ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Feb. 5, 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 on the SBCTC meetings and events calendar (apply 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

 

New Hires for Winter Quarter? Check out the Employee Onboarding Training Manuals

The ctcLink Customer Support Training team developed tools to assist colleges with employee onboarding in response to several recommendations and requests:

• Aligns with recommendations set forth in WACTC’s 2023 ctcLink Improvement Plan to help employees better understand which learning opportunities and training 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 for which ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact), subject matter experts, and supervisors have expressed a need since go-live.

About the Onboarding Training Manuals 

Onboarding training manuals are available for users in all PeopleSoft pillars, as well as for general staff:

• General Staff Onboarding Training Manual

• Campus Solutions Core Onboarding Training Manual

• Finance Onboarding Training Manual

• Financial Aid Onboarding Training Manual

• Human Capital Management Onboarding Training Manual

• Student Financials Onboarding Training Manual

Onboarding Training Manuals can be found in the ctcLink Reference Center “Welcome to ctcLink – Start Here” section.

Onboarding Training Manuals 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 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. 

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 and current employees. 

Please reach out to ctcLink Training Management if you have questions or concerns. 

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.

It’s each college’s choice who to include, but typically colleges include their local ctcLink leadership, local ctcLink committee or taskforce members, key subject matter experts, IT, Help Desk, and PIO.

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 Enhancement Requests

In-Flight

• ER 232 (FYI) Adding Custom Self-Service Questions
  • Analyzing UAT feedback and identifying potential solution improvements for phase 1 and phase 2
  • UAT activities ended Feb. 4, 2025
• ER 999 Work Package 1 (OAAP ERs #184,169, and 237)
  • Project is in redevelopment to display residency questions dynamically one-by-one and remove the collection of citizenship data.
  • UAT activities on hold

Quick Wins

• ER 269 (FYI) - Enable Advising Notes for student use in HighPoint Campus Experience (HCX)
  • Functional testing is on hold. Analyzing security issue where the student's EMPLID and date/time stamp is not captured in ctcLink when they add an update to an advising note. Currently determining if the date/time stamp is missing for any additional actions a student may take within their ctcLink Student Homepage.
• ER 291 - (1 of 2) Diagnosis Code
  • CS and Security teams are working on this in lower environments. The estimated production release date is Feb. 14, 2025.
  • Configuring and testing new Student Groups
  • Updating security role to read-access and testing the security changes

CS Support Updates

CampusCE bug fixes

The CS team is working with Application Services on two CampusCE bug fixes. Once both issues have a solution in place, we will coordinate with the vendor for internal UAT activities.

• When multiple Search/Match person results are found, staff identify which EMPLID is correct (or determine if a new EMPLID is needed if none are correct). However, after the EMPLID determination is made, ctcLink does not continue processing the CampusCE enrollment and payment.
  • Status:  App Services has developed a fix which will be tested alongside PeopleTools 8.61 upgrade. Testing remains on hold until those activities begin late February/early March.
• Integration does not update the Student Program/Plan stack if students have an existing active CNED stack. This results in a general error message on the CampusCE Transaction Mgmt page in ctcLink.
  • Status: App Services has developed a fix which will be tested alongside PeopleTools 8.61 upgrade. Testing remains on hold until those activities begin late February/early March.

App Services developed a fix for a Quick Admit Issue

When Quick Admitting a student to an admit term that is earlier than any of the admit terms in the student’s Student Program/ Plan record, the Quick Admit process does not create a new career number but instead term activates the student to an existing career.

• Status: This has passed testing in UAT. Currently working with Security team to create two new security roles so staff can add applications, residency, and term activate students for those who already have a UGRD career by using other pages in ctcLink other than Quick Admit. A high-level communication plan has been created to give colleges notice of these changes and the new security role options before these changes move forward to production.
• Related QRG explaining the issue

OAAP Bug Fixes

OAAP "Forgot Username" functionality

Following the deployment of OAAP Okta, the "Forgot Username" functionality was descoped because Okta did not offer a delivered solution. OAAP account names are stored in OAAP as well, so Kastech has designed an OAAP tool to bring this functionality back. This will not require a college UAT.

Status: This has passed testing and will be migrated to production the morning of Feb. 7. A communication will be sent out following a successful migration.

OAAP Clears FERPA Icon in PeopleSoft

An OAAP integration issue clears the FERPA icon record in ctcLink for existing students with FERPA restrictions enabled in ctcLink. The impacted students still have their FERPA restriction enabled, but the window shade icon that displays across some pages in CS would be cleared by the OAAP integration.

Status: Fix has passed internal SIT and UAT activities and will be migrated up the stack along with ER999 OAAP Work Package 1 Residency/Citizenship project. In the meantime, CS Core will run a clean-up query and manually correct impacted records until the permanent OAAP coding change is in place.

OAAP Application Deletion

CS is working with Security to lock down college access so they can no longer delete applications in CS. This causes OAAP integration issues and helps ensure state records retention policies are followed. Colleges will receive communications  before security changes are made.

ctcLink Transcript Term GPA Rounding Fix

On hold. Activities will resume following deployment of ER999 OAAP Work Package 1.

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 CORErespondence, and CS Core listserv. Please visit the QRG Campus Solutions Learning Opportunities Recordings for a list of previous recordings.

CS Core Training: Graduation Tracking and Processing

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, 8:30 – 10 a.m., Learn more and join the session

Join us for an in-depth training session on the Graduation Processing functionality within ctcLink. This session will explore the Student Program Plan Stack, the core component that manages student records and determines term activation and enrollment eligibility. You'll learn how the stack evolves as students progress, ultimately recording essential graduation information upon completion.

We will also navigate the ctcLink Student Homepage, highlighting the Academic Progress tile where students can view their eligible programs and terms for graduation, submit online applications, and receive confirmations. Additionally, we'll demonstrate how credential evaluators can utilize the Graduation Tracking Search page to efficiently review new graduation applications, update statuses, and add relevant notes.

This training provides you with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage graduation processing for a smooth and accurate experience for both students and evaluators.

Module(s): Records and Enrollment

Primary Audience: Records staff

Related QRGs: Awarding Degrees and Graduation Chapter

Prerequisite Course(s): SR106: Credential Management - End of Term & Graduation

CS Core Training: Term Withdrawals

Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 8:30 – 10 a.m., Learn more and join the session

Join us for an essential training session to ensure your college accurately records term withdrawals and maintains compliance with reporting requirements.  Your participation is vital to ensure compliance and seamless reporting.

This training will guide you through the Term Withdrawal process, which is crucial for:

• Accurately recording student withdrawals for Financial Aid offices.
• Meeting National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) reporting requirements.

Key Highlights:

• Understanding the Term Withdrawal process post-census date.
• Learning to record dates for students who withdraw from all classes, resulting in zero units.
• Clarifying that this process applies only to full-term withdrawals and excludes partial course withdrawals.

Module(s): Student Records

Primary Audience: Staff involved with the Term Withdrawal process.

Related QRGs: Processing Term Withdrawals, Processing Term Withdrawals to Recognize 100% Refunds

Prerequisite Course(s): SR102 Beginning of Term Processes

CS Core Training: Processing Deceased Students

Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 8:30 -10 a.m., Learn more and join the session

Join us for a thoughtful and informative training session designed to guide you through the sensitive process of managing records for deceased students with professionalism, empathy, and adherence to institutional policies.

Topics:

• Systematic steps to handle deceased students' records respectfully.
• Best practices for institutional compliance.

This training aims to equip you with the knowledge and tools to navigate this responsibility with care and confidence.

Module(s): Student Records

Primary Audience: Records Staff

Related QRGs: Processing a Deceased Student Record, Entering Decedent Data

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.

In 2025, CS Core Work Sessions will:

• Include community engagement within each session (rather than have a formal, predetermined college panel).  As possible, we will post the anticipated questions ahead of time so that you can be prepared.
• Dedicate at least the last half hour (2:30-3:00 pm) 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)

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, and community building. Topics will be announced as dates approach.

Coming up next!

Join us for Leveraging Available Resources, the first CS Core work session of 2025!

PeopleSoft is used internationally, and we benefit from the WORLD (literally) of existing resources, experience, and knowledge. The configuration of our instance of PeopleSoft, ctcLink, is customized for our system and SBCTC has developed additional resources to support ctcLink users specifically.  But it doesn’t matter how many resources exist if you don’t know how, or where, they are!

Join us for this session and we’ll teach you how to find the answers you need.

• Knowledge sharing (questions we’ll invite all participants to answer):
• Did you know that SBCTC’s membership covers college users?
• How many people have accessed HEUG?
• How do you introduce and promote resources on your campus? 

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 includes 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

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.

Questions? Contact CS Core Support.

Don’t Miss a Thing

ctcLink Customer Support shares information with ctcLink PeopleSoft Finance (FIN) SMEs and users. Join the ctcLink PeopleSoft Finance Users ctcLinkSME_FIN list.

FIN Learning Opportunities

Travel and Expenses Q&A Drop-In

Recurring every SECOND 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 is not recorded, unless otherwise noted.

• 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.

FIN Work Session: Grants/Projects Q&A Drop-In Sessions

NEW! Recurring 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.

Need help with setting up FY25 grants? Feel free to reach out to Michele Rockwell, MSML, ctcLink Finance Functional Analyst.

You are invited to drop in with any questions related to grants and projects at the open Q&A sessions.

FIN Work Session: Asset Management Q&A

Every third Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon, 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

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.

The ctcLink Finance Subject Matter Experts list received a calendar invitation to Upcoming Finance Users Production Support meetings.

Didn’t get the invitation? Reach out to Shon Dicks-Schlesinger, Associate Director of Finance Functional Support.

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.

ctcLink Accounting Team: Reconciliation & Open Q&A Sessions

Every Thursday, 10 to 11 a.m., join the ctcLink Accounting Team for weekly work sessions aim to provide accounting support and guidance in regarding but not limited to the various reconciliation topics and processes. We will cover a specific topic(s) and then move to open Q&A.

 

Financial Aid Support Update

Resources for Reconciliation

• ctcLink Accounting Manual | 50.50.60 Financial Aid Reconciliation
  • Sections include:
  • Who is responsible?
  • Queries for FA, SF, and GL Account Analysis (FIN)
  • With detailed pivot table examples!
  • Drawdown/Billing/Refund Process
  • Financial Aid Billing and Banking
• Fall BAR Session FA to SF Reconciliation
• GEN-24-84 NSLDS Post-screening & Additional Identity Verification for the 2024–25 Cycle (Updated January 10, 2025) | Knowledge Center
• Post-Screening ISIR functionality will be available by early Spring 2025.  Until that time, FPP will not generate ISIRs for applicants with updated information (Pell LEU, UEH, Loan Aggregates, etc.) as a result of NSLDS post-screening.

Financial Aid Query Corner

FLF Service Indicator Process query issue

An issue was reported about query QCS_FA_ASSIGN_PKG_VARS_EI, which used to pop-update packaging variables as part of the FLF Service Indicator Process.

• Issue: When packaging variables are manually updated & Var Num1 field is 0.00 (no enrollment for Fall term), Var Num 1-4 values are updated to 1.00. This overwrote the manual adjustments that were made and may have caused the FLF service indicator to get assigned to students whose aid was already adjusted.
• Resolution: The query was modified to add criteria to look for a value greater than zero entered in Var Num1 or Var Num2 or Var Num3 or Var Num4 field of Assign Packaging Variable page.

Queries updated to include the student email address

• QCS_FA_POST_WITHDRAWN
• CTC_FA_WITHDRAWN_AID_AWARDS
• CTC_FA_WITHDRAWN_UNOFF_AID_AWD

Middle name field

The middle name field has been removed from CTC_FA_WITHDRAWN_AID_AWARDS & CTC_FA_WITHDRAWN_UNOFF_AID_AWD to align with the format of the QCS_FA_POST_WITHDRAWN query.

Friendly Reminders and Ticketing Housekeeping

• When submitting tickets, please submit detailed screenshots.
  • For example, if you are encountering an error in the Message Log, errors posting aid, awarding, or processing of any kind, please grab a screenshot of it for the ticket. 
  • Word descriptions are great, but we are looking to recreate the same error message you are seeing.  Screen shots of the actual message you are encountering, no matter how nonsensical the error message may be, we still want to see it!
• Before you submit a ticket, check your ticket history to see if this is something you have asked about before, maybe in a previous year.
  • That older ticket may have the solution from way-back-when!
• Remember to properly categorize your ticket request types so they are getting to the right tech in a timely manner. 
  • For example, if you are submitting a ticket requesting help with a ctcLink technical issue, the Request type is:  ctcLink Support > Financial Aid > FA(specific function)  If you are requesting a training ticket, the Request Type is:  ctcLink Support > Training > Financial Aid > FA(specific process)

Known FAFSA Issues QRG

SBCTC continues to update the FAFSA Simplification 2024-2025 Known Issues in ctcLink QRG.

Please check back with this document at least once a week. New bug findings are being added as we find them. This document contains the issue at hand, potential workarounds, and timelines expected to resolve the issues.

FA Team Updates

FA Support Team

The Campus Solutions Financial Aid PRP 1.2 upgrade was mplemented in production on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 30. The overview document with the changes the user will experience once the PRP is implemented is now available on the SBCTC website and can be reached at the following link: Campus Solutions Financial Aid PRP 1.2 Overview - January 2025

FA Training Team

• Updates to Canvas Training courses and QRGs are ongoing and will be worked up to include screen updates from the 24/25 FAFSA Simplification.  Announcements will be made in Canvas when as the courses are completed.  This work is expected through January. 
• Updates to Business Processing Guides will be made as time and resources allows. 
• Trainings are planned through March 2025.  As Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) progresses through February/March, training will be held only once a month during the AYRO process.  Once AYRO is completed for all colleges, new training will be announced in April.  2025 Trainings after AYRO will be offered twice a month, on Tuesdays at 9 a.m.

FA Learning Opportunities

Financial Aid Training

Loan Exit Counseling Processing (Intermediate Level)

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, 9 - 10:30 a.m., Learn more and join the session

Loan processing staff responsible for managing exit counseling notifications and email bounces

Objectives:

• Understand the difference between the emailed Loan Exit Counseling notification and the paper print out Loan Exit Packet options
• Understand how to work email bounces using Communication Management
• Understand how to test Loan Exit communications before sending them through Communication Generation
• Understand how to print batch Loan Exit Packets using Communication Generation

Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer (Financial Aid).

ISIR Processing Refresher

Tuesday, March 18, 2025, 9 - 10:30 a.m., Learn more and join the session

New Financial Aid Staff (and staff who need a refresher) who are responsible for ISIR processing in the 25/26 AY

Objectives:

• Understand how to set/update User Defaults for the new AY
• Understand the steps in ISIR Processing
• Upload/download process
• FA Inbound
• Process Imported ISIRs
• Understand how to load ISIRs using the File List Driven process and the Single File process

Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer (Financial Aid).

ISIR Correction Fundamentals

Tuesday, March 25, 2025, 9 - 10:30 a.m., Learn more and join the session

New Financial Aid Staff (and staff who need a refresher) who are responsible for ISIR processing and file corrections in ctcLink for the 25/26 AY

Objectives:

• Understand how to make ISIR Corrections on specific scenarios
• Making Corrections on an Alien Registration Number
• Processing Dependency Override/Homeless Youth Determinations
• Processing Special Conditions/Special Circumstances/EFC Adjustment Request
• Understand how to Process ISIR Corrections in ctcLink using the following steps:
• Process ISIR Corrections
• Create Federal Data File
• Upload/Download File Process

Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer (Financial Aid).

Financial Aid Work Sessions

COD Show & Tell

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, 1-3 p.m., Learn more and join the session

Join your colleagues to learn from our valued FA community member, Chloe Hays, LWIT Assistant FA Director. Learn how to use COD to find student awards, MPNs, batch file information, PLUS loan batches, and all sorts of other COD fun in a system YOU in FA need to perform your jobs.

Audience:  Only Financial Aid Staff with COD access, geared towards newer users

Presenters:  Guest Speaker: Chloe Hays, Assistant Director of Financial Aid (Lake Washington Institute of Technology) & Kelly Forsberg, (SBCTC) ctcLink FA Functional Trainer

EdConnect Show & Tell

Thursday, March 27, 2025, 1 – 3 p.m., Learn more and join the session

Only Financial Aid staff with EdConnect access should attend.

Lorena Saucedo, Assistant Director of Financial Aid (Tacoma Community College) & Kelly Forsberg, (SBCTC) ctcLink FA Functional Trainer, will present this session geared towards newer users.

Join your colleagues to learn from our valued FA community member, Lorena Saucedo, Tacoma Community College Assistant FA Director,  in a financial aid community Show & Tell on how to send/receive files in EdConnect, how to identify varying message class files, what to look for and just general functionality in a system YOU in FA need to perform your jobs.

Contact Kelly Forsberg, ctcLink Functional Trainer (Financial Aid).

HCM Support Updates

Q&A Session: Part-Time Faculty Long-Term Disability (PTF LTD) Report

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, 2-3 p.m., Join the session

The Human Capital Management team is implementing updates to the PTF LTD Report (Enhancement Request 203) including:

• Calculation of part-time faculty's annualized ABBR rate, and
• An update of this rate through a process in Update ABBR page for all active part-time faculty's job data records. These tasks are company-specific.

To learn more about these updates attend an optional Q&A session. We encourage users who are affected by this changes to attend. Note: This session will be recorded and distributed after the session.

We plan to implement these updates in production on Thursday, Feb.13. 

Please reach out to Agnieszka Pederson or Brian Lanier if you have any questions or concerns with the updates. 

Update: Rejected By Payroll - Time Reporting Code - STR (or NTS, TCH)

The following updates have been applied to HCM production:

• The mass update process to update the job data records for non-Salaried NRA employees was run in production this past weekend. It added a new row in Job Data, effective dated 01/16/2025, and removed the set-up for non-Salaried NRA employees on the PeopleSoft delivered Earnings Distribution page, which is accessed by selecting the link at the bottom of the page.
• HCM worked with Application Services to close via SQL Update the T&L payable time that was rejected by payroll for the period 12/16/2024 to 01/15/2025. Hence, the Payable Status for the impacted NRA employees’ payable time has been changed from "Rejected By Payroll" to "Closed."

This will prevent the respective payable time from loading to payroll in the future.

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

New Feature: Manager Self-Service (MSS) Team Calendar

We are excited to announce the implementation of a new feature that was recently released by the ctcLink software vendor Oracle PeopleSoft – Team Calendar. This has been enabled for managers in Manager Self Service.

The PeopleSoft Team Calendar shows employee events in a calendar format that enables managers to track their employees and take action from the calendar. Various events display on the calendar such as Absences, Birthdays, Work Anniversaries, Holidays, and Schedules.

Managers can use the calendar selector to go to different dates and use the Today button to get back to the current period. Some of the features include:

• Toggle between a weekly view and a Bi-weekly view.
• View indirect reports who report to one of your managers.
• Perform a search by name or job title or use the filters for more options.

The Team Calendar can be used on a laptop, tablet, or desktop device, and as a daily or weekly calendar on a mobile phone.  Managers can even take action on items using the related actions. A new Quick Reference Guide is under development.

PeopleTools 8.61

Oracle released the PeopleTools 8.61 update January 24, 2025, and the ctcLink Production implementation is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. All Support Teams will be analyzing and planning for the new functionality and updates to existing functions. Watch for more information regarding the testing plan and dates.

HCM 25A Tax Update

Oracle releasea the 25-A Tax Update January 31, 2025, and the ctcLink Production implementation is slated for Thursday, Feb. 13. Watch for more information regarding the testing plan and dates.

HCM Learning Opportunities

HCM Work Sessions

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.

For calendar details, search the ctcLink Learning Opportunities calendar at SBCTC meetings and events and apply Human Capital Management filter.

Questions? Contact HCM Customer Support.

Student Financials Updates

1098-T Statements

We are pleased to announce that all 113,698 of our college system’s printed 1098-T statements were produced and postmarked by the Department of Enterprise Services as of Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

Please note that  additional 1098-T trainings are scheduled and clean up for accounts may still be necessary prior to the March 31st deadline to upload student info the IRS.  Make sure you are up to date with the 1098-T training schedule & processing details via the QRG 2024 1098-T Business Processing Guide.

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (ER 266)

The SF Team is working with the SBCTC Application Services team to configure the SFRA enhancement (ER#266) into the proper environments for college User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Q&A meetings.  We will be sending out these two UAT dates in the upcoming weeks.  The enhancement is still scheduled for deployment to production before the Summer/Fall registration. Please see the QRG for additional information.

Tuition Rates 

Thank you to the colleges for submitting your preferred meeting times for updating and rolling the 2025/26 amounts in ctcLink. We are now creating tickets to track the required work and setting up February meeting invites. The scheduling calendar has been deactivated, so if any changes to your meeting dates are needed, please let us know through the ticket. 

Nelnet 

For those working with Nelnet payment plans, keep an eye out for additional details from your Relationship Manager, Cheryl Davis, regarding the upcoming connector upgrade.

Please note that Nelnet plans will be paused from June 5 to June 30, with the new connector (interface) expected to go live on June 17. The SF Team is pleased with the testing results and overall experience with this vendor. 

Test Account Balances 

We’ve identified that some production test accounts used by colleges need attention to reduce account balances. Please take a moment to discuss this with your team and ensure that all users at your institution remember to properly reverse and clear out balances as needed. Testing in PCD and Production QRG 

Survey Results 

At the end of 2024, we surveyed the colleges regarding a range of Student Financial training-related topics. The results are now available to the community. 

SF Distribution List Blasts

Did you miss the latest edition?  Find the latest SF Distribution List (DL) Blasts at the ctcLink Reference Center.

SF Learning Opportunities Recordings

The Student Financials Learning Opportunities Recordings Quick Reference Guide includes a comprehensive list of all previous SF-related recordings.

SF Quick Reference Guide (QRG) Updates

• Understanding Item Types
  • Formatting changes have been made to reduce scrolling.
• Copy/Update 1098-T Table/Template
  • The Address Usage field has been added to the processing steps and no-audio video to reflect the encouraged use of SF_1098T.
• Create or Copy a Payment Plan
  • Under the Payment Plan Fee Tab section, an alert has been added that states: “If you want the Assessment Fee to be paid first, either that item type must be in a separate node than the Payment Plan Charge if numerically greater so it can be made higher priority in the CPL on the node level, or the item type must be numerically smaller than the Payment Plan Charge when in the same node so it can by higher priority within the node level on the CPL. Submit a ticket to SF Support for Tree Node changes and Item Type creation.”
• Student Self Service Select Charges to Pay Information
  • An alert has been added under the Payment by Charge (New Optional) section which states: “PAYALL CPL may be used with any SF Term Default. PAYNOFUT CPL, if used, should be used in combination with a SF Term Default Effective Date of the day Enrollment begins for that term.”
• Assign a Waiver for Multiple Students
  • An alert has been updated to reflect that this process only works with waivers that have no criteria.
• Enrollment Cancellation Population (aka Drop for Non-Payment)
  • The Aging Criteria step has been updated to reflect more information regarding the By Days radio button. “The By Days radio button can be used to pull students with balances a certain number of days past due based on their unique due dates, instead of a specific static date.”
• Request Missing Student National ID (SSN) Communications
  • Step 10 has been updated to indicate that the Check Duplicate Communication checkbox should be unchecked.
  • Step 18.C.III has been updated to the following information:
    • “Letter Code: B*3 (can be locally defined)
    • Note: We have localized the Letter Code so that the first letter will always be the letter 'B' and will end in the number '3'. The global Letter Code is B03. The asterisk above refers to your local, 1 Letter School Abbreviation.
  • Term Rollover Checklist
    • Under Term Default, the Effective Date step has been updated to provide an updated example which states:
      • Enter the Effective Date.
        • This date must match the date that registration opens for the Term that you are adding.
        • Example: Winter 2024 registration at my college opens November 15. I will enter 11/15/2023 for the Winter 2024 Term.

SF Learning Opportunities

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

SF Work Sessions

2024 1098-T Processing

Please mark your calendars for the training and drop-in sessions listed below.

For any of the trainings we will also offer Friday morning “follow-up” drop-in hours from 8 to 11 a.m. for 1098-T follow up questions and assistance.

Primary Audience: Student Financials staff

Related QRGs: 1098-T Guide

Contact Email: SFSupport@sbctc.edu

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.

Security Updates

We are excited to announce that the new functionality for Role Copy is now in Production!  For those that requested Role Template User IDs, will receive an email to validate which ones need to be In production.  Please respond as soon as possible so we can get this ready for you all to use! 

New quick reference guides (QRGs) and queries to support this functionality are available in the ctcLink ReferenceCcenter, as is the Project Information Guide for the SASI Project:

• 2 Security - Using Launchpad to Copy User Roles
• Security Administration System Improvement [SASI] Project Information Guide

Hats off to the College Advisory Group for SASI and the PMO team for their efforts in helping the Security Team push this forward!  Big thanks to Laurel Anderson, Jay Parker, Lisa Garcia, Bill Ramirez, and Stephanie Marshall for their hard work and dedication in testing.

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.

Please join us for the next ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, at 11 a.m. All are welcome to attend via Zoom.

• Zoom meeting link: ctcLink Accessibility Open Forum 2024 and beyond

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