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Welcome!

Welcome!. Using Argos for Letter Generation Presented By Jim Ollerhead Banner & Argos Support Team Leader University of Salford, England, UK. Please remember to silence your telephone. Thank You!. A bit about me…. 1995 – 2001 Banner Developer. 2001 – 2004 Various Other Oracle Roles.

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Welcome!

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  1. Welcome! Using Argos for Letter Generation Presented By Jim Ollerhead Banner & Argos Support Team Leader University of Salford, England, UK

  2. Please remember to silence your telephone Thank You!

  3. A bit about me… 1995 – 2001 Banner Developer 2001 – 2004 Various Other Oracle Roles 2004 onward Banner Support Team Leader

  4. University of Salford, England, UK The University of Salford is in the North West of England close to Manchester The University was founded in 1896 and has a student population of approximately 19,000 SunGard HE products (Banner Student, Financial Aid and Accounts Receivable) have been in use at the University of Salford to hold information about our students since 1999 We began trialling the use of Argos at the beginning of 2007

  5. The Joy of Banner Letter Generation… Before you begin…. • Find the User Guides!(General, Chapters 3, 5 and 6) • Learn about the Banner ‘mark-up’ language • Teach yourself SQL

  6. Finding the User Guides • Open up the Banner Bookshelf • Index the PDF’s if necessary • Perform an advanced search for ‘Letter’ • Find the relevant sections from the 2884 hits • Read them!

  7. Learn the Banner ‘Mark-up’ Language • 23 ‘tags’ some of which have a multiple parameter format (e.g. tables) • Complex syntax needed for simplest things, e.g: #CONCAT x Concatenate — Place x next to the preceding word without inserting a space between them. Frequently used to place punctuation after a variable Note: A backslash (\) is required to concatenate a period (.), for example: *VARIABLE #CONCAT , *VARIABLE #CONCAT ! *VARIABLE #CONCAT \. Note: A trailing space is required after the #CONCAT command and before the x string.

  8. Teach yourself SQL for 368 Pages 0.66kg

  9. Teach yourself SQL for 432 Pages 0.54kg

  10. Building your Letter (1) Create an Application in GLRAPPL

  11. Building your Letter (2) Create Variables in GLRVRBL

  12. Building your Letter (3) Create a Letter Code in GTVLETR

  13. Building your Letter (4) CreateParagraphCodes inGTVPARA

  14. Building your Letter (5) Create Paragraphs in GUAPARA

  15. Building your Letter (6) Assemble Letter in GUALETR

  16. I can print my letter now, Yes? Dear Sir… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yours, ~~~~~~~~~~

  17. NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE! Dear Sir… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yours, ~~~~~~~~~~

  18. Deciding who to send your Letter to (1) Create aPopulation Selection inGLRSLCT

  19. Deciding who to send your Letter to (2) CheckPopSel is OK inGLIEXTR

  20. NOW I can print my letter, Yes? Dear Sir… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yours, ~~~~~~~~~~

  21. NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE! Dear Sir… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yours, ~~~~~~~~~~

  22. Running the built-in processes (1) Run the PopulationExtractGLBDATA

  23. Running the built-in processes (2) Run the LetterExtractGLBLSEL

  24. Running the built-in processes (3) Run the Letter PrintProcessGLRLETR

  25. Finally – Do I get my Letter now??? Dear Sir… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yours, ~~~~~~~~~~

  26. OUI, JA, SI, YES, AT LAST! Wasn’t that fun?

  27. Pre-Argos Solution Use 3rd-party Reporting tool To build list of recipients Extract Into Excel Mail-merge Into Word

  28. Drawbacks with MS solution • Users must have (and be able to use!) MS Office • Only addresses are extracted – other data will require additional programming • Ownership and uniformity of template letters • Data can be changed after letter production • No record of letters sent/producedheld within Banner

  29. Argos in France

  30. Argos in Greece

  31. Argos in the UK

  32. USA on trial in the UK Another Acronym! A d-Hoc R eport G eneration and O utput S olution P roblem I n C hair N ot I n C omputer B eyond A ny N ormal N eed for E ducation R ecords A nother R eason for G oing O ff S ick

  33. Up-front advantages • Web interface – no installation needed • Training? What training? • Control over who can change what • Central store for letters facilitates good CM • PDF Output = no post-production changes • User empowerment ( = less work for IT support!)

  34. How we implemented Argos at Salford Initial decisions: • Single user sign-on to the Banner database • All Argos-specific objects held in the ARGOS_USER schema • Setting up of Argos key-users • Creation of a BI Data Dictionary

  35. Single-User Sign-on • All users connect as ARGOS_USER • ARGOS_USER given full query-only access • Access to individual Banner tables controlled by BI Data Dictionary views (mostly!) • No impact from Banner upgrades

  36. Advantages of Argos-specific objects • No impact from Banner upgrades • Facilitates ‘soft parameter’ reporting • Objects created so far:6 Business Intelligence ViewsGYRSIGN table for recording signatoriesArgos package containing 5 functions

  37. BI Data Dictionary (Views) • Evolving with time and usage • Six objects so far (roughly chronological order):SYRAPPL - ApplicationsSYRDEMO - (Person) DemographicsSYRSTPR - Students against ProgramsSYRMODL - Academic History Module MarksSYRINTR - Interruptions to StudySYRSTOU - Learning Outcome

  38. Example BI View: SYRSTPR • Students against Programs • Joins 16 tables • Uses library functions to look up coded values • Additional User-friendly definition document

  39. New table for Signatories of letters

  40. Connect in seconds

  41. First Version of Offer Letter Parameters

  42. Second Version of Offer Letter Parameters

  43. Quickview for record of sent letters

  44. Users Q & A on Argos… Q. Can we have separate letters for overseas? • No. Q. Can we have separate letters for conditional offers? • No. Q. Can we have different letters for different signatories? • No. Q. Can we have a separate report for Address Labels? A. No

  45. Why Not??? Because we don’t need them!

  46. Sample Output from Offer Letter Three Samples, One Letter! ‘Home’ Student, Unconditional Offer ‘Home’ Student, Conditional Offer Overseas Student, Conditional Offer

  47. Mailing Labels from same Datablock

  48. But what if the wording isn’t right… • Is it the wording, conditions or the source data? • Wording: Change it but be aware that we onlyversion control the Master Copy • Conditions: Speak to business process owner then Key User to change it • Source Data: Speak to IT support

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