ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: Feb. 26, 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

 

Process Alignment Workgroup seeks your bright ideas about Travel & Expense processes

The Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) Travel & Expense (T&E) Taskforce members are hard at work reviewing processes to work toward aligning our system’s 34 colleges in common travel and expense practices. 

The PAW Travel & Expense Taskforce pilot team welcomes ideas from travel administrators and any other college personnel who either travel or interact with the travel process on their campuses. 

Get involved 

Submit your thoughts anonymously or add contact information to receive a follow-up at the Bright Ideas: Travel & Expense Suggestion Box. 

The deadline for input is March 21, 2025. 

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. 

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

Travel & Expense (including Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports) is the focus of the pilot taskforce. 

Learn more about the PAW Travel & Expense Taskforce 

• "Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) News," ctcLink CONNECT, Jan. 22, 2025
• Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) Project Overview in the ctcLink Reference Center 

Contact

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

• Lia Homeister, Travel & Expense PAW Taskforce Lead Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness, ctcLink College Leader, Renton Technical College
• Jason Hetterle, PAW Team Lead, Wenatchee, Valley College Director of Technology & Enterprise Solutions

PCD Refresh and Your Queries: Get Ready!

The PCD (Production College Development) environment will be refreshed from PRD on Monday, March 3, 2025. Beginning Friday, Feb. 28, at noon, PCD will not be available for query development until after the PCD is refreshed.

What you need to do

Make sure any PCD queries you want to keep begin with the prefix DEV_ unless you have submitted a ticket requesting backup of queries that will be used for BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision reports.

Standard Queries

Any queries in PCD that do not begin with DEV_ will be deleted.

• This applies to all standard Public and Private queries. SBCTC will perform a query backup for in-progress queries (private and public) that meet the DEV_ naming convention.
• This backup will NOT be done by folder. This means if a query is in the DEVELOPMENT folder but doesn’t begin with DEV_ it will be overwritten and lost.

BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, and nVision Queries

Any query used in a BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision report DOES NOT have to follow the DEV_ protocol as it is very time-consuming to change them back when they are ready to migrate.

Instead, please submit a Service Desk ticket under Data Services – Reporting – Other with the title “PCD Refresh Backup Request.”  Provide the name of the query being developed for use in one of the advanced reporting tools in the request.  These queries will be individually backed up on an as-needed basis.

What to expect

• The queries in the backup will be imported back to PCD after the refresh is complete and a notice is received from Application Services.
• Data Services will send a message to you once our work is complete.
• Please do not log back into PCD after Friday, Feb. 28, at noon but wait until you receive a notification from Data Services.
• Queries that do not follow these naming conventions will be lost

Remember! Naming convention for queries

• Being developed in PCD: MUST begin with the prefix DEV_
• Used for training in PCD: MUST begin with QXX_TRAIN
• Being developed for use in BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision reports in PCD: MUST begin with the appropriate convention based on the reporting tool being used. Do not follow the DEV_ convention. Request must be sent to Data Services via Service Desk ticket.

Why you need to do it

Queries that do not follow this convention will not be backed up and will be lost.

Contact Emily Mullins, Reporting and BI Solutions Analyst for ctcLink, if you have any questions.

Downtime Notice: Scheduled Firewall Hardware Upgrade for dataLink

Friday, March 14, 2025, 5 to 11 p.m.

As part of Stage 2 of the refresh program, firewall hardware supporting your college’s Datalink connection will be upgraded. This enhancement will increase bandwidth for inbound and outbound traffic while adding an extra layer of security to protect our network from external threats.

• Impact: During this time, dataLink connections will be unavailable.
• No action required: This upgrade does not require changes to your local configuration.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the SBCTC Network team.

Join a ctcLink Support eList (aka LISTSERVs)

Any Washington state community and technical college ctcLink PeopleSoft users — including SBCTC staff, ctcLink, and IT teams — are encouraged to join one or more ctcLink-related Mailman eLists (aka LISTSERVs).

Find a list — or two or three or four — and join today at ctcLink Support eLists.

Connect with your ctcLink peers and colleagues

• ctcLink Customer Support sends updates, outage notices, changes to configuration, training and workshop opportunities, global and cross-pillar communications to colleges.
• College subject matter experts (SMEs), PeopleSoft users/stakeholders can use the lists to ask  their college peers questions about how they do things in ctcLink, best practices, local training plans, and more. 

ctcLink Alert: ctcLink Production Environment – Server Maintenance

System Environments

ctcLink Support Page (includes Planned Service Outages)

• PCD Data Refreshes normally take place on the first Monday of every month.  The next PCD data refresh will be Monday March 3.
• HCX Versions.  We are currently on Version 24.2.1, deployed November 2024.  Our next adoption will be all versions through HCX 25.2 in October 2025.  HighPoint delivers releases three times a year, corresponding with the PeopleSoft Image Update schedule.
• PeopleSoft Campus Solutions Update Image.  We are currently on Image 32, deployed November 2024.  Our next adoption will be of Images 33, 34 and 35 in October 2025.  Oracle delivers CS Image releases three times a year.
• PeopleSoft PeopleTools Updates.  We are currently on 8.59.21, deployed April 27, 2024.  Our next adoption will be of PeopleTools 8.61 in April 2025.  Oracle delivers PeopleTools releases every 12-18 months.  PeopleTools provides the underlying technology for PeopleSoft applications, including Campus Solutions.  PeopleSoft applications are built, deployed, and maintained using PeopleTools. 

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.

Enhancement Request (ER) Updates

As of February 24, 2025

• 46 Enhancements were deployed in the 2024 calendar year
• 308 ERs have been submitted (in total since 2018)
  • 248 Enhancements (80%): 216 Deployed, 32 Canceled
  • ERs are canceled if they are no longer needed or if they pertain to local configuration rather than system-wide implementation.
• In-Flight – 19
  • 10 in defining requirements, 5 in design and development, and 4 in testing
• Next Up – 18
• Future Work – 23

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.

Q&A Sessions: Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (ER 266)

The Student Financials team is implementing Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA)  Enhancement Request 266 in production in March 2025.

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) ER 266 Q&A Sessions

• Q&A Session 1: Monday, March 3, 2025 10 a.m., Join Session
• Q&A Session 2: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 1 p.m., Join Session

Each session is a repeat of the same information, so select the time and date that works best for you to attend. This presentation will also be recorded and distributed for any users unable to attend one of the Q&A sessions.

College staff in Student Services should be familiar with this enhancement, including the submission methods available to students.  Staff assisting students with past-due balance holds, especially those at risk of being sent to collections, must know how to access and review the SFRA.

Attending a Q&A session is optional, but users affected by this change are encouraged to attend.

PCD and UAT

• To allow college staff to experience SFRA’s systematic processing, the Production College Development (PCD) environment will be updated with the SFRA process starting Monday, March 3. A notification will be sent to the ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact) listserv once the configuration is complete.
• A user acceptance testing (UAT) survey will be distributed to confirm understanding of SFRA functionality and validate key configuration items.

About the SFRA

The implementation of a global Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) is essential to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, mitigate institutional financial risks, and provide a consistent framework across all community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington.  This enhancement will ask students to agree to a global set of terms and conditions either via ctcLink or via a paper form once per academic year.

Please visit the Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for more information.

Reach out to Caitlin Stein, Test Coordinator, if you have any questions or concerns.

CS Support Updates

Cross-Pillar (CS/HCM/SF) Class Building Workshops

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.

Planning is currently in progress, and official invitations will be sent out soon. Stay tuned for more details.

Questions? Contact CS Support.

CS Support Notice: Winter 2025 Term Course Full Build Downtime

Friday, Feb. 28, 6 to 11 p.m.

Once per term, CS Support rebuilds the Fluid Course Catalog search index to fully refresh the Fluid Course Catalog to match the internal Course Catalog. This process removes inactivated courses from the Fluid Course Catalog search and improves user experience. This process is listed on the Campus Solutions (CS) Process Schedule.

Impact

• The Fluid Course Catalog will be unavailable to staff and students while the Full Build process is running, Friday, Feb. 28, 6 to 11 p.m.
• There is no impact on the ability of students to enroll in classes through Fluid Class Search and Enroll or through HighPoint Campus Experience (HCX/Mobile). There is also no impact on Canvas. Students, staff, and faculty can log in and use ctcLink while the
• Course Full Build is running.
• Course builders will be able to continue building and editing courses as usual.

Contact the CS Support Team if you have any questions.

Admissions: Start off Strong!

We’re pleased to announce a new quick reference guide QRG: Maintaining Applications: Program/Plan & Admit Term Updates Before Matriculation.

This new QRG provides a step-by-step guide for making any data changes needed to an Application for Admission that has not yet been matriculated. The QRG covers how to make changes for applications in the current term as well those involving a future term.

It also touches on some options for tracking those changes (comments, actions reasons).

Shared SSNs

Have you reviewed the Duplicate SSN by Term – More Than One EMPLID QARS report recently? 

This returns EMPLIDs that are using an SSN found on another EMPLID.  Sometimes this is a duplicate EMPLID situation, sometimes not.  Either way, it WILL cause reporting issues if it’s not fixed! 

Please review this report for your college and see if there’s a duplicate that needs to be reported or just bad SSN data that needs to be updated. If you have determined that the wrong SSN has been assigned to an individual who is not a student at your institution, please submit a verified SSN ticket and CS Core Support will remove the SSN and document it’s removal on your behalf.

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: 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 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.

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), and Core Sessions: College System & SBCTC Calendar.

Questions? Contact CS Core Support.

Coming up next!

CS Core Work Session: Term Setup

Has your college run Batch Term Activation only to find out the dates in Term/Session were wrong? Been at a loss as to why a W or refund posted (or didn’t)? Gotten frustrated with enrollment errors based on date issues?

Dates on our foundation tables (Term/Session Table and Academic Calendar) are set very far in advance. When an error goes unnoticed or dates change, the downstream effects can be significant. This session will walk through these tables, what they impact and how to fix things when things go wrong.

Q&A Sessions: Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (ER 266)

The Student Financials team is implementing Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA)  Enhancement Request 266 in production in March 2025.

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) ER 266 Q&A Sessions

• Q&A Session 1: Monday, March 3, 2025 10 a.m., Join Session
• Q&A Session 2: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 1 p.m., Join Session

Each session is a repeat of the same information, so select the time and date that works best for you to attend. This presentation will also be recorded and distributed for any users unable to attend one of the Q&A sessions.

College staff in Student Services should be familiar with this enhancement, including the submission methods available to students.  Staff assisting students with past-due balance holds, especially those at risk of being sent to collections, must know how to access and review the SFRA.

Attending a Q&A session is optional, but users affected by this change are encouraged to attend.

PCD and UAT

• To allow college staff to experience SFRA’s systematic processing, the Production College Development (PCD) environment will be updated with the SFRA process starting Monday, March 3. A notification will be sent to the ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact) listserv once the configuration is complete.
• A user acceptance testing (UAT) survey will be distributed to confirm understanding of SFRA functionality and validate key configuration items.

About the SFRA

The implementation of a global Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) is essential to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, mitigate institutional financial risks, and provide a consistent framework across all community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington.  This enhancement will ask students to agree to a global set of terms and conditions either via ctcLink or via a paper form once per academic year.

Please visit the Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for more information.

Reach out to Caitlin Stein, Test Coordinator, if you have any questions or concerns.

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.

FA Support Updates

Action Required: Cancel Any FA Jobs & Processes Scheduled 5-7p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27

Financial Aid Peoplesoft Release Patchset (FA PRP) 2.1 will be implemented in ctcLink Production the evening of Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.

Any recurring FA JobSets or processes scheduled to run between 5 and 7 p.m. must be canceled prior to 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27.

FA JobSets left running during this timeframe will delay installation of this important FA patch.

Detailed steps can be found in the Process Take-Down Instructions QRG.

Once the migration is validated, colleges will be notified that JobSets and processes can be rescheduled.

Questions? Contact Stephanie Casino, Senior Functional Analyst, Campus Solutions (Financial Aid).

It’s time to work your POPs! 

Working POPs is part of Pell reconciliation.

Potential Overaward Processes (POPs) means a Pell Grant has been disbursed by more than one school and causes the student to exceed 100% of their scheduled Pell Grant awarded.  The POP limit is 150% if the AEI = True in COD (Additional Pell Item Type).  The school will be alerted of a POP through disbursement warning 068.  The sooner you work on your reconciliation and your pgmr (Pell Multiple Reporting Record) files, the easier reconciliation will be. 

Recall that if schools do not reconcile POP students in 30 days, a crnd (negative disbursement) file will be sent to the school.  To avoid this situation, work your POPs within 30 days.

FA Query Corner

The following queries have been updated to remove ISIR Comment Codes 293 & 294, which were comments related to DHS Secondary Matches that used to trigger a C Flag. 

The 293 & 294 comment codes are no longer in use, so they have been removed from the queries:

• CTC_FA_SB_AD_060 – Initiate Citizenship Status Checklist
• CTC_FA_SB_WV_060 – Waive Citizenship Status Checklist

Note, there is no action required in your ISIR JobSet for these Checklist Run Controls.

Did You Know?

To track changes to queries, you can review them in metaLink.  metaLink is a search tool which can be used to search for queries, pivot grids and reports as well as used to view the SQL script used in the creation of Views.

Get all the details in the metaLink Data Dictionary and Search Tool QRG:  Using the metaLink Data Dictionary | Data Services | ctcLink Reference Center

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 Learning Opportunities

Q&A Sessions: Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (ER 266)

The Student Financials team is implementing Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA)  Enhancement Request 266 in production in March 2025.

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) ER 266 Q&A Sessions

• Q&A Session 1: Monday, March 3, 2025 10 a.m., Join Session
• Q&A Session 2: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 1 p.m., Join Session

Each session is a repeat of the same information, so select the time and date that works best for you to attend. This presentation will also be recorded and distributed for any users unable to attend one of the Q&A sessions.

College staff in Student Services should be familiar with this enhancement, including the submission methods available to students.  Staff assisting students with past-due balance holds, especially those at risk of being sent to collections, must know how to access and review the SFRA.

Attending a Q&A session is optional, but users affected by this change are encouraged to attend.

PCD and UAT

• To allow college staff to experience SFRA’s systematic processing, the Production College Development (PCD) environment will be updated with the SFRA process starting Monday, March 3. A notification will be sent to the ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact) listserv once the configuration is complete.
• A user acceptance testing (UAT) survey will be distributed to confirm understanding of SFRA functionality and validate key configuration items.

About the SFRA

The implementation of a global Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) is essential to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, mitigate institutional financial risks, and provide a consistent framework across all community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington.  This enhancement will ask students to agree to a global set of terms and conditions either via ctcLink or via a paper form once per academic year.

Please visit the Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for more information.

Reach out to Caitlin Stein, Test Coordinator, if you have any questions or concerns.

Financial Aid Training

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

NEW! HCM Users Group Monthly Virtual Meet-Up

Monday, March 10, 2025, 9-11 a.m., Learn more and join the session

Join this open-format, virtual meeting to discuss HCM processing, changes, and more. Watch for future meet-ups on the HCM Users Group page calendar.

Questions? Contact Annie Butler, HCM Users Group Chair.

HCM Learning Opportunities

Cross-Pillar (CS/HCM/SF) Class Building Workshops

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.

Planning is currently in progress, and official invitations will be sent out soon. Stay tuned for more details.

Questions? Contact CS Support.

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.

SF Support Updates

Q&A Sessions: Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (ER 266)

The Student Financials team is implementing Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA)  Enhancement Request 266 in production in March 2025.

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) ER 266 Q&A Sessions

• Q&A Session 1: Monday, March 3, 2025 10 a.m., Join Session
• Q&A Session 2: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 1 p.m., Join Session

Each session is a repeat of the same information, so select the time and date that works best for you to attend. This presentation will also be recorded and distributed for any users unable to attend one of the Q&A sessions.

College staff in Student Services should be familiar with this enhancement, including the submission methods available to students.  Staff assisting students with past-due balance holds, especially those at risk of being sent to collections, must know how to access and review the SFRA.

Attending a Q&A session is optional, but users affected by this change are encouraged to attend.

PCD and UAT

• To allow college staff to experience SFRA’s systematic processing, the Production College Development (PCD) environment will be updated with the SFRA process starting Monday, March 3. A notification will be sent to the ctcLink College Leaders (Points of Contact) listserv once the configuration is complete.
• A user acceptance testing (UAT) survey will be distributed to confirm understanding of SFRA functionality and validate key configuration items.

About the SFRA

The implementation of a global Student Financial Responsibility Agreement (SFRA) is essential to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, mitigate institutional financial risks, and provide a consistent framework across all community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington.  This enhancement will ask students to agree to a global set of terms and conditions either via ctcLink or via a paper form once per academic year.

Please visit the Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for more information.

Reach out to Caitlin Stein, Test Coordinator, if you have any questions or concerns.

SF QRG Updates

• Item Type Security
  • A tip has been added that states: “Each individual Item Type can only exist on this page once, whether called by individual Item Type number or under a specific Tree Node. The query QCS_SF_ITEM_TYPE_TREE_NODE can be utilized to see what Item Types fall under each Tree Node.”
• Process Student Write-Offs
  • The global Item Type 800000007500 has been added to the QRG.
  • A tip has been added that states: “This is a reminder that when auditing student accounts, Payment Plan charges need to be reviewed. If a student has Payment Plan outstanding charges, these will show as "FIX PMTPLAN" on the QCS_SF_EVAL_4_WRITE_OFF query. The students should be canceled from these specific Payment Plans which will allow you to write-off the original tuition and fees on their account.”
• Post and Review a Corporate Payment (Cashier)
  • The warning message at the top has been updated and states: “There is the potential for payment swapping when posting a corporate payment through the cashiering office. SBCTC recommends processing corporate payments utilizing the steps provided in the Post and Review a Corporate Payment (Non-Cashier) If you encounter payment swapping due to utilizing this corporate payment method, you will need to reverse the original payment and then re-post utilizing the non-cashier method linked above. Please follow the steps on the Reverse a Corporate Payment/Charge QRG for processing steps.”
• Process Batch Collections
  • Information has been added that states: “This process may take some time and must run to 'Success' in the Process Monitor prior to running other processes. Otherwise, it may cause unexpected results.”
• Assigning and Sending SF Collections Communications
  • The Query CTC_SF_PS has been replaced by QCS_SF_PS.
  • The Selection Parameters tab for Communication Generation has updates including the query, a note about Letter Codes, and selecting Specified instead of Preferred in certain situations.
  • The Video and Links have been updated to reflect the processing changes.
• Create/Update an Adjustment Calendar
  • A Warning has been added that states: “When creating an Adjustment Calendar for dynamically dated classes utilizing the By Class Length % Adjustment Option, please title name it STD_DYN. This ensures that Equations are not impacted and prevents excessive clean-up. It is encouraged to submit a SBCTC Support Ticket when creating a new Adjustment Calendar.”
• Process Running Start
  • The Adjust Billing Units foldable title has been changed to Self-Pay vs. School Pay.

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.

Cross-Pillar (CS/HCM/SF) Class Building Workshops

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with one-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.

Planning is currently in progress, and official invitations will be sent out soon. Stay tuned for more details.

Questions? Contact CS Support.

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.

 

PCD Refresh and Your Queries: Get Ready!

The PCD (Production College Development) environment will be refreshed from PRD on Monday, March 3, 2025. Beginning Friday, Feb. 28, at noon, PCD will not be available for query development until after the PCD is refreshed.

What you need to do

Make sure any PCD queries you want to keep begin with the prefix DEV_ unless you have submitted a ticket requesting backup of queries that will be used for BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision reports.

Standard Queries

Any queries in PCD that do not begin with DEV_ will be deleted.

• This applies to all standard Public and Private queries. SBCTC will perform a query backup for in-progress queries (private and public) that meet the DEV_ naming convention.
• This backup will NOT be done by folder. This means if a query is in the DEVELOPMENT folder but doesn’t begin with DEV_ it will be overwritten and lost.

BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, and nVision Queries

Any query used in a BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision report DOES NOT have to follow the DEV_ protocol as it is very time-consuming to change them back when they are ready to migrate.

Instead, please submit a Service Desk ticket under Data Services – Reporting – Other with the title “PCD Refresh Backup Request.”  Provide the name of the query being developed for use in one of the advanced reporting tools in the request.  These queries will be individually backed up on an as-needed basis.

What to expect

• The queries in the backup will be imported back to PCD after the refresh is complete and a notice is received from Application Services.
• Data Services will send a message to you once our work is complete.
• Please do not log back into PCD after Friday, Feb. 28, at noon but wait until you receive a notification from Data Services.
• Queries that do not follow these naming conventions will be lost

Remember! Naming convention for queries

• Being developed in PCD: MUST begin with the prefix DEV_
• Used for training in PCD: MUST begin with QXX_TRAIN
• Being developed for use in BI Publisher, Pivot Grid, or nVision reports in PCD: MUST begin with the appropriate convention based on the reporting tool being used. Do not follow the DEV_ convention. Request must be sent to Data Services via Service Desk ticket.

Why you need to do it

Queries that do not follow this convention will not be backed up and will be lost.

Contact Emily Mullins, Reporting and BI Solutions Analyst for ctcLink, if you have any questions.

dataLink Downtime Notice: Scheduled Firewall Hardware Upgrade

Friday, March 14, 2025, 5 to 11 p.m.

As part of Stage 2 of the refresh program, firewall hardware supporting your college’s Datalink connection will be upgraded. This enhancement will increase bandwidth for inbound and outbound traffic while adding an extra layer of security to protect our network from external threats.

• Impact: During this time, dataLink connections will be unavailable.
• No action required: This upgrade does not require changes to your local configuration.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the SBCTC Network Team.

Query Developer Learning Opportunities

How to Enroll in Query Developer Courses

It’s easy to enroll in Query Developer Courses.

• Visit the ctcLink Training Registration page,
• 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.

Security Updates

Security role copy functionality has been deployed to production. User acceptance testing for Automated Offboarding is complete.

The ctcLink Security team is keeping busy with data scrubbing in lower environments, the PeopleTools 8.61 update, the HCM Tax Update, auditing Service Accounts, and the Financial Aid Peoplesoft Release Patchset (FA PRP) 2.1.

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, March 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.

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.

Completed/Wins

• Development deployed to production this week
• ER 308 - Foreign Currency Correction Go Live
• ER 308 - Foreign Currency Correction Q & A Session
• ER-266 Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Testing Passed
• FA PRP 2.1 IOVD Completed and Posted to Website
• FA PRP 2.1 System Integration Testing
• PeopleTools 8.61 Technical System Integration Testing
• SASI Work Package #0 Offboarding Automation User Acceptance Testing
• Tax Update 25-A Go-Live
• Tax Update 25-A IOVD Completed and Posted to Website
• Tax Update 25-A Sanity Testing
• Tax Update 25-A System Integration Testing

In Progress

• In Development, SIT, UAT, and Completed
• Code Freeze
• ER-232 Adding Custom Self-Service Questions in Campus Solutions UAT
• ER-266 Student Financial Responsibility Agreement Testing
• FA PRP 2.1 PQA Install
• FA PRP 2.1 System Sanity Testing
• PeopleTools 8.61 PDV Install
• PT 8.61 Test Prep
• SASI Work Package #0 Offboarding Automation Go-Live - tentatively scheduled for 3/4
• Staff Training Participation Application Accessibility Testing

Upcoming

• ER 999 - OAAP Work Package 1 - Residency and Citizenship UAT - TBD
• Nelnet PeopleSoft Connector Upgrade Project Go-Live - scheduled for 6/17
• PeopleTools 8.61 System Integration Testing - Scheduled to start 3/6
• FA PRP 2.1 System Go Live - scheduled for 2/27
• FA PRP 2.1 System Confidence Testing - scheduled for 2/28