# What Is Ellucian Solution Manager (ESM)?

Source: https://www.itcadence.com/blog/what-is-ellucian-solution-manager-esm
Category: Banner Technical | Published: 2026-10-20 | Updated: 2026-10-20 | Publisher: ITCadence

Ellucian Solution Manager is the tool Banner 9 institutions use to install, upgrade and deploy Banner applications across environments. What it does and best practices.

**Short answer:** Ellucian Solution Manager (ESM) is a web-based tool for managing on-premises Banner environments. It downloads Banner releases, applies database upgrades, builds and deploys Banner 9 web applications, and tracks which release of each product is installed in each environment, such as development, test and production.

## Overview

ESM is the **control panel for Banner upgrades**. It replaced much of the manual scripting that Banner 8-era upgrades required.

## What ESM does

| Task | How ESM helps |
|---|---|
| Release download | Fetches available Banner releases for your products |
| Prerequisite checks | Shows release dependencies and order |
| Database upgrades | Runs the database portion of a release |
| Application builds | Builds Banner 9 web applications, including local customisations |
| Deployment | Deploys applications to app servers |
| Inventory | Tracks installed releases per environment |

## Best practices

1. **Keep ESM itself current**, since newer releases may need newer ESM versions.
2. **Mirror production** in a test environment and upgrade there first.
3. **Bundle releases by module** to reduce regression cycles. See our guide to [finding your Banner patching cadence](https://www.itcadence.com/blog/banner-9-patching-cadence).
4. **Record every upgrade**: which releases, which environment, who approved it.
5. **Recompile invalid objects** and run health checks after each upgrade.

> **Tip:** Treat ESM environment definitions as critical configuration. Back them up and document them.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do SaaS customers use ESM?

ESM is mainly used by institutions that manage their own Banner environments. In Ellucian SaaS, Ellucian manages upgrades.

### Can ESM upgrade production automatically?

ESM can run upgrades, but institutions should always promote releases through test environments first and schedule production changes in maintenance windows.