Glossary of Terms

This element defines rules for granting paid time off for valid absences, such as sick time, vacation, and maternity leave. An absence entitlement element defines the entitlement amount, frequency, and entitlement period.

This module addresses all leave programs (e.g., Vacation, Sick Leave, Bereavement, Jury Duty, FMLA, etc.).

Provides the campus-wide ability to define and track graduation requirements, evaluate student degree progress, and convey requirements

Defines the landmark dates that drive much of the day-to-day business at the academic institution. Contains cancel, withdrawal, drop deadlines, quarterly start and end dates, census date, and other key dates

All coursework that a student undertakes at an academic institution grouped in a single student record

The highest level within an academic institution offering courses; the Group is the entity that offers the course.  The Math/Science Division would be an Academic Group

An entity, such as a college, which runs independently of other similar entities and has its own set of rules and business processes. Each institution has its own schedule of classes, academic statistics, and academic transcript(s).  We have 34 Academic Institutions. 

Freshman, Sophomore, etc. based on credits successfully completed

Full-time, half-time, three-quarter time, etc. based on credits enrolled

The structure which defines how an academic institution is organized from an administrative perspective.  An entity that is part of the administrative structure within an academic institution. Integration touch point to HCM and/or Financials

An area of study—such as a major—that exists within an academic program or academic career. The Academic Plan is a combination of the area of study (Radiological Sciences, for example) and a degree type (such as AAS) associated with the area of study.  Comparable to Educational Program Code (EPC)

Controls the student's academic level, academic load, academic calendar, academic group for tuition calculation, and grading scheme. Academic Program is a layer of academic structure not currently existing in the legacy system. Although it is called a “Program,” it is not the same as legacy Educational Program Code (EPC)

Specific areas of instruction--such as Math and English--in which courses are offered within academic organizations

Classifies the nature of a financial transaction. This is a required field that represents assets, liabilities, and fund equity, as well as revenue and expense codes.

Folders that are used to house groups of transactions that are alike, such as Tuition or Fees

Roles that constituents have as they move through the institution, such as alumni or employee

Classifies the nature of a transaction for regulatory authorities. Often used for statutory accounting

Criteria that students have already met that prevents them from taking a specific course

A user's entry into PeopleSoft.  The first page a user sees after logging on

Once a specific field is filled in, tabbing out of that field will cause some other fields in that section to automatically fill in as well.  Can also refer to the default value for a field, which can be changed as needed for the situation

Adding data later than might be usual.  For example, if you batch create a number of records and later go back to add additional data to those records, you are backfilling. 

A set of data or computer programs to be processed together by the software. Requires minimal interaction and usually occurs in the background or overnight

Biographic and Demographic information, including name, address, ethnicity, etc.

A tree node that rolls up to nodes above it in the hierarchy, as defined in PeopleSoft Tree Manager. See also Tree and Node

Process that ensures that your commitments and expenses do not exceed total budgets

Option to enforce budgetary control by restricting activity to the budgeted amount

A template-based reporting tool that leverages standard technologies for data extraction and display

The process of aligning our college system's core business processes with the new software

Flow chart showing the order in which things happen to complete a business process, including what business role (who) is responsible for each step

During BPFG sessions, subject matter experts learn how the ctcLink PeopleSoft system supports their college business processes. They then make decisions (homework) the ctcLink Project team uses to set up local ctcLink configuration information for each college.

A business function that is required due to a law or policy or per the SBCTC proposal

An operational subset of an organization. Business unit names can vary among the different applications within the PeopleSoft system. For example, PeopleSoft Student Financials and PeopleSoft General Ledger business units typically consist of different entities for financial and tax reporting purposes. 

An entity that is usually associated with a distinct physical administrative unit, that belongs to a single academic institution, that uses a unique course catalog, and that produces a common transcript for students within the same academic career.

The single system of record for all person data (students, faculty, staff, alumni, external contacts). Data is shared across pillars (Human Capital Management, Campus Solutions, and Financials).

The PeopleSoft pillar involving student administration, including admissions, student records, and financial aid. Replaces SMS, FAM, and Degree Audit

In HCM, how applicants apply for positions online

A broad grouping to which specific comments or communications are assigned. Category codes are also linked to 3C access groups so that you can assign data-entry or view-only privileges across functions.

Abbreviation for the different kinds of changes that can be made to the PeopleSoft application: Configurations, Extensions, Modifications, Localizations and Interfaces (CEMLI).  There is a stringent approval process.  CEMLIs are costly and can cause integration issues.

Processes that can be maintained across all Community and Technical Colleges.  Payroll is one example.  See also Decentralized

The foundation of the PeopleSoft accounting system. The Chart of Accounts provides each business unit, fund, department, cost center, project/grant, and account with a unique identification number and a common language for identifying financial transactions.

The individual components or fields, that when combined make up the Chartstring, which defines the accounting structure. For example, GL code, Program Index, Revenue Source and Sub Objects are Chartfields in PeopleSoft.

One or more fields that uniquely identify each row in a table. Some tables contain only one field as the key, while others require a combination

A set of Chartfields “strung” together to represent the proper categorization of a financial transaction. The use of multiple Chartfields allows for flexible reporting of the financial aspects of projects, activities, programs, events, etc.

A code that represents a list of planned or completed action items that can be assigned to a person or unit. Checklists enable you to view all action assignments on one page.

A predefined list of values that must all be completed before a process is considered completed. Usually set up by power users.  In Student Center, appear as To Do Checklists.

Codes from the Department of Education's Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) which provides a taxonomic scheme that supports the accurate tracking and reporting of fields of study and program completions activity.

A specific offering of a course component within an academic term/session.  A student would enroll in a class

A group of students who are admitted together and tracked as a group for reporting purposes including enrollment management.

Verifies the correct account fund program is used in a transaction.

The link between a specific comments and an administrative function. It determines who has access to certain comments

Programs in PeopleSoft that monitor spending against a fixed budget

A communication context can have multiple methods. For example, for the context of Award, you might send a letter and also make a phone call.

A single code for entering a combination of communication category, communication context, communication method, communication direction, and standard letter code. Communication keys (also called comm keys or speed keys) can be created for background processes as well as for specific users.

Each Company has a unique federal tax ID number. Each college is a Company, and each campus at a district that has a separate federal tax ID number is a Company.

A group of related pages. Folder tabs represent the individual pages in the component

Date that a student was awarded a degree

Basic changes to the default PeopleSoft system to make it meet our business needs

A step-by-step process for setting up each portion of a module, including values necessary to implement the module for each college or district

PeopleSoft term for what was called Cutoff in legacy.  The final step in running payroll

Friends, alumni, organizations, foundations, or other entities affiliated with the institution, and about which the institution maintains information

In a PeopleSoft implementation, conversion refers to the process of loading data from the existing legacy systems to PeopleSoft. The conversion process involves identifying the data that must be brought to the new system, mapping the data to PeopleSoft fields, translating old codes into PeopleSoft codes, and finally loading the clean, compatible data into PeopleSoft.

Includes foundation tables, hiring and maintaining an employee, job setup and changes

Offered by a school and is typically described in a course catalog.  The pure curriculum offering by the college. See also class

Name for the PeopleSoft ERP project for the Washington Community and Technical College System

Changing the PeopleSoft system beyond basic configuration. Each time a modification is made it adds to the complexity, time and cost of upgrading the software.

The step-by-step process of handing over existing procedures to the new PeopleSoft system. The cutover steps will be clearly defined so users know when to stop using each old procedure and start using the PeopleSoft replacement.

A DSA is database or set of databases where an intermediate set of application data is provided (such as CTC's administrative data from SMS, PPMS, FAM, etc. or from the PeopleSoft ERP data). The DSA data is extracted, transformed and loaded into an ODS or Data Warehouse.

The repository of electronically stored data used primarily for reporting and analysis. Data Warehouses provide the means to retrieve and analyze data, to extract, transform and load data, and to manage the data dictionary.

A collection of similar information stored in a single place. PeopleSoft is built on a relational database, meaning that data is stored in many tables that relate to each other through common fields

A data grouping that enables role-based filtering and distribution of data. You can limit the range and quantity of data that is displayed for a user by associating dataset rules with user roles. The result of dataset rules is a set of data that is appropriate for the user's roles.

Processes that are configured locally at each college.  Service Indicator Impacts would be one example.  See also Centralized

The way the new version of a system, like PeopleSoft, works “as delivered” without modifications or customizations.

A change from how things might previously have been done.

Where a person is located, attached, and accounted for in PeopleSoft

Deployment Group 6 - State community colleges have been grouped into six groups based on their readiness to move to PeopleSoft. LWTech is in the final group along with Bates Technical College, Clover Park Technical College, Columbia Basin College, Renton Technical College, South Puget Sound Community College, Walla Walla Community College, and Yakima Valley College.

The act of moving from the summary to the detail; drilling down presents the data underlying any summarized form of information

The date that the transaction occurs. You can predate information to add historical data or postdate information in order to enter it before it actually goes into effect. By using effective dates, you don't delete values; you enter a new value with a current effective date.

A single identification number for each person record, regardless of whether the person is a student, staff, or faculty. Even if a person has multiple roles at multiple campuses, they will still have just one EMPLID

The set of processes that allows an employee to view or change their own personal data. Self Service includes viewing your paycheck, changing your mailing address, entering time, etc.

The people who will use PeopleSoft to do their jobs

Referring to the entire system Washington community and technical college system

Oracle data warehouse solution

For the statewide ctcLink project the new ERP software is PeopleSoft which will replace our legacy software of SMS, PPMS, FMS, and FAM. 

A business process that generates multiple debits and credits resulting from single transactions to produce standard, supplemental accounting entries

An instance of PeopleSoft used for a specific purpose.  There are environments for configuration, testing, and training for example

In Campus Solutions (CS), the legacy SID will be in this field.  The field can accommodate multiple External ID numbers for as many SIDs a student\employee has had over the life of their involvement with the community college system.

PeopleSoft Favorites are user-defined list of frequently-visited PeopleSoft pages or frequently-used queries.  These application favorites are available to the user wherever he signs in

What you are charging a fee for, such as tuition. Not the same as fee codes in legacy system

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

An area in which the same type of information is recorded. For example, in most databases, there would be a last-name field

Located in Campus Solutions (CS) pillar. This module replaces FAM system for all awarding and disbursing functions. Interfaces with Human Capital Management (HCM) to support work-study students' employment and earnings and Finance to record financial data

The PeopleSoft pillar supporting financial business processes, including accounting, purchasing, and grants. Replaces the existing FMS. Also known as FM or Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM)

 Part of our current legacy system used to manage financial transactions 

The PeopleSoft pillar supporting financial business processes, including accounting, purchasing, and grants. Replaces the existing FMS. Sometimes shortened to Financial Management (FM)

The first colleges to go onto PeopleSoft - Spokane Falls, Community College of Spokane, and Tacoma.

Family Medical Leave Act

Decisions about key aspects of the ctcLink system configuration that are really the “foundation,” or first building blocks of the system, such as setting the format for components like the Chart of Accounts and the Person Model

Group of SBCTC and Ciber people who determine business processes and configure system

The primary structure unit for college fund accounting

Data rows that have effective dates that are after the current date.  For example, knowing an address was going to change on January 1, you could enter the new address in December and future date it for January 1, at which time it would become the current address.  (See Effective Dating)

The ‘Book of Record' which holds all financial transactions in detail or summary and used for financial reporting and financial management

Configuration and processes that will be standardized across all colleges/districts

GDA courses are prerequisite to Business Process Fit/Gap sessions for new users to learn which ctcLink configurations are Global as they prepare to make their Local configuration decisions.

The first day a college begins to use ctcLink as its system of record

Verb. We are getting ready to go live on ctcLink PeopleSoft.

Noun. The web pages are being updated in time for Go-Live.

Adjective.  The go-live preparations are underway.

A grouping of possible grades, such as Decimal, Letter, Pass/Fail, etc.

A possible grade, such as A, B, C, etc. within a Grade Basis

A grouping of Grade Bases available for an Academic Career.  For example, Academic and Continuing Education might have different Grade Schemes

The PeopleSoft pillar involving Human Resources, including HR Core, benefits, payroll, time and attendance, recruiting, and talent management

The budgeting software package

The activities related to the adaptation of the hardware and software to the specific business processes. Implementation focuses on the training of staff, the schedule for "going live" and data modeling and conversion.

Physical devices, such as computers. network wiring, and possibly software, without which the PeopleSoft system cannot operate

A type of security access that permits the user to only view data. Sometimes called View Only Access. See also Update Access.

An entity (such as a college) that is independent of other similar entities and that has its own set of rules and business processes.  Grays Harbor College and North Seattle Community College are Institutions. 

A relationship that enables communication to take place among and between systems. Integrations enable PeopleSoft applications to work together and with third-party systems or software seamlessly.

An interface that the system uses to communicate with another PeopleSoft application or an external application

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.  “A system of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the U.S. Department's National Center for Education Statistics

Within an Account Type, each individual transaction is an Item Type.  For example, within the Account Type “Fees” you might have the Item Types “Parking Fee” and “Lab Fee.”  The way item types are classified governs whether they are considered as financial aid item types

A batch of accounting entries entered online or input from a feeder system (payables, receivables, asset management, and so on) to the General Ledger. Consists of multiple journal lines and one Journal Header, identified by the Journal ID. Information about the journal as a whole is stored in the Journal Header table

Software for delivering, tracking and managing training or classes. Some examples include Canvas, Angel, and Blackboard

The term used to refer to the system we are replacing with PeopleSoft. It includes SMS, PPMS, FMS, and FAM.

LWTech's name for localized project work for ctcLink.

Configuration and processes that can vary by college or district

Division of Ciber that is providing our equipment hosting environments and managing the software in those environments

In PeopleSoft HCM Human Resources, refers to the set of processes that allow managers to look up, make changes to, or approve certain employee information

To satisfy all of the requirements to complete the admissions process and move from Applicant status to Student status

Changing actual PeopleSoft system beyond basic configuration. Each time a modification is made it adds to the complexity, time and cost of upgrading the software.

A group of processes that are related to each other (e.g. Student Records is one module and Admissions is another)

Social Security Number in most cases. People from countries other than the United States will have a different NID

Service indicators that indicate holds that prevent the individual from receiving specified services. 

An individual item on a tree. Nodes summarize detail values or other nodes, and may or may not roll up into other nodes or levels. See also tree and branch

PS/nVision retrieves information from PeopleSoft and places it into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet—not merely as “raw” data but as information in a form that helps you see the big picture, explore the details, and make decisions.

Oracle Business Intelligence Applications.  Pre-defined dashboards by pillar and module, such as Retention, Budget Summary, Payroll Analysis, At Risk, Progression (There are over 300)

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus.  Oracle product focused on business intelligence.  User-defined reporting and analysis dashboards

Organizational Change Management. An intentional process that helps organizations work through the people side of large-scale changes like the ctcLink project. The change model adopted by the ctcLink project is Prosci's ADKAR.

An ODS is a single database consisting of integrated data from various sources (such as text files, spreadsheets, databases, etc). The Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process extracts data from sources, transforms the data, and loads it into the ODS. Transformation may include data type conversion, data cleansing, renaming of fields, and etc. An ODS is typically a source for feeding a Data Warehouse.

Words and/or symbols that can be used to help with a search, such as “begins with”, “contains”, “=”, or “<”

The parent company for PeopleSoft

Functions and features delivered with PeopleSoft (as opposed to functionality that has resulted from a CEMLI)

A PeopleSoft term for a “screen” or “window” where data is entered or viewed by the end-user. Pages appear in your browser window and are opened when their links are clicked

Each block of content on the home page is called a Pagelet. These Pagelets display summary information within a small rectangular area on the page. The Pagelet provides users with a snapshot of their most relevant PeopleSoft and non-PeopleSoft content.

Conversation that should be put on hold for a later time and place

Any set of records that are associated under a single name or variable to run calculations in PeopleSoft payroll business processes. In Time and Labor, for example, employees are placed in groups for time reporting purposes.

A file format that makes it possible to print or send a document and have it appear as intended. Requires Adobe Reader to view

The reference materials furnished by PeopleSoft, accessible through the Help link in the upper right corner of many pages.

An Oracle product that specializes in enterprise-wide business application software.  The brand name for our EPM

A person about whom the organization maintains information but who is not part of the workforce or a student. For example, a contractor or vendor would be a Person of Interest in PeopleSoft

Data in PeopleSoft that uniquely identifies a person. Includes information such as name, birth date, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, address, and telephone number, and also contains characteristics such as their relationship to the organization, their system security/permissions. Each person has only one person record in PeopleSoft.

Pillars are the name for the broad categories of work done by the PeopleSoft software. There are three pillars: Human Capital Management (employees), Campus Solutions (students), and Finance (financial operations).

Ciber's SharePoint-based repository used to track progress on a project, store project information and artifacts.

Query of a population

The officially assigned duties and responsibilities that make up the work performed by an employee. Positions are linked to Job Codes that are identified by campus. There can be a many-to-one relationship between the Position and Job Code. Positions are defined at the department level.

Service indicators that designate special services that are provided to the individual. Examples could include early enrollment or extended testing time

Process that checks to ensure that a student who was taking a prerequisite class when registering for a subsequent quarter passed the prerequisite class.  Comparable to legacy Unmet Requirement Checking. 

The process by which accounting entries are created or updated. The entry does not become “official” until it is posted. Vouchers and journal entries are examples of items that are posted.

Payroll and Personnel Management System - part of our current legacy system used to manage payroll and personnel processes.

A number that the system uses to prioritize financial aid/ student records when students are enrolled in multiple academic careers and academic programs at the same time. The lowest number takes precedence.

The environment where all business transactions occur in a “live,” real-time fashion (as opposed to a test or training environment)

Large-scale projects require organization, tracking, and coordination of people, technology, training, budget, and leadership. Project management is a methodical way of making sure projects get implemented successfully. Project managers lead the operational side of implementing projects, while organizational change managers lead the people side. 

Team responsible for overseeing all aspects of the project, monitoring progress against timeline, budget, and scope.  Includes Project Director, Project Manager, and Project Administrator

Student recruitment process

A set of steps the system executes to remove (inactivate) values from tables in the database

Quality Assurance

A limited-access reporting tool that allows a user to create simple, ad hoc reports.

Indicates why a particular action was taken, or offers further description of the action

A printable version of results which have been read and returned from a database

Something that is included in the contract between SBCTC and Ciber

Request for Proposal

A class of users who perform the same type of work, such as Faculty or Managers. The role identifies the particular PeopleSoft functionality that an individual is able to access. One person may have several roles

All of the information for one record in a database. For example, in an address book, all of the information for one person—first name, last name, address, city, state, postal code—would make up a row.

Our hosting partner.  They own the data center where the servers used by ctcLink will live and be maintained

A process to check for potential duplicate person records in PeopleSoft

Permission lists which are defined areas (e.g. pages, components, etc.) to which roles are attached in order to restrict access within PeopleSoft

A personal profile that controls access to confidential data.

End-users are assigned to roles and then attached to permission lists which grant specific access within the application

Indicates a flag on an individual for services that may be either withheld or provided to that individual.  See also Service Indicator Impacts

Negative service indicator impacts indicate holds that prevent the individual from receiving specified services, such as check-cashing privileges or registration for classes.  Positive service indicator impacts designate special services that are provided to the individual, such as front-of-line service or special services for disabled students.

The time in which a user is logged onto PeopleSoft

Time elements that subdivide a term into multiple time periods during which classes are offered.

Also known as Tableset Control ID. High-level key that identifies a set of data rows. Used for controlling tables, user security settings, and data sharing across pillars.

Student and Exchange Visitor Information System

By logging in once, a user will have access to all three pillars, Hyperion, OBIEE+, and Canvas

Student Management System - part of our current legacy system used to manage courses and student information.

PeopleSoft uses a more generic term, National ID (NID), to accommodate ID numbers from various countries.

A process that relates a particular transaction to the source of the charge or financial aid. On selected pages, you can drill down into particular charges.

A code representing a combination of ChartField values. SpeedTypes simplify the entry of ChartFields commonly used together. Can be used in 3C's for faster data entry

Structured Query Language--a computer language that is used to enter, manipulate and select data from a PeopleSoft database.

Module located in Campus Solutions (CS) pillar will manage and calculate student financial information, such as tuition and fees, for billing and refunding, as well as collecting past due balances and setting up payment plans for students. It also allows students to make payments online through the Oracle Payment Gateway

In the ctcLink project, SMEs are the go-to people for specific business processes. The SMEs will be involved in business process mapping, change impact analysis, training in the new system, and helping end-users use the new system.

Repository of data that failed Search/Mach that requires human review

An organized systematic testing of all modules including converted data with CEMLI and interfaces in place.

A uniquely identified collection of records or rows stored as an individual entity with a database. Data is stored in rows and columns logically comparable to a spreadsheet

Functions around recruitment, hiring, performance management and development

Group of SBCTC and Ciber people who manage conversion, integration, and customization programming

Generic word for semester or quarter

Four-digit numeric code to identify a year and quarter

A set of instructions that will be performed on the system during testing to ensure that the system functions as expected

An attribute, element, event or population that can vary in a test case.  For example, for the test case of Create a Position, there might be test conditions including Create Full Time Position, Create Part Time Position, etc. 

The name for the PeopleSoft component that controls the timesheet information, absence events or Paid Time Off requests, and Manager search/approval functions.

Hierarchical structure in PeopleSoft that visually represents

relationships. Organizes data. See also branch and node

Data shared by all colleges within the system.  Usually indicated by the absence of the Institution field on a page

A type of security access that permits the user to edit and update data. See also Inquiry Access.

A process to obtain confirmation that the system meets mutually agreed-upon requirements. A Subject Matter Expert (SME) provides such confirmation after trial or review. UAT is one of the final stages of the project before go-live

A set of pre-defined options. Setting operator defaults can speed up data entry.

The unmodified functions and features delivered with PeopleSoft (as opposed to functionality that has resulted from a CEMLI)

A security setting that allows a user to view information but not add or change it. Sometimes called Inquiry Access. See also Update Access.

Washington Community and Technical Colleges

Process by which the software system routes work electronically to the right people at the right time.

The place in PeopleSoft where a person will find transactions needing their attention.  A user's electronic inbox