When universities move from Ellucian Banner On-Prem to SaaS, they lose direct access to the Oracle database that once gave them full control. In the on-prem world, teams could write PL/SQL scripts, adjust logic, and even build custom applications right on top of Banner data. In SaaS, that control changes. The database is no longer accessible, and all interactions now happen through the APIs provided by Ellucian.
That was exactly the challenge for a leading university in the United Kingdom. One of their key automations sent student data to a third-party platform supporting accessibility services for students with disabilities. The old on-prem logic worked perfectly through SQL jobs and triggers, but none of it could survive the move to the cloud.
Our team at ABCloudz took this logic apart, mapped every rule to the right Ethos APIs, and rebuilt the entire workflow in Ellucian Data Connect. The result is a clean, API-driven integration that delivers only updated student records while staying fully aligned with Ellucian’s SaaS architecture.
In this story, we’ll walk you through how we transformed on-prem database logic into a cloud-native process using Ellucian’s modern tools.
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Life before SaaS
Before the migration, the university already had an automated setup that shared student data with a third-party platform supporting accessibility services for students with disabilities. The integration was built around the on-prem Banner database, using custom scripts and direct queries to keep everything in sync. It worked, but it wasn’t smart. The system moved large amounts of redundant data, sending complete datasets even when only a few records had changed.
When the university moved to Banner SaaS, the old automation hit a wall. The nightly jobs that once pulled student data straight from the database couldn’t run anymore, because direct database access doesn’t exist in Ellucian’s cloud world. That meant the integration had to be completely reimagined using Ellucian’s native tools.
Rebuilding the integration for Ellucian SaaS
Our team started by unpacking the existing on-prem logic line by line. The on-prem setup had a mix of SQL jobs and validation scripts that filtered student records based on specific rules. Some conditions were about academic programs, others checked contact information, emergency details, or admission status. Every part of that logic needed to be preserved but rebuilt for the cloud.
We began by replicating that behavior inside Ellucian Data Connect, which became the new automation engine. Data Connect now acts as the core orchestrator that listens to changes, transforms the data, and pushes it to where it needs to go.
At the heart of this workflow are Ellucian Ethos Change Notifications (CN) that automatically signal Data Connect whenever a student record has been created or updated. Each time a relevant change occurs, it triggers a Data Connect pipeline that fetches the latest student details directly through the Ethos APIs.
The data then goes through a series of JavaScript transformation steps, where business rules are applied to structure the output exactly as the SSD platform expects it. These transformations define which fields to include, how to map them, and what should happen if a record does not meet certain conditions.
Once the data is ready, the pipeline saves the resulting CSV file into Amazon S3. From there, the SSD platform continues its usual routine of fetching updated records for accessibility services. The key difference is that now it only receives the data that actually changed, without unnecessary bulk exports.
Each pipeline run also produces a full set of validation and confirmation reports, making the whole process traceable and transparent. Staff can easily check if something went wrong, rerun the pipeline, or confirm that all updates were processed successfully.
Results and impact
The integration now runs natively within Ellucian Banner SaaS, using the same business logic but in a smarter, cloud-ready form. Each run exports only updated student records, cutting processing time and unnecessary data transfers.
All activity is logged automatically through Ellucian tools, giving the institution full visibility and audit control. The process is faster, cleaner, and fully aligned with Ellucian’s cloud-first standards.
Curious to see how other institutions are transforming their systems?
Explore our library of success stories to discover how we help colleges and universities modernize their data workflows with Ellucian and other leading education technologies.
Build your SaaS-ready integrations with ABCloudz
This project is a real example of what we deliver through our Modernize integrations with Data Connect offering. As more higher education institutions move their Banner environments to Ellucian SaaS, existing automations often need more than a migration. They need to be reimagined to work natively within the cloud, using Ellucian’s own tools and architecture.
At ABCloudz, we specialize in helping institutions rebuild and modernize their integrations so they remain secure, scalable, and fully aligned with Ellucian standards. Whether you are planning a SaaS migration or looking to redesign your current workflows, our team can help you create reliable data connections that are ready for the future.
Let’s talk about how we can make your Ellucian integrations smarter and built to last.