HR data keeps every campus system moving, yet it is often supported by integrations that no one notices until they need to be rebuilt. As Ellucian expands its SaaS platform across Europe, the company is proactively modernizing the integrations that institutions have relied on for years in their on-prem Banner environments. Many of these long-standing processes were built on direct database access, which has no place in the SaaS model.
To make this transition easier, Ellucian asked our team at ABCloudz to create another reusable, SaaS ready integration for the European market, building on the same work we previously delivered for other third party systems (placement, timetabling, security, fundraising, library, certificates). This time, the focus was HR data.
We shaped this integration through a real case with a university in the United Kingdom. Their HR automation worked well on Banner on-prem, but the logic behind it lived entirely inside the local database. Moving to SaaS meant redesigning that automation with modern tools such as Data Connect and Ethos so it could run predictably and securely in the cloud.
This story shows how that legacy HR process became a clean, API driven integration that can now be reused by other European institutions preparing their own Banner SaaS journey.
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What the previous HR data flow looked like
Before Banner SaaS entered the picture, the university already had a dependable automation for staff data. Each night, the HR system produced a CSV file, and Banner on-prem handled everything else. New employees were added, existing staff were updated, and departing staff were marked inactive. Even instructor and advisor roles were assigned automatically. Addresses, phone numbers, departments, everything flowed straight into Banner without anyone touching the process.
But all of it relied on one thing only an on-prem system can offer, direct access to Banner’s internal tables. For example, matching a person record meant reading from Banner’s core identity table that stores names, IDs, and biographical information. Updating roles or contact details meant writing directly into the database. Even error handling was embedded in custom logic sitting inside that environment.
As soon as the university prepared to move to SaaS, it was clear that this model could not come with it. SaaS removes database access entirely, replaces it with secure APIs, and expects every integration to run through Ellucian’s cloud tools. The old scripts had nowhere to execute, the matching rules had no database to check, and the update logic needed a new home that aligned with SaaS standards.
The diagram below shows what this original setup looked like before the redesign.
Rebuilding the HR integration for Ellucian SaaS
To bring the existing HR automation into the SaaS model, we first had to translate everything the old process did into modern, API based workflows. In the on-prem version, Banner read and wrote directly to its database. In SaaS, every operation has to pass through Ethos and be orchestrated inside Data Connect. That shift became the foundation for the new integration.
The new flow starts with the same source system, the central HR platform. It still produces a CSV file each night, but from there the entire process runs inside Data Connect. A dedicated pipeline ingests the file, parses each row, and applies the rules that once lived in the database. Person matching uses Ethos APIs instead of internal queries. If a staff record needs to be created, the pipeline builds the full Ethos payload and sends it through the appropriate POST endpoint. If a record needs to be updated, the pipeline calls the corresponding PUT operations. When a staff member leaves, the pipeline marks the Banner record as inactive and removes roles such as advisor or instructor.
All supporting data goes through the same pattern. The pipeline updates email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses using the Ethos general person identification APIs. It handles faculty roles using the faculty information endpoints. It also manages department assignments and ensures they are correctly tied to the current academic term.
The integration includes built-in error handling. If an update fails, the pipeline writes the record into an error file in Amazon S3 so the user can correct the input and rerun it. Successes are logged in a separate output file, giving administrators full visibility into each run. Nothing stops the process, and every record is processed independently.
Results and impact
The new integration delivered exactly what the institution needed, only now it runs on a foundation built for the long haul. Their staff data flows through Banner SaaS automatically, every record is validated before it lands in the system, and any issues surface in clean, traceable reports instead of getting buried in logs or silent failures.
Most importantly, the university kept the logic it trusted for years while gaining the reliability and transparency that come with Ellucian’s SaaS ecosystem. No more fragile scripts, no more database dependencies, and no more guessing whether a nightly job actually worked. Everything is API driven, fully auditable, and aligned with the platform’s security model.
For Ellucian, this project created something larger than a single institutional win. The integration is now reusable, configurable, and ready for any institution planning its own journey to Banner SaaS. One build, many campuses, zero reinvention.
Want to see how other institutions modernize their systems?
Take a look at our Ellucian projects and browse more higher education projects that show real SaaS transformations.
Build your SaaS ready integrations with ABCloudz
We help institutions rebuild their connections to third party systems using the tools Ellucian designed for its SaaS future. The result is the same logic your teams rely on today, delivered through secure APIs and transparent workflows that scale with the platform.
If your institution is planning a Banner SaaS migration or looking to modernize existing integrations, we would be glad to help you map the path forward. Reach out to us today and let’s talk about how we can help your institution reach its goals with modern, future ready solutions built for the cloud era.