OFFICE OF THE UNIVERSITY REGISTRAR  |  STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
 

 
Pennant Glossary
 
A B C D E F G H I J K L
M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ
 
Frequently Used Banner Forms, Processes, and Tables
TSAAREV   Student Account Detail Review Form
TGACOMC   Comment form (for LOC information)
TSAMASS     Mass adjustment update screen
SOAHOLD Hold Information Form
TSADETL  Student Account Form for memos
TSICSRV  Customer Service Inquiry Form
TSIQACT  Student Payment Detail Query
TVAAUTH Authorization Form
 
A

ACH – Automated Clearing House – is an electronic network for financial transactions in the United States. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches. ACH transfers include direct deposit, payroll, and student payments. Rules and regulations that govern the ACH network are established by NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association) and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Accounts Receivable (AR) – The unit of the University that receives payments from vendors, students, and others.

Aid Year – An aid year is a distinct 12 month-period to which the financial aid eligibility and disbursement rules apply. For example, Title IV funds can be applied to charges in any term in the same aid year as the disbursement term. Penn has defined the start of the aid year to be Summer 1, ending with the following spring term. At Penn, the calendar date for the beginning of the aid year was set to correspond to the earliest date that charges can be posted for the Summer 1 term, or 04/01/xxxx.

Application Form – A type of Pennant form (screen) used to enter, update, or query information. An application form (screen) will have the letter “A” in the third position of the form name (e.g., TSAAREV).

Application of Payment – Every billing system has a method of applying payments to charges. In Banner, the application of payment process is very precise and complex, and is controlled by several levels of criteria to ensure that aid, loans, scholarships, tuition benefits, and other methods of payment are applied to the charges on students’ accounts in the correct order.

AR – Accounts Receivable – You will sometimes hear the Pennant Accounts billing module called “Banner AR.”

Authorization – An authorization in Pennant allows or prevents the performance of certain activities on a student’s account. For example, this is where the TIV (Title IV) authorization would be found, as well as where a refund would be suppressed or unsuppressed.

Auto Hint – An area at the bottom of the main window where brief information appears about the field the cursor is in. The information may be about the purpose of the field, what you can or can’t do next, or how to move to another window or form. Error messages also appear here

 
B

Banner ID# – The student’s PennID# is used in the Banner ID field.

Batch Reference – A six-character unique identifier used in the legacy BRS system for each batch submission; the first three characters are alphabetic and the next three are numeric.

BENBusiness Enterprise Network/BEN Financials – Penn’s core financial system providing purchasing (BEN Buys), payables (BEN Pays), assets (BEN Assets), and general ledger (BEN Balances) functions.

Block – A section of a Banner form (screen) that contains a collection of related account information. Blocks are a component of a form, and a form contains more than one block.

Browser – Software used to access the World Wide Web. Common browsers are Internet Explorer (IE, by Microsoft), Firefox (by Mozilla), Chrome (by Google), and Safari (by Apple). The recommended browsers for using Pennant Accounts are Firefox for Windows and Safari for Macs.

 
C

Calling Form – Any form (screen) from which you clicked a button to navigate to another form (screen).

Category This code specifies the grouping of like detail codes (for example, fees, dining, tuition, housing, etc.). Choices come from the Detail Charge/Payment Category Code Validation (TTVDCAT) list.

Clear Form – Action that clears all information on a form and returns you to the first enterable field in the key information area – also called “rollback.” The shortcut for this is Shift + F7; or you can just click the rollback button in the toolbar.

Comment – In Banner, the AR Comment function is where LOC eligibility (for computer purchases and regular lines of credit) is housed, as well as an indicator of the status of a student’s direct deposit account. Direct deposit information is still accessed/updated in SFSEASI (DDR Screen); detailed comments on student account interactions will also still exist in SFSEASI (CMT screen).

Commit – Action that saves all changes entered since the last time you saved; another word for “save”. Accessed via the Save icon on the menu bar and the F10 shortcut/function key.

Count Hits – In query mode, action that counts the number of records that meet the search criteria and displays that number in the Auto Help Line.

Count Query Hits – In query mode, action that counts the number of records that meet the search criteria and displays that number in the Auto Hint Line. To retrieve records, select the Execute Query Function.

CSV – Comma-separated values file, which stores data in plain text. It is used to transfer information from a database program, such as Banner, that stores data in a proprietary format to an application, such as a spreadsheet (e.g., Excel) that uses a different format. You can save spreadsheets as .csv files and, if correctly formatted, such files may be used to submit transactions for posting via the Feeder App.

 
D

Data Origin – Data origin is the three-character identifier for a feeder batch in the Feeder Application, indicating its source.

Detail Code – A detail code is the unique, four-character alphanumeric code used by Pennant for student account transactions. Detail codes have a “smart” coding system to help visually identify the meaning of the code. Each detail code has an assigned detail code category, and may correspond to more than one 26-digit BEN Financials account number. There are charge detail codes and payment detail codes.     

Dialog Box – A window that appears when you must select from two or more response possibilities. You must acknowledge a dialog box before you can do anything else on a form.

Direct Access – A field on the Banner main menu that allows you to access forms, menus, and jobs directly by entering their seven-character name.

Division – Administrative section of the University that administers the student’s primary academic program. In legacy systems, Division-code values could contain up to three characters; in Pennant, the relevant field is termed College, and is represented by two characters. List of codes here.

Down – Using the down arrow key, this action moves the cursor to the first enterable field in the next record, moves the selection lower on a List of Values, or moves it lower in a pull-down list.

Drop-Down List – A drop-down list shows three or more values for a field. Any field with a down arrow icon contains a drop-down list.

Drag – Action to move an object on screen. Use the mouse to move the cursor over the object. Then, while holding down the primary mouse button, move the object to its destination.

 
E

Enter Query – Action that puts a form into query mode and lets you enter search criteria to see what information is already in the database. ENTER QUERY appears in the Status Bar.

ESBEnterprise Service Bus – A type of middleware used in the Pennant Accounts system. The ESB provides a set of rules and principles for integrating numerous applications, allowing them to communicate with each other.

Execute Query – In query mode, action that instructs the system to search the database and display any records that match the search criteria in the selected query.

Exemption – An exemption is a type of payment that pays or offsets specific charges on a student’s account, rather than being applied to the student’s account balance as a whole. Examples of exemptions include acceptance fees, high-need student orientation plan waivers, and departmental grants, which allow for automatic posting and reversal of payments based on charges entered.

 
F

Feeder – A feeder is another term for a file of transactions to be posted to a student’s account. A feeder can be in .csv format, Pennant fixed-length format, a legacy format, or vendor-specific format.

Feeder App – Pennant Accounts Feeder Application, an application developed to move transactions in various file formats to post to students’ accounts. The Feeder App provides a bridge to translate legacy feeders that will remain in use until future Pennant releases, as well as a place to upload files of transactions. Legacy feeders include those for tuition calculation and financial aid. The Feeder App also supports external vendor file formats.

FGAC – Fine-Grained Access Control. This Oracle-based functionality provides the ability to control an individual’s ability to add/update/delete selected data. For Pennant Accounts, FGAC is used to control access to items such as hold types, detail codes, comment codes, authorization codes, and memos.  

Field – An area on a form (screen) where you can enter, query, change, and display specific information. A field is sometimes referred to as an item.

Form – In Banner, a form is simply another term for an online screen. A form may have one or more windows. The types of forms are Application, Validation, Rule, Control, Query, and Inquiry.

 
G

Gray ­– Banner uses the color gray to denote disabled elements such as menu items and fields. If your GUI environment allows you to change the colors of window elements, the color of disabled menu items may be different.  (“grayed out” is used to describe unavailable items).

UI Graphic User Interface – A GUI, which Banner has, employs icons and other visual indicators to allow users to interact with electronic devices and applications, rather than using only text via the command line. In a GUI, windows, icons, and menus afford ways to execute actions such as opening, deleting, and moving files. While many GUI operating systems rely primarily on a mouse for user input, the keyboard can also be employed by using keyboard shortcuts or arrow keys.

 
H
Horizontal Toolbar – A toolbar is a set of icons (pictures) that represents shortcuts for performing common functions.
 
I

Icon – Visual symbols used to represent an action or system element. Iconic buttons are small squares that contain a picture. They represent one or more actions that can be performed for the associated field or record. You can use iconic buttons to access a form or screen related to the record or field where the cursor is located.

INBInternet Native Banner – The Ellucian-delivered, Oracle-Forms-based administrative user interface into Banner implemented for Pennant Accounts. INB is another term for Banner accessed via a web browser.

Information Block – Displays information about the data entered in the key block. This is the area where you enter information prior to updating a record.

Inquiry Form - Form (screen) used to look up existing information in the database. This form allows you to view but not update. (An inquiry form will have the letter ‘I” in the third position of the form name, e.g., TSICSRV.)

 
J
Java – Java is a programming language that is heavily used in web applications. Java is constantly updated and upgraded; compatible versions need to be coordinated with specific browser versions via your local service provider (LSP).
 
K

Key Block – Contains information that determines what is displayed on the remainder of the form.

Keystroke – A keystroke is the act of pressing a key or a group of keys on your keyboard. Many actions in Banner can be accessed by using keystrokes. To determine which keystrokes are available at your organization, select Show Keys from the Help menu bar item.

 
L

LOC Line of Credit – Student Financial Services offers two distinct line of credit plans allowing students to make purchases using their PennCards. Plan 1 is a $1,000 declining balance account to make purchases around the campus at the bookstore, for retail dining, etc. Plan 2 is a single computer purchase of up to $4000 at the Penn Computer Connection. These charges appear on the student’s next monthly billing statement after the purchase date.

LOV(s) List of Values; shows the valid values, or codes, that can be entered in a field. These valid values are stored in Banner validation forms and tables.

LSP Local Service Provider – LSP’s are your local departmental technical/desktop support.

 
M

Manual Handling – Transactions entered individually, rather than through a batch submission of many transactions at once. Transaction status is noted at the Detail level within the Feeder App; manual handling transactions are marked (acknowledged) with this status and will never post.

Memo – Takes the place of temporary credits or deferments. A memo is the placeholder for pending funds; however this placeholder transaction has no accounting behind it, and thus does not technically affect the total balance due on a student’s account. Memos are expired (end-dated) once actual payment of the pending funds is posted to the student’s account or at a specific date in the semester, whichever comes first.  This category of transaction includes student financial aid and participants in the tuition pre-payment and monthly budget plans.

Menu – A list of options you can access with the mouse or keyboard.

Menu Bar – The area at the top of the main window that contains pull-down menu options. These pull-down menus offer a variety of selections for navigating within Banner. If a pull-down menu item is gray, or dimmed, the item is disabled and cannot be accessed.

More… – The More… indicator appears in the lower right comer of each window (even the last form) for a series of related forms. It tells you that there are additional forms that can be accessed to complete a process.

 
N

Next Block – Action that moves the cursor to the next block (area of the screen) that has at least one enterable field. If the next area is in another window, that window is opened.

Next Field/Item – Action that moves the cursor to the next enterable field in the current block.

Next Record – Action that moves the cursor to the first enterable field in the next record of the current block. If the cursor is in the last record, a new record is created.

 
O

Object – An object can be a form (screen), job (automated process), or menu.

Object Search – Use Object Search to access a form, job, menu, or QuickFlow if you know only part of its name, description, or type. When you use Object Search from a form, the current form remains open. When you exit the requested object, you return to the original form.

ODS Operational Data Store – The ODS is a set of operational data used for near-real-time operational reporting. This database contains live data, not snapshots, and retains minimal history. Because the ODS is not optimized for query in the way that the data warehouse is, use of the ODS is limited to central offices for use in operational rather than analytical reporting.

Option List – Dialog box displaying two or more items to choose from.

Options Pull-down – The Options Pull-down is the second pull-down on the menu bar and shows all your navigational options. The options depend on the current location of your cursor. Some options take you to other windows or blocks within the same form; other options take you to other related forms.

Oracle – Relational database management system. Oracle is a third-party product that Banner uses to store data.

 
P

PennID# – is the eight-digit unique identifier, assigned by the University’s central identity management system (PennCommunity) to students, faculty, staff, and other individuals affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania.

Pennant Plus – Pennant Plus is a diverse collection of online applications that enhance native Banner functionality. Some Pennant Plus applications are designed to help a broad range of Pennant Accounts users – Student Account Summary Screen, Detail Code, and Subcode Mapping Inquiry are good examples – while others primarily support back-office functions in Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS). Examples include specially designed screens to augment Banner communications (letters and email) functions, Banner population selection functions, access control functions, and synchronization of student data between Banner and SRS during Release 1. All of the Pennant Plus applications are being released at the rollout of Pennant Accounts in Release 1.

Personal Menu – A personal menu includes the forms, jobs, and menus that are most important in your daily work. You can access your personal menu from the main menu. It is tied to your Oracle User ID.

PIDM – Person Identification Master. The unique internal identifier used to identify a person or a non-person in the Banner database. Multiple external IDs and names may be associated with a single PIDM. For most purposes in Banner, you need only be concerned with the student’s PennID#.

PLSPenn Loan System – online system that houses, administers, and maintains student loan application and award information, correspondence, online requests to reduce or cancel loans, and requests for additional Direct loan funds.

PMBPPenn Monthly Budget Plan – Desktop-based software that Penn uses to support the monthly payment (budget) option offered to students and their families.

PopSel – Short for Population Selection. PopSel is a process for selecting a group of students in Banner that share common data, based on specific criteria.

Previous Block – Action that moves the curser to the previous information area having at least one enterable field. If the previous area is another window, then that window is opened.

Previous Field – Action that moves the cursor to the previous enterable field in the current block.

Previous Item – Action that moves the cursor to the previous enterable field in the current block.

Previous Record – Action that moves the cursor to the first enterable field in the previous record.

Priority – This is an aspect of detail codes that is predetermined by the category and is a factor in application of payment.

PSAS Pennant Student Accounts Summary screen – an online screen, developed at Penn, that provides an overview and a detailed view of student account information, as well as a limited amount of student academic information. This screen enables users to see such data as division, degree, holds, total balance due and balance by term, and transactions by term and in total. Links to the source data are listed on the PSAS for further inquiry and possible action.

Pull-Down List – A list of values that is displayed when the arrow in a field is selected. Pull-down lists are used to select a field value from a list of pre-defined values.

Pull-Down Menu – A list of menu items that is displayed when the menu name is selected. Pull-down menu items are used to select common Banner and Oracle functions.

 
Q

Query – To search for information. Banner allows you to query for specific information in the database based on selection criteria.

Query Form – Form used to look up existing information in the database. Query forms have a “Q” in the third position of their name. Typically entry is not allowed on these forms.

 
R

Radio Button – Small circles used to select one of several options in a group. Each radio button represents a choice. You can pick only one radio button at a time. When you select a radio button, the previously selected button is cleared. A smaller solid circle fills the newly selected button.

Record – A group of interrelated fields. For example, an address is a record made of several fields: Street, City, State, and Zip/Postal code. A person may have several address records such as permanent, mailing, and business.

REDRegistration Eligibility Determination – process run in SRS for full-time divisions to create an artificial enrollment so that full-time tuition and fees can be calculated before the student selects their courses and sections.

Rollback – On a Banner application or inquiry form (screen), the rollback function clears all information and returns you to the first enterable field in the block. Rollback is a standard icon on the Banner toolbar. On validation forms, rollback will return you to the first enterable field on the form. On a query form, it will return you to the first enterable field on the calling form or key block. You need to rollback on a form to enter a new PennID# to pull up a new student’s account.

 
S

SAM – Student Aid Management – is the legacy mainframe system that houses, administers, and maintains students’ financial aid status and awards. This will be replaced in a future release of Pennant.

School – A School is an academic entity that may contain several divisions. For example the School of Arts and Sciences includes the following divisions: The College (Undergraduate), LPS (Liberal & Professional Studies), ELP (English Language Program), SS (Summer Sessions) and GAS (Graduate Arts & Sciences).

Scroll Bar – A scroll bar indicates that more information can be displayed in a particular area. To use a scroll bar in Pennant, click and drag the scroll box in the scroll bar, click either arrow (on either end of the scroll bar), or click anywhere in the scroll bar area. Note that in Banner, just because you move the scroll box to the end of the scroll bar doesn’t mean you have reached the end of the data; most likely you will have to click the down arrow and manually scroll down to the end of the data.

Scroll Down – The process of moving down repeating records or lists of information that cannot all be displayed in one window.

SDE Supplemental Data Engine. This functionality in Banner provides the ability to define additional fields for capturing data. In Pennant Accounts, SDE’s are used to capture additional notes regarding a hold “waiver” or a manual adjustment to an account. The SDE icon on the Banner toolbar looks like a lightbulb, and when populated with data, the lightbulb emits “rays.”

SFSEASI – Penn-developed application that provides a single front-end to multiple core student applications: SRS (student records), BRS (billing & receivables), and SAM (financial aid).

SFTP – Secure File Transfer Protocol, a secure way to access, transfer, and manage files on remote systems.

Shaded – a disabled area. This can apply to fields, menu items, and icons. For additional information, see “Gray.” Show Keys – Displays the list of keyboard options for that form.

SRS – Student Records System – The legacy mainframe system that houses, administers, and maintains students’ registration, academic, and biographical information. This will be replaced in a future release of

Pennant. SSO – Single Sign On – Pennant utilizes the University's central method of authentication to access multiple applications using the same credentials (your PennKey username, PennKey password, and third party authentication).

Staging Table – A staging table is a temporary table to hold data so that it can be cleansed, merged, and then loaded into a data warehouse.

Status Line – The status line is directly under the auto hint and contains messages regarding record, list of value, and/or query information.

Subcode – A five-digit number that categorizes billing and receivable transactions; this is being replaced by detail codes in Pennant. However, there remains a need to create and use subcodes as long as tuition calculation is still handled via the mainframe system, and while mainframe legacy systems exist. Subcodes will be mapped to detail codes.

Suspense – When an item fails to post to a student’s account via the Feeder App (e.g., because the student is on separation hold), the item is placed in suspense until it’s addressed. During the Feeder App posting process, any batch transactions that fail required edits are placed into a suspense status. In some cases, suspended transactions will self-correct, if the error was caused by a timing problem (e.g., student removed from financial hold). Sometimes, however, action from the submitter is required via manual handling, and Student Accounts staff will always need to monitor items in suspense. Transactions can be reprocessed on occasion, or they might stay in suspense and be marked with a terminal status of “manually handled.” This might mean that the transaction will never be posted to the student’s account, but more likely that data is updated in source systems and the transaction submitted in a new batch.

 
T

Term Code – Terms are represented in Banner by a six-character numeric schema. Coding for a term will be based on a YYYYTT format, where YYYY represents the calendar year and TT represents the term. Term codes will be consistent throughout each release of Pennant (Accounts, Records, & Aid).  

TIV – Title IV; which refers to Federal financial aid funds. Federal regulations state that any Federal funds disbursed to a student's account in excess of allowable charges must be delivered to the student (or parent in the case of a Parent PLUS loan).

TIV Authorization – a student can authorize the University to apply Federal TIV funds awarded to him/her to charges that are outside of “allowable” charges. This helps prevent refunds in excess of the balance due, which would mean that a student would have to use a refund to pay their student account balance. TIV authorizations (and renewals of authorizations) are requested each aid year.

Tuition Stabilizer – Previously known as the PennPlan, this payment plan allows traditional undergraduate students to pre-pay four years of tuition at the first year year rate. The plan automatically generates two payments to the student’s account each term – one for the amount of the prepaid rate and one for the difference in the prepaid amount and the current amount of the tuition charge for that term.

 
U
User ID – This field displays the ID of the person who has last updated the record; it is automatically updated and not able to be overwritten.
 
V
VBS Value Based Security. An optional security feature that allows Pennant and other Banner installations to secure information based on specific data values in secured records. See FGAC.
 
W
Wildcard – A character that is substituted for unknown character(s) in a Banner query. A percent sign (%) stands for any number of unknown characters; whereas an underscore (_) stands for only one unknown character.
 
XYZ
Xerox – vendor that currently services loan repayments, 1098T processing, and collections activities.
 

 

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