ctcLink Learning Opportunities & Support Roundup: March 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

 

Process Alignment Workgroup (PAW) Update

During the WACTC Technology Committee Feb. 27 meeting, Jason Hetterle, PAW Team Lead, and Lia Homeister, Travel & Expense PAW Taskforce Lead, provided an update on the PAW team’s work on travel and expense processes to date.

Jason discussed the submission process for PAW to identify and prioritize alignment efforts is being implemented, as well as a top five list for college leader voting. He also mentioned the ongoing work on the comprehensive PA plan and the addition of a change management person to the task force.

Travel Expense Task Force Update

Lia provided an update on the progress of the travel expense task force, highlighting the positive engagement and collaboration among members. She mentioned that the group is reviewing processes related to travel and expense, with a focus on reducing extra steps and paper forms. Lia also noted that the task force is working on organizational change management and plans to provide a broader status update in mid-March.

The Travel & Expense Task Force, with nine institutions represented, is reviewing processes and best practices across the system for efficiency improvements.

The group meets weekly and is analyzing travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reporting.

Engagement & Next Steps

• Developing and finalizing a process alignment submission form. Jason aims to roll out the submission process my mid- to late March.
• Plan for ongoing updates and integration into systemwide improvements.
• A broader status update on travel and expense task force recommendations will be shared with travel admins across the system in mid-March.
• The goal is to publish a final report deliver final report on travel and expense task force recommendations in Spring 2025.
• Process Alignment Work Group to review submissions and develop a top 5 list of priorities for college collaboration group vote.

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

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.  We anticipate that the next PCD data refresh will be Monday, April 7.
• 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.

Online Admissions Application Portal (OAAP) Demographics Collection Changes

Demographics collection changes are being made to the OAAP.

Compliance review under the Keep Washington Working Act led to the removal of citizenship questions from the admissions application. Residency determination will be based on affidavit and supplementary questions.

The changes are currently in a code freeze due to a PeopleTools update and are expected to be implemented with PeopleTools update on April 26, 2025.

They are working on determining what to do with the data already collected, with a focus on removing it to have consistent data. The team is also considering the potential impact on financial aid and 1098-T tax forms, as well as the need to mitigate confusion for students.

What’s changing?

The following development changes are being implemented to ensure compliance with the Keep Washington Working (KWW) Act and to enhance the OAAP:

• Dynamic Residency Questions: Updating the residency questions to display dynamically using the Residency Affidavit.
• Removal of Citizenship/Visa Information: Removing citizenship and visa information from the application, including from in-progress applications.

Implementation Timeline

• Official communication about the removal of citizenship question from the admissions application will be shared within the next 1-2 weeks.
• Awaiting final legal approval, date TBD.
• Colleges will conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) on the revised admissions application with citizenship question removed in April 2025.

CS Support Updates

Update to CS Pillar Population Selection File Map Access

To enhance system security and protect data integrity, the ability to create or update file maps has been restricted in the Campus Solutions (CS) pillar.

College users still have access to upload files and can view and select from existing reusable public and private file maps; however, the creation of new file mappings is restricted to SBCTC.

Why this change?

• Helps prevent the creation of excessive or incorrect file maps which can impact system performance and data accuracy.
• Prevents users from editing global file maps and disrupting those in use by other colleges.

Questions?

Almost all CS processes already have public file maps available for use by users uploading .csv files.

If you encounter a process that does not have a public file map available for your use, or if you have a case for creating an additional file map, please review the new Population Selection File Maps QRG for more information on how to submit a ticket to request a file map.

Please email mailto:CSSupport@sbctc.edu 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

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

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Course Catalog Management & Class Building
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Class Instructor Assignment & Faculty Workload Processing
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Adding Course & Class Fees
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Open Q & A for CS Core, HCM, and SF college users

This session is for everyone who builds any classes.  Whether you are new to class building or someone who could benefit from a refresher on how the puzzle pieces fit together, this workshop is for you! 

During the workshop, we will provide an overview of the basics, go over some common mistakes to avoid, and engage users in a session full of “aha!” moments that help you feel connected and supported in the work you do.

In addition to your regular class builder(s), please extend this invitation to those on your campus who build classes as one of many tasks.  Our goal is to engage staff in those departments that provide comprehensive service to a specific population or area (e.g., ABE, DOC, CE), who also build classes and who may not generally be included in opportunities such as this one. 

College users are welcome to attend all workshop sessions or only the session(s) relevant to your work. There is no sign-up or session preparation required; simply add the meeting invite to your calendar and we look forward to seeing you there!

Questions? Contact CS Support.

CS Core and HCM Cross-Pillar Training: Search/Match: Your Frontline Defense Against Duplicate IDs

Wednesday, March 26, 8:30 to 10 a.m., Learn more and join the session

In this session, we will explore practical strategies to prevent duplicate records. We will discuss best practices for Search/Match and review appropriate actions when duplicates are identified. We look forward to your participation and insights.

When adding a new individual to PeopleSoft, the process should always begin with Search/Match to prevent duplicate records and unnecessary new EMPL IDs. The Search/Match functionality reviews existing records to determine if the individual is already in the system. This may be true if they are current or former employees, current or former students at your institution, or students at another ctcLink institution.

In the new hire business process, Search/Match is essential for verifying that an EMPL ID or SSN does not already exist within the HCM or Campus Solutions environments before proceeding with a hire. Skipping this step can result in multiple EMPL IDs for a single employee, creating administrative challenges and data inconsistencies. Since personal data is not visible for verification until the hiring process is complete, conducting this search early is vital for maintaining data integrity.



Duplicate EMPL IDs often arise when new biographical and demographic (bio/demo) information entered into PeopleSoft differs slightly from existing data. Although the system issues warnings when potential duplicates are detected, users sometimes disregard these alerts, leading to duplicate records.


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).

Core Sessions: College System & SBCTC Calendar

Coming up next!

Join us for CS Core Work Session: Term Setup on March 6.

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. If any of the following has happened, this session is for you:

• 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?

Questions? Contact CS Core Support.

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FIN Learning Opportunities

Fin Training

FIN Training: AP Utilizing the Payables Operations Homepage

Thursday, March 6, 2 p.m., Learn more and join the session

Are you utilizing the Payables Operations Homepage? Want to learn more about it? Join us for an intermediate session on this Fluid navigational tool and learn to utilize it to quickly perform tasks and processes for the Accounts Payable Module. All end users are welcome to join in and gain perspective, even if the topic is not in their area.

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.

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Financial Aid Business Process Review Update

Dani Bundy, ctcLink Customer Support Director, discussed the next steps following the College Aid Services (CAS) review during the Feb. 27 WACTC Technology Committee meeting.

To meet the need for a comprehensive financial aid policy and procedures manual, SBCTC will fund a third-party consultant (CAS) to facilitate global financial aid policy and procedure development

SBCTC has finalized the contract with College Aid Services (CAS) to develop a comprehensive global financial aid policies and procedures manual for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). 

Next steps

• SBCTC kicks off with College Aid Services next week – A kickoff meeting with Policy and IT Staff will be scheduled to establish a shared understanding of project objectives, roles, and expectations.
• Develop Project Plan – A comprehensive project plan will be created, outlining specific timelines, key milestones, and deliverables to ensure a structured and efficient rollout.
• Coordinate with Financial Aid Council (FAC) – Engagement with the FAC will be prioritized to align financial aid considerations with the proposed changes and ensure a smooth implementation across institutions.

FA Support Updates

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

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).

Fin Aid Training: Intermediate Reconciliation Queries Review

Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 9 to 11 a.m., Learn more and join the session

This Fin Aid Training Session is an intermediate review on the reconciliation queries found in the Fund Management Business Processing Guide.

Objectives:

• Understand how to work examples in the reconciliation queries in the Fund Management Business Processing Guide
• CTC_FA_SF_DISCREPANCY_LIST
• CTC_FA_DISBURSED_BY_DATE_UNITS
• QCS_SF_FA_SA_APPLIED_SUMMARY
• QCS_SF_FA_SA_APPLIED_DETAILS
• CTC_FA_ITEM_DISBURSED
• CTC_FA_CBS_AND_SNG_LIST
• CTC_FA_WAITLISTED_AWARDS
• CTC_FA_TERM_ITEM_TYPE_AWARDED
• CTC_FA_THIRD_PARTY_PYMNTS
• QCS_FA_GRP_PAY
• CTC_FA_DISBURSED_BY_DATE_UNITS
• CTC_FA_OVERAWARDED
• CTC_FA_TERM_OVERAWARDED
• Understand how often these should be worked and impacts to not running them in a timely manner 

Audience:  FA Staff responsible for account reconciliation

Fin Aid Training: Intermediate WCG Interim Error Report Review

Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 9 to 11 a.m., Learn more and join the session

This Fin Aid Training Session is an intermediate review on the Washington College Grant (WCG) Interim Error Report, from examples found in the FA206 Intermediate FA Reporting Canvas course and the Troubleshooting section in the WCG Interim Business Processing Guide.

Objectives: Understand how to work error examples in the WCG Interim Error Report

Audience:   FA Staff responsible for account WCG Reporting and reconciliation

Financial Aid Work Sessions

Aid Year Rollover (AYRO) Activities Winding Down

The last four colleges are scheduled for their AYRO sessions.

All colleges are expected to complete AYRO Part 1 on their own. All the detailed documentation and “how to” is included in your meeting invite for AYRO. Should you have any questions while completing AYRO Part 1, please submit a ticket under ctcLink Support > Financial Aid > FA AYRO.

The goal is for each college to complete AYRO Part 1 before attending the AYRO Part 2 Work Session. Please be sure to submit tickets related to AYRO Part 1 no later than one week before your scheduled AYRO Part 2 Work Session.

Aid Year Rollover Financial Aid Support Sessions

All colleges' schedules are listed at the SBCTC Calendar.

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).

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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) End-to-End Class Building Workshops

These sessions are for everyone who builds any classes.  Whether you are new to class building or someone who could benefit from a refresher on how the puzzle pieces fit together, this workshop is for you! 

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Course Catalog Management & Class Building
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Class Instructor Assignment & Faculty Workload Processing
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Adding Course & Class Fees
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Open Q & A for CS Core, HCM, and SF college users

During the workshop, we will provide an overview of the basics, go over some common mistakes to avoid, and engage users in a session full of “aha!” moments that help you feel connected and supported in the work you do.

In addition to your regular class builder(s), please extend this invitation to those on your campus who build classes as one of many tasks.  Our goal is to engage staff in those departments that provide comprehensive service to a specific population or area (e.g., ABE, DOC, CE), who also build classes and who may not generally be included in opportunities such as this one. 

College users are welcome to attend all workshop sessions or only the session(s) relevant to your work. There is no sign-up or session preparation required; simply add the meeting invite to your calendar and we look forward to seeing you there!

Questions? Contact CS Support.

HCM Training

CS Core and HCM Cross-Pillar Training: Search/Match: Your Frontline Defense Against Duplicate IDs

Wednesday, March 26, 8:30 to 10 a.m., Learn more and join the session

In this session, we will explore practical strategies to prevent duplicate records. We will discuss best practices for Search/Match and review appropriate actions when duplicates are identified. We look forward to your participation and insights.

When adding a new individual to PeopleSoft, the process should always begin with Search/Match to prevent duplicate records and unnecessary new EMPL IDs. The Search/Match functionality reviews existing records to determine if the individual is already in the system. This may be true if they are current or former employees, current or former students at your institution, or students at another ctcLink institution.



In the new hire business process, Search/Match is essential for verifying that an EMPL ID or SSN does not already exist within the HCM or Campus Solutions environments before proceeding with a hire. Skipping this step can result in multiple EMPL IDs for a single employee, creating administrative challenges and data inconsistencies. Since personal data is not visible for verification until the hiring process is complete, conducting this search early is vital for maintaining data integrity.



Duplicate EMPL IDs often arise when new biographical and demographic (bio/demo) information entered into PeopleSoft differs slightly from existing data. Although the system issues warnings when potential duplicates are detected, users sometimes disregard these alerts, leading to duplicate records.


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.

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SF Support Updates

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) End-to-End Class Building Workshops

These sessions are for everyone who builds any classes.  Whether you are new to class building or someone who could benefit from a refresher on how the puzzle pieces fit together, this workshop is for you! 

• Tuesday, March 25, Class Building Workshop Day 1
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Course Catalog Management & Class Building
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Class Instructor Assignment & Faculty Workload Processing
• Thursday, March 27, Class Building Workshop Day 2
  • 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Adding Course & Class Fees
  • 12 to 1 p.m.: Lunch break
  • 1 to 3 p.m.: Open Q & A for CS Core, HCM, and SF college users

During the workshop, we will provide an overview of the basics, go over some common mistakes to avoid, and engage users in a session full of “aha!” moments that help you feel connected and supported in the work you do.

In addition to your regular class builder(s), please extend this invitation to those on your campus who build classes as one of many tasks.  Our goal is to engage staff in those departments that provide comprehensive service to a specific population or area (e.g., ABE, DOC, CE), who also build classes and who may not generally be included in opportunities such as this one. 

College users are welcome to attend all workshop sessions or only the session(s) relevant to your work. There is no sign-up or session preparation required; simply add the meeting invite to your calendar and we look forward to seeing you there!

Questions? Contact CS Support.

SF Training

SF Training: Item Types 101

Monday, April 14, 2025, 1 to 3 p.m., Learn more and join the session

This is an introduction-level class to Item Types and Student Financials Configuration. This training is designed for new employees and individuals who would like a refresher on Item Type basics. We will discuss the foundational aspects of Item Types including configuration and flow.

In this session, we may cover:

• Item Type Numbering and Configuration
• Refund Indicators
• Priority - Charge Priority List/Payment Priorities/ Overall Priority
• How to create new Item Types

Primary Audience: College staff who deal with Student accounts and want a better understanding of how Item Types work.

Related QRG: Understanding Item Types

Prerequisite Course: SF100 - Student Financials Fundamentals

SF Training: Item Types 102

Monday, April 21, 2025, 1 to 3 p.m., Learn more and join session

This is a moderate-level class for Item Types and Student Financials Configuration. This training is designed for new employees and individuals who would like a refresher on Item Type basics. We will discuss the practical application of Item Types.

In this session, we may cover:

• Understanding View Customer Accounts
• Tuition Calculation
• Term Fees
• Posting a Charge

Primary Audience: College Staff who deal with Student accounts and want a better understanding of how Item Types work.

Related QRG: Understanding Item Types

Prerequisite Course: SF100 - Student Financials Fundamentals

Presenter/Facilitator: Alec Risk, SBCTC Student Financials Functional Trainer

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.

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.

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.