ctcLink Explainer: Employee Self-Service Demystified

Who can see my personal information in ctcLink?

 BEdA, ABE, ESL, HS21+, HS+, adult basic education, basic education for adults, high school 21 plus - https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/programs-services/basic-education-for-adults/

 Coronavirus, pandemic, COVID, covid, COVID-19, covid-19, virus, closure, proclamation, stay home stay healthy - https://www.sbctc.edu/coronavirus/

 Director, executive director, search, recruit, board director, jobs, president - https://www.sbctc.edu/executive-director/

 

In ctcLink, we can access our own personal information (name, address, emergency contacts, salary, benefits, and more) in one central location Not only can you see your personal information, you can also update and manage some of it yourself.

Because this “self-service” feature does not exist in the Legacy system, many people are surprised after their colleges go live at how easy it is to see and manage this information online.

For some, that surprise turns to concern: “If I can see my personal information online, can others see it too?”

The answer is no. Other people cannot see your self-service page or click on the tiles within to see your personal information. You are the only one with access to that view.

Image: Example of the tiles on the ctcLink Employee Self-Service page.

Because we had little direct access to our own data in the Legacy system, it is quite a change for all of us to readily see this information online, so it is understandable people may have questions and concerns.

Insight into ctcLink/PeopleSoft security and how access to information is set up at each college may help to ease concerns.

The answer to who can see the information included in the tiles largely depends on the security roles assigned to an employee. For example, a person working in payroll will have access to payroll and benefit information for individuals in order to do their work. Certain people in human resources and payroll will be able to access your personal details as well as sick and vacation accrual based on their work responsibilities.

As another example, supervisors have access to certain employee information, such as leave balances and contact information.

While colleges are preparing to go live with ctcLink, they work closely with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical College’s (SBCTC) ctcLink Project Team to establish security roles for employees prior to go-live.

Colleges develop their own security role plan, including approving who can be assigned roles, then assigning, managing, and auditing the roles. Significant improvements in this process are made with each deployment group. For help, or if you have questions about your own ctcLink security access settings, follow your college’s local ctcLink Security process. Your college project manager can point you in the right direction.

Bottom line: Data security is always the highest priority in their work.

While it may take some time to get used to all that ctcLink has to offer, there are many benefits and improvements, such as the employee self-service features. For example, employees appreciated receiving their W2s in mid-January in ctcLink, rather than waiting for it to arrive in the mail. 

Ask the ctcLink Explainer

Is there a ctcLink user topic you would like to see featured here? Email ctcLinkNews@sbctc.edu with your ideas.

 

 

Changes Announced for Recurrences (Recurring Jobs & Processes) in ctcLink

ctcLink Customer Support sent an important message to the CS, FIN, HCM, FA, SF support lists and their related commissions/council on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.

Because ctcLink is a shared resource, overall improvements to system performance help everyone, so we are pleased to announce improvements in recurrences in the ctcLink pillars. A dedicated cross-pillar team strategized and developed these changes to improve your experience using ctcLink recurrences.

What’s different?

• How to use recurrences in ctcLink. See the new Job Scheduling and Recurrences Process Overview QRG checklist, which includes best practices for how to schedule processes, standardized recurrence definitions, and system considerations and impacts.
• New recurrence definitions. SBCTC implemented a consistent and descriptive naming convention to minimize clutter and confusion.
• What you need to do at your college or in your SBCTC department.
• Jobs Currently Scheduled and Running web page will be updated as needed.

Impacts of the change

While the HCM, FSCM, and CS pillars will be affected, the biggest impact for college employees will be in the CS pillar.  Most of the processes running on recurrence in the HCM and FSCM pillars are handled by SBCTC. 

CS, FA, and SF users will notice changes, particularly those who:

• Schedule processes and Jobs to run on a repeating basis.
• Currently have recurrences scheduled because colleges will need to do some clean-up.
• May be interested in using recurrences in the future and want to understand impacts.

Per-pillar access will not change, and CS users will have certain recurrence setup options that are not available to HCM and FSCM users due to centralized, sequential processes.

Timeline

• The Job Scheduling and Recurrences Process Overview QRG and new recurrence definitions were published Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.
•  
•  
• Jobs and JobSets currently running on a recurrence will need to be canceled and restarted using one of the new options: 
  • You can use the following queries in the CS pillar to help identify what is currently running on recurrence: 
    • QCS_PT_RECURRING_PROCESSES
    • QCS_PT_RECURRING_JOBSETS
  • The CS Recurrence Definition Mapping Guide can help users select an equivalent option.
• Update any internal documentation to reflect the
• Old recurrence definitions will be removed on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
  • Colleges will need to complete any clean-up by Feb. 14, 2024.