Banner Finance

MicroStrategy
Banner Self Service
Banner ePrints

What Is Banner, ePrint & MicroStrategy?

Banner

Banner is a comprehensive information system that integrates the Finance, Student and Human Resources functions at the University.

The finance module of this administrative software is used to record financial information resulting from the transactions at the University. It stores data in an Oracle relational database, and users view information via a web based self-service system, the e-Print standardized reports or by using the business intelligence reporting tool, MicroStrategy.

Banner Admin Apps (previously Internet Native Banner) is used by some departments including the Budget Office, General Accounting, Purchasing, Office of Sponsored Programs, Human Resources and Accounts Payable, as well as various users throughout the university to input financial transactions.

FAST is responsible for granting access to the Finance and Accounts Receivable (Studend Accounts) modules in the Banner Admin Apps. This includes Banner pages that begin with “F” and “T.” Accounts Receivable access requires approval from the Student Accounts Director, as well as, FERPA Training through the Registrar’s Office. Access to other modules in the Banner Admin Apps (Student, HR, etc.) must be requested through the corresponding office. Please see the INB section of our Banner Form Instructions for a cheat sheet of which office manages what type of Banner Admin Apps access.

Banner Finance Self Service, used by departmental representatives, is a web based interface that allows users to extract information from Internet Native Banner and view it in a user friendly format. The data is posted in real time. The budget status query allows users to view information on budgets, revenues, and expenditures for an organization. Increasingly detailed information on transactions may be obtained through a process referred to as drilling.

e~Print

e~Print is a clearing house for standard financial reports. These reports are static and are current as
of the run date listed on the report.

MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is the business intelligence tool used by the University to analyze Banner financial data. MicroStrategy reports are developed from Banner data and refreshed twice daily. These reports allow for summary drilling for direct expenditures and provide department users with detailed labor information that is not available in Banner Finance Self Service. MicroStrategy reports may be exported to Excel for further analysis. MicroStrategy has an expense application and a revenue and expense application. The reconciliation certification can be accessed through MicroStrategy which includes a formatted signature and date line for each Org. The link to Microstrategy can be found here. For more information about MicroStrategy, please see the Business Intelligence Group.

Banner security is applied to MicroStrategy overnight. Any new or additional access granted will load into MicroStrategy that night and be available the next morning.

Training

For more information, training guides, and training courses, please see our Training website.

All users must have a current and active position at Mason to obtain access to any Finance system. Users that are affiliates, contractors, or their position has not started yet must submit additional paperwork and approvals to obtain access. Please email fast@gmu.edu for this process.

Required Process:

  1. Fill out the Banner Account Request Form
  2. Review Banner Account Request Form Instructions
  3. Send the form to FAST
    • Email: fast@gmu.edu (preferred method if possible)
    • Mailstop: MSN 4B2
    • Fax: 703-993-2920
  4. You must:
    • Include funds and/or orgs (in the “Finance Self-Service” section of the form).
    • Obtain (or route the form through) your Banner Finance liaison prior to sending to FAST by visiting Departmental Banner Liaisons.
      • Please note that the Departmental Liaisons Webpage lists both Finance and Student Banner Liaisons. Student Liaisons may NOT sign off on Finance access. You must identify the Finance Liaison for your department and ensure that they sign. FAST cannot process forms with an invalid Liaison signature.
    • Include the security classes or Banner Admin Apps pages you need (in the “INB Access” section) if you need Banner Admin Apps access.
  5. If you are requesting access to Accounts Receivable Banner Admin Apps pages (any pages that starts with a T like TSSAREV), send the form to fast@gmu.edu and we will obtain approval from Student Accounts..

If you already have Banner access, and are requesting an additional fund and/or org:

  1. Send an email to your Banner Finance liaison requesting the additional access.
  2. If approved, the liaison should forward the request to fast@gmu.edu.

  1. Users will receive a notification email from FAST with all links to the following systems within 48 hours of our receipt of the form:
  2. If you do NOT receive a notification for a few days, email FAST to check on the status of the form. It could be possible that we never received it.
  3. The most basic finance user is automatically granted: Banner Self-Service, Microstrategy, and basic ePrint reports for the funds and orgs requested.

Required Process:

For changing and resetting passwords please see password.gmu.edu.

Please contact ITS Support if you have problems changing the password.