{"id":2027,"date":"2026-04-02T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sigcorp.com\/insights\/the-road-to-banner-saas-why-saas-and-where-do-i-start\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:25:19","slug":"the-road-to-banner-saas-why-saas-and-where-do-i-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sigcorp.com\/insights\/the-road-to-banner-saas-why-saas-and-where-do-i-start\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Banner SaaS \u2013 Why SaaS and Where do I Start?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Decision Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most popular questions I hear when speaking with clients about Banner SaaS are: \u201cWhy would I want to move to SaaS?\u201d<\/strong> and \u201cWhere would I even start?\u201d These are great questions, and we could spend a year on both, but no one has that kind of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to give the highlights of each, which I hope will spark other questions along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would I want to move to SaaS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first true Software as a Service, or SaaS, product emerged in 1999 from Salesforce. As I alluded to in my previous article<\/a>, it was inevitable that Banner would eventually follow the path of SaaS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could list the numerous benefits of migrating your higher ed ERP to SaaS\u2014like reducing your infrastructure; automated and regular upgrades which allow you to take advantage of new features quicker (not to mention save you from late nights, early mornings, and weekends running endless upgrades); and for those interested in the financials, predictable costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what often goes unspoken are the unforeseen\u2014and very human\u2014challenges that can occur during migration: Like being so far behind that you can\u2019t use those new time-saving features that were just announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or trying to plan for the next infrastructure rebuild and how much it\u2019s going to cost, only to find out it\u2019s not in the budget and you need to figure out how to make what you have stretch 3 more years. What about that latest zero-day vulnerability that just dropped, and now you must spend the next 3 days fixing and securing every Banner server while you\u2019re on vacation? Sound familiar? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a big change moving into a SaaS environment, especially when you\u2019ve been in control of your infrastructure for a long time. Being limited to a certain number of environments, like 2, can be a real game-changer for some clients. Letting go is not easy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, understanding the migration process might ease the pain of letting go. Ellucian uses a prescriptive approach to align all the validation data with best practices for higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many cases, institutions are already doing this; they just don\u2019t realize it. This allows for a more streamlined, industry-standard approach to the SaaS provisioning and delivery process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the record, Ellucian didn\u2019t come up with this out of the blue. The methodology was built on frameworks from global organizations like CAUDIT, EDUCAUSE, and UCISA, that represent the collective wisdom from the higher ed sector. I believe this is one of the biggest reasons moving to Banner SaaS would be a benefit to any institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, this would most likely incur change within the institution, and that\u2019s always a harder sell. However, the functional consultants at SIG are well-versed in those changes and are standing by to help clients work through them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does the data migrate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For modernization clients, Ellucian will limit the Banner SaaS environments to PROD and TEST, which are fully built-out environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the migration experience, several mock migrations occur to fine-tune the data migration process and ensure all data is represented properly. The number of mocks are based on how clean the data is and how seamless the migration process goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, 4 mock migrations are scheduled, but if your data is a mess, expect a few more attempts before the data comes across just right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s break down the migration process at a high level: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process starts by running a pre-delivered script, which will export the entire current Oracle database and upload it to a secure AWS S3 bucket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once uploaded, a process is kicked off to begin the import of the entire file to an awaiting Oracle\/Banner database. <\/p>\n\n\n\n