# What Is Population Selection in Banner?

Source: https://www.itcadence.com/blog/what-is-population-selection-in-banner
Category: Banner Technical | Published: 2026-10-27 | Updated: 2026-10-27 | Publisher: ITCadence

Population selection builds lists of people from Banner data using rules on GLRSLCT and the GLBDATA process. How it works and how to use it with jobs and letters.

**Short answer:** Population selection is Banner's built-in way to create a list of people (such as all students with a balance over a threshold) for use by letters, batch jobs and other processes. Rules are written on GLRSLCT, the GLBDATA process runs them to extract the list, the result can be reviewed or edited on GLAEXTR or GLIEXTR, and other jobs then use the population by its application, selection ID and creator ID.

## Overview

Population selection answers "**who** should this job run for?" without writing a custom program.

![Population selection flow: rules on GLRSLCT, extract with GLBDATA, review on GLAEXTR and GLIEXTR, use in jobs and letters](https://www.itcadence.com/images/diagrams/population-selection.svg "From rules to a reusable population")

## The main pieces

| Page / process | Role |
|---|---|
| `GLRSLCT` | Define the selection rules (SQL-like conditions on Banner data) |
| `GLBDATA` | Run the rules and extract the population |
| `GLAEXTR` | Review and manually adjust the extracted list |
| `GLIEXTR` | Inquiry on populations |

## Where populations are used

- **Letter generation** and communications
- **Holds** applied in bulk
- **Registration time ticket** assignment. See [how time tickets work](https://www.itcadence.com/blog/how-registration-time-tickets-work-in-banner)
- **Batch jobs** that accept a population as a parameter

## Good practices

1. Use a **naming convention** for selection IDs that shows owner and purpose.
2. **Test rules** with a small known group before running them across the institution.
3. Keep rules **documented**: what the population is meant to include and exclude.
4. Clean up **old populations** so users pick the right one.

## Frequently asked questions

### What identifies a population selection?

Three values together: the application, the selection identifier and the creator ID.

### Can I add people to a population manually?

Yes. GLAEXTR lets authorised users add or remove people from an extracted population.

### Can a population be built from a file?

Institutions commonly load IDs into a population from a file or query when the rules engine is not the best fit.