ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Dec. 10, 2025

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
• The SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply ctcLink Learning Opportunities filters).  

Learn about how to register, badging opportunities, and more at the Professional & Personal Development Workshops page.

Registering for the workshops is easy!

1. Visit the SBCTC meetings and events calendar
2. Filter by "CTC Professional Development » Personal & Professional Development Suite"
3. Click "Sign up" button to enroll

Process Alignment Workgroup seeks Employee Onboarding & Offboarding “Bright Spots”

Process Alignment Workgroup: College-driven, Agency-supported, Leadership-endorsed

The Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) Employee Onboarding & Offboarding (EO&O) Task Force members have begun their work toward aligning our system’s 34 colleges in common employee onboarding and offboarding practices.

To help inform their efforts as they review processes in the weeks ahead, the PAW EO&O task force welcomes input from college staff involved in employee onboarding and offboarding activities on their campuses — including HR team members, other HCM users, such as supervisors, instruction office staff, training personnel, ctcLink security, and others involved in these processes.

What’s good?

“Bright Spots” highlight the good stuff, so others can learn from your successes and feel more confident about making improvements.

Submit your thoughts at the Bright Spots Survey: Employee Onboarding & Offboarding today!

Please focus on any aspects of your college's ctcLink Employee Onboarding & Offboarding processes that work well and could be adopted by other colleges.

Get Involved in PAW

The task force aims to engage with all relevant subject matter experts (SMEs) for input and review. They encourage everyone to get involved however they can.

A systemwide EO&O subject matter expert (SME) list is being compiled to encourage collaborative communication and participation systemwide.

cCCG Co-chair Pat Daniels sent the PAW: Employee Onboarding Offboarding College SME Contact List - Google Sheet to the ctcLink College Collaboration group to gather this information.

What is PAW?

The Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) is a systemwide, college-led volunteer effort formed at the behest of WACTC presidents to create common ctcLink business processes in the three ctcLink pillars (Campus Solutions, Human Capital Management, and Finance). 

PAW efforts are supported by SBCTC project management office and ctcLink team members, but no additional state or college funds or resources are available to offset these efforts. 

Learn more about PAW Activities

• Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) Project Overview
• Process Alignment Task Forces
• Employee Onboarding/Offboarding Task Force Resources

Contact

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the Process Alignment Workgroup activities:

• Please reach out to Sindie Howland, Associate Director for Change Management & Process Improvement at Everett Community College, if you have any questions about the Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Process Alignment Task Force.
• Contact Jason Hetterle, PAW Team Lead, Director of Technology & Enterprise Solutions, Wenatchee Valley College, if you have any questions or concerns about the Process Alignment Workgroup activities in general.

Travel & Expense Process Alignment: Tools and Training Ready for Use

The systemwide Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) has concluded its inaugural travel and expense process alignment task force and passed the baton to the ctcLink Support and Training teams.

Recommendations and best practices for alignment are regularly updated and incorporated into ctcLink reference and training materials.

Colleges and SBCTC staff are encouraged to dive in to explore and take advantage of Travel and Expenses Training Resources, including:

• Self-Paced Travel & Expense Training Courses
• Travel & Expense Learning Opportunities - Instructor-led sessions designed for staff who have successfully completed the self-paced Travel & Expense Canvas course trainings. Sessions are delivered on a cyclical basis — monthly, quarterly, or yearly — with the goal of strengthening participant skillsets.
• Recurring FIN Work Session: Travel and Expenses Mini Training & Workshop
• Fluid vs Classic: The Travel & Expense Task Force has recommended using the Fluid interface going forward, as Oracle is no longer providing updates to “Classic” pages. Training materials are being updated to reflect Fluid pages, while maintaining the instructions for “Classic” to allow colleges time to make the transition. Also, Fluid better meets accessibility requirements and is responsive to device size.
• Reference Center Resources: detailed user guides and step-by-step instructions for creating, submitting, approval, and managing travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reports, as well as delegation workflows, troubleshooting errors, budget exceptions, and administrative maintenance tasks.

In January 2026, the PAW Organizational Change Management volunteer subgroup will launch additional resources to help colleges manage the internal and interpersonal processes required to help staff and leadership transition to new ways of doing business.

Feel free to reach out to Gretchen Fulmer, Associate Director of Training, if you have any questions.

Staff Training Participation Application Phase 3 Now LIVE

We are pleased to announce Phase 3 of the ctcLink Staff Training Participation (STP) application is now live.

This new functionality provides information regarding staff attendance participation reports and engagement with our many instructor-led learning opportunities. See details below.

Initial STP Launch (Phase 1)

The colleges experienced an increased need to track online training course completion and progress for members of their staff, so SBCTC created a web-based ctcLink Staff Training Participation (STP) application which displays training course completion information extracted from Canvas.

Users can view their own course completion information, as well as course completion information for any staff within their chain of supervision. 

Security roles are 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 a variety of means including employee ID, supervisor’s name, employee first or last name, department, or training course title. 

An elevated ctcLink security role provides users with college-level training data and is assigned to college designated Points of Contact (ctcLink College Leaders). For ongoing role-level access, the individual local security administrators (LSAs) have the ability to update access for maintenance purposes.

Phase 1 of the ctcLink Staff Training Participation Application went live Monday, June 10, 2024.  

Checklist Implementation (Phase 2)

The integration of checklists to assign required and recommended ctcLink Canvas course training went live Monday, March 24, 2025.  

The Onboarding Checklist available in the Onboarding Training Manuals was replaced with a built-in, automated version. Supervisors now have access to assign and track ctcLink course completions through the checklist feature of the application. 

Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Learning Opportunities Attendance Tracking (Phase 3)

The ability to track staff participation in Instructor-Led Training (ILT) learning opportunity sessions is now available.

Users can view attendance records and engagement information for delivered ctcLink learning opportunity sessions for themselves and any staff within their chain of supervision. Learning opportunity sessions are listed by title and session date. Attendance participation is calculated by dividing the participant’s attendance time by the total session time to assign a participation level to each participant.

The same security roles initially assigned for the Canvas course completion tracking remain active for the latest addition to the application.

Please see the ctcLink Staff Training Participation Application Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for step-by-step user instructions.

More information

The ctcLink Training and Support teams look forward to partnering with the colleges and SBCTC agency staff to provide enhanced onboarding and training experiences for new employees. Learn more about the many available ctcLink learning opportunities.

Please reach out to Gretchen Fulmer, Associate Director of Training, if you have any questions.

Are You Receiving ctcLinkAlerts?

SBCTC uses the ctcLinkAlerts eList to send notices about planned downtime for system updates, production alerts, urgent issues, and any unplanned downtime.

Each college maintains a local ctcLinkAlerts email distribution list (e.g., ctclinkalerts@columbiabasin.edu, ctcLinkAlerts@spscc.edu) which your ctcLink College Leader maintains as needed.

These college lists, not individuals, are subscribed to ctcLinkAlerts@lists.ctc.edu.

Each college chooses who to include, but typically colleges include their local ctcLink leadership, local ctcLink committee or task force members, key subject matter experts, IT, Help Desk, and PIO.

Restock Your Resiliency Toolkit

Take a moment to take care of yourself! Professional and Personal Development Suite workshops are open to all Washington state community and technical college employees, whether faculty, staff, or exempt.

This series of soft-skill workshops was initially developed to support SBCTC IT staff. Once the workshops were discovered on the agency calendar by other SBCTC and college employees, they asked if they, too, might participate on a case-by-case basis.

Learn more about how to register, badging opportunities, college requests for group training, and more at the Professional & Personal Development Workshops page.

The workshops are cross-linked from the SBCTC Professional Development page and the ctcLink Training & Learning Opportunities page.

Questions? Reach out to Corinne Taylor, Professional/Personal Development Trainer.

Upcoming offerings

AI Essentials in Education (AI-Ed) Course for Everyone

SBCTC is excited to announce the launch of AI Essentials in Education (AI-Ed).

This asynchronous, self-paced, online Canvas micro-course is designed to equip faculty, staff, and administrators across all 34 Washington community and technical colleges with the knowledge and skills to integrate AI responsibly into teaching, learning, and campus services.

This is not a ctcLink offering, but no matter your role with the colleges, this course offers practical, ethical, and actionable ways to engage with AI today.

Built by and for our system

AI-Ed is the result of collaboration between:

• Authors and co-chairs of the eLearning Council (eLC) AI Task Force: Joni Gutierrez, PhD, Tacoma Community College Accessible Technology Specialist and Founder of CHAIRES, and Ronald (Ron) Lethcoe, MEd, Clover Park Technical College Curriculum and Instructional Design Specialist,
• The eLearning Council (ELC) AI Task Force, and
• Contributors from the Instruction Commission, Strategic Technology Advisory Council, and SBCTC.

Their collective feedback and support ensured the course aligns with statewide needs and practices.

What you’ll learn

AI‑Ed builds foundational AI literacy with a strong emphasis on ethics, human‑centered practice, and practical application in teaching, learning, and day‑to‑day work. In this course, participants will develop skills to evaluate AI outputs critically, use tools responsibly, and contribute confidently to systemwide AI conversations. The course features five focused, one‑hour modules:

• Defining AI – Core concepts and common myths
• The Ethics of AI – Bias, fairness, and responsible decision‑making
• AI in Action – Tools, prompts, and practical applications
• Redefining Work – Human–AI collaboration and emerging skillsets
• Navigating Change – Adapting and leading with AI literacy

How the course works

• Format: Asynchronous, online, and self-paced in Canvas
• Enrollment: Open, year-round enrollment
• Audience: Faculty, staff, and administrators seeking responsible, practical ways to use AI in higher education
• Time Commitment: Approximately five hours to complete all modules
• Recognition: Earn SBCTC-issued badges for each module, plus the SBCTC AI Essentials in Education (AI-Ed) pathway badge for completing the course

Enroll now!

• Visit the SBCTC eLearning Training Registration page to enroll.
• Follow Canvas login guidance to access the course.
  • SBCTC Agency staff log in with SBCTC credentials; college faculty and staff log in via your home college Canvas.

Questions?

Reach out to Guava Jordan, SBCTC Policy Faculty Development and Ensured Learning.

How to Check the Status of an Enhancement Request

The ctcLink Customer Services Teams have documented all Enhancement Request (ER) forms submitted.

The ctcLink Enhancement Request Status lists are updated the first and third Wednesday of each month to align with the ctcLink Working Group calendar.

You can see where each Enhancement Request is in the governance review process, approval status, and/or any other actions taken in a couple of different views.

High-Level Summary At-a-Glance

The Full Enhancement Request List is sorted by status.

CS Core Updates

A Specific Type of Fraud: Identity Theft

All of us are on high alert and increasingly wary of fraudulent activity.  There are many interrelated issues around fraud that add to the complexity of being able to respond in the most responsible manner possible.  A growing issue is identity theft.  Applications are being submitted using stolen identities, and sometimes these applications are Search/Matched to existing students whose identities have been stolen.

In the case of identity theft that impacts a “real” student, it is imperative that your ticket notes that the fraudulent activity is suspected identity theft and indicates which activity is fraudulent.  Doing so:

• Allows the Support team to separate the fraudulent activity from the student’s valid record and issue the student a new EMPLID. 
• Prevents the creation of duplicate “non-fraudulent” EMPLIDs for the student and ensures that the student’s activities are consolidated under a single EMPLID.
• It avoids obscuring or hiding the “real” student within an EMPLID marked as fraudulent

What are two giant red flags that indicate that an existing student might be victim of identity theft?

A student tells you that they did not submit a specific application or says they don’t know why they’ve suddenly started receiving communications from another college.

Before reporting any EMPLID as fraudulent, survey for historical, converted or employment data that predates the fraudulent application activity.  This data may exist on any EMPLID and is even more likely to exist on EMPLIDs that are “early” numbers and/or begin with 1.  The presence of this data suggests that the original record is likely for a legitimate student or former employee, and the recent suspicious application may be an attempt at identity theft.   

Of course, there are other red flags that point to potentially fraudulent activity, but these two require very little sleuthing to spot!

Please do not include reported cases of identity theft in batch fraud reports.  Batch fraud reports should only include EMPLIDs in which all activity on the entire EMPLID is fraudulent.  Submit a separate ticket to report a case of identity theft.  The CS Core Support Team will separate the fraudulent information and the valid student record. 

A stolen identity might be re-used for future fraudulent purposes; keep an eye out for applications Search/Matched to previous victims of identity theft.

Campus Solutions (CS) Core Pillar Support Web Page

Visit the Campus Solutions (CS) Core pillar support web page at ctcLink Support for all things CS Core-related:

• ctcLink Reference Center Quick Links
• ctcLink Onboarding Training Manual
• Learning Opportunities & Training
• Lists and groups
• Pillar newsletter
• Oracle and PeopleSoft resources

Running Start Series

SBCTC Dual Credit presents monthly virtual sessions for college Running Start staff. Each session includes SBCTC/OSPI updates and time for Running Start college staff to come together and connect. Participants cover a wide range of topics, including Campus Solutions - Student Financials.

The presentation portion is recorded and posted to the SBCTC Dual Credit YouTube playlist.

Feel free to contact Stephanie Rock, SBCTC Student Services & K12 Alignment Policy Associate, with any questions.

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 training courses.

You can find details about upcoming meetings on the SBCTC Calendar, CS Core Weeklyish COREspondence, and CS Core listserv. Please visit the QRG Campus Solutions Learning Opportunities Recordings for a list of previous recordings.

CS Core Work Sessions

Campus Solutions (CS) Core Work Sessions, open to ALL end users, are generally held the first Thursday of each month, from 1 to 3 p.m., but may be offered on an alternative schedule (e.g., to accommodate holidays).

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.

CS Core Work Session features

• Include community engagement within each session (rather than having a formal, predetermined college panel). When possible, we will post the anticipated questions ahead of time so that you can be prepared.
• Dedicate at least the last half hour (2:30 to p.m.) to Open Q&A.
• If the scheduled session ends early and all related questions have been answered, Open Q&A will begin (i.e., it may begin earlier than 2:30 but will begin no later than 2:30 p.m.)

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

Coming up next!

Watch the Core Sessions: College System & SBCTC Calendar for work sessions in the new year.

Questions? Contact CS Core Support.

FIN Updates

Travel & Expense Process Alignment: Tools and Training Ready for Use

The systemwide Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) has concluded its inaugural travel and expense process alignment task force and passed the baton to the ctcLink Support and Training teams.

Recommendations and best practices for alignment are regularly updated and incorporated into ctcLink reference and training materials.

Colleges and SBCTC staff are encouraged to dive in to explore and take advantage of Travel and Expenses Training Resources, including:

• Self-Paced Travel & Expense Training Courses
• Travel & Expense Learning Opportunities - Instructor-led sessions designed for staff who have successfully completed the self-paced Travel & Expense Canvas course trainings. Sessions are delivered on a cyclical basis — monthly, quarterly, or yearly — with the goal of strengthening participant skillsets.
• Recurring FIN Work Session: Travel and Expenses Mini Training & Workshop
• Fluid vs Classic: The Travel & Expense Task Force has recommended using the Fluid interface going forward, as Oracle is no longer providing updates to “Classic” pages. Training materials are being updated to reflect Fluid pages, while maintaining the instructions for “Classic” to allow colleges time to make the transition. Also, Fluid better meets accessibility requirements and is responsive to device size.
• Reference Center Resources: detailed user guides and step-by-step instructions for creating, submitting, approval, and managing travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reports, as well as delegation workflows, troubleshooting errors, budget exceptions, and administrative maintenance tasks.

In January 2026, the PAW Organizational Change Management volunteer subgroup will launch additional resources to help colleges manage the internal and interpersonal processes required to help staff and leadership transition to new ways of doing business.

Feel free to reach out to Gretchen Fulmer, Associate Director of Training, if you have any questions.

Finance Pillar Support Web Page

Visit the Finance (FIN) pillar support web page at ctcLink Support for all things FIN-related:

• ctcLink Reference Center Quick Links
• ctcLink Onboarding Training Manual
• Learning Opportunities & Training
• Lists and groups
• Oracle and PeopleSoft resources

FIN Learning Opportunities

FIN Work Session: AP 1099 FY2025 Processing Drop-in Sessions

Bring your 1099 questions and receive functional support or listen-in and collaborate with your college peers!

Travel and Expenses Q&A & Mini Training

Recurring every last Monday of the month, 11 a.m. to noon, join us for a collaborative, interactive and troubleshooting drop-in support session on everything Travel and Expenses. This session may be partially recorded.

• 11 – 11:30 a.m. Training: The first half of the meeting is typically a short training focused on a particular topic/process in Travel and Expenses. This portion of the meeting is usually recorded. The recording and associated QRGs are posted to the ctcLink Pillar Work Session Information Canvas Course. End-users are welcome to listen in and learn something new.
• 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Q&A: Second half of the meeting will not be recorded. Please come with your questions or issues and be ready to share your screen.

This open time is for college end users to collaborate with functional support and other Travel and Expense staff/supervisors to troubleshoot issues, discuss workflow or process questions, and/or even share your screen. Some examples of topics:

• Canceling EX Payments
• Initial Setup and the Importance of updating Expenses Profiles
• Applying Cash Advances to an Expense Report
• Cash Advance Reconciliation
• On & Off-boarding Employees for Expenses
• Why your Approved Expense Report Won't Stage for Payment

Module: Expenses / Travel & Expense

Primary Audience: Staff, Travelers, Travel Admins/Staff

Related QRGs: FIN - Expenses section of the ctcLink Reference Center

Prerequisite Courses: EX100, EX101 and/or EX102

Contact Alec Risk, ctcLink Functional Trainer.

FIN Work Session: Grants/Projects Mini Training and Open Q&A

Recurring every second Monday of the month at 11 a.m. join the ctcLink Finance Customer Support team for a collaborative, interactive, training and troubleshooting drop-in session on everything Grants/Projects.

Michele Rockwell, MSML, ctcLink Finance Functional Analyst, facilitates.

• 11 – 11:30 a.m., Training: First half of the meeting will typically be a short training focused on a particular topic/process in Grants and Projects. This portion of the meeting is usually recorded. The recording will be posted to the ctcLink Learning Opportunities Information Canvas Course.
• 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Q&A: Second half of the meeting will not be recorded. You are invited to drop in with any questions related to grants and projects at the open Q&A sessions. This open time is for college end-users to collaborate with functional support and other Grants and Projects staff/supervisors to troubleshoot issues, discuss workflow or process questions, and/or even share your screen. Some examples of topics:
  • Grant Billing
  • Modify Grant Award or Capital Project Budgets
  • Amending Awards
  • Project-related Budget/Commitment Control Errors
  • Grant-related Combo Codes
  • Grant-related Item Types

Related QRG: FIN - Grants/Contracts section of the ctcLink Reference Center

Questions? See the contact information listed in the event calendar listings below.

Finance College Users Production Support Meetings

Sessions are on hiatus for the remainder of December and will resume Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.

Meetings are held every Tuesday, from 2 to 3 p.m. These sessions are open to ALL Finance (FIN) 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.

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 Financials/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.

Accounts Receivable (AR) and Billing (BI) Open Q&A

Every other Thursday, these recurring Accounts Receivable and Billing work sessions aim to provide accounting support and guidance regarding, but not limited to, the various reconciliation topics and processes.

Bring your AR and BI questions and get functional support or listen-in and collaborate with your community college peers.

The recorded sessions will be posted to the ctcLink Learning Opportunities Information Canvas Course located under Modules > Finance Learning Opportunities > Accounts Receivable and Billing Work Sessions.

Module(s): FIN [AR and BI]

Primary Audience: Accounts Receivable and Billing Staff

Related QRG: FIN - Accounts Receivable, FIN - Billing

ctcLink Accounting Team Presents

Every first and third Thursday, these recurring work sessions aim to provide accounting support and guidance regarding, but not limited to, the various reconciliation topics and processes. Each session covers a specific topic(s) and then moves to open Q&A.

FIN Work Session: Asset Management Q&A

Every second Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon (except where noted) join the ctcLink Finance Customer Support team for a collaborative, interactive and troubleshooting drop-in session on all things Asset Management.

• 11 – 11:30 a.m., Training: Come learn or share something new.
• 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Q&A: Please come with your questions or issues and be ready to share your screen.

Some examples of topics:

• Tagging Active Assets
• Excel to CI Asset Upload
• Processing issues
• General questions

FA Support Updates

V4/V5 Verification Report Processing Guide

The V4 V5 Verification Report Processing Business Processing Guide is now updated and available at the ctcLink Reference Center.

These updates are in response to changes the Department of Education (ED) announced in June.

New! Direct Loan Troubleshooting Guide now at the ctcLink Reference Center

This new resource is a first steps guide to the most common troubleshooting Direct Loan Validation Errors as they display in the Message Text when you run DLOUT. From the basic FA pages, to configuration, this guide will show you where to look when you are hunting for reasons why your Direct Loan record failed Validation.

The Direct Loan Troubleshooting Guide will be helpful to newer and advanced ctcLink users responsible for managing the Direct Loan program.

FA Weeklyish Bulletin

Trying to recall that important thing you read in the ctcLink Financial Aid listserv FA Weeklyish Bulletin? Don’t miss a thing! Revisit past editions in the FA Weeklyish Bulletin Archive at the ctcLink Reference Center.

Financial Aid (FA) Pillar Support Web Page

Visit the Financial Aid (FA) pillar support web page at ctcLink Support for all things FA-related:

• ctcLink Reference Center Quick Links
• ctcLink Onboarding Training Manual
• Learning Opportunities & Training
• Lists and groups
• Pillar newsletter
• Oracle and PeopleSoft resources

FA Learning Opportunities

2026-27 Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities

As explained during the 2026/2027 Aid Year Rollover Prep FA Work Session on Nov. 6, 2025, all colleges are expected to complete AYRO Part 1 on their own. All the detailed documentation and “how to” was 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.

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

HCM Support Updates

Payroll System Changes - HCM Tax Update 25-D

The Human Capital Management Tax Update 25-D upgrade will be implemented in production after business hours tomorrow, Dec. 11, 2025.

SBCTC has created a supporting document outlining changes the user will experience once the upgrade is implemented.

The HCM Tax Update 25D - December 2025 document includes functional changes for the Payroll for North America module:

• Updated Federal / State Tax Table
• Local Tax Table Updates
• Pay Calculation
• State Tax in Review Paycheck
• 2025 W-2/W-2C Form and File Functionality Changes
• 2025 Form 1042-S

Reach out to HCM Customer Support if you have any questions.

Refresh your HCMemory

HCM Work Sessions are recorded and stored in the ctcLink Learning Opportunities Information Canvas course (formerly Pillar Work Session Info) for future reference.

More about how to access the Training Recordings Archive.

HCM Monthly Newsletter

Subscribe to the ctcLinkSME-HCM list to receive the latest edition of the HCM Monthly Roundup, featuring HCM hot topics, training, and how-to tips.

To subscribe

• Visit ctcLinkSME-HCM – Human Capital Management (HCM) and follow the screen prompts.
• Contact: HCM Customer Support

Human Capital Management (HCM) Pillar Support Web Page

Visit the Human Capital Management (HCM) pillar support web page at ctcLink Support for all things HCM-related:

• ctcLink Reference Center Quick Links
• ctcLink Onboarding Training Manual
• Learning Opportunities & Training
• Lists and groups
• Pillar newsletter
• Oracle and PeopleSoft resources

HCM Learning Opportunities

HCM Work Session - End of Year W-2 Reconciliation

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, 1 p.m., Learn more and join the session

This final work session for the year 2025 follows shortly after the PeopleSoft TAX Update 25-D is installed in ctcLink. Please note this session is on a Tuesday, not the usual Wednesday.

Irena Marinova, HCM Support, will lead the presentation to review functionalities to use for W-2 preparation, data reconciliation, and how to resolve error conditions, and will be joined by SBCTC Central Payroll team members.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about any processes covered.

UPDATED Course: HCM FW100 Faculty Workload (FWL Payroll, HCM)

The Faculty Workload Level 100 Canvas Course (FW100) has been restructured and updated to provide FWL contract builders with additional details/content going over faculty work assignment, contract calculation, generation, approval, acceptance, and pay line extraction at payroll processing time. The assessment exercises have also been redesigned.

Faculty Workload users, brand new and those who have completed this course in the past, are strongly encouraged to go through this revised course version to get the up-to-date information.

Access the Canvas sign on page, then visit the HCM: FW100 Faculty Workload (FWL Payroll, HCM ) course.

New users working with Faculty Workload

If you have not already done so, you must self-register for this course at the ctcLink Training & Learning Opportunities Registration Page.

SF Updates

SF Work Session Volunteers Wanted!

Have you mastered a global process that could benefit your fellow SF counterparts?

Do you have a Student Finance topic you're passionate about? We'd love for you to share your insights with your peers and showcase your expertise! Partner with the SF team (don’t worry—you won’t be presenting alone!) to lead a work session and share your favorite tips and tricks with fellow SF users.

Interested? Please reach out to Pauline Smith, SBCTC Student Financials Functional Trainer, or Brandon Reed, Associate Director of Student Financials, with your topic ideas.

Student Financials (SF) Pillar Support Web Page

Visit the Student Financials (SF) pillar support web page at ctcLink Support for all things SF-related:

• ctcLink Reference Center Quick Links
• ctcLink Onboarding Training Manual
• Learning Opportunities & Training
• Lists and groups
• SF DL Blast Pillar newsletter
• Oracle and PeopleSoft resources
• Student Financials (SF) Resources QRGincluding:
  • Resources that fall outside of other SF QRG main categories
  • ctcLink Training Recordings Archives

SF DL Blast Newsletter

See previous editions of the Student Financials Distribution List Blast: SF DL Blasts.

Subscribe to the ctcLinkSME_StuFin list to receive the latest editions of the SF DL (Student Financials Distribution List) Blast featuring SF hot topics, training tips, and tricks.

SF Learning Opportunities

Please feel free to reach out to SFSupport@sbctc.edu if you have any questions or need further clarification.

• The Student Financials Learning Opportunities Recordings QRG is a comprehensive list of all previous SF-related recordings.
• Previous SF DL Blasts can be found within Student Financials Resources.

SF Work Session: SFRA Cohort 3 Kickoff 

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2-3 p.m. Learn more and join the session 

Staff working with the Student Financial Responsibility Agreement are invited. This session will not be recorded.

Cohort 3 colleges are: Bates Technical College, Big Bend Community College, Edmonds College, Grays Harbor College, Lower Columbia College, Shoreline Community College, Skagit Valley College, and Tacoma Community College.

Topics include:

• General Overview
• Testing in PCD
• SFRA Communications
• Resource Updates
• Q&A

Related QRG: Student Financial Responsibility Agreement

Questions? Contact Pauline Smith, SBCTC Student Financials Functional Trainer.

2025 1098-T Processing Updates

Sign Up for the New ctcLink 1098-T eList

You are invited to join a new eList focused on student 1098-T Tax Statements.

During a recent internal SF 1098-T meeting, we reflected on how far the colleges have come with 1098-T processing and how a dedicated community space for conversation and shared learning could further support that progress.

The new “ctcLink 1098T” eList will be used to:

• Share important 1098-T updates from the State Board SF Team
• Provide a topic-specific space for peer-to-peer questions and discussion. Topics may include ctcLink functionality as well as policy-related news, considerations, and questions

Please note this eList is not a platform for exchanging sensitive information and, like all agency eLists, is subject to public records requests.

The SBCTC SF Team will continue to use both the ctcLinkSME_StuFin and BAR eLists for outgoing State Board communications in addition to this new list.

Sign up today!

We encourage any college staff directly involved in annual 1098-T statement generation, communications, corrections, or policy work to sign up using the link below.
ctcLink1098T eList sign-up link

1098-T Security Lockout Underway

REMINDER! Colleges should not generate 2025 1098-Ts in Production until January 1, 2026. Access to processing in PRD will be restricted during the month of December as an added precaution.

This security lockout took place at the end of business, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 and will be removed on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.

2025 1098-T Resources

Below is a list of training, resource links, and special considerations for this year's 1098-T processing. As in previous years, SBCTC will offer both in-depth training and drop-in sessions, and will continue to update and use the Business Processing Guide.

You can also find the below sessions and links in the 2025 1098-T Business Processing Guide QRG.

2025 1098-T Business Processing Guide

The 2025 1098-T Business Processing Guide QRG has been updated since last year to include special considerations for this year and edits to help process through this difficult task

2025 Special Considerations

Please see Appendix 1 in the guide for additional detail.

Issue - ER999 and Citizenship Status

Beginning with calendar year 2025, SBCTC recommends selecting the Override Citizenship validation within college batch processing. See the Generate 1098-T QRG for details and options for processing.

Issue- Prior Year 1098-Ts

When activity to a prior calendar year takes place, and a prior year 1098-T has not already been generated, it causes an inaccurate current year 1098-T.

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 Financials/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.

Upcoming PCD Refresh & Modified Query Migration Schedule

Modified query migration schedule for December/January holidays

• Tuesday, Dec. 23 migration as per normal schedule
• Thursday, Dec. 25 cancelled due to holiday
• Tuesday, Dec. 30 migration as per normal schedule
• Thursday, Jan. 1 cancelled due to holiday
• Tuesday, Jan. 6 cancelled due to PCD refresh moved to Tuesday
• Thursday, Jan. 8 migration as per normal schedule

January PCD refresh date change

• Moved from Monday, Jan. 5 to Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
  • Colleges will have time to run 1098-Ts in the Production environment on Monday, Jan. 5 before access is locked on Tuesday, Jan. 6 for a period of internal processing.
  • During the lockout, colleges will be able to continue testing their 1098-T work in PCD while the SF Team uses this lockout period to run processes in Production without college intervention, particularly due to the removal of citizenship data from applications this past year.

Query Developer Learning Opportunities

Query Fundamentals Lab

Every Monday effective Jan. 5, 2026, 10-11 a.m., Join the Webex session

Query fundamentals labs are held weekly giving all Query Developers the chance to practice their query development skills. Different topics/skills are covered each week. Past lab exercises and recordings are available in Canvas.

How to Enroll in Self-Paced Query Developer Courses

It’s easy to enroll in Query Developer Courses.

• 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.

ctcLink Accessibility Improvement Highlights

Each monthly ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum focuses on accessibility enhancements and collaborative efforts to improve user experience in ctcLink.

In case you missed a meeting, please see Materials and recordings from past ctcLink Accessibility Forums.

Below is a summary of highlights from the Accessibility & ctcLink Forum Presentation, Dec. 9, 2025 session.

HCM Image 53

Human Capital Management (HCM) image 53 was deployed to production on Nov. 22.

The HCM Image 53 Overview – November 2025 and HCM Image 53 Accessibility Supplemental – November 2025 are available at the main ctcLink Accessibility page.

Okta

Vicki Walton and Josh Giha are testing the Okta Dashboard with Okta Verify application. The Okta sign-in widget was recently updated, so they are conducting accessibility evaluations to ensure it meets required accessibility standards.  Testing will begin the week of December 15 and end Friday, Dec. 19.

Service desk tickets/Oracle service requests

• Accessibility Bug Fix delivered in HCM Image 53 did not fix the issue: Benefit summary horizontal scroll bar missing in small form factor. (Bug 37949705)
• Re-opened closed Service Request: In Firefox - Calendar button gets read as "Button" and not as "Calendar Button"

Status of Open Accessibility Issues

We are working with vendors to resolve the following issues.

Service Desk Tickets/Oracle Service Requests – Campus Solutions

CS Academic Advisement Report – incorrect PDF tags

Fix was supposed to be delivered in CS Image 26.  There was a duplicate CSS declaration on the HTML academic progress fluid page and that was corrected.  They did not make any updates to the PDF though, so we pushed back and asked that to be done.

This was resolved in CS image 26.

Mark-up for 'Add' button incorrect creating WCAG violation

Oracle has accepted this as a bug and development is working on it now.

While Using Screen Reader Mode 'Enter Key' After Submitting Search Criterion Behavior Not Correct

Use Firefox as a workaround.  Fix should come in PeopleTools 8.63.

Service Desk Tickets/Oracle Service Requests – Human Capital Management

In Firefox - Calendar button gets read as "Button" and not as "Calendar Button“

Oracle blamed Firefox as the problem and closed the ticket.  We pushed back and requested the WCAG violation be fixed.  Waiting for development response if they will fix it.

Labels are not read in Screen Reader Mode on Time Header

Resolved in HCM PUM 49.

Inconsistency in the calendar widget within Employee Self-Service Time tile - screen reader mode

Resolved in HCM PUM 49.

Service Desk Tickets/Oracle Service Requests – Finance

Finance - Express Bill Entry Template page.

The screen reader user cannot access any of the checkboxes on the Charge Details tab of the Configure Bill Line Grid Area. On the other tabs in the Configure Bill Line Grid Area, the checkboxes are accessed by the screen reader, but the labels are not read by the screen reader so the user does not know what to check.

This is resolved and was delivered in FS PUM 39.

Issue on Travel Authorization Page

• In FSCM > Employee Self Service > Expenses > Travel Authorizations, the form label was missing from the attachment buttons and was not read by a screen reader.
• Resolved with FS PUM 53.

Cash Advance Screen Reading Order is Incorrect

The reading order has been corrected, but User Default, Import ATM Advances, View Printable Version, Notes, and Attachment items are read twice by the screen reader.  Service requested opened with Oracle.  A defect has been submitted to the engineering team for review.

Service Desk Tickets/Oracle Service Requests – All Pillars

Combo Box dropdown displays one blank row and list items order is not top to bottom

The developers at Oracle are still reviewing. No ETA for this. SR 3-27290185731/Doc ID 2922397.1

Third-Party Vendors

OAAP SSN Entry

For OAAP SSN entry, to be accessible there should be clear instructions on the format desired so you’d ask something like “Birthdate (mm/dd/yyyy)” or in the case of social security number it should say something like “###-##-####” but on having those dashes it seemed to get rejected. On putting the number in as ######### it then took it and let them proceed.

This issue was brought to our attention, and we will be working with Kastech on it.

ctcLink Accessibility Monthly Open Forum

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.

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

Please join us for the next ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at 11 a.m.  All are welcome to attend via Zoom.

• Participants are encouraged to submit ideas for future meetings via an online form.
• Zoom meeting link: ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum 2025 and beyond

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

Keeping the Lights On

In a ctcLink world populated with acronyms and mysterious jargon, the Application Services teams are the “pillar behind the pillars” for Washington’s community and technical colleges 24/7 by supporting ctcLink pillars, systemwide IT applications, environments, accessibility improvements, testing, and managing the network data load behind-the-scenes.

While you may never meet them directly or understand what they do, they support you every single day.