All Colleges Step onto the ctcLink Stage
Each Deployment Group (DG) is now engaged in the ctcLink Project at some level: from DG2 about six months from anticipated go-live, to DG6 just entering the Initiation Phase.
First Things First
As each Washington state community or technical college prepares to engage in ctcLink deployment activities, it will have already undergone a set of activities leading up to the starting line of that deployment group’s kick-off. This is referred to as the Initiation Phase and includes all project planning preparation tasks and PeopleSoft environment builds.
Among other things, the Initiation Phase includes:
- Bringing on board a dedicated project manager
- Conducting college readiness activities such as college project charter and execution plans
- Starting change impact analysis and change action plan
- Legacy business process mapping
- Resource plan and allocating a budget
- Initial supplemental systems analysis
The preparation tasks in the Initiation Phase help each college get a running start on the work that begins in the Structure and Construct Phases. In these early phases, the hard work of gaining a solid understanding of PeopleSoft business processes, planning for major changes that come with PeopleSoft adoption, and building their new system begins in earnest.
Eight to 10 months into the Initiation Phase, deliverables are evaluated in a Peer Review process to determine readiness to go through Gate 1 and enter the deployment group to begin Gate 2 activities (Structure phase). Based on the Peer Review recommendations, the ctcLink Steering Committee then approves the deployment group to move through the first gate.
Learn more about the five project phases of ctcLink Quality Gates & Milestones.
Deployment Group (DG) Updates
DG2
Clark College, SBCTC, Community Colleges of Spokane, Tacoma Community College
DG2 is in the Construct Phase, moving toward Gate 3. The ctcLink project team completed the Functional Testing phase and has begun the System Integration Testing (SIT) phase this month.
DG2 colleges and the SBCTC agency continue to engage in final configuration adjustments and data conversion activities and are preparing for pre-UAT training opportunities to prepare themselves to engage in the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) work slated to begin at the end of April and run through August. Anticipated go-live date is October 28, 2019.
DG3
Cascadia College, Lower Columbia College, Olympic College, Peninsula College, Pierce College
Deployment Group 3 is in the Structure Phase (Gate 2), focused on Business Process Fit/Gap (BPFG) sessions and held its project kick-off in February 2019.
Project managers from the DG3 colleges gathered at SBCTC in December for their Initiation Phase peer review.
DG3 subject matter experts (SMEs) and project managers (PMs) took Global Design Approach courses to understand the global framework of PeopleSoft to prepare for the BPFG sessions. PMs have recently begun reporting their colleges’ status for the compiled ctcLink Project Status Reports. Anticipated Go-Live is February 2020.
DG4
Centralia College, Edmonds Community College, Highline College, Seattle Colleges, Wenatchee Valley College
DG4 colleges have been in the Initiation Phase since March 2018 and have begun public status reporting as of late January 2019 as they move toward an October 2020 go-live date. ctcLink project team members visited each DG4 college to walk through their initiation phase deliverables and answer any questions. Anticipated go-live for DG4 is October 2020.
DG5
Bellevue College, Bellingham Technical College, Big Bend Community College, Everett Community College, Grays Harbor College, Green River College, Shoreline Community College, Skagit Valley College, Whatcom Community College
DG5 colleges have been in the Initiation Phase since July 2018. Their college project managers will be trained soon in the public status reporting process as they move toward a February 2021 go-live date.
DG6
Bates Technical College, Clover Park Technical College, Columbia Basin College, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Renton Technical College, South Puget Sound Community College, Walla Walla Community College, Yakima Valley College
The final deployment group steps into the Initiation Phase this spring toward its anticipated October 2021 go-live date.
ctcLink Project Resources
- ctcLink
- ctcLink Project Governance
- ctcLink Project Status Reports
- Document and Resource Links for ctcLink & ERP
- ctcLink Deployment Groups
- ctcLink Quality Gates & Milestones
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NOTE: Members of certain community and technical college distribution lists — SBCTC all staff, ctcLink-cELC, ctcLink-Steering, ctcLink-WorkingGroup, ctcLink-Exec, PM/OCM, PRES, PIO — are on the regular distribution list.
