LYNX Enhancement Philosophy and Procedure

LYNX Enhancement Request Form

To minimize the cost and problems associated with future vendor upgrades, except in unusual circumstances policy and/or procedure changes will take priority over desired or requested SCT BANNER (Lynx) system modifications.  This is called a “vanilla implementation.”  In the initial vanilla implementation, Lynx enhancement requests should be limited to those mandated by the state or federal government.  Enhancement exceptions will be considered for compelling reasons (e.g., benefit exceeds costs).

During the conversion from our current legacy systems to Lynx, many questions referring to business processes or software changes will arise.  Some of these may result in enhancements to be made after the initial implementation.  To answer these questions and help establish priorities, this document outlines an enhancement philosophy to assist the Administrative Technology Advisory Council in the decision making process.  Enhancement requests break down into the following four categories:

1. Federal or State requirements
2. Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) policies
3. University policies
4. Departmental or user requests.

PLEASE NOTE:  There are important differences between enhancements that involve changes to the underlying database or other fundamental aspects of the Banner software (such as how specific data elements are processed), and enhancements that primarily involve the representation of data and processes to users.  An essential early step in the process is assessment of the potential technical impacts of making the requested changes.  Whenever possible, preference will be given to requests that involve primarily changes in the way processes and information are represented to the user and in areas of the system completely controlled by WSU personnel.

Prioritization
The first types of enhancement requests are requirements by Federal and State mandatory laws.  These enhancement decisions have the highest priority.  It is anticipated that the Banner software as delivered will accommodate all Federal and State laws and regulations.

The remaining types of enhancement decisions are USHE policies, WSU policies, requests by departments or users.  These requests take a lower priority in relation to the first category of requests.
Principles

The Lynx Enhancement Philosophy and Procedure defines how requests for changes to the requirements of the project are submitted, evaluated, and tracked.  Change management principles will be applied to the process of modifying previously agreed-upon areas of the project. Effective change management is accomplished by anticipating the need for modifications and proactively strategizing modification requests.  ATAC will review enhancement requests expeditiously so the process does not impact the project schedule.  Enhancement requests will be submitted to SCT for vendor supported general system modification.

Basic Procedure
A Lynx Change/Enhancement Request Form (see Appendix A) must be submitted whenever a request is made to change a previously agreed upon project output, solution, or deliverable.  Changes may be classified for tracking purposes to include:

          · Change in scope;
          · Change in system software or hardware; and
          · Change in subsystem or interfaces.

Definitions
Lynx Change/Enhancement Requests include:  (1) adding functionality to the existing system, (2) making a modification to the existing system, or (3) introducing a baseline change to the system.  The term “software modification” refers to any change that would preclude the installation of a new or updated release of a standard SCT Banner application as delivered.  This includes changes to the application code itself as well as the structure of the database.
Initiation
Lynx Change/Enhancement Request Forms must be submitted to the Administrative Technology Advisory Council (ATAC).  Indicate alternative solutions when submitting a Lynx Enhancement Form.
Transmittal 
Requests are sent first to the ITIP Project Director, who will record and forward to the appropriate ITIP Design Team, ITIP Training Team, and the Administrative Technology Advisory Council.
Review
ATAC will review all Change/Enhancement Requests forwarded by the Project Director.  The Project Director, assigned Programmer(s) and appropriate Team Leader will review the enhancement request for cost and time impacts and present this information to ATAC.  The Project Director will balance this cost against the project budget.  After careful consideration of the impacts to schedule and budget, ATAC will approve, postpone or deny the request.  Approved requests will be prioritized within the list of previously approved enhancements and current project tasks.   ATAC recommendations will be referred by the Project Director through the CIO to President’s Council for approval.

Once resolved, the Lynx Change/Enhancement Request Form will be sent to the appropriate Team Leader and person submitting the form.  The Team Leader will assign approved changes to the appropriate person for completion.

Tracking
Change/Enhancement Requests will be logged.  The Project Director will be responsible for the maintenance of the Lynx Change/Enhancement Request Log.  Updates on the status of approved requests will be made at each Design Team and ATAC meeting.