ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Feb. 21, 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).

 

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, ctcLink Student Financials Functional Trainer.

Enhancement Requests (ER) Deployed

• Security ER 249 - Removal of Security Questions in Okta –Deployed Feb. 15, 2024
  • To enhance ctcLink cybersecurity, the option to establish Security Questions in Okta was 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. The SBCTC ctcLink Security and Application Services teams removed “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 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.

ER Work Underway

• 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.

Enhancement Requests Currently in Testing

• Campus Solutions ER 166 – CampusCE Search/Match Parameter -- reviewing UAT results and making implementation decision.
• HCM ER 197 – New Hire Onboarding Improvements
• Campus Solutions ER 238 - OAAP Search/Match

Online Admissions Application Portal (OAAP) Search/Match Enhancement UAT

Colleges are invited to participate in an upcoming OAAP user acceptance testing (UAT) activity. During UAT, users will review the upcoming OAAP Search/Match enhancement and testing functionality to confirm these changes are working as intended before being implemented in production.

SBCTC distributed a supporting testing guidance document to the ctclink CS Support, Registrar, and OAAP lists with the changes users will be testing. 

Guided UAT Sessions

SBCTC will host two guided UAT sessions to allow users to get hands-on experience with the system changes. UAT will occur within these sessions and colleges are not expected to test outside of the session.

• OAAP Search/Match Enhancement UAT Session 1: Tuesday, March 5, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Join Session
• OAAP Search/Match Enhancement UAT Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Join Session

Tester EMPLIDs Required by Feb. 27

To prepare for UAT,  each college is asked to email to Caitlin Stein by Feb. 27, 2024, a list of EMPLIDs of staff who plan to participate in testing.

Be sure not to include any personally identifiable information; the list of EMPLIDs is just fine. This will help us ensure user access is set up before UAT begins.

College users participating in this UAT should include users who are current OAAP College Admins and can view SSNs and DOB in ctcLink. Users should have PRIMARY CTC_MASK_NONE permission list and a role of CTC_PT_MASK_NONE in the production environment.

Users who do not send their EMPLID by the deadline will not have the access necessary to participate in testing.

Tester Preparation Required

Each tester must come prepared with three or four real and unique email addresses to use when submitting an OAAP application. All testers will need to log into these email accounts during the session. The data created during testing activities within the PQA test environment will be deleted during the next PQA refresh scheduled for Tuesday, April 9.

CS Core Learning Opportunities

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

FIN Training: GL Journal Import

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2 p.m., Read more and join session

Unsure how Journal Spreadsheet or Write to File works or how to customize your Spreadsheet Template? Let's walk through these processes one step at a time!

This training aims to provide the basic information and steps to importing a spreadsheet of data into PeopleSoft, often referred to “Journal Import” or “Write to File.” All skill levels are welcome at this interactive workshop; whether to help new/current staff get up to speed, need a refresher, and/or possibly transitioning to a new role. This session will be recorded and added to the GL100 General Ledger Basics Canvas Course under the Additional Resources > Training Videos.

Contact Karen Ebert, SBCTC Functional Finance Trainer, with questions

ctcLink Accounting Team: Grants Training and Prep for One Washington

Thursday, Feb. 29, 10 a.m., Join session

Join Lori Carambot and Michele Rockwell for grants training and prep for One Washington

FIN Work Sessions

ctcLink Accounting Team: GL ChartString Recon & Clean-up Sessions

Thursday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m., Read more and join session

These ChartString clean-up working sessions are in anticipation of implementation of the rule requiring entries be balanced by ChartString.

FSCM College Users Production Support Meeting & Did You Know

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2 p.m., Read more and join session

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. The “Did You Know?”topic is Travel & Expenses Checklist & Process Steps Guide by Jennifer Smith.

Monthly Student Finance/General Ledger Open Forum

Every second Wednesday, 2 to 3 p.m. The next ctcLink Accounting Team: SF/GL Open Forum Meeting will be March 7.

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.

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

Colleges are understandably concerned about the delayed FAFSA and potential negative impacts on enrollment, as well as the racial, social, and economic justice challenges this presents to all our institutions and students. With so many federal deadlines already missed, the level of process changes, and short timelines, these delays are alarming, to say the least. This will be a heavy lift for all colleges as well as SBCTC’s IT, ctcLink, and Education teams.

Timeline

Two things need to happen before colleges can start to package financial aid for students:

• First, Oracle needs to release a system update — what it calls the revised Financial Aid Post-Regs 1 PRP3 (PeopleSoft Release Patchset or PRPs). Once we receive that, our staff will need to test and configure the changes to accept the new ISIRs.
• Second, despite promises from the Department of Education (ED) to release sample ISIRs for test purposes, including another today, we have found those to be flawed, making them unusable to help configure ctcLink for the mass release anticipated in mid-March.

While SBCTC waits for the update release from Oracle and for accurate ISIRs from ED, we estimate a timeline of late April/early May to complete testing.

SBCTC is aiming for the second week of May to move the technical changes to ctcLink production (the live ctcLink environment), which means the colleges can then start loading their ISIRs (Institutional Student Information Records) in batches as they are released by ED and work towards processing (awarding) of student files.

This timeline is subject to change depending on when we receive ISIRs and when Oracle sends updated PRPs. If we run into technical issues delivered from Oracle, that will be considered.

Support Resources and Activities

To support colleges in their efforts, the system financial aid community (FAC and FAST), Student Services (WSSSC and FAC), and Business Operations have been collaborating with SBCTC to improve efficiencies to gear up for the Department of Education’s ISIR release. These activities include the items outlined below.

Aid Year Rollover (AYR) activities

Aid Year Rollover (AYR) activities have been underway since Jan. 23, with header colleges prioritized to go earlier.

Mass packaging

The mass packaging enhancement request is in place and ready for colleges to use. Colleges just need to submit a ctcLink Service ticket to Financial Aid and let us know they want to start using mass packaging. We strongly encourage colleges to test out mass packaging now to learn each step and to gain efficiency and confidence for the aid year ahead.

Header colleges (those colleges that count summer quarter as the start of their academic year) are encouraged to form teams to learn mass packaging.

Of 34 colleges, 24 are header schools: Bellevue, Bellingham, Big Bend, Cascadia, Centralia, Clark, Clover Park, Edmonds, Everett, Grays Harbor, Green River, Lake Washington, Lower Columbia, Olympic, Peninsula, Pierce Fort Steilacoom, Pierce Puyallup, Renton, Shoreline, Skagit Valley, South Puget Sound, Spokane, Spokane Falls, and, starting this summer, Walla Walla.

Verification and file review efficiencies

Verification and file review are time consuming and require visiting a lot of pages within ctcLink, so the SBCTC financial aid team has collaborated with volunteer colleges to develop queries to synthesize the information in one place. One of those queries is moving to production this week.

The financial aid team will meet with the financial aid community next week to assess the query and determine what, if anything, they want to include to make it global. Once the team adds what the colleges want and releases the new queries, this will help gain efficiency.  

Global packaging equations

At the winter FAC meeting, the FAST team shared with FAC the plan for SBCTC to create global packaging equations for the 2024-25 year to assist schools to begin awarding. The intention is to get schools awarding as soon as possible, especially with the most recent delays.

FAC and FAST are working with SBCTC to put together globally defined packaging equations. That way, when the colleges receive ISIRs to do the usual verification and file review, they will have the same playbook. Usually, each college does its own equations, but this would give consistency.

Packaging determines the award level. The Washington College Grant and institutional aid can be added later per college. Benefits to adopting the global packaging equations include:

• Packaging equations would be ready by the time the Oracle release is tested and ready for ISIR import.
• Plans will be tested by multiple colleges to ensure they are working appropriately.
• Any additional changes that need to be made will result in faster resolution for global equations versus individual.
• College financial aid directors were invited to participate in a survey to vote on equations and setup options and we had 90% participation.

Schools that opted out of the global packaging equations will need to open a ticket to have their current packaging plans adjusted. The timeline for which SBCTC responds to these tickets is not guaranteed and may result in a further delay in awarding for the 2024-25 year.

Statewide work group

SBCTC is working with enrollment services, business services, information technology, student services, financial aid, and executive leadership from the SBCTC and colleges. The purpose of this group is to address system priorities and needs so colleges have the tools to work through this financial aid application season.

Additionally,  SBCTC is also engaging with external stakeholders and partners at the Washington Student Achievement Council, Council of Presidents, and the Independent Colleges of Washington to ensure all sectors of higher education are on working together on common and individual sector-based priorities and needs. This effort is to help coordinate messaging and support for students, families, and institutions.

FAFSA Simplification Checklist from NASFAA

The FAFSA Simplification Act is a United States Department of Education initiative to make applying for federal student aid easier for students. The act was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and updated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022.

In October 2023, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) provided a FAFSA Simplification Implementation School Checklist for college use.  Below are highlights from that document.

FAFSA Simplification Changes and Responsibilities

Outlined below are the deployment responsibilities for SBCTC and the colleges. SBCTC will configure the system; however, the real impact and implementation relies on colleges updating business processes to align with new locally updated policies and procedures and to communicate internally and externally.

Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities Continue

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.

Retirement Fields

Wednesday, March 13, 1 p.m. Join session

Join your fellow benefits Administrators to learn more about Retirement Fields.

Additional Pay

Wednesday, March 27, 1 p.m., Join session

This session is geared toward Payroll Administrators and HR Administrators.

We did it! YOU did it! Second Journal Set Up and Running

The SBCTC Student Financials team is thrilled, tickled, and downright stoked to announce the successful completion of the Second Journal Set (SJS) enhancement. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the players for the hard work and collaboration throughout this journey underway since July 2019.

The team is incredibly proud of this accomplishment and are grateful to the colleges for their outstanding contributions and commitment.

This project's success is a testament to our collective skills, expertise, and unwavering determination as a system.

If you experience any SJS issues, please submit a ticket.

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.

ctcLink Security Team Update

The removal of Security Questions from MFA options and from the Active First Time User functionality was deployed to Production last week.

The SASI College Advisory Team met to finalize offboarding requirements during a Business Process Gap Review. Internal teams began work on Solution Design Documents to present to the colleges.

The team has begun testing updates to names used on Activate your Account and Reset User account functionality to ensure correct first name/last names are being used. This will help the Local Security Administrators search for their users more easily.

Accessibility Improvement Activities

Highpoint Campus Experience (HCX)

Highpoint is hiring a third-party vendor to conduct an accessibility audit on Highpoint Campus Experience (HCX) which they anticipate being complete in March. Two of the four items currently support with exceptions (Highpoint VPAT section 1.3.1, 1.4.1, 2.4.3 and 4.1.2), will be fully supported in the December 2023 release and February 2024 release. SBCTC will deploy the latest HCX version in October 2024.

Peoplesoft HCM Image 46 Time and Labor and Absence Management

In Peoplesoft HCM Image 46 Time and Labor and Absence Management the Employee Header Configuration framework on fluid pages has been enabled. However, the Framework displays configured fields as text instead of fields with hidden labels. As a result, Screen Reader users are not able to understand the context of the displayed data on the header. Including labels with fields will ensure this feature is accessible in Screen Reader mode. Oracle has accepted our enhancement request and development has begun on the fix.

PeopleTools

• Review of accessibility updates in PeopleTools 8.59.21 is complete. The Accessibility Image Overview Document (IOVD) will be published when the PeopleTools update is closer to being deployed.
• HCM Enter time page: Oracle has agreed the focus issue when switching between elapsed time and punch time, is a bug and will begin working on a resolution which will be available in PeopleTools 8.60.

Upcoming Accessibility Fixes in HCM Image 49

The following items will be fixed when HCM Image 49 is installed.

• Calendar Widget implementation is different on Enter Time and Time Summary Pages (Date Edit Box is not visible) compared to Manage Absence, Report Time, Report Leave, Weekly Time, Payable Time pages (Date Edit Box is visible).
• After interacting with Calendar widget on Enter Time page if Tab key is pressed focus goes to banner buttons whereas on time Summary Page tab key focus remains on Calendar widget as expected.
• On Report Time, Report Leave, Weekly Time pages when Tab key is pressed Focus skips Date Entry Edit box. It directly goes to Calendar Prompt, whereas on Payable Time and Manage Absence page the focus correctly goes to Date Entry Edit Box first and then to Calendar prompt.
• On Time Summary page and Manage Absences page the back button correctly takes to Time Dashboard. However, Enter Time, Report Time, Report Leave, Weekly Time, Payable Time pages back button incorrectly takes to Employee Self Service, though page is accessed from Time Dashboard.
• The date value selected in the calendar widget is not announced and not displayed anywhere on the page (in previous page design this issue was not happening).
• Implementation of Calendar Widget (Date Edit Box display with Calendar Prompt) should be consistent on Report Time, Enter Time, Manage Absences etc.
• When Report Time page opens, after reading the name of the document NVDA reads "Link Graphic Previous Date".

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, please see materials from past Open Forums,