ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Jan. 24, 2024

To plan further ahead or find the latest learning opportunities, as well as notices of cancellation or schedule changes, see the complete calendar at the ctcLink Training page or on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).

 

ctcLink Enhancement Request 2023 Highlights

In 2023, 55 ctcLink Enhancement Requests were deployed. The following high-level summary was shared with the WACTC Technology Committee and will be shared during the January WACTC meeting.  

Enhancement Requests Summary as of Dec. 31, 2023

255 Enhancement Requests submitted (total for all years)

• 163 have been deployed; 55 deployed in 2023 (See 2023 ER Highlights)
• 22 canceled (canceled by submitter or due to it being a local decision)
• 72% of submitted Enhanced Requests have been resolved

71 Remaining Enhancement Requests

• 36 have been approved by ctcLink Working Group
• 35 still need to go through Governance

For more details and tracking information, visit the Enhancement Request Status page at the ctcLink Reference Center.

Enhancement Requests Recently Deployed

Human Capital Management ER 158 – Faculty Workload Employee Record Look Up – deployed Jan.16, 2024

Enhancement request asked to add additional fields to Employee Record number Look Up Prompt table accessible in Class Schedule (Schedule Class Meeting and Maintain Schedule of Classes), Instructor Term Workload, and Maintain FWL screens. Newly added fields are:

• HR Business Unit (for example HR171, HR172, HR070, HR062)
• Employee Classification (to differentiate FT Faculty, PT Faculty, Hourly or Paraprofessional)
• Employee’s Earnings Code (for example, PTF, MLC, STP)
• Combo Code Associated with the Earnings Code
• Combo Code Description

ER Work Underway

• ER 154 – Faculty Workload (FWL) Future Effective Dated Hire Row - Development is complete and system integration testing will begin soon.
• ER OAAP 238 Search/Match - Internal system integration testing (SIT) completed. Currently waiting for the vendor to refresh user acceptance testing (UAT) environment and then then planning for college UAT activities.
• ER 260 - Instruction Mode Configuration Modification from Data Governance Committee. Approved by Working Group Jan. 17, 2024. Meeting with Data Services and Student Financials Jan. 23, 2024, to finalize timeline and Implementation Handbook for colleges.

Enhancement Requests Currently in Testing

• ER 151 – Including Leave Adjustments in Monthly Accruals
• ER 158 – FWL Employee Record Look Up
• ER 166 – CampusCE Search/Match Parameter
• ER 193 – Second Journal Set
• ER 197 – New Hire Onboarding Improvements

Fraudulent Application Sub-Group Seeks College Fraudulent Business Process Details

The SBCTC remains committed to fraud detection and prevention while minimizing the potential impact to students and staff. Meanwhile, external bad actors have increased their efforts to undermine cyber integrity with fraudulent applications.

A systemwide Fraudulent Application Sub-Group of college admissions staff, registrars, IT staff, and business analysts has been convened to discuss fraudulent application activities and potential solutions. Part of this effort includes establishing common fraudulent investigative business processes across all colleges.

The Fraudulent Application Sub-Group would first like to learn more about local college business processes for activities related to:

• Investigating potential fraudulent students
• Reporting fraudulent students in ctcLink
• Verifying student identities

Student Services VPs have been asked to respond by Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, to a survey including questions related to admissions, student financials, faculty, and financial aid. The sub-group seeks only one submission per college, so VPs will coordinate on campus to collect feedback.

FAFSA Update Impacts All Environment/Pillar Updates 2024 Schedule

Ordinarily, the annual Environment/Pillar Updates schedule would have been published by now.

Unfortunately, the 2024 ctcLink PeopleSoft pillar and PeopleTools update schedule has been impacted by the federal delay in FAFSA simplification delivery. The Financial Aid PRP with the critical FAFSA Simplification changes was delivered three months late, so the teams at SBCTC just started working on it. That delay threw a wrench into the PeopleTools project timelines, which will end up impacting all ctcLink pillar updates for the remainder of the year.

The 2024 schedule for all pillars (CS, FIN, HCM) will be reassessed after the Financial Aid PRP (PeopleSoft Release Patchset) outcomes are known.  

The only date confirmed (for now) is Tax Update 24-A for the HCM pillar which is scheduled to go into Production the evening of Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024.

May the (WORK)Force be with You!

Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Join Webex session

Join us for this refresher on coding students participating in Workforce programs: Worker Retraining, WorkFirst, Early Achievers Grant, and Apprenticeships and learn more about:

• How to apply and remove the coding, and appropriately manage your Plan/Stacks. 
• What the coding does, and what it does not do, especially as related to funding. 
• The QCS_CC_SBCTC_ATTR_GROUP query, the results, and how to use those results to make any needed data corrections. 

For Worker Retraining, WorkFirst and Early Achievers, this work is an intersection between Workforce Staff, who identify the students eligible, and Records Staff, who reflect that eligibility by managing the Program/Plan Stack. 

• Modules: Records & Enrollment
• Category: Special Populations, Student Program/Plan, Reporting
• Primary Audience: Workforce Office, Records & Enrollment Staff, Reporting Staff. For those colleges whose Workforce staff touch the Plan Stack directly, we strongly encourage you to attend and make sure you master the basics of Plan/Stack management. 
• Presenter: Lou Sager, SBCTC Data Services 
• College Panel: Willow Peppers, Peninsula; Nora Downard & Sandi Gallear, Olympic; and TBD*
• Related QRGs: Managing Student Attributes and Maintaining a Student’s Academic Program

Recently, the Washington state legislature increased investments into apprenticeship programs in the state of Washington. To meet the requirements that go along with that funding, as well as to better serve students and support colleges, SBCTC has spent the last year redesigning its approach to the coding and management of apprenticeship students.  This redesign will not be complete when this session occurs. Our focus will be on coding needs as they are now (i.e. Student Attributes), but we’ll cover the basics of the new coding schema for colleges in transition.

*Still looking for a third college to join the party!

Based on college feedback, we are creating more spaces for sharing lived experience. Now, before you tell yourself you can’t because you’re still working things out – that’s fine! We just need folks willing to share what they are doing and how it’s going. If you’re up for it, please contact Michelle Kuwasaki.

CS Core Learning Opportunities

CS Core Training

Faculty Center Refresher: Using Faculty Center to Enter Grades

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, 8:30 to 10 a.m.

Add "Faculty Center Refresher: Using Faculty Center to Enter Grades" to your calendar.

Not many faculty members are on the CS Support listserv, so please help us ensure they know about this opportunity. Please share this invitation with faculty on your campus.

Join us for this Faculty Center refresher to prepare for the end of the winter 2024 term. During this session, we will discuss the grading process and the separation of duties between Enrollment Services and Faculty. In addition, we will offer some helpful hints about grade rosters.

The PeopleSoft Faculty Center offers a central location for faculty members to:

• Manage class and student-related activities
• View their teaching schedule by term and access class and grade rosters
• Record student grades

Objectives

• Access Faculty Center
• Grade Roster Availability
• Enter Student Grades/ Approve the Roster
• Helpful Hints

Contact Tanjagay Martin, ctcLink Functional Trainer, with questions.

CS Core Work Sessions

Campus Solutions (CS) Core Work Sessions, open to ALL end users, are held the first Thursday of each month, from 1 to 3 p.m. The CS Functional Support team facilitates, alternating between functional team delivered content and college user delivered content with functional team support. Each meeting includes time for colleges to ask questions about other topics or service tickets.

Find details on the SBCTC Calendar and in the CS Core Weeklyish COREspondence (sent on Fridays to the CSSupport listserv).

FIN Learning Opportunities

FIN Training

Accounts Receivable Reconciliation (Accounting Team)

Thursday, Jan. 25, 10 a.m., Join session

Join this weekly recurring ChartString clean-up working session in anticipation of implementation of the rule requiring entries be balanced by ChartString.

FIN Work Sessions

FIN “Did You Know?” Work Session: Journal Import Write to File

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2 p.m., Join session

Monthly Student Finance/General Ledger Open Forum

Every second Wednesday, 2 to 3 p.m.

The ctcLink accounting team invites you to bring your questions (and solutions) to share during this open forum meeting space for all things Student Finance/General Ledger (SF/GL) related. There is no formal agenda as we welcome all questions about everything from item types and second journal sets to waivers, queries, or internal cash reconciliation.

See the SBCTC meetings and events calendar and look for ctcLink Accounting Team: SF/GL Open Forum Meeting. The next ctcLink Accounting Team: SF/GL Open Forum Meeting will be Feb. 14.

Finance (FIN) Meetings

Finance (FIN) meetings are held every Tuesday, from 2 to 3 p.m. The Finance Functional team provides updates on Service Tickets, PeopleSoft enhancements, and open forum time to ask questions or request future topics. This session is open to ALL Finance end users.

Federal Financial Aid Simplification Update

SBCTC received the PeopleSoft Release Patchset (PRP) from Oracle with the FAFASA Simplification changes on Jan 10, 2024.

The SBCTC Application Services finalized the project plan and the PRP was loaded into an internal test environment on Jan. 22, 2024.

The teams are currently working on the internal Compare Reports. The Compare Report lists objects that reside in the PRP that do not exist in our test and/or production environments.  This change package is used to document, functionally test and migrate “All Updates Not Yet Applied” in Production. After the compare reports are complete the teams will work on System Integration Testing (SIT).

Federal FAFSA delay impacts other pillar update schedules

You may have seen a draft of the 2024 ctcLink PeopleSoft pillar and PeopleTools update schedule. Due to the federal delay in FAFSA simplification delivery, the 2024 schedule for all pillars will be reassessed after the Financial Aid PRP (PeopleSoft Release Patchset) outcomes are known. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.

Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities Quickly Approaching

Please review the email sent by the AYRO team on Dec. 1, 2023, which has all the pre-work needed before your scheduled AYRO sessions

All colleges are expected to complete AYRO Part 1 on their own. All the detailed documentation and “how to” is included in your meeting invite for AYRO. Should you have any questions while completing AYRO Part 1, please submit a ticket under ctcLink Support > Financial Aid > FA AYRO.

With FAFSA Simplification work, Image testing, and other priority tickets, response times may be slower. The goal is for each college to complete AYRO Part 1 before attending the AYRO Part 2 Work Session. Please be sure to submit tickets related to AYRO Part 1 no later than one week before your scheduled AYRO Part 2 Work Session.

Aid Year Rollover Financial Aid Support Sessions

The first session kicks off Jan. 23, 2024, with Centralia, Edmonds, Skagit Valley, and Green River colleges. All colleges' schedules are listed at the SBCTC Calendar.

FA Learning Opportunities

Financial Aid (FA) Work Sessions

Financial Aid (FA) Work Session meetings are on the fourth Thursdays, from 1 to 3 p.m. The FA Functional Support team facilitates alternating between functional team delivered content and college user delivered content with the support of the FA functional team. The end of each meeting is open for colleges to ask questions about the topic presented. These sessions are open to ALL end users.

Financial Aid (FA) Training

Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m.

Join Webex | Meeting number (access code): 2661 966 6528 | Password: 2024FATrainings

By popular request, we’ve added this learning opportunity for staff responsible for awarding/managing the Direct Loan program.

Understand how to work varying examples from the following reports:

• Loans on Hold Report
• Origination Hold
• Origination Changes Hold
• Rejected Originations Report
• Disbursement Errors Report

Understand which ctcLink pages to navigate and how to read and update them when troubleshooting loan reject and loans on hold messages:

• View Loan Processing Actions page
• View COD Data page
• Hold/Suspend Change Data page 
• Override Loan Data page
• Override Processing Status page

Questions? Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer, Financial Aid.

Intermediate Pell Processing - Pell Troubleshooting

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m.

Join Webex | Meeting number (access code): 2661 966 6528 | Password: 2024FATrainings

By popular request, we’ve added this learning opportunity for staff responsible for managing Pell payment are encouraged to attend.

Understand how to read and work examples in the Pell Reports:

• Pell Records by Transaction Status
• Pell Records by Status
• Pell Origination Validation Report
• Pell Disbursement Validation Report
• Pell Disbursement Status Report

Understand how to perform Pell troubleshooting using various pages in ctcLink:

• View COD Data page
• Manage Pell Payment page

Questions? Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer, Financial Aid.

Congratulations to Sarah Sullivan in New HCM Role

Please welcome Sarah Sullivan to her new role as PeopleSoft HCM Functional Analyst! Sarah has transferred from the ctcLink Security team to the HCM customer support team, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise with her.

Before joining SBCTC, Sarah played a key role in managing the Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) IT Support Center. Her responsibilities extended to serving as the ctcLink College Security Administrator, and she provided invaluable ctcLink technical and functional support in HCM, Finance, and Campus Solution pillars.

Sarah's proven track record in Customer Support and her proficiency in ctcLink make her a valuable addition to the HCM support team.

2023 W-2 Forms

Employee W-2 Forms for tax year 2023 have been produced. The electronic version is available now in HCM Employee Self-Service to all employees who consented to receive W-2 electronically.

For those who did not consent to receive W-2 electronically, a paper W-2 Form will be printed and mailed by the Washington State Printing Office on or before Jan. 31, 2024.

HCM Learning Opportunities

HCM Work Session Meetings

Human Capital Management (HCM) meetings are held every other Wednesday, from 1 to 3 p.m. The HCM Functional team along with the training team offers Work Sessions and Training Sessions around the different functionality in HCM.

Second Journal Set UAT Extended

To allow more time for college users to experience and understand the Second Journal Set (SJS) enhancement, the user acceptance testing (UAT) period has been extended.

Activities to date

SBCTC held four SJS College Information Sessions and two UAT Sessions with detailed information about the enhancement and allowed users to test these changes in the test (PQA) environment. You can find session recordings at the Second Journal Set Canvas Site. The recordings are in the Work Session Information course on Canvas.

What’s next?

To prepare for the UAT extension, the user accounts sent to the QA team prior to the information sessions have been unlocked. Users that requested their account be unlocked during any of the sessions will need to request to have their accounts unlocked and their password reset by emailing Tami Whitney. Please do not include any personally identifiable information; your EMPLID is enough.

Colleges should refer to the detailed message from Brandon Reed, Associate Director of Campus Solutions - Student Financials, sent Jan. 24 to the ctcLink Student Financials Support list for login information.

The PQA environment will be available for testing Thursday, Jan. 25 – Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2024.

Updated Timeline

The following timeline includes concrete dates and more stringent requirements to allow for batch processing. This UAT round should be concerned with testing quick-posted student activity to isolate data to query and review.

If you run into any issues during this process, please enter a service desk ticket.

SF Learning Opportunities

1098-T Statement Processing

1098-T printed statements have been sent to Washington State Printing Office for printing and mailing. They will be postmarked on or before Jan. 31, 2024.

Keep these essential 1098-T dates in mind:

• Tuesday, March 12: training session for corrections
• Sunday, March 31, 2024: IRS Fire Account upload deadline

College & SF Team Ticket SMACKDOWN

• We are offering weekly two-hour meeting windows for colleges to collaborate on active tickets with our team.
• This designated time will focus on real-time ticket problem-solving to enhance knowledge and foster better understanding.
• Throw your hat in the ring and sign up/set up a time, just ask via sfsupport@sbctc.edu

Stay informed by joining the Student Financials eList to receive reminders about training, session recordings, and other updates from the Student Financials team.

SF Training: Mass Select Transactions

Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, 9-10 a.m., Join session

Student Financials module users are invited to join us to learn:

• What is Mass Select Transactions
• What can it be used for
• How to and tips for using Mass Select Transaction
• File Mapping
• Corrections and Reversals

Related QRG: Mass Select Transaction End-to-End Process

Prerequisite Course: SF101 Cashiering

This session will be recorded and added to the SF101 Cashiering Canvas Course under the Additional Resources modules. Please note: to access Training Recordings, the specific Canvas Course needs to be completed. You can register for SBCTC Canvas Courses through the Accessing ctcLink Courses on Canvas page.

Contact Alec Risk, SBCTC Student Financials Functional Trainer.

Student Financials (SF) Work Sessions

Student Financials (SF) support team is delivering a five-part work session covering the 1098T statement process. These monthly sessions started in October 2023 and will conclude in February 2024.

CampusCE Upgrade UAT Kickoff Session

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m., Join Session

Colleges are invited to get hands-on experience with the system changes by participating in the upcoming user acceptance testing (UAT) of the next CampusCE upgrade.  During UAT, users will review the upcoming CampusCE changes and test functionality to confirm these changes are working as intended.

All CampusCE users are strongly encouraged to attend this kickoff session. To prepare for UAT, colleges are asked to send a list of EMPLIDs of staff who plan to participate in testing

College users participating in UAT should include users who already have an account within their CampusCE production environment.

ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact) have been requested to email their college’s list of EMPLIDs to Tami Whitney by close of business Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, to ensure user access is set up before UAT begins. 

The overview presentation portion of the session will be recorded and distributed so users can continue their testing post-session. UAT activities will end on Feb. 13, 2024.

Congratulations to Laurel Anderson in New Security Role

Hats off to Laurel Anderson who has been named Team Lead for the ctcLink Security team.

Laurel joined the ctcLink Security team back in June 2022, and has been a tremendous asset to SBCTC and ctcLink.  Laurel was with the ctcLink Finance Customer Support team at SBCTC prior to her security team role.

Laurel’s tremendous customer service attitude and team spirit have allowed her to transition into this lead role effortlessly. She will assist with projects, leading team meetings, mentoring other analysts, and ensuring the ctcLink Security team provides outstanding customer service to all its clients, internal and external. 

SASI College Advisory Group

The Security Administration System Improvement (SASI) College Advisory Group will finalize its business process gap review on Feb. 13, 2024. After SASI identifies roadblocks or issues to be addressed, they will begin working on designing a solution.

The group has also been working on complex employee onboarding and offboarding processes around security access for employees transferring to another college or working at more than one college.

See the Security Administration System Improvement [SASI] Project Information Guide for more information.

Accessibility Highlights

The Application Services team is reviewing the upcoming accessibility updates to Okta and the accessibility updates in PeopleTools 8.59.21. All PeopleSoft pillars rely on PeopleTools, so this work is extensive.

ctcLink Accessibility Monthly Open Forum

SBCTC hosts monthly forums to engage Washington's community and technical college system in discussions around ctcLink accessibility and technology. We aim to improve communication and transparency while providing space for productive and solution-focused dialog. Our main objective is to deliver accessible technology for all our students, staff, and the larger community.

Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month, 11 a.m. to noon. The next ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum will be Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, at 11 a.m. All are welcome to attend via Zoom.

Materials from past Open Forums are available in case you missed a meeting.