Lehigh's five-year Future Ready project, transitioning to Ellucian's Banner Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, is making excellent progress. This modernization effort aims to create a more agile, user-friendly system that will better support our students, faculty, and staff. By streamlining operations and reducing reliance on outdated systems, we're building a more efficient and effective environment for everyone.

Here is a look at some recent accomplishments:

Student Experience Milestones:

  • Degree Works (Live since March) to help students and advisors track degree progress and explore "what-if" scenarios for alternative degree paths.
  • Improving the Registration Process (Coming October 2025): making registration smoother by:
    • Streamlining PINs for Priority Registration. 
    • Introducing Smarter PINs for undergraduates to easily differentiate terms.
    • Eliminating registration PINs for Graduate Students.  
    • Piloting a Student Planner in the College of Health, which helps students and advisors map out their course sequences.

Administrative Milestones:

  • Labor Distribution EPAF (Live as of Sept 8, 2025) allows end users to indicate the index to be charged for payroll by percentage of total pay. Training materials and tools are available now, and in-person group discussion sessions are scheduled. 
  • Labor Redistribution Self Service Tool (Live as of Sept 8, 2025) enables end users to make corrections to payroll disbursements retroactively. Training materials and tools are available now, and in-person group discussion sessions are scheduled. 
  • MyJournal is a new way to process financial reallocation of expenses. This tool will be piloted and rolled out to the broader campus later this fiscal year to replace the current processes. 
  • Desktop Finance replacement is being built and piloted by a small group of users. This dynamic reporting tool is anticipated to be live for all campus users later this academic year. This timeline will be clearer throughout the fall semester.
  • Review of Lehigh’s Data Governance Structure: An extensive review of Lehigh’s current processes and structure was conducted, resulting in a report that both highlights the current state and provides a roadmap for streamlining and improving Data Governance at Lehigh.

Next steps

Looking ahead, the team will continue working closely with campus partners to:

  • Optimize the use of Banner in the areas of Payroll, Research Accounting, and the student experience. We are working to use baseline Banner features when appropriate to eliminate the reliance on third-party applications. 
  • Develop a robust reporting strategy leveraging Banner’s native Insights tool.
  • Engage stakeholders through training and readiness activities.

Stay informed

We invite you to follow our progress by visiting the Future Ready project page. This site is updated regularly with project milestones, timelines, and resources.

Thank you for your continued support as we build a stronger, more future-ready Lehigh.

Sincerely,

Christine E. Cook
Vice President for Finance and Administration

Ilena Key
Chief Technology Officer