Since Banner began use for Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg students in Spring of 2023, over 500 help desk tickets relating to the service have been registered according to Alex Miller, Executive Director over the help desk team.
“That isn’t necessarily a banner or technology ‘issue’ as much as it was converging three systems into one and confusion among users on the correct logins and authentication process,” Miller said when asked about the figure.
Among the data provided by Miller were two spikes in tickets in August (111) and in December (74) of 2023. Although these are to be expected when students are scheduling/withdrawing from classes during the add/drop period, the number of tickets has been continuously high even after this.
Between the months of January and February 2024, another 100 tickets were submitted to the help desk. Although the software has been in use for over a year now, a fair amount of students and staff are still bringing concerns to the help desk.
Some students are still not used to the software after all of this time has passed.
Fall 2023 graduate Tyler Winhofer stated that, “Banner is alright, but it’s just like anything else. When you’re used to a program and know how to use it you would prefer that one.”
“MyHusky will always be better to me,” says Brandon LeBoon, a Spring 2023 graduate.
Although neither of these students had to submit help desk tickets due to Banner, they do admit to having confusion and problems with the software.
The use of Banner happened as a result of the Northeastern integration of Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Lock Haven. Prior to this, each campus had its own independent software to schedule classes, view transcripts, etc.
The help desk has also integrated according to Alex Miller.
“As we have transitioned into the new Commonwealth University model, our help desk\call center has also merged into a single platform,” he said.
He also addressed that the service is getting an upgrade in the near future.
“We are planning to incorporate chat and automation functionality as well to expedite solutions in the future.”
