Do you remember the painful process of buying books for your next term? We’ve all been there — noting the title, edition, ISBN, and even cover color. Endlessly searching in the campus bookstores, comparing online prices and delivery dates, and desperately trying to agree on the deal with upperclassmen. Sometimes these tremendous efforts led us to heartbreak when the professor told us that he plans to use another book for this course.
Stop crying and take a deep breath. Now, close your eyes and imagine a perfect world, where the bookstore knows exactly which books each student needs. And yes, in this perfect world, students can use financial credits from the university to pay in the Follett-powered campus bookstore. Believe it or not, but this perfect world exists, and the ABCloudz team took part in making it real.
Read this blog post to learn how ABCloudz created a bidirectional integration between the Banner SaaS database and the Follett bookstore platform. This integration supports key student services such as course material purchasing, financial aid credit processing, and digital content access. In this project, our team developed, configured, and scheduled the Ellucian Data Connect pipelines to transfer data.
This blog post covers a single but relatively complex Ellucian Banner SaaS integration project. However, our team has delivered many more projects of the same type. For example, we connected Banner SaaS with a parking, library, or alumni management system. These projects have certain similarities, and you can take advantage of our knowledge and experience to bring your idea to life.
Are you looking for an expert in Ellucian integration, modernization, and automation projects? ABCloudz completed hundreds of projects for higher education institutions, and we perfectly know all about your pain points with enhancing the capabilities of Ellucian software. As an Ellucian Service Partner, our team has the comprehensive experience to become your go-to partner when it comes to Ellucian-based projects.
Project goals and technology challenges
The main goal of this project is to automate the delivery of student registration data and financial aid eligibility to the Follett bookstore platform. Also, this project includes ingesting sales transactions and course charges back into the Banner SaaS database.
The automated data flows in this project enhance operational efficiency. Also, they eliminate the risk of manual entry errors and improve the accuracy of Banner student account records. With this evident business outcome, the technology challenges still remain in place. That’s why Ellucian invited ABCloudz to work on this project.
We have several proven and easily customizable solutions to configure data integration from Ellucian Banner SaaS to a third-party system. With many similar projects under our belt, our team knows all about using specific APIs and creating custom fittings for data extraction, transformation, and loading. However, importing data from a third-party system into Banner SaaS is not a trivial case. This task requires additional attention and expertise. Before we dive deep into the technical side of things, let us take a look at the original state of the customer’s system.
Current state
Before the ABCloudz team automated this integration, the students had to get the official list of books for the next term on the bookstore page of the student portal. Each student had to enter their specific course code to see this list and start shopping.
The students eligible for financial aid received a bookstore credit. However, this credit was not always available on the first day of the term because this data was not synchronized between Ellucian Banner SaaS and the bookstore platform.
The following image shows the current state of the customer’s data architecture.
The financial aid administrator manually exports data from Ellucian Banner database and transforms it into an appropriate format for the Follett bookstore platform. Following, the IT systems administrator runs another script to upload the CSV file to an SFTP server of the bookstore platform.
The bookstore platform consumes this information about available credits for students. In turn, they export data about used credits and upload it to the same SFTP server. In the next step, the IT systems administrator downloads these files and reflects changes in the Ellucian Banner database.
Designing data integration pipelines
After a thorough analysis of the requirements, the ABCloudz team proposed to create the following five Ellucian Data Connect pipelines.
- Student registration
Provides the bookstore with a list of currently enrolled students by course and term. Also, forms the list of course materials for each student aligned with their schedule. - Financial aid
Sends approved financial aid credit limits to the bookstore. Establishes a credit line that students can use for bookstore purchases. - Sales transactions
Sends the transaction details to Ellucian Banner SaaS when a student purchases books or materials. Charges the student’s account for the purchase from financial aid or personal funds. - Credit reversal
Reverses unused credit amounts when a student does not use their full credit or drops a course. - Electronic book purchases
Adds or removes the corresponding course charge in Banner SaaS when a student opts into or out of an eBook.
These pipelines include financial operations and require meeting the latest compliance regulations. The ABCloudz team has decades of experience in determining all regulatory obligations when it comes to developing financial applications. With all security and compliance concerns covered, let us take a look at the architecture of this automated solution.
Future-state architecture
The following image shows the future state architecture of this automated integration.
The IT systems administrators configure and manage pipelines. To manage these pipelines, we created a project-specific application in Ethos Integration Administration. Our customer can access this application in the Ethos environment.
When an issue occurs with a pipeline, administrators can resolve the issue and start the pipeline manually. The financial aid administrator defines bookstore credit policies and ensures that the financial aid eligibility data is current in Banner SaaS.
All the students need to do is register for courses and go to the bookstore. Here, they can purchase the materials they need by using the bookstore credit.
Benefits and results
The ABCloudz team delivered the fully automated experience for bookstore purchases by designing the finely tuned Data Connect pipelines. These pipelines ensure that the data is in sync between Ellucian Banner SaaS and the Follett bookstore platform. These pipelines cover the following workflows: export of active enrollment lists and financial aid credits; import of bookstore transactions and credit reversals; electronic book purchases.
The implementation of this integration brought dividends to all involved parties. The university improved administrative efficiency and ensured real-time account accuracy. The students enjoy the enhanced experience at the campus bookstore as well as the clear and transparent process of buying books for the next term. The bookstore noticed an increase in sales by 20 percent and a reduction in the number of book returns by 16 percent.
At the same time, your institution can also feel the benefits of this project. The ABCloudz team can easily customize this proven solution to the needs of your organization so that you can expedite your Ellucian data integration projects with different third-party systems.
Streamline your Ellucian integrations with ABCloudz
This complex integration project is yet another proof of the outstanding experience that ABCloudz has when it comes to Ellucian-based projects. With a perfect understanding of the needs that the higher education institutions have and hundreds of successfully delivered projects, our team is here to help you bring your ideas to life.
Modernizing and automating integrations within your Ellucian environment is our bread and butter. Ellucian trusts ABCloudz to deliver many projects, and so can you. Start transitioning to Banner SaaS, Data Connect, and Ellucian Ethos with our team. Contact ABCloudz today to get a quote on your project!
