowerCAMPUS Hosting - an alternative to traditional on-premise implementations where a hosted approach is a better fit for the customer’s needs and priorities.
- Federal Methodology Need Analysis Calculation - a cloud-based service that replaces multiple mandatory annual upgrades to SunGard Higher Education financial aid modules.
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