Transitioning from Self-Service Banner 8 (SSB8) to Self-Service Banner 9 (SSB9)

Try the New Murphy Online!

Update as of September 3, 2025

For the most current updates on our progress, please visit the “Murphy Online: A 21^st Century Upgrade” page on OneStthomas.

An eagerly anticipated upgrade to Murphy Online is here! This upgrade promises to revolutionize the user experience and enhance the overall functionality of the system. With the new Murphy Online, users can expect a modern, intuitive interface that simplifies navigation. It introduces responsive design, making it accessible on a variety of devices, including mobile platforms. 

While acknowledging this excitement, ITS also realizes that this upgrade will mean that many stakeholders on campus will need to adjust to a new interface (“Ellucian Experience, a SaaS user interface/platform for SSB9 applications”) that will have a significantly different navigational structure than the previous SSB8 as well as integration of services such as Banner Admin and Degree Works into the streamlined user interface.

Ellucian had announced, Banner 8 Self-Service (SSB8) will transition to sustaining support on October 1, 2025, and to End of Support January 1, 2026. Ellucian has added limited support for critical vulnerabilities only, and regulatory updates will not be delivered after September 30, 2025.  For any customers still relying on SSB8, it is critical to finalize transition plans. 

ITS has dedicated a path for a soft launch date instead of a hard cut-over from the classic Murphy Online to new Murphy Online. This soft launch will allow us to showcase the new Murphy Online environment while keeping the classic Murphy Online system operational.  However, it's important to note that the transition is not yet complete, and there is significant work ahead.  Numerous custom SSB8 applications will require rebuilding and configuration of many SSB9 are still pending.  We will continue to enhance and improve this new environment.  The new Murphy Online uses live Banner data, but does not currently encompass all the functionalities of the classic Murphy.

In addition, as part of our soft launch for the new Murphy Online, we plan to introduce a new URL for Murphy Online: murphy.stthomas.edu.  This will allow the classic Murphy Online to continue using banner.stthomas.edu without changes, but also allow users to try out and grow accustomed to the new interface. In the future (before the October 2025 date) that new interface will replace the classic Murphy. We will be working to sunset pieces of SSB8 and classic Murphy over time but this will be communicated in advance. 

Major Differences

With the new Murphy Online, the following will be changing:

Classic Murphy Online has SSB8 portals (Personal Information, Student Services, Faculty Services, Advisor Menu, Employee Services, Finance, etc.) and ITS has been working over the years to replace these SSB8 portals with the new SSB9 portals. Although many SSB9 portals are live, there are many custom built applications which will take time to be either rebuilt or find other solutions for them.  If you don't find the application within the new Murphy, most likely they are a custom built applications and will not be a part of this soft launch.  What does this mean,?  This means you will have to login to classic Murphy to complete the task at hand.

Portals that have been moved to SSB9 are:

• Registration
• Grading
• Pieces of Employee Services
• MyFinance
• MyJournals
• Financial Aid

• Faculty and Advisor portals 

With this "New Murphy Online" soft launch, we included:

• Personal Profile
• Student Profile

Cascade (the interface you see when you first login to classic Murphy) will be replaced by Ellucian Experience.  Upon first logging into the new system, users will immediately notice the new “Card” layout, which compartmentalizes different functions available within the new system. The screen shots below show the differences between the top level menus visible upon logging into "classic Murphy Online" verse "new Murphy Online". 

"Classic Murphy Online", utilizing "Cascade" interface to service SSB8 menus

"New Murphy Online", utilizing "Ellucian Experience" interface to service SSB9 portals

The cards in Experience are fully customizable and dynamic. Users can rearrange the cards by dragging and dropping or hide those cards that they feel are not relevant to them by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner of the card. Additional cards can be added by clicking the “Discover More” button at the bottom of the page.

Experience allows us to customize the cards in order to:

1. Target specific audiences
2. Summarize Data points
3. Access to other Banner SSB9 applications, example: Employee Portal, Registration Portal, etc.
4. Access other Single Sign-on Systems

Also, UST can customize the announcements depending on the time of the year. 

Feedback

Anyone who has access to classic Murphy Online will have the chance to also try the new Murphy Online on January 30, 2024.