Community College System, Ellucian Expand Longtime Partnership To Reshape Colleges’ Technology Foundation

North Carolina Community College System Interim President Bill Carver announced Thursday the signing of the next phase of the System’s Educational Resource Planning platform – the foundation technology system for college enrollment, student data, and college operations – with longtime technology partner Ellucian.

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At a signing ceremony on Thursday, Dr. Carver and Ellucian President & CEO Laura Ipsen executed a contract amendment to modernize critical system-wide software applications using the Ellucian SaaS Platform with Banner. That agreement also was approved by the State Board of Community Colleges and the North Carolina Department of Information Technology.

“The Community College System needs real-time data, predictive analytics, and strategic technology platforms that support our future growth and provide us with a dynamic, scalable technology foundation,” said Dr. Carver. “This monumental agreement builds upon the success of the System’s ERP Proof of Concept and provides a path forward in how we modernize our colleges.”

“We’re proud of our long-standing partnership with the North Carolina Community College System as they create accessible, affordable and effective educational pathways to empower student success and strengthen the state’s workforce,” said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. “We’re excited for this next phase of our partnership to upgrade functionality leveraging our Ellucian SaaS Platform to create a more consistent user experience across the System. This will eliminate the technology divide between rural and urban institutions and enable the integration of data across institutions statewide to support future workforce planning and economic growth.”

The new planned applications will be interoperable with the existing Ellucian Colleague ERP and provide a pathway to adopt future modernized ERP solutions.

Some immediate service upgrades will include the Combined Course Library – the System’s master system for universal course offerings – College Budget and Accounting System, Customized Training, and the System Data Warehouse.

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“North Carolina’s community colleges are fortunate to have a common course naming and numbering system that is the envy of other states and is the solution to how we support academic preparation and workforce training for the state. This system gives students the ability to move seamlessly between institutions as they prepare for the workforce and a career,” said Dr. Kimberly Gold, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff. “This ERP agreement provides us with much-needed upgrades to move faster, more strategically, and with greater collaboration.”

In addition, the System Office and Ellucian will extend the Ellucian SaaS Platform developed during the Proof of Concept to 5 community colleges.  This will deliver a standard Banner ERP template that meets system level functional needs, aligns with North Carolina’s Statewide Information Security manual, enables systems integrations and interoperability, improves data management capabilities, and allows for local college configurations where necessary.

“I had the privilege of recently attending Ellucian’s user conference eLive 2023 following the negotiations and I heard first-hand from other states and organizations that are benefitting from upgraded Ellucian products,” said Tom Looney, member of the State Board of Community Colleges. “If we needed further confirmation that this is the right choice, we have it.”

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