# What Is Banner Application Navigator?

Source: https://www.itcadence.com/blog/what-is-banner-application-navigator
Category: Banner Basics | Published: 2026-10-24 | Updated: 2026-10-24 | Publisher: ITCadence

Application Navigator is the Banner 9 shell that opens Admin Pages, handles search and keeps your session across Banner applications. How it works and common issues.

**Short answer:** Application Navigator is the Banner 9 web shell that staff log in to. It provides a single search box and menu for opening Banner Admin Pages (for example SPAIDEN or FGAJVCD), keeps one authenticated session across Banner 9 applications, and lets users switch between open pages without logging in again.

## Overview

In Banner 9, **Application Navigator** is the front door for staff. It replaced the old Banner 8 forms menu with a browser-based shell that hosts Banner Admin Pages and links Banner 9 applications together.

## What Application Navigator does

- **Search**: find any page by name (such as `SGASTDN`) or keyword (such as "student").
- **Menus and favourites**: browse Banner menus or keep a personal list of frequently used pages.
- **Single session**: once you are signed in, Navigator passes your session to other Banner 9 applications.
- **Context**: some pages pass key information such as ID or term when you move between related pages.

## How it fits the architecture

Application Navigator is deployed as its own Banner 9 web application alongside Banner Admin Pages, Self-Service and other apps on Tomcat or WebLogic. Users authenticate through Banner or an SSO identity provider (CAS or SAML), and Navigator uses that identity to apply Banner security.

## Common Application Navigator issues

| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Pages open in a blank frame | Application URL or proxy configuration mismatch |
| Constant re-login prompts | SSO, cookie or load-balancer session settings |
| A page is missing from search | User lacks Banner security for that object, or the application is not registered |
| Slow page loads | App server memory, connection pools or database performance |

For performance troubleshooting see [why Banner 9 pages are slow](https://www.itcadence.com/blog/why-are-banner-9-pages-slow).

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I open a Banner page in Application Navigator?

Type the seven-character page name (for example SPAIDEN) or part of its description into the search box and select the result.

### Why does Application Navigator keep asking me to log in?

Repeated logins usually point to single sign-on or session configuration: CAS or SAML settings, cookie domains, session timeouts or a load balancer that is not keeping sessions sticky.