banner communication management for beginners
TRANSCRIPT
Banner Communication Management for BeginnersKATHY NORRMAN, PURDUE UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST
10/14/21, 11:30AM
SESSION ID #4.3
Introduction
Today’s goal is to introduce the audience to the Banner Communication Management (BCM) module to assist in automating communications send to various constituents.
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Agenda1 Who are we?
2 What is BCM?
3 BCM Components
4 Templates
5 Queries & Populations
6 Communications
7 Interactions
8 Communication Examples
9 Summary
10 Questions
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Who am I?Kathy Norrman
Associate Director for Reporting and Operational Intelligence (ROI)
•18 years in Higher Education• 9 years functional, Office of Financial Aid• 3 year technical, Ellucian• 6 years functional/technical, Purdue University Northwest
Contact: [email protected]
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What is BCM?
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• Application used to create, send, and manage communications across the institution.
• Send emails.
• Generate letters for review, printing, and PDF export.
PNW’s Current BCM Environment
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• 11 Organizations/Mailboxes in use• 84 Active Email/Letter templates
• 150 Data Fields• 33 delivered by Ellucian• 117 custom created for PNW
• 74 Custom SQL Queries for PNW• 86 Custom Populations for PNW
• 8,500 Completed Communication Jobs
• 47 Recurrent Communication Jobs Scheduled
Case Use Examples
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Vendor Examples of BCM Communications
Emergency/Important Notices to students
Housing Request/Communications
Active Hold Notifications to students
Newsletters to parents, students, staff
Alumni events/reunions
Features of BCM, Part 1
Search Banner database for recipients.
Define data fields to be pulled from Banner & inserted into communications.
Create communications with text, graphics, & personalized data fields.
Generate PDFs for download and review.
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Features of BCM, Part 2
View communications sent.
Record manual interactions.
Organize queries, templates, data fields, & interaction types into departmental folders.
Schedule one-off or recurrent communications.
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Data Fields
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Define data fields to be pulled from the Banner database & inserted into communications to personalize information for each student.
Name Data Field
Select Data with SQL
Format Data with HTML
Test Data with Student ID
Data Field Parameters
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• Defines person-specific values for a data field.
• Prompts user to enter a value for the data field parameter.
• BCM evaluates the data field parameter and inserts specified, personalized data from Banner.
BCM Template Overview
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Email/Letter Delivery is logged on GUIMAIL
Banner Updates
Add Content or Data Fields to Email or Letter in BCM
Generate Letter
Select appropriate “Communication Code” from drop-down (GTVLETR)
Select Communication Code
Create Email Template in BCM
Create Template
Insert Letter Code on GTVLETR
Banner Validation
Letter Code Validation
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• Before creating a template in BCM, you must create a Letter Code in GTVLETR.
• The Letter Code becomes the Communication Code in BCM.
• Always use naming conventions for consistency.
• All BCM communications have a BCM_ prefix.
• The Aid Years and Term Codes are part of the naming convention as a result of BCM’s current functionality.
Template Features
Simple text
Formatted text
Images
Tables
Personalized Fields
Communication Previews
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Email Templates
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• PNW currently has approximately 100 Email templates in BCM Production.
• Naming conventions are used & organized into Folders.
• Source Code HTML standards.
Letter Templates
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• Current BCM defect does not allow Underline & Strike through in Letter templates
• Letter templates use iText 2.1.7 – the HTML has to adhere to XHTML standards
• As a result of iText 2.1.7, not all features in the ckeditor can be used.
Template Options
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Create Message
Delete the template
• Testing the template.
• An email test willsend the email.
• Both email & letter templates, when tested, willpost to GUIMAIL.
Copy the template
Edit the template
Queries
Use SQL queries to search the system:Produces PopulationsSpecifies criteria for Populations
Population Selection Extract option:Benefit is if you already have popsels written, they can be used.Good option for those who aren’t familiar with SQL.In my opinion… the SQL option is more robust
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Populations
Send communications to selected group of constituents
Can be created using:SQL queryFile import (xls, xlsx, csv)Manually typing one PUID at a time (Not Recommended! Room for user error!)
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Creating a Population with “Add a File”
Step 1: Click “Browse”
Step 2: Select File, Click “Continue”
Step 3: Select column with PUID, click “Import”
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Communications
There are two ways to creation a Population:•“Create Message” from the Populations page
•“Create Message” from the Communication Job page
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Create Message
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• Always use a naming convention.
• Select the appropriate Organization.
• Select the appropriate Population.
• Select the appropriate Template.
• Select the appropriate Schedule.
• Send Now• One Time Scheduling• Recurring Scheduling
Message Scheduling
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This is IMPORTANT if you want the most up-to-date recipients
upon delivery.
One Time SchedulingRecurring Scheduling
Communication Job Message Status
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Check the “Job Status” of each message
Completed without error
Completed with an alert; some communications encountered errors while processing the job
Job was not able to run due to errors.
Delivery Tracking - GUIMAIL
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“Aid Year” Naming Convention Letter Code as “Aid Year” field does not populate on GUIMAIL
“Term Code” Naming Convention Letter Codeas “Aid Year” field does not populate on
GUIMAIL
Interactions
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View Interaction History for a recipient.
View the details of every Interaction/ Communication sent to a recipient.
Interactions Continued…Create Manual Interaction Types
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Must be checked for use in entering Manual
Interactions on accounts.
Always “Save” your
changes.
Interaction TypesVendor Examples of Interaction Types
Advising Appointments
College Nights
Counselor Visits
Housing Appointments
Phone Calls with Students
Virtual Meetings with Students
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In Summary…Letter Codes must be entered on GTVLETR prior to template creation in BCM.
Every element in BCM should follow a naming convention: folders, templates, queries, populations, communication codes.
Population Selections from Banner can be use for creating BCM Populations if you are not familiar with SQL.
Always validate data fields within BCM prior to publishing data field.
Always send test emails prior to sending to students to check for accuracy and readability.
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