A weekly round-up of ctcLink learning opportunities, ctcLink support updates, and news for Washington state community and technical college ctcLink users.
If you have questions or suggestions for future editions, contact ctcLink News or slnelson@sbctc.edu.
What ctcLink learning opportunities are available?
ctcLink Support eLists
ctcLink Customer Support teams send notifications of learning opportunities (including trainings, work sessions, user acceptance testing, and more), as well as global and cross-pillar system communications to the applicable ctcLink Support eLists (aka listservs) on a regular basis.
If you are a ctcLink end-user, and not already hearing about learning opportunities firsthand, join one or more support lists today: ctcLink Support eLists
Training calendar
Find the latest learning opportunities, including notices of cancellation or schedule changes, on the ctcLink Training & Learning Opportunities Registration page or on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).
Take a training tour
View the ctcLink Training Overview video for a quick online tour of resources. To view it in full screen, select box icon in the upper right corner.
Learning Opportunities & Work Sessions Ahead
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 & Learning Opportunities Registration page or on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| ctcLink Training Quick Reference Guides | The ctcLink Training Quick Reference Guides (QRGs) in the ctcLink Reference Center lists and links to recordings of sessions delivered by the Training Team. |
| Work Sessions in Canvas | The Work Session Canvas Course lists and links to recordings of sessions, including CS Core-offered Work Sessions. Register for the course(s) at ctcLink Training & Learning Opportunities Registration. |
| ctcLink Security Documentation & Training | Find ctcLink Security-related training materials, documentation, Quick Reference Guides (QRGs), useful queries, and more on the ctcLink Security Documentation & Training page. |
| Accessibility and ctcLink Open Forums | SBCTC hosts monthly Accessibility and ctcLink Open Forums to engage Washington's community and technical college system in discussions around ctcLink accessibility and technology. Find materials and recordings from past ctcLink Accessibility Forums on the website. |
ctcLink News
ctcLink Onboarding Training Manuals & Staff Training Participation Application Ready for Colleges
We are pleased to announce the ctcLink Customer Support Training team has created two important tools to assist colleges with employee onboarding and tracking ctcLink training participation activities:
- Employee Onboarding Training Manuals
- Staff Training Participation Application
These new tools respond to multiple recommendations and requests:
- Aligns with recommendations set forth in WACTC’s 2023 ctcLink Improvement Plan to help employees better understand which leaning opportunities and trainings they need to do their work in ctcLink.
- Addresses a recent State Auditor's Office (SAO) finding that employees need to participate in more training and learning opportunities to better understand the ctcLink system.
- Provides training onboarding and tracking management tools which ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact), subject matter experts, and supervisors have expressed a need for since go-live.
Be on the lookout for open Q & A sessions on the Onboarding Manuals and the Staff Training Participation Application later in the summer!
Onboarding Training Manuals
Onboarding Training Manuals will assist new college staff in their training journey through ctcLink (PeopleSoft). Although learning a new software system can be challenging, we expect these documents will provide new staff with the information needed to locate, understand, and participate in the various training and learning opportunities available from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC).
Each manual is divided into sections highlighting specific topics and information necessary to become more comfortable with our ctcLink system. Section topics may include:
- Onboarding checklist
- Welcome to ctcLink Training
- Each pillar’s place in ctcLink
- Prerequisite ctcLink courses
- Role-based training content and requirements (i.e., required and recommended ctcLink self-paced training courses)
- Additional onboarding resources
How to use the onboarding manuals
The Onboarding Training Manuals can be found in the ctcLink Reference Center “Intro to ctcLink” section. Onboarding manuals are available for Finance users, Human Capital Management users, Financial Aid users, and General staff.
- General Staff Onboarding Training Manual
- Finance Onboarding Training Manual
- Financial Aid Onboarding Training Manual
- Human Capital Management Onboarding Training Manual
Manuals for Campus Solutions and Student Financials users will be available in July 2024.
The intent is for supervisors to work with staff to provide clarity around staff roles and functions of their job based on the onboarding manual.
To enhance understanding of the ctcLink system, each ctcLink module lists required and recommended self-paced ctcLink Canvas training courses which directly align to roles and functions performed at the colleges. For example, each staff member is required to complete general prerequisite courses to introduce them to the ctcLink system.
The included checklist allows supervisors to identify which required and recommended courses should be completed by each staff member. Additional training resources are provided to assist new staff in their onboarding activities.
ctcLink Staff Training Participation Application
The colleges have experienced an increased need to track online training course completion and progress for members of their staff. SBCTC has created a web-based application which will display training course completion information extracted from Canvas.
Phase 1 Initial Launch
Users will be able to view their own course completion information, as well as course completion information for any staff within their chain of supervision.
Security roles will be dynamically assigned to all active users in the system to access their own training data, and the training data of any staff in the user’s supervisory hierarchy. Depending on the security role, staff can search for active or inactive employees' training data by various means including employee ID, supervisor name, employee first or last name, department, or training course title.
An elevated ctcLink security role, which will provide users with college-level training data, will be assigned to college designated Points of Contact (ctcLink College Leaders). For ongoing role-level access, the individual local security administrators (LSAs) will have the ability to update access for maintenance purposes.
Revised security settings were tested, and the fix will be applied beginning Thursday, so it may be Friday or early next week before it's in production.
Please see the ctcLink Staff Training Participation Application quick reference guide (QRG) for step-by-step instructions.
Phase 2 Checklist Implementation
The integration of checklists to assign required and recommended ctcLink Canvas course training is under development.
The Onboarding Checklist available in the Onboarding Training Manuals will soon be replaced with a built-in, automated version. Supervisors will have access to assign and track ctcLink course completions through the checklist feature of the application.
This Phase 2 checklist enhancement has moved out of the planning stage and into the development phase with anticipated delivery of the new feature in Fall 2024.
Phase 3 Instructor-Led Training (ILT)
The ability to track staff participation in Instructor-Led Training (ILT) learning opportunity sessions is in the early planning stages. Anticipated delivery for the ILT participation functionality is late 2024.
The ctcLink Training and Support teams look forward to partnering with the colleges to provide enhanced onboarding and training experiences for new employees.
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
Data Summit 2024: Save the Date!
Monday, Aug. 19 (all day) & Tuesday, Aug. 20 (tentative half-day) at South Puget Sound Community College, Lacey Campus.
Planning for Data Summit 2024 is now underway.
The DataLink Steering Committee (IT Commission & Research and Planning Commission) is in the planning stages for another informative event discussing all things data. Last year, participants heard from several areas about work occurring to set a foundation for growth in this area.
In 2024, the committee aims to build on that foundation with valuable discussions and a more in-depth look at our system’s data landscape and data needs.
The agenda is under development but will include:
- Hands-on work with the data
- Deep dives on hot topics
- Topic-specific groups, rather than role-specific
- Opportunities for collaboration
- Information on what’s coming down the road
For the Tuesday half-day, the planning team is considering hands-on, deep dives into a couple of topics, but nothing is set.
Get involved
We want to hear from you!
- Got some ideas? Fill out this online form.
- Want to have fun with your colleagues and help plan the Data Summit? Fill out this online form.
Enhancement Requests (ER) Deployed
The Finance pillar and application support teams have been busy implementing some much-needed enhancement requests in the Finance pillar to maintain alignment with state and federal mandates.
- ER 244 - LegacyLink and Legacy Transcript Access Query – Deployed May 13, 2024
- ER 277 - (FYI) New sources needed for the Journal AWE – Deployed May 15, 2024
- ER 154 - FWL-Future Effective Dated Hire Row – Deployed May 13, 2024
- ER 224 - SF Customer Account Academic Info Page – Deployed May 13, 2024
ER Work Underway
- ER 284 - (FYI) Enable Okta for OAAP currently in system integration testing (SIT)
- 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
ctcLink Enhancement Request Prioritization Results
Pat Daniels, ctcLink College Collaboration Group co-chair, Highline College Deputy CIO & ctcLink Director, shared the results of the new ctcLink enhancement request (ER) prioritization process during the June 12 ctcLink College Collaboration Group (cCCG) meeting.
Process Overview
Since April 1, members of the cCCG have reviewed and prioritized a comprehensive list of 68 outstanding ERs, some of which have been on hold for consideration since 2018 due to implementation activities. The overall goal of this new process was to solidify a clear voting process for ER prioritization moving forward.
Each college used a decision-making rubric developed by the wizards at Bellevue College to aid colleges in conversation and ranking the ERs.
A time-out for new ERs (April 1 to May 31, 2024) allowed the cCCG members to review an unchanging list.
Prioritization Results
Formal votes from each college/district were due May 10 and results were reviewed during the May 22 ctcLink College Collaboration Group meeting.
Tabulations were finalized and provided to SBCTC ctcLink Support to get ERs into the priority work queues: In-Flight, Up Next, and Future Work.
ERs Prioritized
| Pillar | In-Flight | Up Next | Future Work | Remaining List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS Core |
ER 166: CampusCE Search/Match Parameter ER 131, 169, 178, 183, 184, 212, 237: OAAP Cluster from ARC ER 232: Adding Custom Self-Service Questions in Campus Solutions |
ER 94 & 114: Transcript Integration (NSC or Parchment - ARC decide) ER 251: Student Class Search (Student Home Page) Change ER 170: Add Additional Text to the Permission Number Tip in HCX ER 174: Improvements to Class Search Subject Results ER 259: Adding Class Search Instruction Mode Helper Text |
ER 27: (SOGI) 3 OF 3 - CS Pronouns ER 231: HCX Mobile and Campus Solutions - Secure Student Financials Security ER 245 - Extension for Student Group Mass Assign ER 225 - HCX Class Search Results ER 247 - Class Room Change Global Automated Message ER 164 - Remove Other Email Type for Students ER 162 - OAAP First Term Valid ER 163 - OAAP Subplans Exclusions ER 276 - Course Class fees on HCX and ctclink Class Search ER 205 - Integration of Highpoint Degree Planner Schedule Planner Advisee Relationship Management and Course Auditor |
ER 128 - Student Alert Fields ER 172 - Student Alert Status Types |
| CS Financial Aid | No items are currently listed in any of the three queues for CS Financial Aid, but there has been, and continues to be, a great deal of work happening in the Financial Aid arena, some of which may result in future ERs. | |||
| CS Student Financials |
ER 132 - CampusCE Embedded Page Navigation Post Student Transaction ER 274 - Student Payment Receipts ER 224 - SF Customer Acct Academic Info Page |
|||
| Finance (FSCM) |
ER 95 - FSCM Close/Open and Balance Sheet Accounts ER 204 - Modifications to WAPAYER 189 - Stale Dating Checks |
ER 226 - PO Receipt & Payment Notifications Alerts ER 275 - Physical Inventory ER 221 - Configuration Setup to use Corporate Cards in the Expense Module |
||
| HCM |
ER 154 - FWL-Future Effective Dated Hire Row ER 264 - (Mandate) Employee Personal data redaction indicator in ctcLink HCM ER 122 - Charge Benefit Expense to Primary Job |
ER 263 - Add Date Applied Column in TAMER 203 - PTF LTD Report ER 171 - TAM Applicant Attachment ER 219 - Automate adjustments to vacation/sick time donations for Shared Leave ER 236 - Implement ePerfomance functionality for all colleges |
ER 254 - Length of ctclink field(s) to store Department names and working titles ER 262 - Faculty Contract Content Visibility ER 202 - ESS_Direct DepositER 176 - Position Management Notifications ER 120 - Manager Self Service Combo Code Change Action |
|
| Other |
ER 242 - (FYI) Automated Offboarding - Security ER 257 - Name Field Changes in ctclink |
Read more
- ctcLink Enhancement Request Prioritization Underway, May 1, 2024 ctcLink CONNECT blog under Cross-Pillar News section
- ctcLink Enhancement Request (ER) Prioritization Process update, May 29, 2024 ctcLink CONNECT blog under Cross-Pillar News section
- See the ctcLink Prioritization Proposal one-pager for more details.
- Enhancement Requests Start with You
Changes You May Have Missed
The SBCTC Application Services team works on behalf of the colleges to eradicate bugs wherever they find them and keep ctcLink PeopleSoft products up to date. The following changes were made in the last week.
CS-FA Bug Fixes
- Modifications were made to 47 existing Financial Aid queries for the 2024-25 financial aid year to help financial aid staff with their work. (CS-2058, Ticket 191357)
- Query CTC_CBS_ELG_VW1 was rebuilt so Financial Aid staff will no longer receive an error when assigning awards to students. (CS-2057, Ticket 193131)
- Student Services Center “message center” link was missing when users went to Campus Community > Student Services Center. Users will now be able to get to the message center again from that page using the link. (CS-2054, Ticket 192190)
- The federal work-study pages as delivered allow for financial aid college staff to access all colleges’ student data. We implemented institutional security to the pages, so staff only see their college’s data. (CS-2049, Ticket 192421)
- The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) notified SBCTC that starting with the 2024-25 academic year, financial aid staff will no longer increase the family size by one for every family member who will be in college/apprenticeship. This means you will not increase the household size applied to the Median Family Income (MFI) eligibility chart. The team made SQL changes to WCG E-008 CEMLI for 24-25 Aid Year to bring us into compliance for this rule change. (CS-2041, Ticket 188911)
- Institutional security was applied to 50 critical Financial Aid pages so college Financial Aid staff can only see data for students at their college. (CS-1825, Ticket 164855)
CS-FA Image Updates
- Thanks to the FA PeopleSoft Release Patchset (PRP) 1.3 and FA 24-25 REG 2 Retrofit , existing customizations will continue to work as expected after the update (CS-2021, Tickets 185242, 190556)
- FA PRP 1.3, 2.1-2.5: Last name search issues in PCD on Suspense Management page. Financial Aid > File Management > ISIR Import > 2024-2025 Suspense Management. Errors occurred on the page when you searched by last name have been fixed. (CS-2039, Tickets 192010, 191790, 191795)
- Migrate FA Equations from AUT up the stack. 20 equation engines were updated or added for Financial Aid. 11 new queries for Financial Aid staff were added as well. (CS-2043, Ticket 191359)
- New FA ISIR federal tax information (FTI) Highly Sensitive Data Query Security - Category 4. New roles, permission lists, and access groups added to ensure highly sensitive category 4 data is secured properly for new Financial Aid data. (CS-1957, Ticket 185149)
- Global FTI records needed SBCTC FA FTI High Sensitivity Access and Role. The FTI records delivered from ED should be available only to FA SBCTC staff. This new access group, permission list, and role make this possible. (CS-2051, Tickets 185149, 192904)
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
CS Core Learning Opportunities
CS Core Training
CS Core Trainings, a valuable learning opportunity, are held on the third Wednesday of every month from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. The dates may change, and notifications will be sent in advance. The CS Core training alternates between refreshers and different process approaches. We highly value your participation and welcome all end-users to attend these trainings. You can find details about upcoming meetings on the SBCTC Calendar, CS Core Weeklyish CORErespondence, and CS Core listserv. Please visit the QRG Campus Solutions Learning Opportunities Recordings for a list of previous recordings.
NEW! CS Core Refresher: Enrollment Appointments
Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, 8:30 – 10 a.m., Read more and join the session.
This session will include the following topics:
- Student Program Plan Discontinuation
- Batch Term Activation
- Enrollment Appointments
- Define Student Appointment Blocks
- Create the Enrollment Appointment Table
- Assign Enrollment Appointments in Batch
The term activation batch job runs more efficiently with fewer active program/plan stacks and fewer term-activated students' tuition calculations. Additionally, it prevents accidental term activations. Develop criteria for when a student must reapply to your institution and submit a ticket to discontinue ineligible students.
Next, we will walk through Batch Term Activation. Before enrolling, students must be term-activated; the local business process will determine the number of previous terms to include. Then, we will create Student Appointment Blocks using Student Groups and Cumulative Units. Student Blocks are One-Time Setups. Once you have set up your Student Appointment Blocks, you do not need to recreate them every term. After creating Student Appointment Blocks, we will set dates and times on the Appointment Table. Finally, we will assign appointments in Batch.
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).
Core Sessions: College System & SBCTC Calendar
CS COREterly Open Q&A Sessions
- CS Core invites you to attend its quarterly Open Q&A sessions! While these sessions are for learning and problem-solving, we want to emphasize that these are also part of our efforts to support community building.
- Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Learn more and join the session
- Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Learn more and join the session
We want these sessions to provide an opportunity for college users to:
- Get assistance with any functionality they want to better understand or situation they are struggling to make work.
- Seek advice on anything they are trying to solve.
- Share best practices and lessons learned.
- Develop networks and build community.
To support the varied work areas of our users, each session will have a breakout room for each of the following modules:
- Records & Enrollment, which includes Student Program/Plan, Term Activation, Enrollment Appointments, Enrollment, Transfer-In Credit, Transcripts, Graduation and so on.
- Campus Community, which includes 3Cs, BioDemo, Service Indicators and so on.
- Curriculum Management, which includes class building, course catalog management, enrollment requirements and so on
Along with your colleagues who can share their real-life experiences and the solutions they have employed; CS Core team experts will be present in each room. We encourage you to submit your questions before the session (but doing so isn’t required). Enter your questions on the CS COREterly Question Submissions tab. Knowing your questions ahead of time just helps us to be prepared and allows us to help as many people as possible.
We hope you’ll join us even if you don’t have specific questions! We look forward to connecting with you and for you to connect with each other.
Hodgepodge: A Treasury of Tiny Topics
Thursday, July 18, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Learn more and join the session
So many topics deserve a spotlight but don’t quite merit an entire session by themselves. So, what to do? We are bundling them up for you in a Very Special Hodgepodge Session!
While we plan to cover some fundamentals, such as understanding effective-dating and best practices in testing, much of this session will be a speed-review of reminders and suggestions about fix-it processes like Synchronize Enrollment Totals and workarounds like Bypassing Clean Address.
Designed to prompt many “Ohhh, RIGHT!” responses and build your muscle memory, this session should be a fun one.
Modules: All
Questions? Contact CS Core Support.
Behind the Integration Broker (IB): Data Synchronization between HCM and CS Pillars
Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Read more and join the session
Seeking clarity about what data moves from HCM to Campus Solutions? And how? We hope to not only satisfy your curiosity but also make it easier for your Student Records and HR offices to stay in sync and achieve your intended outcomes.
This session will be an introduction to what Integration Broker (IB) is, how it works and what it does. We’ll discuss some of the basic consideration points and tips about managing biodemo data, particularly those nuances of being in a multi-pillar, global environment.
Questions? Contact CS Core Support.
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
FIN Learning Opportunities
FIN Training
FY25 Capital Projects: Creating & Maintaining
Thursday, June 13, 2 p.m., Learn more and join the session
July kicks off a new fiscal year, which may include new Capital Projects. Let's walk
through the creation to activation process for a Capital Project. We will also review
the basics of maintaining a Capital Project plus tips and tricks throughout the setup
process:
- Create a Capital Project
- Create and Finalize a Capital Project Budget
- Maintaining Capital Projects
- Time for Q&A
FIN Work Sessions
FIN Work Sessions: FY24 Grants & Projects
Please join the ctcLink Finance Customer Support team for two collaborative support sessions to help troubleshoot, clear-out errors, and reconcile prior Fiscal Year End 2023-2024. This includes ALL Grants, Program Projects, and Capital Projects.
- Session 1: FY24 Grants & Projects - BEFORE 6/30: Thursday, June 27, 2 –3pm, Read more and join the session
- Session 2: FY24 Grants & Projects - AFTER GL Close & BEFORE OBIS Billing Deadline of 7/15: Thursday, July 11, 2 - 3 p.m., Read more and join the session
Questions? See the contact information listed in the event calendar listings above.
ctcLink Accounting Team presents: Chartstring Clean-Up & Special Topics
Join the SBCTC Business Operations ctcLink Accounting team every Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m. for special topics and ChartString clean-up working sessions.
Questions? See the contact information listed in the event calendar listings below.
| DATE/TIME | EVENT/TOPIC |
|---|---|
| Thursday, June 13, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Suspense Account Cleanup |
| Monday, June 17, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Outstanding Checks and Escheatment |
| Tuesday, June 18, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Year-end Accrual Process |
| Thursday, June 20, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: VPA Year-end Reconciliation and Process |
| Friday, June 21, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: FYE24 Open Q&A |
| Tuesday, June 25, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Payable Reconciliation |
| Wednesday, June 26, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Deposits in Transit and Inventory Year-End |
| Thursday, June 27, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: Fixed Asset Reconciliation |
| Friday, June 28, 10 a.m. | ctcLink Accounting Team: FYE24 Open Q&A |
FIN Daily Fiscal Year-end (FYE) Work Sessions
Join the SBCTC Business Operations ctcLink Accounting team for Fiscal Year-end 2023-2024 accounting support and guidance. Topics include FYE preparation, reconciliation, and processes.
These focused work sessions will run daily, Monday through Friday (except holidays), 10 to 11 a.m., July 1 through August 2, 2024.
Questions? See the contact information listed in the event calendar listings below.
FIN Work Session: Grants/Projects Q&A Drop-In
Every second Monday of the month at 11 a.m. join the ctcLink Finance Customer Support team for a collaborative, interactive and troubleshooting drop-in session on everything Grants/Projects.
Questions? See the contact information listed in the event calendar listings below.
| DATE/TIME | EVENT/TOPIC |
|---|---|
| Monday, July 8, 11 a.m. | FIN Work Session: Grants/Projects Q&A Drop-In |
Finance (FSCM) College Users Production Support Meetings
Meetings are held every Tuesday, from 2 to 3 p.m.
These sessions are open to ALL Finance (FSCM) end users. The ctcLink Finance Customer Support team provides updates on Service Tickets, PeopleSoft enhancements, and open forum time to ask questions or request future topics.
| DATE/TIME | EVENT/TOPIC |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, June 18, 2 p.m. | FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting |
| Tuesday, June 25, 2 p.m. | FIN Work Session: YEAR END TOPIC on PO Rollover |
| Tuesday, July 2, 2 p.m. | FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting |
| Tuesday, July 9, 2 p.m. | FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting |
Monthly Student Finance/General Ledger SF/GL Open Forum
Every second Wednesday, 2 to 3 p.m., the SBCTC Business Operations 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.
| DATE/TIME | EVENT/TOPIC |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, July 10, 2024 | ctcLink Accounting Team: SF/GL Open Forum Meeting |
Financial Aid ISIRs Work Sessions
On Monday, June 10, colleges began loading ISIRs to begin awarding aid.
As of this morning, June 12, after two days of hard work (on top of months of grueling efforts), college financial aid teams were given the all-clear that, if they are ready to do so, they may turn on their 2024/25 FA jobs. The queries colleges need to award aid have been moved to production without issues.
During the daily support Webex on Friday, June 14, the FA community will evaluate its needs for the week ahead. Just in case, colleges are asked to block out the June 17-18 and June 20-21 for the same time. (June 19 is the Juneteenth holiday.)
There will continue to be adjustments from the Department of Education (ED) and requisite coding changes from Oracle, so this effort is only the beginning.
SBCTC FAFSA Resources Webpage
Visit the 2024-25 FAFSA Resources web page for regularly updated information for college employees and includes updated FAQ templates including a Q&A center.
FAFSA Simplification Q&A center (for colleges)
Submit questions and ideas about FAFSA simplification efforts to the SBCTC FAFSA Response Team
FAFSA in the News
Higher education partners team up to promote FAFSA completion
Paul Francis, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges executive director; Ruben Flores, Washington State Council of Presidents executive director; and Terri Standish-Kuon, Independent Colleges of Washington president and CEO, teamed up to write a Seattle Times opinion piece encouraging prospective students to complete the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.They noted that in the time it takes to do a few loads of laundry, watch a couple of episodes of your favorite show or scroll TikTok, students could start tapping into money for education and training that will change the rest of their lives.
Read more: WA students, don’t forget the FAFSA; it could change your life, The Seattle Times, June 6, 2024
‘FAFSA simplification’ turns out to be more complicated for everyone
Federal changes to the financial aid application are causing big delays for colleges and students. In a recent Centralia Chronicle commentary, Bob Mohrbacher, Centralia College president, outlined a few ways Centralia College is helping students get through this unprecedented rollout:
- Payment plans with flexibility. We have lowered the enrollment plan fee to $1 and no monthly payments will be required. Tuition won’t be due until Aug. 28.
- Students will be able to charge books from the college bookstore to their student accounts.
- Eligible students can also apply for emergency grants to help with educational expenses, such as transportation or technology.
Read more: Bob Mohrbacher: ‘FAFSA simplification’ turns out to be more complicated for everyone, Centralia Chronicle, June 7, 2024
- Keep up with the latest news from the NASFAA FAFSA Simplification Web Center
Financial Aid PRP 2.7 Upgrade Q&A Session
Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 2-3 p.m., Join Session
The Campus Solutions Financial Aid PeopleSoft Release Patchset (PRP) 2.7 upgrade will be implemented in ctcLink production the evening of Thursday, June 20.
To learn more about these changes, attend this one-hour Q&A session. Prior to the session, SBCTC will send out the link to the supporting document which includes changes the user will experience.
The Q&A session is optional; however, users affected by these changes are encouraged to attend.
Please feel free to reach out to Caitlin Stein if you have any questions or concerns.
Changes You May Have Missed
The SBCTC Application Services team works on behalf of the colleges to eradicate bugs wherever they find them and keep ctcLink PeopleSoft products up to date. The following changes were made in the last week.
CS-FA Bug Fixes
- Modifications were made to 47 existing Financial Aid queries for the 2024-25 financial aid year to help financial aid staff with their work. (CS-2058, Ticket 191357)
- Query CTC_CBS_ELG_VW1 was rebuilt so Financial Aid staff will no longer receive an error when assigning awards to students. (CS-2057, Ticket 193131)
- Student Services Center “message center” link was missing when users went to Campus Community > Student Services Center. Users will now be able to get to the message center again from that page using the link. (CS-2054, Ticket 192190)
- The federal work-study pages as delivered allow for financial aid college staff to access all colleges’ student data. We implemented institutional security to the pages, so staff only see their college’s data. (CS-2049, Ticket 192421)
- The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) notified SBCTC that starting with the 2024-25 academic year, financial aid staff will no longer increase the family size by one for every family member who will be in college/apprenticeship. This means you will not increase the household size applied to the Median Family Income (MFI) eligibility chart. The team made SQL changes to WCG E-008 CEMLI for 24-25 Aid Year to bring us into compliance for this rule change. (CS-2041, Ticket 188911)
- Institutional security was applied to 50 critical Financial Aid pages so college Financial Aid staff can only see data for students at their college. (CS-1825, Ticket 164855)
CS-FA Image Updates
- FA PRP 1.3 and FA 24-25 REG 2 Retrofit . Existing customizations will continue to work as expected after the update (CS-2021, Tickets 185242, 190556)
- FA PRP 1.3, 2.1-2.5: Last name search issues in PCD on Suspense Management page. Financial Aid > File Management > ISIR Import > 2024-2025 Suspense Management. Errors occurred on the page when you searched by last name and that’s fixed now. (CS-2039, Tickets 192010, 191790, 191795)
- Migrate FA Equations from AUT up the stack. 20 equation engines were updated or added for Financial Aid. 11 new queries for Financial Aid staff were added as well. (CS-2043, Ticket 191359)
- New FA ISIR federal tax information (FTI) Highly Sensitive Data Query Security - Category 4. New roles, permission lists, and access groups added to ensure highly sensitive category 4 data is secured properly for new Financial Aid data. (CS-1957, Ticket 185149)
- Global FTI records needed SBCTC FA FTI High Sensitivity Access and Role. The FTI records delivered from ED should be available only to FA SBCTC staff. This new access group, permission list, and role make this possible. (CS-2051, Tickets 185149, 192904)
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
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.
Find the latest information, including notices of cancellation or schedule changes, on the ctcLink Training page or on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
HCM Learning Opportunities
HCM Training
BENEFITS 24/7 Training and Q&A with HCA
Wednesday, June 26, 1 to 3 p.m., Learn more and join the session
Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) staff will present this training and Q&A session on BENEFITS 24/7, the new online benefits enrollment system that replaced PEBB My Account and SEBB My Account. The HCA Team will provide a list of items for discussion and demonstration to be shared with the HCM Support list.
Module(s): Benefits
Primary Audience: Benefits Administrators
Presenter/Facilitator: Agnieszka Pederson, HCM Support; Washington State HCA Outreach and Training
Questions? Contact HCM Customer Support.
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.
- Wednesday, June 12, 1- 3 p.m., HCM Work Session: Payroll Processing Timeline
- Wednesday, July 10, 1- 3 p.m., HCM Work Session: Fiscal Year DRS Calendar Update/Creation (Rescheduled from June 26)
Behind the Integration Broker (IB): Data Synchronization between HCM and CS Pillars
Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Read more and join the session
Seeking clarity about what data moves from HCM to Campus Solutions? And how? We hope to not only satisfy your curiosity but also make it easier for your Student Records and HR offices to stay in sync and achieve your intended outcomes.
This session will be an introduction to what Integration Broker (IB) is, how it works and what it does. We’ll discuss some of the basic consideration points and tips about managing biodemo data, particularly those nuances of being in a multi-pillar, global environment.
Questions? Contact CS Core Support.
Update to View Customer Account
The SF Support team is pleased to announce an update to the View Customer Accounts page in ctcLink per Enhancement Request #224.
Starting Thursday, June 13, the Academic Information link will display information by term in descending order, include the institution field, and show data only relevant to your SACR Business Unit Security. This means only your college's data will be included, labeled with the institution code, and shown from the most recent term.
This enhancement will appear on all SF pages with the Academic Information link, such as View Customer Accounts and Tuition Calculation.
We anticipate this enhancement will help to ease understanding of the student enrollment information displayed. Career Term Data will display for students as long as your Business Unit Security includes college codes of the enrollment. If you have multiple colleges listed within your Business Unit Security, you will retain the ability to view enrollment information from each.
Please reach out to SFSupport@sbctc.edu or Brandon Reed with any questions or concerns.
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
SF Learning Opportunities
Please feel free to reach out to SFSupport@sbctc.edu if you have any questions or need further clarification.
SF Work Session: Second Journal Set (SJS) Updates
Thursday, June 20, 2024, 1 p.m., Learn more and join the session
Join us for a comprehensive training session on the SJS enhancement, which went live in February. We will review the added benefits of this crucial financial tool to ensure everyone is up to date.
As part of our annual updates, we will demonstrate how to update SJS item type project/activity information. We are planning to streamline access so you can make these updates at your convenience without the need to submit a ticket.
Our session will cover:
- Locating, updating, and validating your SJS item types to ensure proper configuration.
- SBCTC Business Operations Division will provide guidance on reviewing and manually posting SJS-generated journals
- The option to automate the generation process.
Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding and efficiency with the SJS system. Join us and stay ahead with these important updates.
Monthly Student Finance/General Ledger SF/GL Open Forum
Every second Wednesday, 2 to 3 p.m., the SBCTC Business Operations 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.
| DATE/TIME | EVENT/TOPIC |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, July 10, 2024 | ctcLink Accounting Team: SF/GL Open Forum Meeting |
Next PCD Refresh updated to July 1
In support of the Financial Aid community's contingency awarding efforts currently underway, the next PCD refresh date will be Monday, July 1, 2024.
This has been updated on the ctcLink Support webpage: Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages.
Why this change?
There was concern among the colleges and the FA Support team that SAIs from the Department of Education uploaded to PCD might get lost, so they want to wait until they’re confident ISIRs loaded into Production are working as designed, so colleges are assured a record to compare what they see in PROD vs. PCD.
To best support the Financial Aid community's activities, PCD needs to be stood up 24/7. In particular, FA Support will be intently working with college clients June 10-12 to load ISIRs into PROD.
Data Summit 2024: Save the Date!
Monday, Aug. 19 (all day) & Tuesday, Aug. 20 (tentative half-day) at South Puget Sound Community College, Lacey Campus.
Planning for Data Summit 2024 is now underway.
The DataLink Steering Committee (IT Commission & Research and Planning Commission) is in the planning stages for another informative event discussing all things data. Last year, participants heard from several areas about work occurring to set a foundation for growth in this area.
In 2024, the committee aims to build on that foundation with valuable discussions and a more in-depth look at our system’s data landscape and data needs.
The agenda is under development but will include:
- Hands-on work with the data
- Deep dives on hot topics
- Topic-specific groups, rather than role-specific
- Opportunities for collaboration
- Information on what’s coming down the road
For the Tuesday half-day, the planning team is considering hands-on, deep dives into a couple of topics, but nothing is set.
Get involved
We want to hear from you!
- Got some ideas? Fill out this online form.
- Want to have fun with your colleagues and help plan the Data Summit? Fill out this online form.
Query Developer Learning Opportunities
Instructor-Led Query Development Training
The ctcLink Training Calendar has been updated with next quarter’s instructor led query development training schedule. Have a look at their fresh offerings.
Step Up your Query Game
Learn more about the Designated Query Developer Training series and start your journey to becoming your college’s very own query guru! Or query wizard, if you prefer. Or maestro. Maybe a goddess, crackerjack, wizard, or maven. It’s up to you!
Upcoming courses include:
- July 9, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 101 Basics - Part 1
- July 10, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 101 Basics - Part 2
- July 30, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 201 Intermediate - Part 1
- July 31, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 201 Intermediate - Part 2
- Aug 21, 8:45 a.m., PS Query Training 102 - Query Security
- Sep 10, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 301 Advanced - Part 1
- Sep 11, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 301 Advanced - Part 2
- Sep 24, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 401 Expert- Part 1
- Sep 25, 9 a.m., PS Query Training 401 Expert- Part 2
Plan ahead for 2024
The ctcLink Training Calendar has been updated with 2024 instructor-led query-related training. To clear filter settings, select None. Then select ctcLink Learning Opportunities > Reporting Training.
How to for Query Developer Courses
The process to enroll in Query Developer Canvas courses has been streamlined. Now, instead of emailing Data Services, simply:
- Visit the ctcLink Training Registrationpage,
- Select the class(es) from the Designated Query Developer Training section,
- Follow the sign-up process.
More for PeopleSoft Query Developers
Find more ctcLink PeopleSoft Query Development resources including forms, documentation, and tools at the ctcLink PeopleSoft Reporting web page.
What’s New in Security?
Interested in seeing what ctcLink Canvas Training you have completed? The new ZZ Staff Training role allows you to log in to the new ctcLink Staff Training Participation Application to see your completed courses. It also allows supervisors to see their direct reports’ completed courses.
The Financial Aid Release went to production with two new security roles that allow you to access federal tax information (FTI) and Federal work study data.
ctcLink Accessibility Monthly Open Forum
Join us! The ctcLink Accessibility monthly forums 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, July 9, 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.
