ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Feb. 14, 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).

 

 

Security Questions to be Removed from Okta

A critical Okta ctcLink security update is underway which impacts all student and employee users. The good news is that most end users won’t notice a difference. 

SBCTC ctcLink Security and Application Services teams have been working with colleges behind-the-scenes to implement mandated Enhancement Request #249 by Feb. 16, 2024.

Why?

To enhance ctcLink cybersecurity, the option to establish Security Questions in Okta is being removed for all students and employees with one limited exception.

The IT Commission (ITC) voted to remove Security Questions since this feature presents a security risk to the system. STAC also supports this action as it will ensure the confidentiality and security of customers' nonpublic personal information, complying with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

What is changing?

The SBCTC ctcLink Security and Application Services teams will remove “Security Question” prompts (e.g., What was the first concert you attended? What was the make and model of your first car?) from the Activate Your Account (AYA) process the evening of Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.

The security question prompts will be removed from AYA for ALL users; even those with the roles. Impacted users must log in to set up the questions in their ctcLink account.

• Users will no longer be able to select Security Questions as an MFA option when they sign in unless they have the security role.
• No user will be able to set these up in Activate Your Account.
• For users that need to use these questions, they will need to configure the questions and answers. Setting Up Your Multi-Factor Recovery Options instructions are available at the Okta Multifactor Authentication QRG.

Only students in DOC programs will continue to use Security Questions to authenticate. For DOC students, a new Okta role (ZZ Okta MFA Security Questions) has been created. For all other users, if Security Questions are their only current MFA factor, then their default MFA will be their email address. 

What does my college need to do?

The new ZZ Okta MFA Security Questions role is available for colleges to begin assignments and college Local Security Administrators (LSAs) have been notified.

Prior to Feb. 15, 2024, the LSAs will need to apply this new role to only those users who must have security questions as an MFA option.

Please contact Dani Bundy, Director of ctcLink PeopleSoft Customer Support, or Shelia Sloan, Associate Director of Application Security, if you have questions.

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.

All-Pillar Learning Opportunity: End of Fiscal Year Prep

Monday, April 15, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m.

Join Webex | Meeting number (access code): 2663 141 6695 | Password: tuN3bsnpp22

Save the date for an All-Pillar Learning Opportunity: End of Fiscal Year Prep!

In this session, SBCTC will present a high-level view of how all ctcLink pillars interconnect, with an emphasis on Fiscal Year End (FYE) preparation.

FYE prep includes

• Human Capital Management Transactions
• Campus Solutions Core Student Services
• Financial Aid Review
• Student Financials Reconciliation and Spring Cleaning
• Finance Tasks/Checklists and General Ledger

Learning objectives

• A high-level overview of how information flows within ctcLink pillars
• A high-level overview of each pillar and the resources and tools available for end of year cleanup, including queries, documents, reference guides, and process guides
• Where to access links to previous/upcoming trainings regarding reconciliation/end of fiscal year prep

Primary Audience: ctcLink system processing staff

Related QRGs: Intro to ctcLink and FIN - Closing Periods and Years Procedures

Prerequisite Course(s): ctcLink Training Registration.  It is recommended you review and complete your pillar-related courses.

Questions?  Contact Alec Risk, Functional Trainer - ctcLink Student Financials.

Revised Instruction Mode Coding Implemented Feb. 9, 2024

You may be aware the Data Governance Committee (DGC) Course Modality subcommittee proposed updates to Instruction Mode coding in ctcLink Campus Solutions (CS) based on months of systemwide feedback and input.

College ctcLink Leaders are asked to share this information broadly on campus with impacted employees, including faculty.

SF Info Sessions: Course/Class Fee Update - Instruction Mode

• Please join the SBCTC Student Financials team for crucial insights into this fee update. These one-hour work sessions will comprehensively cover the steps required to update class and course fees for this enhancement. 
• Join March 12, 2024, 11 a.m. session

Background

Methods for coding course modalities have varied widely over the last two decades. The onset of COVID-19 restrictions drove systemwide discussions about course modality and how colleges could more accurately communicate course modality (i.e., modes of course delivery) to students as they search for classes. The terms “asynchronous” and “synchronous” became common when describing course modality.

When in-person COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, it was evident how much our educational delivery methods had expanded and students are left struggling to decipher when, where, and how a class is taught and the in-person versus online requirements.

This new schema defines a system of coding to reduce inconsistencies by further clarifying how courses should be coded in ctcLink for students, staff, and faculty. Consistent data will result in reliable and statistically valid findings and reports.

Timeline

The initial effort emerged in late 2022 and the Course Modality subcommittee developed and revised its proposal throughout 2023. DGC approved the proposal on Dec. 7, 2023, followed by ctcLink Working Group approval on Jan. 17, 2024.

These changes were implemented in ctcLink on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, and are now available.

A few examples of changes

• Tele-class, Correspondence, Interactive Television are being retired
• Washington Online (WAOL) is being retired and replaced with “System Shared Classes”
• Independent Studies is renamed to Individualized Instruction
• New official names for Instruction Modes: Online Scheduled, Online Scheduled w/In-Person, Online Asynchronous w/In-Person, In-Person, In-Person (Web Enhanced), Hybrid, Flexible, Self-Paced, Individualized Instruction

Resources for Colleges

To assist colleges in their coding, planning, and implementation efforts, the ctcLink CS Support team and Course Modality subcommittee developed support resources available at the SBCTC Coding and Reporting Guidelines web page in the Instruction Mode section.

Course Modality Coding Guidance

The Instruction Mode Coding Guidance includes the Instruction Mode definitions, as well as an FAQ section with questions received during the systemwide proposal feedback process. 

ctcLink Instruction Mode Implementation Handbook

The Instruction Mode Schema Implementation Handbook includes information such as mapping the old Instruction Modes to the new, details about how to change Instruction Modes on classes and courses, and instructions for modifying course/class fees. 

Please reach out to Carmen McKenzie, SBCTC Director of Data Services, if you have any questions.

Enhancement Requests (ERs) Deployed

Student Financials and Finance – ER 193 Second Journal Set - Deployed Feb. 12, 2024

• Currently, the journals generated by the SJS process have missing and/or inaccurate analysis types, which means student expenses funded by grants are not getting billed to sponsors correctly unless manual cleanup is done by colleges. Additionally, without an activity value on the SF side, the SJS process automatically fills in the journal line with the first activity in the grant/project. A project can have more than one activity, and the first activity is not always where the college has budgeted for these student expenses. As such, colleges receive budget check errors when attempting to post the journals if they have not manually corrected activity values as applicable. These changes would allow colleges to use the generated second journal sets more efficiently and provide timelier and therefore more relevant data.

HCM – ER 151 ER 151 - Include Leave Adjustments in Monthly Accruals, possibly with adjustment Code - Deployed Feb. 12, 2024

• When colleges make leave adjustments for any faculty or classified staff (e.g., they worked additional time and are due additional entitlements), the adjustments do not feed into the monthly accruals. This results in reconciliation discrepancies that require manual calculation and adjustment to resolve. Unless this is corrected, any adjustments to leave that accrue throughout the year are not included in the annual buyout totals. College SMEs have asked if a possible solution might be an adjustment accrual code (like ACS, rather than CSL) which could also support entitlement reconciliation.

Campus Solutions ER 260 - Instruction Mode Configuration Modification – Deployed Feb. 9, 2024

• This request is to make modifications to the existing Instruction Modes set of valid values. There are five new Instruction Modes requested.  Some of the existing Instruction Mode values will remain as is, others will be retired or have description changes.  Below is a summary of the requested changes to each Instruction Mode. The Data Governance Committee (DGC) Course Modality proposal provides greater detail.  The proposal is also submitted as a supplemental document of this enhancement request.

ER Work Underway

• Campus Solutions ER 230 - Student Self-Service Links for Bank Mobile and Direct Deposit. Development is complete and system integration testing is underway.   
• Campus Solutions ER 232 - (FYI) Adding Custom Self-Service Questions - Defining requirements and analyzing possible solution designs with Data Services and App Services
• Campus Solutions OAAP ERs 178, 184,169, 183, 212, and 237 - approved by ctcLink Working Group. Work is underway for Priority 1 (Residency & Citizenship) which includes some crossover between ERs 169, 184, and 237.
• Finance ER 189 - Stale Dating Checks - In progress – Working with Accounting and Business Services
• Finance ER 204 - Modifications to WAPAY – Internal testing in progress.
• HCM ER 154 – Faculty Workload (FWL) Future Effective Dated Hire Row - Development is complete and system integration testing will begin soon.
• Security ER 249 - Removal of Security Questions in Okta. Development and testing activity has been completed and this is scheduled for migration to production on Thursday, Feb. 15.

Enhancement Requests Currently in Testing

• Campus Solutions ER 166 – CampusCE Search/Match Parameter
• HCM ER 197 – New Hire Onboarding Improvements
• Campus Solutions ER 238 - OAAP Search/Match

Action Required for AAR Configuration Updates

For complete details, see the Jan. 31, 2024 article, Academic Advisement Report (AAR) Issue: Campus Solutions, Financial Aid.

A service desk ticket was created for each college and assigned to the ctcLink College Leader.  Each college was asked to enter its decision in the ticket by 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

1. Determine if AAR updates to the Unused Courses and Graduation requirements are needed.
2. Determine who will perform the updates.  CS Core Support is available to update the requirements for your college, or you can decide to complete the updates yourself.

If your college decides to have CS Core Support update configuration we will provide a specific timeline for the work, with an estimated finish date of no later than April 30.

Update

The CS Support team is currently reviewing submitted AAR configuration decisions and following up with any colleges that did not meet the Feb. 2 deadline.

Configuration timelines are under development for the colleges that opted for SBCTC to make the changes.

AAR Cleanup Support Sessions

CS Core Support will offer two optional AAR cleanup support sessions for the Unused Courses and Graduation requirements. Colleges making the configuration changes themselves can attend one of the cleanup sessions.

We will provide an overview of the issue and be available throughout the meeting for hands-on cleanup support for staff as they drop in.

• AAR Cleanup Support Session 2: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m. Join Session

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

Accounting 101: Foundations of Accounting

Did you know the SBCTC Business Operations team partners with the Office of Financial Management (OFM) to deliver foundational accounting training principles, essential to any finance or business office role?

This training provides context and basics to make advanced learning more approachable. It’s for all employees, not just finance or business, so if you have no finance experience or training, this class will help you get started.

Payroll and Campus Solutions staff are encouraged to attend to get familiar with functionality in the accounting world that might overlap with their normal duties. This is not ctcLink training; it’s all about basic accounting principles.

Sign up for an upcoming online or in-person session. OFM will provide virtual meeting details to those who register.

To plan further ahead, see the complete calendar at the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).

FIN Work Sessions

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 March 7, 2024.

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 FAFSA Simplification Update

SBCTC, WSSSC, Financial Aid Council (FAC), and Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) leaders have begun to meet regularly about new information received about the federal FAFSA simplification and aim to share insights and implications for Washington’s community and technical colleges where possible.

Colleges are also expected to be aware of FAFSA notifications and any local responsibilities.

The SBCTC Communications office is working with financial aid leaders to create a FAFSA Simplification FAQ for the colleges.

Department of Education (ED) news

On Feb. 13, the Department of Education (ED) issued a news release announcing the latest steps to support schools and students with better FAFSA which outlined the following key changes and additional resources:

Making it easier and more efficient for schools to process student records

• Significantly reducing verification requirements.
  • Reducing verifications is a favorable direction for our financial aid offices and students because it means fewer applications will be held up from completion. Verification can be a particularly difficult experience for students because it can feel punitive when financial aid offices/federal student aid require additional documentation or information and it prolongs the financial aid awarding. 
• Suspending new routine program reviews.  
• Providing additional flexibility on recertification.

Deploying expertise, funding, and tools to help colleges make the most of Better FAFSA

• Deploying federal personnel.
• Dedicating funding to provide technical assistance and support.
  • As SBCTC understands it, the additional funding is specifically for non-profit and college access-based organizations. Our colleges or WSAC will not be able to access funds directly, however, our colleges could receive support from organizations that apply for the funds. So, the funds could go to our partners at College Success Foundation, Graduate Tacoma, or other community organizations to provide additional application support.
• Delivering test student financial aid records by the end of the week.
  • The ED has already provided three ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record) test files to SBCTC, all of which were problematic. Given this situation, it's imperative to exercise caution with the new ISIR files.
  • Additionally, the significant bugs in the recent PeopleSoft Release Patchset (PRP) from Oracle adds another layer of challenge. As a result, we will need to maintain our current system configuration and testing timeline with the projected deployment of early May. However, this timeline may be subject to change depending on when Oracle ends up delivering the updated PRP.
  • As in the past with our Legacy FA system, colleges will not have access to test versions of student data. Internal configuration and testing are necessary for colleges to conduct critical processing and packaging work for students. Thus, we must await Oracle's new PRP release to proceed effectively. See Timeline following.

Timeline

SBCTC Financial Aid Support will delay testing the Financial Aid Post-Regs 1 PRP3 (PeopleSoft Release Patchset) received from Oracle. We arrived at this decision, in part, because the Department of Education (ED) has delivered only three ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record) test students (i.e., files) and we have already determined these ISIR test files have issues.

Although we could spend time cloning and remapping those three ISIRs to afford us a little more data to test with, we collectively determined this is not a good test case scenario.

SBCTC will wait, along with the rest of the nation, for the ED to send ISIRs, now estimated for mid-March. Once received, we will have more data to test at a level of excellence we prefer. 

What does this delay in testing the FAFSA Simplification PRP mean?

Initially, our timeline was about one month turnaround to complete testing and move the PRP to production; an admittedly optimistic, aggressive timeline.

We discussed the impact of our decision to wait for the ED ISIRs and other Oracle patches (including bug fixes) with the SBCTC Applications Services team last week.

We tentatively estimate late April/early May 2024 to finish testing; aiming for the second week of May 2024 to move changes to ctcLink production.

This timeline is subject to change depending on when we receive ISIRs and when Oracle sends updated PRPs.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) News

Also on Feb. 13, Federal Student Aid (FSA) notified partners of key updates and provided some explanation around the ED’s news release regarding the FAFSA simplification resources.

• FSA updated the 2024-25 FAFSA Updates. Each time they update the page, they re-push it to their subscriber emails.
• FSA published an Electronic Announcement highlighting additional steps the ED is executing as part of the FAFSA College Support Strategy to help colleges process student records faster and more efficiently.
• The ED Secretary will send a letter via email to leadership at all institutions of higher education alerting them to the support and services available to them under the FAFSA College Support Strategy.
  • Please note: SBCTC is not responsible for reaching out on behalf of colleges requesting assistance from the ED for this rollout.
  • To request additional resources, email CollegeSupportStrategy-FAFSA@ed.gov.
  • Continue to monitor Knowledge Center and the 2024-25 FAFSA Updatespage for forthcoming communications.

Student Aid Index (SAI) Calculation Tables

To account for inflationary adjustments as required under the law, the Department has updated the supporting tables used in the Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation, ensuring that students are benefitting from approximately an additional $1.8 billion in aid.

These tables, which directly impact eligibility for need-based federal student aid, detail the allowances against income and assets reported by students and families on their FAFSA form. T

The revised tables are included in the final Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide.

In the coming weeks, ED teams will update the Federal Processing System (FPS) to include the updated tables. Based upon estimations for completing that work, the Department will begin transmitting batches of FAFSA information (ISIRs) to schools and state agencies (SBCTC) in the first half of March, which will include the updated SAI tables.

Post-Processing Experience

From the 2024-25 FAFSA Student Aid Index Update and Timeline (Updated Feb. 13, 2024

For Students

• Students will receive an email informing them that their FAFSA form has been fully processed and their FAFSA information has been sent to the schools they listed on their form.
• Students who applied using the online FAFSA form will receive an email that they can access their FAFSA Submission Summary by logging in to StudentAid.gov using their account username and password.
• The Department will send an email reminder to previous FAFSA applicants who have not yet submitted a 2024-25 FAFSA form.
• Students will be able to make corrections to their FAFSA once their eligibility has been calculated and ISIR generated. Students may view their eligibility calculation by logging back into their Studentaid.gov account.
• The Department will fully process paper applications in the weeks following.

For Institutions, State Higher Ed Agencies, and Designated Scholarship Organizations

• Institutions, state higher ed agencies, and designated scholarship organizations will begin receiving batches of FAFSA information (ISIRs) starting in the first half of March. The information transmitted to schools will include the updated SAI tables. See Timeline section above for details about what this means for our system.
• ED is continuing to test several vendor-built systems and we will provide regular progress updates to schools and stakeholders as we move forward.
• As in previous years, when the Congressional appropriations process has completed and determined the 2024-25 Maximum Federal Pell Grant award amount, ISIRs will be re-processed to reflect that update.

Stay Informed with FAFSA Resources!

• ED FSA 2024-25 FAFSA Updates include key dates noted in announcements in the 2024-25 FAFSA Roadmap.
• The Department will continue to assist external partners through webinars, resources, and updates on the Knowledge Center.
  • Knowledge Center Subscription - Colleges can sign up for emails to receive the latest news on a daily or weekly basis.
• FAFSA Simplification Web Center - Information and resources from NASFAA
• College partners can submit questions related to the 2024-25 FAFSA launch using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center.
  • To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question related to this Electronic Announcement, please select the topic “2024-25 FAFSA.”

It’s Time for Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities

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

All colleges' schedules are listed at the SBCTC meetings and events calendar.

FA Learning Opportunities

Financial Aid Training

Loan Exit Counseling Refresher

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, 9 to 10:30 a.m. 

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

Join us for a Financial Aid training refresher on the steps to process loan exit counseling and reviewing the available queries each process runs.

Audience:  Staff responsible for managing the Direct Loan program

Objectives

• Understand the processing steps to run Direct Loan Exit counseling
• Understand the available queries and the specific populations of students the loan exit process is running

This session will be recorded.  The presentation slide deck will be attached to this invite before session delivery.  Questions? Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer, Financial Aid.

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.

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.

Absence Adjustments (Updates)

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1 p.m., Join session

Join your fellow absence management administrators and payroll administrators to learn more about updates to Absence Adjustments.

Second Journal Set (SJS) Next Steps

The Second Journal Set enhancement is officially in production.

What does this mean for you?

• Colleges will no longer need to upload a file – an SJS journal will be automatically generated.
• Colleges will receive SJS journals daily instead of weekly or monthly files.
• Colleges will no longer need to correct activity/analysis types within the journal prior to posting. 
• Cost Collect will work the same.
• Reconciliation will remain the same (with the addition of expense detail posting to CS).

What happens next?  

In the Production Environment

Colleges will need to update their missing Activity values related to any Project on the Second Journal Set Setup page. College staff will have until Feb. 20, 2024, to update SJS values. Missed the deadline?

Please log a ticket with SF Support (ctcLink Support > Student Financials > Other Student Financials) and please use the request detail WAxxx SJS setup updates.

Log a ticket

Once Activities are updated, please log a ticket with SF Support to let us know when you would like your nightly process to be turned on (ctcLink Support > Student Financials > Other Student Financials). 

• Use the ticket subject of WAxxx SJS Automation Turned On.
• Your first night’s SJS journal will have anything missing from February. The run control will be set up similar to how we ran SJS prior to the automation, a start date of 07-01-2023 to the current date. This will capture any adjustments for the current fiscal year to help with reconciliation. 
• If a ticket is not submitted to request the new SJS job to begin, all colleges will start to run nightly on February 20.

After the first SJS has been processed, on the next business day, review your SJS journal in the Finance Pillar and use the same reconciliation steps prior to the updates. (Compare E214 to SJS Journal for the same time period.)

Users should review, correct any errors, and post journal(s) to the GL. Activity and analysis types should also be reviewed. 

Don’t forget about the new queries! 

• QCS_SF_ACCTNG_LN_W_PROMPTS_SJS
• QCS_SF_ACCTNG_LN_SJS 

SBCTC will run processes to cost collect expenses into grants and generate revenue (CAPC) journals on a nightly basis. Note that cost collection and CAPC generation will happen the night after you post the SJS journal.

Review project resource queries and CAPC journals using the following queries.

• QFS_PC_PROJ_RESOURCE_PYMNT
• QFS_GL_CAPC_ACCTG_LINE

We are here to support you!

• Running into any issues? Please log a ticket.
• SJS setup questions or concerns? Use ctcLink Support > Student Financials > Other Student Financials
• Reconciliation or query questions? Use Accounting Support> Campus Solutions
• SJS journals will be set to manual post for a few months.
  • Ready to have them auto post?
  • Submit a ticket to Accounting Support (Accounting Support> Campus Solutions) to have your journal run control updated in production. 
• SJS trainings via the Canvas ctcLink Pillar Work Session Information are available for review.

PCD Environment Updated

The enhancement has been replicated in your testing environment. Working with SJS in this environment will follow a process similar to UAT. College staff can now update item types and post student activity. To initiate journal processing, please send a message to sfsupport@sbctc.edu.

SF Learning Opportunities

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.

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

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.

Legacy Transcript Application Gets Updates

We are pleased to announce the Legacy Transcripts application will be updated to address items reported over the last several months. Legacy Transcript users will notice a change in the application’s behavior the evening of Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.

What’s Changing? 

Colleges have provided very useful and thoughtful feedback related to the functionality of the new Legacy Transcripts application. Based on that feedback, the application has been updated to address a variety of concerns.  

Release Notes 

The following issues will be resolved in this release: 

Issues related to specific college transcripts

• GPA calculations revised to match Legacy HP/UX results
• Formatting and positioning of data in summary and cumulative values revised based on feedback 
• Okta updates to handle logout requests correctly 
• Social security number (SSN) masking updated as requested 
• Address headers for college and student changed to all uppercase 
• Updated page formatting on the official transcript to be more efficient with spacing of terms

Accessibility fixes for screen reader

• Provide a succinct year, with no blank or edit values when correcting transcript data
• Announcement of message that an account has been unmerged
• Fixed Read Order (Name, SSN, SID). This was reading labels first, then the content; now will read each field label, then the content for that label.

Reach out to Ray Gartner, SBCTC Application Services Director, if you have any questions or concerns.  

Okta Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Implementation

The Okta multifactor authentication (MFA) implementation for all employees in the community and technical college system is nearly complete, with only three colleges remaining.  The ctcLink Security team is making good progress on student loads for student Okta MFA, with several complete and others scheduled.

The SBCTC ctcLink Security and Application Services teams will remove “Security Question” prompts from the Activate Your Account (AYA) process the evening of Thursday, Feb. 15.  Read more in “Security Questions to be Removed from Okta” in the Cross-Pillar News” section above.

SASI College Advisory Group

The Security Administration System Improvement (SASI) College Advisory Group started review of the Offboarding business process. SASI finalized 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.

Internal teams have been meeting to discuss work packages and potential solution design documents to present to the colleges. 

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

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, March 12, 2024, at 11 a.m. All are welcome to attend via Zoom.

In case you missed a meeting, see materials from past Open Forums.