As previously reported in @Metro, the Banner system upgrade to version 7 in early October will require an 85-hour outage that will include workday hours on Friday, Oct. 7.

Lasting from 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, until 7 a.m. Monday, Oct.10, the outage will include Banner online, self-service items on MetroConnect, Web payment by credit card and Banner Imaging. MetroConnect and e-mail will not be affected, nor will online courses.

How big will the outage be?
The easiest way to describe the outage is with some statistics. More than 2,300 Banner forms/screens, 600 jobs and thousands of other program scripts will be replaced in the upgrade, with the total number of objects modified approaching 12,500. Moreover, another 1,200 Metro State add-on programs have been tested, with some receiving modifications. Even though much of the upgrade process is automated, three Information Technology staff members will work shifts almost around the clock to complete the upgrade in three days. Once completed, many IT staff and users will be configuring and testing to make sure everything is up and running by Monday morning.

Will I need training in Banner 7?
Users already familiar with Banner should not experience problems transitioning to the new look of the forms in version 7 as they will be more "windows-like" than before. The biggest difference will be that the icon will be on the employee tab of MetroConnect.

Users can prepare themselves for the upgrade by taking the online tutorial at http://www.mscd.edu/~infotech/training/banner7cbt/index.html. IT is also working on a brief classroom session.

What about the customized CAPP report?
IT reiterates that the customized CAPP report will still work in Banner 7, but that users will have extra steps to take. While the detailed instructions are not yet available, they are summarized below:

As before, the user generates the CAPP report in SMARQCM, then must go to form GJIREVO, open the report and save it to the local PC. The final step is to run an icon on the desktop that prints the report to the printer of the user's choice.

All users should be aware that the Web CAPP report will continue to work as it does in Banner 6 and that students already have a familiarity with this report.