MiamiUniversity
Banner Data Entry Standards and Guidelines
Updated: November 6, 2009
November 18MiamiUniversity Data Entry StandardsPage 1
Reasons for Data Entry Standards
General Guidelines
Avoiding Duplicate Records
Person Identification Number
Alumni Identification Number
Social Security Number
Non-person Identifier
Rules for Persons as Vendors
Duplicates
Before Adding
Name Standards
General Guidelines
Person Names
Company Names
Name Types (Validated by Banner table GTVNTYP)
Address Standards
Address Types (Validated by Banner table STVATYP)
Emergency Contact Information
Address Source Codes (Validated by Banner table STVASRC)
U.S. Street Address Standards
International Addresses
Campus Mail
Residence Hall (Student) Addresses
Email Address Standards
Email Address Types (Validated by Banner table GTVEMAL)
Telephone Number Standards
Telephone Types (Validated by Banner table STVTELE)
U.S. Telephone Standard
International Telephone Standard
International Information Standards (Visa, Passport, Nationality)
Date Standards
Appendices
Appendix A - Company Name Abbreviations
Appendix B – Address Abbreviations
Appendix C - Invalid Addresses
Appendix D – Notes
Technical Standards Notes
Person and Non-Person Identifiers
Social Security Numbers
Supplemental Data Engine
Reasons for Data Entry Standards
These data entry standards are meant to:
- reduce duplicate personal identification records through reliable search for existing records,
- promote search capability through uniform data entry,
- promote reporting efforts based on presentation, retrieval and joins of the data, and
- reduce errors and costs associated with inconsistent and improperly formatted information.
General Guidelines
- Never store the percent symbol ("%") in a data field. (The percent symbol is used as a wild card in searches.)
- Never store the ampersand (&) symbol except in an address, business name, or position title.
- Enter all data using mixed case (uppercase and lowercase) and standard capitalization rules. Consult the Chicago Manual of Style for standard capitalization rules.
- Spell out all data unless it is necessary to abbreviate words to fit lines into the appropriate fields. (Address lines are an exception as they follow US Postal standards.)
- Addresses follow the standards of the United States Postal Service, with mixed case. For example, enter the first line of an address as “121 N Main St” rather than “121 North Main Street”. (See p.22 and following for details.)
See Appendix B for lists of abbreviations.
- Enter punctuation in a name only when it is a part of the official name, for a single character first name, or for an empty first name. DO NOT enter punctuation for the street addressabbreviations.
- Diacritical marks(accents) or other special charactersare NOT to be entered in Banner. Miami’s systems must first be evaluated and updated to handle the characters. (The characters on a standard keyboard, such as hyphen or apostrophe, are acceptable.)
Avoiding Duplicate Records
Creating a duplicate record for a person or organization for which a record already exists in Banner can lead to loss of data or incorrect results. It is extremely important to avoid creating duplicate records.
Before creating a new record for a person or organization, search to make sure the person or organization has not been entered already in Banner. To search for a person:
- do a social security number search
- search on all current and previous names
- do a “soundex” search.
If you find any similar records, verify that the correct record has been found by checking the birthdate and address. Enter a new record only if no existing record is found in your searches.
Example: To find Mac Donald, you must account for McDonald, Mc Donald, MacDonald, and Mac Donald. A search on M%Donald% will retrieve all of these records.
A job aid, the document “Avoiding Duplicate PIDMs for a Person,” is available for searches; please use it.
Common Matching will be turned on during the fall of 2009, significantly changing the way new records are manually built in Banner. After generating an ID, users should enter as much information as available on the GOAMTCH form, perform the “Duplicate Check” and carefully review all records on the “Match” and “Potential Matches” tabs before proceeding. Users should expect to receive training on Banner’s Common Matching function from their respective offices. Contact your TSR if you require further assistance.
Person Identification Number
Banner generates identification numbers for persons using a '+99999999' format (an 8-digit number beginning with '+' to indicate that the number is a generated one).
Alumni Identification Number
Due to FERPA concerns with the public use of Banner ID (plus number), Miamigenerates identification numbers for Alumni constituents using an 'A99999999' format (an 8-digit incrementednumber beginning with 'A' for Alumni).
Social Security Number
Enter the social security number in the social security number field.
- Employeesnormally are required to supply their social security numbers. If an employee does not yet have a social security number (typically a foreign national who has applied for but not yet received a social security number), then enter a “fake” social security number created by entering a “T” followed by the 8-digit Banner ID number (without the “+” sign). Example: “T01234567”.
- Students and admission applicants are asked to supply their social security numbers, but students who are not employees and do not apply for federal financial aid are not required to provide their social security numbers. If the applicant or student declines to provide a social security number, enter a “fake” social security number created by entering a “T” followed by the 8-digit Banner ID number (without the “+” sign). Example: “T01234567”. The populated social security number in Banner is required for the interface to the university’s identification card system and also assists with reporting and other processes.
Non-person Identifier
Non-persons are organizations, as opposed to individuals (persons). They include vendors (companies or corporations), institutions, government agencies, charities, granting agencies, banks, accounts receivable firms, and donors.
Identifiers for non-persons are created by the user at the time of data entry and are entered into the Banner identification number field. (The non-person identifier is sometimes referred to as an identification ‘number’ even though the identifier is primarily alphabetic characters.) The Banner screens also use the name ‘vendor code’ to refer to these non-person identifiers.
Constructing Non-person Identifiers
The non-person identifier consists of a maximum of nine characters. The first seven characters are alpha, all capitalized. The remaining two characters are numeric, and used only when required to eliminate duplicate codes.
General Pattern / The non-person identifier consists of a maximum of nine characters. The first seven characters are alphabetic, all capitalized. The remaining two characters are numeric, and used only when required to eliminate duplicate codes.The first seven alphabetic characters are:
the first three letters of the company’s first name, plus
the first two letters of the company’s second name, plus
the first two letters of the company’s last name
Example: Computer Technology Solutions, Inc. = COMTESO
Extra words / Ignore words such as “The”, “Inc.”, “Company”, “Corporation”, as well as “&”, “and”, “of” etc., when assigning codes. Examples: The Evergreen Door Company = EVEDOOR; The Hudson Company = HUDSON; Rodefeld’s of Oxford, Inc. = RODOXFO.
Exceptions:
Companies with…
two-word names / Use three letters of the first name and four letters from the second name; i.e., Apple Computer = APPCOMP. If the second name is less than four characters, shorten company code as required.
one-word names / Use seven letters of the first name. Example: Husman’s = HUSMANS. If first name is less than seven characters, shorten company code as required.
hyphenated names / Treat as two words. Example: Addison-Wesley Publications, Inc. = ADDWEPU
initials (acronyms) by which they are most commonly recognized / Use the acronym regardless of length. Example: NACUBO (National Association of College and University Business Officers) = NACUBO.
initials for first or second names, or names too short to meet requirements / Fill in the identifier by expanding the next (second or third) name to make up for the shortage as appropriate. Examples: On Technology Corp. = ONTECHN; JP Flooring Systems = JPFLOOR; H. L. Hummert Company = HLHUMME; W.E. Agee, Inc = WEAGEE.
numbers for names / Spell out the numbers and follow the above rules. Examples: 3M Corporation = THREEM; 32 Ford-Mercury Inc. = THITWFO.
Duplicates
Where duplicates are encountered after applying the above rules, two optional numerals are added to the identifier on succeeding companies, beginning with “21", then “22", etc. Example: American Association of Engineers, American Association of Entertainers, and American Association of Equestrians would be AMEASEN, AMEASEN21, and AMEASEN22, respectively.
Before Adding
Before adding a new company to Banner, it is important that SPRIDEN be searched thoroughly (as detailed earlier in this document) to ensure that the company does not already exist in the vendor or other non-person files. If a company already exists, use the appropriate maintenance form to activate in the applicable module. If required, add an additional address type and address particular to the module. (Note exception: The Alumni office generates identification numbers in the person “+” format, even for its corporate constituents. These will remain separate from the organization’s non-person identifiers due to Alumni’s special needs in tracking mergers and address changes.)
Only one company record and company identifier, with multiple addresses and types as required, should exist for each business unit. Establish business units as separate entities only for large corporations operating with different business units.
Example:
- All area Wal-Mart stores, K-Mart stores, etc. would be a single company with one identifier and multiple business addresses.
- Mutual Manufacturing and Supply, with separate offices in Cincinnati and Dayton would be a single company with one identifier and multiple business addresses.
- Nationally affiliated moving companies, such as North American Van Lines, would be a single company with one identifier and multiple addresses containing the name of the individual agent, because these are all centrally billed under the parent company.
- General Electric Aerospace, General Electric Medical Systems, and General Electric Credit Corporation would all be separate companies with separate identifiers since they operate as separate business units even though they are the same parent corporation.
Vendors Who Are Persons
As stated above in the section on Person Identification Number, individuals receive an auto-generated Banner identification number when they are added to SPRIDEN through the Student, Human Resources, or the Alumni module. Finance (including Purchasing and Accounts Receivable applications) will use this generated number to identify these persons when they are added to the Vendor file for purposes of refunds, reimbursements, etc.
Where persons, such as sole proprietors, individual service providers, or other individuals not otherwise affiliated with the University are initially added to SPAIDEN through the Finance module as a vendor, they will be provided a manual identifier similar to the non-person identifier above.
This vendor person identifier will consist of a maximum of nine characters. The first six characters are alpha, all capitalized. The remaining three characters are numeric, and used only when required to eliminate duplicate codes.
Rules for Persons as Vendors
General Pattern / The first six characters are alphabetic, consisting of:- the first three letters of the individual’s last name, plus
- the first two letters of the individual’s first name, plus
- the first one letter of the individual’s middle initial.
Example: John P. Jones = JONJOP
Exceptions:
For persons with… / Do this…
no or unknown middle initial / Use three letters of the last name plus three letters of the first name.
last name less than three letters / Use additional letters from the first name to make up the shortage.
first name less than two letters / Use additional letters from the last name to make up the shortage.
no combination of last name letters plus first name letters plus middle initial adds to six characters / Shorten the identifier as required.
Duplicates
Where duplicate identifiers are encountered after applying the above rules, three optional numerals are added to the identifier on succeeding individuals, beginning with “002", then “003", etc.
Example: John P. Jones, Joseph P. Jones, and Joshua P. Jones would be JONJOP, JONJOP002, JONJOP003, respectively.
Before Adding
Before adding a new person to Banner through FTMVEND, it is important to search SPAIDEN thoroughly to ensure that the individual does not already exist. If a person already exists, bring them into the Vendor File through FTMVEND. If the correct address exists, set up that address as the purchasing and payable default. If the address does not exist, add a business or business remittance address as applicable.
Name Standards
General Guidelines
Guideline / ExampleEnter all name information in mixed case (uppercase and lowercase letters) using standard capitalization rules. / John Q. Public
Use apostrophes(') when the symbol is part of the proper, legal name or address / O'Leary
O'Connor
Sam's Wholesale Club
Use hyphens to separate double names (sometimes used in ethnic names or by persons who wish to use their maiden and married names), when it is indicated by the person that it is part of the legal spelling of their name. / Kathleen Smith-Brinkman
Andrew Brown-Sander
Do not enter periods in a name unless the person indicates that they are required. (There is one rare exception; see below for details.)
Never use commas or the pound sign (#) in a name.
Use spaces onlyif the legal spelling and format of the name includes spaces. / L. Christine Johnson
Mc Donald Van Husen
McDonald De La Rosa
Mac Pherson De La Rosa
Person Names
Preferred First Name
Guideline / ExampleEnter the name that the person wants to be called in the preferred name field. / J. Edgar
A. J.
Smitty
Do not enter the last name in this field unless the person wishes to be called by the last name only.
Legal Name
The legal name field is not used.
Last Name
Guideline / ExampleEnter the legal spelling and format of the last name, using standard capitalization rules. / Miley
Lopez-Cobos
Do not enter titles, prefixes (Dr., Mr., Mrs.) or suffixes (III, Jr.) in this field. Prefixes and suffixes are entered in the prefix and suffix fields.
First Name
Guideline / ExampleEnter the legal spelling and format of the first name, using standard capitalization rules. / John
William
If there is no first name, enter a period (.) to satisfy the required field. / . (Last name “Hong”)
If the person’s legal first name is a double name, enter both names in the first name field. Include spaces spaces or hyphens as needed. / Mary Ann
Emmy-Lou
If a single character is designated as the legal first name and followed by a middle name, place both the single character first name and the middle name in the first name field. / R. Maureen
F. Robert
If the person prefers to be addressed using both first and middle names, but these are not the legal names, use the preferred first name field to enter this information. / Mary Louise
John Mark
Do not include titles, prefixes or suffixes in either the first name or preferred first name fields.
Middle Name
Guideline / ExampleEnter the legal spelling and format of the middle name in mixed case using standard capitalization rules or the capitalized middle initial. / Ann
Brown
If only a middle initial is used, it should be followed by a period. / A.
If there is no middle name, leave the field blank
Name Prefixes
Guideline / ExampleEnter only the name prefixes given by the person. / Ms.
Enter prefixes using mixed case and standard capitalization rules.
Name Suffixes
Guideline / ExampleEnter only the name suffixes given by the person.
Enter the suffixes using mixed case and standard capitalization rules. / Dr.
Prof.
The suffix may be up to 20 characters in Banner. Multiple suffixes may be entered; separate multiple suffixes with commas. / M.D., Ph.D
Company Names
Guideline / ExampleEnter company name in the corporation field (on the FTMVEND form) as listed on an invoice or other company document, omitting "The." / National Corp
The last name field holds the name of any non-person.
Enter punctuation in the name and address of a company when it is part of the official name. / Kerr-McGee
Determine spacing by using the vendor's invoice or other company documents as a guide. Generally, acronyms do not have spaces between the letters / FOCUS
IBM
AES of Roanoke Inc
Include spaces between initials and the company name. / A B Dick Products Inc
E C Geiger Inc
If the official name includes a numeral, enter the numeral rather than spelling out the number. / 47th Street Photo
Abbreviations in Company Name