welcome! using argos for letter generation presented by jim ollerhead banner & argos support...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome!
Using Argos for Letter Generation
Presented By
Jim OllerheadBanner & 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
2004 onward
Banner Support
Team Leader
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
University of Salford, England, UK
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
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!
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.
Teach yourself SQL for
368 Pages
0.66kg
Teach yourself SQL for
432 Pages
0.54kg
Building your Letter (1)
Create anApplication in
GLRAPPL
Building your Letter (2)
CreateVariables inGLRVRBL
Building your Letter (3)
Create aLetter Code in
GTVLETR
Building your Letter (4)
CreateParagraphCodes in
GTVPARA
Building your Letter (5)
CreateParagraphs in
GUAPARA
Building your Letter (6)
AssembleLetter in
GUALETR
I can print my letter now, Yes?
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE!
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
Deciding who to send your Letter to (1)
Create aPopulation Selection inGLRSLCT
Deciding who to send your Letter to (2)
CheckPopSel is OK in
GLIEXTR
NOW I can print my letter, Yes?
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
NON, NEIN, NADA, NOPE!
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
Running the built-in processes (1)
Run the Population
ExtractGLBDATA
Running the built-in processes (2)
Run the LetterExtract
GLBLSEL
Running the built-in processes (3)
Run the Letter Print
ProcessGLRLETR
Finally – Do I get my Letter now???
Dear Sir…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yours,
~~~~~~~~~~
OUI, JA, SI, YES, AT LAST!
Wasn’t that fun?
Pre-Argos Solution
Use 3rd-party
Reporting tool
To build list
of recipients
Extract
Into
Excel
Mail-merge
Into Word
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/produced
held within Banner
Argos in France
Argos in Greece
Argos in the UK
USA on trial in the UK
Another Acronym!
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
A d-Hoc
R eport
G eneration and
O utput
S olution
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!)
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
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
Advantages of Argos-specific objects
No impact from Banner upgrades
Facilitates ‘soft parameter’ reporting
Objects created so far:
6 Business Intelligence Views
GYRSIGN table for recording signatories
Argos package containing 5 functions
BI Data Dictionary (Views)
Evolving with time and usageSix objects so far (roughly chronological order):
SYRAPPL - ApplicationsSYRDEMO - (Person) DemographicsSYRSTPR - Students against ProgramsSYRMODL - Academic History Module MarksSYRINTR - Interruptions to StudySYRSTOU- Learning Outcome
Example BI View: SYRSTPR
Students against ProgramsJoins 16 tablesUses library functions to look up coded values
Adobe Acrobat Document
Additional User-friendly definition document
Microsoft Excel Worksheet
New table for Signatories of letters
Connect in seconds
First Version of Offer Letter Parameters
Second Version of Offer Letter Parameters
Quickview for record of sent letters
Users Q & A on Argos…
Q. Can we have separate letters for overseas?
A. No.
Q. Can we have separate letters for conditional offers?
A. No.
Q. Can we have different letters for different signatories?
A. No.
Q. Can we have a separate report for Address Labels?
A. No
Why Not???
Because
we don’t
need them!
Sample Output from Offer Letter
Three Samples, One Letter!
‘Home’ Student, Unconditional Offer
‘Home’ Student, Conditional Offer
Overseas Student, Conditional Offer
Adobe Acrobat Document
Adobe Acrobat Document
Adobe Acrobat Document
Mailing Labels from same Datablock
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 only
version control the Master Copy
Conditions: Speak to business process owner
then Key User to change it
Source Data: Speak to IT support
Pictorial
Class List
using same
Datablock
as for
Letters
and Report
Overall Argos User Experience
Log in (Double-click Icon) < 1 minute
Choose the letter to run < 1 minute
Enter parameters < 1 minute
Run preview 1-3 minutes
Print Done!
Difference to User Community
Banner MS Merge Argos
Thank you for your Attention!
Any
Questions?
