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Frequently Asked Questions

In the spring of 2004 Marshall University will switch from using a person's Social Security Number (SSN) as their official MUID to using a number generated by Banner, the Administrative Information System. Many people will have questions about this change, and this page will list those and answer them. If you need further assistance, please use the Questions, Problems & Feedback form.

Why are we making this change?

Due to identity theft and privacy concerns, institutions are under increasing pressure from federal statutes, professional organizations, auditors, and people in the Banner system (students, employees, private contractors, etc.) to avoid using the Social Security Number as an identifier.

When will this change occur?

The ID conversion will take place during the Memorial Day Weekend, May 29-31 2004.  During that weekend, all systems that contain the SSN based MUID will be taken off line and converted.  The systems currently scheduled for conversion are:  Banner, myMU, AMS, WebCT, Vista, Virtua (library), and other as identified.

Whose IDs will be changed?

Every person in the Banner system has an ID number. This includes prospects, applicants, academic and extended education students, employees, alumni, donors, vendors, patrons and affiliates. All ID numbers for these people will be changed.

What will the new ID number look like?

The generated ID will consist of a 9 followed by eight digits.

So all students and employees will have to remember their MUID?

Ultimately, yes.  However, those offices that utilize card readers remove a person’s need to recite their MUID# in order to conduct business.  For those people that conduct business electronically,  a web-based lookup application will be available if they forget their new MUID#.  In addition, offices that do not have card swipe capabilities (card readers) will be able to use Banner to search for a person’s MUID# based upon their name and/or SSN. The simplest way to obtain the MUID# is through the use of a card reader, since all student, faculty and staff identification cards will have the number encoded in the magnetic strip on the back of the cards. Departments may elect to purchase the card readers to reduce the administrative time for data entry or manual searches.

Will we issue new ID cards?

Yes. Cards for Full-time Faculty will be distributed with the April 30^th payroll.  Cards for Full-time Staff will be distributed with the May 16^th payroll.  Cards for Students enrolled during the 2003-2004 academic year will be mailed on May 20, 2004.  All current cards for these individuals will remain active until June 1, 2004.  At that time, new cards featuring the MUID# must be used to access all campus services.  Other Faculty, Staff and Students will be issued new cards at a later date.

How will people be notified of their new ID numbers?

The new student identification numbers will be embossed on the front of the student's OneCard.  Full-time Faculty and staff identification numbers will be distributed along with the new MU identification cards (Apr.30 and May 16 respectively). All other Faculty & Staff will receive notification of their new MUID# at a later date.

Everyone will be able to look up their new MUID# beginning June 1st, 2004. To look up your new MUID#, go to the myMU homepage (^{www.marshall.edu/myMU). On June 1st, a new button will appear next to the existing “Forgot PIN?”. The new button will be labeled “Look-up MUID#”. You will be asked to answer some questions. Once you have verified your identity, you will be presented with your new MUID#. You can then use that MUID# (along with your PIN) to log into myMU.}

What will we do differently when we enter a new person into Banner?

We will still search for the person to be sure they are not in the database already. Then we will type the word GENERATED into the ID field (or click the Generate ID button) instead of typing in the SSN. Banner then generates and displays a new ID number when the new record is saved. The SSN, if we have it, will be entered only into the SSN field.

Will this mean more data entry for our staff?

No. In fact, it will slightly ease data entry because they will not need to type the SSN when the identification record is created. 

Will we still be able to key in the person's SSN in the Banner ID field to pull up their record?

Yes -  but only for 6 months following the initial conversion.  During those 6 months the SSN's will be in Banner as a previous/alternate ID for the person. This allows Banner users to bring up the current ID by typing the old one into the ID field in the key block on any Banner form.  Once the SSN is removed as a previous/alternate ID, we will use the alternate ID search form GUIALTI.

What if we don't have the SSN for a student?

We will simply generate an ID and there will be no SSN stored in the SPBPERS record. Staff can then use the Name Search function in Banner to find the MUID#.

Oops, I forgot and entered their SSN as the ID. How do I change it to GENERATED?

Key in their SSN to bring up the person's record. Then go into the next block (this is important!) and put your cursor in the ID field. Replace the existing ID with the word GENERATED. Save the record and the generated ID will display. NOTE: if you do not do a Next Block and instead type GENERATED into the key block, you will be creating a brand-new person record in Banner, not changing the old one. At this point the name fields are blank and you will know you made a boo-boo. Rollback to the top of the form and start over; do not enter the person's name.

What about data we load from ACT/SAT data files?

There is a parameter in the data load program which asks whether we will use the SSN or a generated ID as the newly created student ID. We will need to set this parameter differently when we load the data.