Former IT Veep to keep Utah State on course for Banner year

Former IT Veep to keep Utah State on course for Banner year

Move will not prolong the completion of the Systems and Computer Technology Corp. "Banner" upgrade

While Utah State University's vice president for information technology, Barbara White, is stepping down to take a position at the University of Georgia, her move will not prolong the completion of the Systems and Computer Technology Corp. "Banner" upgrade.

White was appointed by university President Kermit Hall to head up the SCT Banner project as executive chair.

Though she will be greatly missed, project managers Rory Weaver and Ray Quattlebaum said she has set up a great network of people to carry out the completion of Banner. There are now approximately 200 employees involved in the implementation of this project and 1,900 people being trained.

The old SCT Plus computer software Utah State is currently operating on is getting a $6.5 million facelift. The Banner project is a new system that is fully integrated and will have access to computer data around the clock.

Banner has four components: Banner Finance (a finance record system), Banner Student (a student information system), Banner Financial Aid (a financial aid system), and Banner HR/Payroll (a human resource system). These four components will work together as an integrated relational system.

Banner was implemented on campus in 2002 and will be completed in 2005-2006. Prior to 2002, Banner took about two years of planning. As of July 1, the first of the four Banner components, Banner Finance is up and running.

Nobody knows who will take White's executive position. Quattlebaum said the process for finding a replacement could take up to four to eight months. Ron Godfrey, business and finance vice president, will lead the search for her replacement.

This does not necessarily mean the new vice president for information technology will take her place as Banner executive chair.

For more information on Banner go to http://www.usu.edu/banner/.