Al-Ahliyya Amman University

The Challenge

An out-of-date SIS couldn't meet international expectations.

The Results

• Improved the user experience for students and staff
• Aligned with international accreditation standards
• Refocused staff time on high-value activities

Summary

Al-Ahliyya Amman University (AAU), established in 1989 and the first private university in Jordan, knew they needed to upgrade their out-of-date student information system (SIS) to meet global standards and improve academic services throughout the institution. The student experience, especially for international students who make up 57% of AAU’s 7,000 full-time student population, is critical. To make sure they made an informed and future-ready choice for their transformation, AAU leadership turned to their technology partners to help and embarked on the journey to upgrade their technology to meet student expectations.

Overcoming an Out-of-date User Experience

AAU's former SIS had become unwieldy for staff. IT had no vendor support for improving functionality, offering technical advice and ensuring knowledge transfer across teams. Because AAU did not have full ownership over the source code, staff had to open external tickets anytime a change was needed, which became particularly burdensome during peak activity periods such as student registration.

Students, too, were underserved by the previous SIS, which did not meet international accreditation standards. That, along with a clunky user interface, made it difficult for the global student body to find and engage with the resources they needed.

That's where Ellucian Banner came in. It offered AAU dashboards that streamlined the student and staff experience, making information easily accessible and clear for each user. Banner also provided a platform built on industry best practices for future innovation and simplified maintenance. And with the added implementation of Ellucian Ethos and Argos, AAU extended the use of their system, gaining out-of-the-box reporting templates that could be easily customised to meet their specific needs.

"Transitioning to Banner wasn't an easy choice to make," says AAU Vice President Prof. Dr Anas R. Alsoud. "But we knew we wanted a standardized international solution that could improve our user interface and offer an end-to-end digital campus solution."

Implementation and Ongoing Support

As the first university in Jordan to move to an international SIS, the implementation process for Banner 9 was uncharted territory. "If you want to change your SIS, that means you're changing the core business of the university," Prof. Alsoud says, highlighting the importance of careful planning. For that reason, it was key to create a plan that would work for all stakeholders without disrupting institutional operations.

The process started with environmental preparation and then moved through to the implementation, development, and integration phases. AAU is currently in the final stages of launching Banner 9, preparing data migration, system analysis, requirements, and infrastructure to ensure they have everything they need from day one.

A Partnership for the Future

Although full implementation of their new SIS is ongoing, AAU is already seeing benefits. Their technical staff now has more time to focus on making improvements to the user experience, rather than spending their time on infrastructure work and maintenance.

AAU is also making use of Argos to start empowering staff right away. With intuitive dashboards and the ongoing help of their technology partners, AAU is on track to meet international accreditations and standards while discovering new opportunities for innovation along the way.

"One of the main reasons we selected Ellucian was the support that was offered, particularly through the events they host," says Dr Alsoud. "We attended Ellucian Live in 2019, and it was a great chance to see your peers and talk through the challenges we're all facing and discuss the solutions we've found. It also gives us the opportunity to hear from Ellucian about updates to their products, new solutions and advice on how to improve our SIS and student experience."

Now that AAU is part of Ellucian's global technology community, Dr Alsoud is excited for the future. "Moving to a new SIS is not an easy decision," he says. "But it's an amazing journey when you move to Banner because of the support you get from Ellucian and their partners."