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ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Jan. 10, 2024

January 10, 2024 by ctcLink Communications

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 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 page or on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply filters).

DATE  TIME  EVENT 
Jan 11  9am  FIN/SF: Second Journal Set College UAT *Kick-Off* 
Jan 11  10am  ctcLink Accounting Team: Revenue Review for Federal, State, & Grants 
Jan 11  11am  ctcLink Security Administrator Meeting 
Jan 11  2pm  FIN Training: New Year brings new Questions! *DATE CHANGE* 
Jan 16  9am  FIN/SF Work Session: Second Journal Set UAT *Session 1* 
Jan 16  2pm  FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting 
Jan 17  8:45am  PS Query Training 102 - Query SecuritySign Up 
Jan 18  10am  ctcLink Accounting Team: Subsid Cleanup 
Jan 18  3pm  FIN/SF Work Session: Second Journal Set UAT *Session 2* 
Jan 22  8am  SF Training: Collections Fundamentals 
Jan 23  8:30am  Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Centralia, Edmonds, Green River, Skagit) 
Jan 23  2pm  FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting 
Jan 24  8:30am  CS Core Training: PERC-Post Enrollment Requirement Checking 
Jan 24  8:30am  Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Centralia, Edmonds, Green River, Skagit) 
Jan 24  1pm  HCM Work Session: Benefits Enrollment 
Jan 24  2pm  FIN Training: BFET Billing & Payment Process *DATE CHANGE* 
Jan 25  10am  ctcLink Accounting Team: Accounts Receivable Reconciliation 
Jan 25  1pm  Fin Aid Work Session: The Adventures of the R2T4 Worksheet in ctcLink - Session 1 
Jan 30  8:30am  Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Big Bend, Bellingham Tech, Grays Harbor) 
Jan 30  9am  Fin Aid Training: Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting 
Jan 30  2pm  FIN Work Session: FSCM Prod Support Meeting 
Jan 31  8:30am  Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Big Bend, Bellingham Tech, Grays Harbor) 
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 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

Enhancement Requests Recently Deployed

Finance ER 185 - (FYI) Combo Edit Rules Update - deployed Jan. 2, 2024

The college system completed conversion to ctcLink software prior to the close of fiscal year 2022.  The combo edit rules require specific data to be entered to process the transactions. The combo edits mirror the same requirements that were often required in the Legacy system. 

Finance ER 248 - (FYI) New Accounts and Account Name Changes - deployed Dec. 26, 2023

  • New Revenue Accounts: The Capital Allocation for Biennium 2023-25 includes New Funds that our system has not used before. These are funds 23N, 26C and 26V. These are State Appropriated Funds and colleges will need to request reimbursements from the State Treasurer in the VPA process for expenses against these capital allocation funds.
  • New Expense Account: Colleges were previously told to use Account 5020015 to submit a % of their Running Start and International Contract revenues to SBCTC for ctcLink support activities. The account is currently titled “Grant, Client Services”. Colleges are currently selecting this account and using it for other purposes, besides Running Start and International Contract remittances, so it is hard for us to identify if colleges are making these required payments or not.  We have created a new expense Account dedicated to this purpose.

Finance ER 190 - Customization of ACH Payment Advice - deployed Dec. 20, 2023

The functionality to generate Payment advice for vendors when payment is dispatched from the Financial Gateway is enabled to send notification to vendors when an ACH process completes. The payment advice generated currently is delivered one and has Oracle logo on it. The requirement is to replace the Oracle logo with college logo/name and to customize the Reference Information section.

Campus Solutions ER 256 - (FYI) Maintaining the Class Search Display To Date in the Term Values Table - deployed Dec. 15, 2023.

Set Up SACR > Foundation Tables > Term Setup > Term Values Table (Display in Class Search tab) The “Display To” Date in the Term Value Table will correspond to the latest “last day of term” in the system, as published on the SBCTC website under Instructional Calendars.  Existing placeholder entries will be updated when the Instructional Calendar is published. The “Display To” date will be the same for Self-Service Student/Visitor and Self-Service Instructor/Advisor.

Enhancement Requests Currently in Testing

  • ER 154 - FWL-Future Effective Dated Hire Row
  • ER 158 – FWL Employee Record Look Up
  • ER 166 – CampusCE Search/Match Parameter
  • ER 193 – Second Journal Set
  • ER 197 – New Hire Onboarding Improvements
  • ER 238 - OAAP Search Match

PeopleTools Upgrade Underway

The PeopleTools 8.59.21 upgrade project is underway. The team is working on retrofits for Portal, Campus Solutions, Finance, Human Capital Management, and third-party tools Nelnet, CyberSource, and Clean Address.

What is PeopleTools?

PeopleTools provides the underlying technology to develop new applications or customize existing  PeopleSoft applications. All PeopleSoft applications are built, deployed, and maintained using PeopleTools.

What is PCD and Why Do We Refresh It?

Testing directly in Production (PRD) — the live ctcLink environment— can be dangerous. For this reason, multiple test environments are maintained for testing and development purposes.

ctcLink colleges have an exclusive test environment called Production College Development (PCD). On the first Monday of each month, the PCD test environment is refreshed to match the live ctcLink environment. This means any changes (or mistakes) made in PCD during the month are erased with each refresh.

All staff have access to the PCD test environment, so they can go wild with testing in PCD, because the slate is wiped clean with each refresh!

What can I do in PCD?

Testing in PCD can include practicing established business processes, developing new business processes, testing security access, developing queries, or researching "What would happen if I did X?" questions. Because PCD is a test environment, any EmplID can be used for testing purposes, including those that belong to real students or staff.

When does the PCD refresh?

The next PCD refresh will be Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Keep track of the 2024 PCD refresh dates at the Environment/Pillar Updates and Outages page.

Learn more at Testing in PCD and Production.

Class Search Display in ctcLink and HCX (Mobile)

In 2021, the system adopted a full-year (four term) schedule for class search display.  As a result, all four terms (Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring) display beginning on April 1 of each year.  While an official determination for the Display FROM Date was established, no such determination was made for the Display TO Date. 

The Term Values Table is populated 10 years in advance by CS Support.  Because this is well before campuses finalize their instructional calendars, placeholder values are entered.  Recently, colleges with later term end dates found their in-progress classes for that term stopped displaying prior to the end of the term.

To eliminate this issue, SBCTC established a new business practice.  From now on, the placeholder values will be updated annually and will consider actual term end dates.  When the Instructional Calendar is published, CS Core will use the latest “last day of term” to update the Display TO dates in the Term Values Table.

This change requires no college action.   If a college changes the term-end date after submitting its Instructional Calendar, the college is responsible for alerting Data Services.  We also encourage you to submit an FYI ticket to CS Core. 

For details, see the 9.2 Class Schedule Display Quick Reference Guide in the ctcLink Reference Center.

Online Admissions Application Portal (OAAP) Enhancement Requests

The following Enhancement Request (ERs) were approved by the ctcLink Working Group:

  • ER 169 – OAAP Improvements from ARC
  • ER 178 – OAAP Email to ctcLink
  • ER 183 – OAAP Buttons, Supplemental Questions, and Suspense Updates
  • ER 184 – OAAP Residency Updates
  • ER 212 – OAAP Admin and Student Sections
  • ER 237 – OAAP Citizenship

Work is currently underway for Priority 1 (Residency & Citizenship) which includes some crossover between ERs 169, 184, and 237.

Campus Solutions staff met with the college OAAP Subcommittee to discuss citizenship values and question logic. The team met with the Admissions & Registration Council (ARC) OAAP Sub-Group on Jan. 8, 2024, and finalized citizenship/visa statuses.

CS Core Partners with ctcLink Security Team

CS Core is working with the ctcLink Security team to enable Advising Notes to be viewed by students in the HCX mobile application. Currently, Advising Notes are set to not display in HCX. CS will submit an FYI Enhancement Request to align the student experience just as they currently can view Advising Notes in the ctcLink Homepage.

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).

Welcome Back Joe Carl

It is with great pleasure that we announce the return of Joe Carl to SBCTC. The PeopleSoft myth and legend returned last week as a Senior Functional Analyst for the CS Core support team.  

For those who may not be aware, Joe helped lead the implementation of Washington's community and technical colleges across all PeopleSoft Campus Solutions (CS) modules.  Many will remember Joe from early trainings, BPFGs (Business Process Fit/Gap discussions), and remediation activities. You can rest assured that his wit, charisma, and CS strengths have returned with him.

Joe is a natural mentor and problem-solver, who seeks sustainable solutions and prioritizes customer service.  With his advanced functional/technical skills and historical knowledge, Joe will be a tremendous asset as we continue to seek improvements to the system.  The team is excited to have Joe back as another humorous motivator, innovator, and collaborator as we continue to deliver great customer service and support to the colleges.

FIN Learning Opportunities

FIN Training

New Year Brings New Questions!

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, 2 p.m. Join session

This Q&A session on any FIN topic or module is not recorded, so feel free to troubleshoot a process or budget errors and share your screen. Please bring your ideas and opinions to suggest future training topics.

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 Feb. 14.

Finance (FIN) Meetings

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

Washington CTC Financial Aid Professionals Lead the Way

The Washington Financial Aid Association (WFAA) just announced its election results. Six of the seven newly elected and executive council appointed leadership roles are from the community and technical colleges! 

WFAA represents higher education financial aid professionals across two-year and four-year public and private post-secondary institutions in Washington state, so this is an impressive feat and speaks volumes of our financial aid community’s leadership and dedication.  Hats off!

Election results

  • Melanie Ruiz – WFAA President Elect: Director of Financial Aid at Shoreline College, Melanie has over 30 years’ experience in financial aid, including the Art Institute of Seattle, the University of Washington, Bellevue College, and NELA. She has served as the Financial Aid Council (FAC) president and served on the taskforce that created questions and criteria for the NASFAA Certified Financial Aid Administrator.
  • Lorena Saucedo – WFAA Vice President for Ethnic Awareness: Assistant Director of Financial Aid Services at Tacoma Community College, Lorena has served as the VP for Ethnic Awareness previously. Lorena is very passionate and committed to the work she does and states, “if you give time and attention to your students and staff you are in a better position to make your work more enjoyable."
  • Josh Holloway – WFAA Secretary: Director of Financial Aid at Peninsula College, Josh began his financial aid career at Peninsula as a work study student and moved forward working at Bellevue College and as a Direct Loan Manager at North Seattle College. Josh wants to help make WFAA the “go-to” resource for the Washington financial aid community and he states his goal is to “help bring new and creative ideas to WFAA and be an advocate… for all Washington colleges and universities!”

WFAA Executive Council members named to new chair roles

  • Chantel Fields – WFAA Communications Chair: Executive Director of Student Financial Resources at Bellingham Technical College, Chantel volunteered as part of the last Conference Planning Committee and designed the fantastic program for the conference.
  • April Tovar-Villa – WFAA Early Awareness Chair: Director of Financial Aid at Lower Columbia College, April volunteered last year as part of the Conference Planning Committee and helped bring about an informative and successful conference for our members.
  • Erin West – WFAA Electronic Services Chair: Financial Aid Program Specialist 3 at Spokane Community College, Erin has served on the EC as Secretary and has been an integral part of our work as we maneuvered and managed the organization through a pandemic and setting it up for success in this new year.

Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities Quickly Approaching

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

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

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

Aid Year Rollover Financial Aid Support Sessions

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

DATE TIME EVENT
Jan 23 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Centralia, Edmonds, Green River, Skagit)
Jan 24 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Centralia, Edmonds, Green River, Skagit)
Jan 30 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Big Bend, Bellingham Tech, Grays Harbor)
Jan 31 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Big Bend, Bellingham Tech, Grays Harbor)
Feb 1 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Cascadia, Olympic, Pierce)
Feb 2 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Cascadia, Olympic, Pierce)
Feb 6 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Bellevue, Everett, Lake Washington Tech, Shoreline)
Feb 7 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Bellevue, Everett, Lake Washington Tech, Shoreline)
Feb 13 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Clover Park Tech, Renton Tech, SPSCC, Walla Walla)
Feb 14 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Clover Park Tech, Renton Tech, SPSCC, Walla Walla)
Feb 20 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Highline, Wenatchee, Whatcom)
Feb 21 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Highline, Wenatchee, Whatcom)
Feb 27 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (North Seattle, Seattle Central, Seattle South)
Feb 28 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (North Seattle, Seattle Central, Seattle South)
Mar 13 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 1 (Bates Tech, Columbia Basin, Yakima Valley)
Mar 14 8:30am Fin Aid Support Session: Aid Year Rollover - Day 2 (Bates Tech, Columbia Basin, Yakima Valley)

Federal Financial Aid Simplification Update

As soon as the SBCTC ctcLink support teams receive the federal regulation updates (Oracle’s current target date Jan. 31, 2024), they will work hard to implement, test, and vet the code in ctcLink to be ready within 30 days of receiving the new configuration.

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.

Intermediate Loan Processing - Loan Troubleshooting

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

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

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

Understand how to work varying examples from the following reports:

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

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

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

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

Intermediate Pell Processing - Pell Troubleshooting

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • View COD Data page
  • Manage Pell Payment page

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

2023 W-2 Deadline

The W-2 table will be refreshed nightly this week. Please note: The deadline to review and reconcile data for 2023 W-2 Forms is Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024

The W-2 Forms will be printed at the Washington State Printing Office and will be mailed on or before Jan. 31, 2024 to employees who did not consent to receive the W-2 electronically.

The errors "Incomplete employee address" on the Tax910ER YE RECORD ERROR REPORT need to be resolved ASAP.

Please note the system will use Mailing Address type for W-2 Forms and if that is not available, it will use Home Address. Any other address type will cause errors and the W-2 Form will not be produced. Please work with your employees to make sure they have in ctcLink an address type of at least Home Address in the USA.

Foreign addresses will not show up on this error report; however, it may cause the federal file to get rejected when it is submitted with SSA. Query QHC_PY_YE_EE_W2_AMOUNTS can be used to filler down to non-USA country employees’ address information.

We received the 2023 year-end file from HCA with the actual cost of the employer-sponsored health care on Jan. 8, 2024, and updated the respective deduction balances in ctcLink. The reporting of employer-sponsored medical and dental costs on the employee W-2 Form is for information only.

W-2 Boxes

  • 12DD - Cost of ER-sponsored health
  • 12W - Health Savings Account (ER+EE)
  • Box 14:
    • (14X) EE Health Premiums
    • (14T) Tobacco Surcharge
    • (14Y) Spousal Surcharge

Please reach out to HCM Support if you have any questions.

HCM Learning Opportunities

Enhancements: Faculty Workload Overview Q & A Session

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, 1-2 p.m., Join Session

SBCTC will implement key enhancements to Faculty Workload in “Employee Record Number Look Up” and “Instructor Term Workload Page” pending the outcome of testing in HCM.

Users affected by these changes are encouraged to attend the optional Q&A session for an overview. Users will have an opportunity to ask questions and log into ctcLink to review the changes.

Reach out to Agnieszka Pederson or Brian Lanier if you have any questions or concerns about the new enhancements.

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.

1098T Statement Processing

The 1098T printed statement processing deadline was Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. If you did not meet the deadline, please inform SF Support of your intended date of processing at sfsupport@sbctc.edu.

If you are experiencing issues and need our assistance, please submit a ticket using the SF: 1098Ts request type and we will set a time to meet.

College & SF Team Ticket SMACKDOWN

We are offering weekly two-hour meeting windows for colleges to collaborate on active tickets with our team.  This designated time will focus on real-time ticket problem-solving to enhance knowledge and foster better understanding.

Throw your hat in the ring!  To sign up and set up a time, contact sfsupport@sbctc.edu.

SF Learning Opportunities

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

Second Journal Set (SJS) Updates User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

We are excited to invite users to participate in UAT for the SJS updates scheduled to move to production sometime in February 2024. The SJS process will transition to nightly automation, streamlining operations by eliminating manual intervention.

Staff involved with Second Journal Set processing, grant budgets and reimbursement, and SF/Finance Management are strongly encouraged to participate in UAT.

Before users can begin testing the new automation process, SJS item types with new/different activity fields must be set up in the CS pillar, see Updating Second Journal Set General Ledger. Testers should also double check chart strings against their grant budgets including project number and activity.

The old Second Journal Set process will cease as of Jan. 22, 2024.  Colleges can begin receiving files as of Feb. 2, 2024 (pending SJS item type updates.)  

Second Journal Set College UAT Kick-Off

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, 9-10 a.m. Join Session

It is strongly recommended all testers participate in the kickoff session. The UAT kick-off session is designed to ensure all testers:

  • Understand the configuration that must happen before testing, and
  • Can access the testing environment. 
Second Journal Set College UAT Sessions

UAT will be held Jan. 11 through Jan. 18. Colleges were asked to send a list of EMPLIDs of staff who plan to participate in testing by Jan. 8, 2024.

Configuration must be completed prior to the two UAT sessions on the following dates:

  • SJS UAT Session 1: Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024 9-11 a.m. Join Session
  • SJS UAT Session 2: Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 3-5 p.m. Join Session

Contact Caitlin Stein, Test Coordinator, with questions.

SF Training: Collections Fundamentals

Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, 8-10 am.

Student Financials Collections Processors are invited to learn about Collections basics including:

  • Collections Guide
  • Pre-Collections
  • Processing Collections
  • Post-Collections
  • Collections Communications

Related QRG: SF Collections

Prerequisite Course: SF105 Collections

This session will be recorded and added to the SF105 Canvas Course under the Additional Resources modules. Please note: to access training recordings, the specific Canvas Course needs to be completed. Register for SBCTC Canvas Courses through the Accessing ctcLink Courses on Canvas page.

Contact Alec Risk, SBCTC Student Financials Functional Trainer.

Student Financials (SF) Work Sessions

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

Legacy Transcript GPA Calculation Update & User Acceptance Testing

The Legacy Transcript team has been working on finalizing a new production release of the application.  This new release will:

  • Change the GPA calculation so it matches what was in the Legacy HP-UX system.  In Legacy, Grade Points were calculated to a single decimal place and in the new Legacy Transcript application Grade Points have been calculated to two decimal places.  In some cases, this may have resulted in a slight difference in GPA for some students. 
  • Ensure GPA values from the new Legacy Transcript application match what was calculated in the Legacy HP-UX system.

Colleges are invited to test and validate the change

Now that this change passed SBCTC’s internal test phase, the colleges are invited to test and validate the change.

All colleges are encouraged to participate in validation. If a college declines to participate in validation, the college is giving approval for the change to move to production based on validation completed by the rest of the community.

Important dates

  • Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023 – Friday, Jan. 5, 2024: College users entered service desk tickets with SIDs
  • Monday, Jan. 8 – Friday, Jan. 12, 2024: Legacy Transcript team review
  • Monday, Jan. 15 – Friday, Jan. 19, 2024: College user review of data provided and acceptance

How to get involved

We are providing colleges with an opportunity to review and provide sign-off before the release is implemented in production.  Since college users no longer have access to HP-UX Legacy or access to the internal QA environment, users that would like to test must follow the following process. 

  • We seek only ONE ticket submission per college between now and Jan. 5, 2024. Please make sure you are your college's designated submitter before sending in your ticket request.
  • Enter a Service Desk ticket using the Request Type:  ctcLink Support > Campus Solutions > CS:  Legacy Transcript
    • Indicate three to five SIDs per college to be validated.
    • Enter GPA Calculation Validation and your college name in the Subject.
      • Example:  GPA Calculation Validation – Columbia Basin
    • Enter the SIDs in the Request Detail.

The Legacy Transcript team will review the service desk ticket and will attach copies of the student’s transcripts from both the Legacy HP-UX system and the Legacy Transcript QA environment where the change resides.  Once the transcripts are added to the notes in the ticket, the Status will be changed to Pending Customer Response and the service desk system will generate an email to the client letting them know that the ticket has been updated and that the GPA values are ready to be reviewed.

Once the review is finished, please note the service desk ticket with your acceptance or with any issues you encountered during your review.

Reach out to Tami Whitney, Associate Director of Testing, if you have any questions.

Query Migration Form Accessibility Fixes

Query migration form accessibility issues have been fixed. The main concern was that text on the page overlapped with an SBCTC logo watermark in the background.  Upon review, we found a violation of Success Criterion 1.4.12 Text Spacing. The page theme was updated and now meets or exceeds WCAG AA contrast ratios for all elements with no overlapping text/watermarks. 

You’re invited! ctcLink Accessibility Monthly Open Forum

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

Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month, 11 a.m. to noon.

The next ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum will be Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, at 11 a.m. All are welcome to attend via Zoom.

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

ctcLink Security College Support

In addition to the Local Security Administration (LSA) monthly meeting activities, the ctcLink Security team:

  • Completed development on Launchpad in Finance so LSAs can copy User Preferences.
  • Loaded data for colleges implementing multi-factor authentication for students.
  • Provided colleges support with duplicate and fraudulent account issues.

SASI College Advisory Group Meeting 

The Security Administration System Improvement (SASI) College Advisory Group is conducting a business process gap review to identify roadblocks or issues in the process that need to be addressed. The group started working on security onboarding processes in December and when finalized, will transition its efforts to employee transfers and offboarding. 

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

 

Last Modified: 9/11/24, 12:05 PM
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