Because BANNER is an integrated system, it is critical that offices and departments are consistent in the way data is entered into the database. In view of keeping the data clean and consistent, the following data entry standards have been decided upon.

If you have questions or concerns about a data entry standard listed here, please contact opus@oberlin.edu.

Users may scroll through this document in its entirety, or may jump to a specfic topic by using the links below:

Name entry in BANNER

• Names
• Salutations
• Names with Van, Mac, O', etc.
• Suffixes
• Company names

Address entry in BANNER

• Apartment/suite numbers
• Street addresses
• City names
• Symbols and abbreviations
• Miscellaneous notes on addresses
• OCMR/departmental addresses
• Building names

Name entry in BANNER

Entering names

• Enter the entire first, middle, and last names into the first, middle, and last name fields.

• If the name is too long to fit into the field, enter as much of the name as you can.

• If a person has a first name that he or she is not known by (i.e., the name is Joan Marie Field and the person goes by Marie Field), or is known by a first initial and middle name (i.e., J. Marie Field), enter the preferred name (i.e. J. Marie) into the first name field. Enter the full legal name into the legal name field.

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Entering salutations

• If the appropriate salutation for the individual is Mr or Ms (the norm for students), leave the salutation field blank. The system will fill in the Mr or Ms according to the gender of the person.

• If the appropriate salutation for the individual is something other that Mr or Ms (such as Mrs, Dr, Miss, etc.), enter the appropriate salutation in the field with no period following.

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Names with Van, Mac, O', etc.

• If the spacing and capitalization of names like MacDonald, VanBuren, O'Leary, etc., is legible and clearly written, enter the name with the spacing and capitaliziation indicated.

• If it the spacing and capitalization are not legible, enter names like MacDonald and VanBuren with NO SPACE in between, and capitalize both parts of the name.

• Names like O'Leary and D'Angelo should be entered with the first two letters capitalized with the apostrophe in between. However, if the individual clearly writes the name with a different method of capitalization, enter the name as written.

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Names with suffixes

• All suffixes, both inherited (i.e. Jr, III) and earned (i.e. MD, PhD) are entered into the suffix field.

• The standard for inherited suffixes such as Jr is first letter capitalized, second letter not capitalized, and no periods. Roman numerals (II, III, etc.) are always capitalized and never include a period or any other punctuation.

• For earned suffixes (most often degree abbreviations), the general rule is all caps, no periods. One notable exception to the all-caps rule is the lowercase "h" in the PhD suffix. So far, this list of standards includes:
  • MD
  • PhD
  • DO
  • CPA

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Company names

• Company, vendor, and other corporate entity names, when they are followed by a corporate designator such as Inc, Co, or Ltd, should not include any punctuation (no commas, no periods). The standard for data entry is the company name, followed by a space and then the corporate designator. Even if abbreviated, the designator should not include a period Example: Acme Lighting Co

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Address entry in BANNER

In general, you should never use punctuation when entering addresses in BANNER. There are a few exceptions to this (such as the slash in c/o, for example) but for the most part, we are trying to keep punctuation out of the address fields as much as possible.

Apartment/suite numbers

• Put the apartment or suite number in address line 1, above the street address, as in:
  Jane Doe
  Apt 5678
  123 Main Street
  Oberlin OH 44074

• Always abbreviate the words Apartment (Apt), Floor (Fl), Room (Rm), and Suite (Ste) in the address. Do not use a period after these abbreviations.

• If there's not enough room to put the suite or apartment number above the address, next to the address is acceptable. DO NOT put the apartment or suite address below the street address.

• If there is no apartment or suite number, enter the street address in address line 1. Address line 1 should not be left blank (except in the case of on-campus addresses).

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Street addresses

• Always spell out street designators in the address. These designators include:
  1. Street
  2. Road
  3. Avenue
  4. Court
  5. Lane
  6. Drive
  7. Circle
  8. Parkway

• An exception to the above rule is the designator "Boulevard" which should ALWAYS be abbreviated Blvd in order to avoid space problems in the field.

• If a compass direction (North, South, East or West) is included in the street address, abbreviate it to its first letter, capitalized, with NO PERIOD following. Examples:

  N Orchard Street
  15 W South Avenue
  1 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

• An exception to the above rule is when the street name itself is E, W, N, or S (this happens most frequently with street addresses in Washington DC. In these cases, the compass direction should be spelled out. Examples:

  15 East E Street
  789 North W Avenue

• For addresses where the street name is a number, the number should be spelled out if it is a number from 1-10. For numbers 11 and above, the number itself should be used with the appropriate suffix (i.e., the "nd" in 42nd). Examples:

  123 Fifth Avenue
  456 Tenth Street
  OR
  11 42nd Street
  56 12th Avenue

• When there is a state route included in a street address, the term "State Route" will be treated as a street name and entered as follows:

  123 State Route 511
  Oberlin OH 44074

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City names

• City names that have two words in them should always be spelled out completely. For example, the "south" in South Amherst should always be spelled out, not abbreviated to S Amherst. An exception to this is when the first word in the city name is "Saint"; in these cases, the "Saint" is abbreviated to St with no period following. Examples:

  St Louis MO
  St Paul MN

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Symbols and abbreviations

• DO NOT use the symbol "#" in any fields in BANNER. To denote "number" use the abbreviation "No" with no period following.

• "In care of" is designated by the abbreviation c/o, in all lowercase, on the first line of the address, as in "c/o Jane Doe"

• Post office box will be designated by PO Box, no periods, capitalized.

• When there is a rural route or rural delivery included in an address, these terms will be abbreviated RR and RD (all caps, no periods) and entered in the first address field as follows:

  RD 1
  678 Oberlin Road
  Oberlin OH 44074

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Miscellaneous notes on addresses

• When entering telephone numbers, enter only the extension number into the field; DO NOT inlcude an identifier like "ext" or "x".

• Foreign postal codes should be entered in the ZIP field.

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OCMR/departmental addresses

• Student addresses are entered as:

  Address line 1: OCMR number
  City: Oberlin College
  Nation: CAMPM (all caps)

• Departmental addresses are entered as: Address line 1: Department name
  Address line 2: Building/room number (see Note below)
  City: Oberlin College
  Nation: CAMPM (all caps)

• Note: The building and room number should stand alone, with no "#" sign or other word/abbreviation to designate room number. Examples:

  Peters 101
  Carnegie 23A

• A list of standardized campus building names to be entered in Address line 2 of departmental addresses follows. This list of standard building names should always be used when entering building names into BANNER.

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Building names

Allen Memorial Art Museum
Allencroft
Allen Art Domes
Asia House Quadrangle
East Field Storage
Bailey House
Baldwin Cottage
Barnard House
Barrows Hall
Bibbins Hall
Bosworth Hall
Burton Hall
Carnegie Building
Conservatory Central
College Relations Building
Cox Administration Building
Crafts Center
Crane Pool
Dascomb Hall
Daub House
East Hall
Fairchild House
Jones Field House
Finney Chapel
Grounds Shop
Hales Gym/Bowling Lanes
Hall Auditorium
Harkness House
Harvey
Central Heating Plant
Oberlin Inn Shops
Johnson House
Johnson Barn
Keep Cottage
Kettering
King Building
Lord
Mudd Center
Noah Hall
Langston Hall
Stevenson Hall
Oberlin Inn
Old Barrows
Orchard Kindergarten
Peters Hall
Philips Gymnasium
President's House
Quonset Storage
Robertson Hall
Security Building
Service Building
Service Garage
Severance Hall
Williams Ice Rink
South Hall
Talcott Hall
Tank Hall
Warner Center
Wilder Hall
Wright Physics
Zechiel House
Stadium
Lewis House
Clark Bandstand
55 East Lorain Street Studios
Rice Hall
Price
Kade
Saunders
Conservatory Library
Julia Severance Studio
Hall Auditorium Annex
Sperry Neuroscience Building
Heisman Club Field House
Tappan Square
164 E Lorain Street Studios
Weltzheimer Johnson House
Women's center

Proposed Building Names

Environmental Studies Center
Science Center

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