BDN - Banner Developer Network

Hey all, here at GW (The George Washington University) we've built a great tool for pidm merges. Our Summit session was called Multiple Pidm Problem Solved.

We are having a web demo in June for all who are interested. Please email Paromita Ray at paromita@gwu.edu to be added to our list. We'll send you a copy of our license agreement (it's a free license).

In a broad overview here is a summary of the functionality:

Merge Entry / Status. Begin a new merge, view/query the status of all merges and initiate actions.

Data Pull. The data-pull runs through all tables in Banner that include one or more column with %PIDM% and copies the data for all merging pidms into the tool’s table structure. Your rules determine which schemas are included and which tables, if any, are excluded.

Analyst Review. A complete view of the data is displayed for review with both (or more pidms) side-by-side. Choose to delete, move, or do nothing at the table level, record level and column level. You can “Auto-Detect” many of your decisions. Hints are displayed for guidance, parent/child relationships are displayed upon request. Some tables such as TBRACCD and TBRAPPL have what we call “pre-defined code”. They are always merged the same way and require no analysis.

Generate Script. Here’s the REALLY cool part. Using all the decisions you just entered during your review the tool auto-generates a script to merge your data. It handles all parent/child relationships regardless of how many tables are involved and how many levels deep the relationships go. There’s no need to drop your constraints. Test your script with Rollback and then run it in a PRE-PROD database if you have one – all from a form. We also migrate our scripts to a specific unix directory, again from the form.

Determine Approvers. Based on the rules you’ve set up your necessary approvers are determined and emails are sent to alert them. Our users maintain tight control over their data and review all merges before they may be completed in PROD. Auto-approvals can be set up for approval areas based on involved tables and the actions taken upon them.

Approve. Approvers see at a glance all pending merges for their approval. They can read comments from and see the status of other approvers and defer to a colleague with another email notification.

Rework. Approvers can reject a merge and send it back for rework. The analyst is notified and all other approvers can see the status change.

Re-Sync. At any time the data-pull can be re-run to ensure that the snap-shot is still current.

Merge. Run the script in PROD. At the moment we still have our DBAs involved but we may automate this later.

History and Reporting. All your data is right here. See what you did for all time. Report any way you need to. We have some reporting but not everyone uses the same tools – we use mainly SQR.

I can answer any questions you have, technical or functional. My address is gwilf@gwu.edu.

Gwen Wilf