Student Faculty Information System

   Glossary of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions Terms

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Word or Phrase	Definition	Additional Information
3C Engine	Abbreviation for Communications, Checklists, and Comments engine.  The 3C engine is a rules-based PeopleSoft application engine that you can integrate with functional transactions to automatically insert or update communications, comments, and checklists records as you interact with students, suppliers, and employees.	(See 3Cs)
3C Group	Abbreviation for Communications, Checklists, and Comments group.  A method of assigning or restricting access privileges.  A 3C group enables you to group specific communication categories, checklist codes, and comment categories.  You can then assign the group inquiry-only access or update access, as appropriate.	(See Comm Gen, Checklist Code, and Comments)
3Cs	The 3Cs — communications, checklists, and comments — are a flexible way to track and analyze correspondence, lists of requirements, and notes about the students, staff, constituents, and organizations in the database.  Communication management enables you to fully manage all types of contacts inside and outside your institution. Checklist management enables you to create lists of requirements and monitor their status. Comments creation enables you to attach notable remarks about individuals and organizations.  You can enter communications, checklists, and comments manually throughout your system, or, using the 3C engine, you can define events and triggers to have the system add communications, add comments, and add or update checklists for individuals or organizations automatically from within your business processes. You can also use the Population Selection process to select a specific population for the 3C engine to assign items to.	(See Comm Gen, Checklist Code, and Comments)
Academic Career	All course work that a student undertakes at an academic institution and that is grouped in a single student record.	Wes Examples: DCST, GLSP, Graduate; Honorary, Undergrad
Academic Institution	An entity (such as a university or college) that is independent of other similar entities and that has its own set of rules and business processes.	Wes Example: WSLYN
Academic Organization	An entity that is part of the administrative structure within an academic institution. At the lowest level, an academic organization might be an academic department. At the highest level, an academic organization can represent a division.	Wes Examples: AFAM, MATH, CHUM, ENGL, CEAS, WRCT
Academic Plan	An area of study that exists within an academic program or academic career.  Plan Types include major, minor, or specialization	Wes Examples: ARST, E&ES-MA, FYST, HIST, MB&B, PSYC, SFAC, TCEX, WMST
Academic Program	The academic entity to which a student applies and is admitted and from which the student graduates.	Wes Examples: BA, CAS, CERT, GRNON, MA, PHD, UGNON
Academic Structure	The group of setup tables in the PeopleSoft system that defines the institution to the PeopleSoft Student Administration system.  It is the foundation for all components of the system, representing the institution’s physical and logical academic structure.
Action Reason	Used in conjunction with a Program Action to indicate why a particular program action was taken or offer a further description of the program action.	(See Program Action)
Address Type	Categories of addresses for persons in the database.	Wes Examples: HOME, WESS, LOC1, BOAR
Address Usage	A grouping of “address types” defining the order in which the address types are used. For example, you might define an address usage code to process addresses in the following order: campus address, home address, and then work address.	Wes Examples: BASIC, BILLING
Adjustment Calendar	The adjustment calendar controls how a particular charge is adjusted on a student’s account when the student drops classes or withdraws from a term. The charge adjustment is based on how much time has elapsed from a predetermined date, and it is determined as a percentage of the original charge amount.  Define schedules and fees for tuition adjustments for drops and withdrawals.	Module:  Student Financials
Administrative Function	A particular functional area that processes checklists, communication, and comments (3Cs). The administrative function identifies which variable data is added to a person’s checklist or communication record when a specific checklist code, communication category, or comment is assigned to the student. This key data enables you to trace that checklist, communication, or comment back to a specific processing event in a functional area.	(Used in the Comm Gen process) Examples:  GEN, SFAC, STRM
Admit Type	A designation used to distinguish first-year applications from transfer applications.	Wes Examples:  ED1, ED2, FYG, FYS, TRN, TRG
BI Publisher	BI Publisher (formerly XML Publisher or XMLP) is a reporting tool that you can use with PeopleSoft to directly take information from the database to produce reports and forms.  A primary feature of Oracle’s BI Publisher product is the separation of the data extraction process from the report/template layout.  It is a tool that merges Data Source information with a specified template to create reports.
Bio / Demo Data	Information that identifies a person, such as: name, birth date, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, address and telephone number; biographical/demographic data.
Breadcrumbs	The navigation shown across the top of the workspace that allows for backwards and forward navigation from any point in the navigation path.
Campus	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.	Wes Example:  WESU
Campus Community	The central repository of the PeopleSoft system used to manage biographical and demographical information on people and organizations, known as Bio /Demo data. All the processes and activities you perform in the PeopleSoft system are performed in relation to records for individuals in Campus Community.	(See Person Record)
Campus Solutions	PeopleSoft’s term for its Student Information Services software module (Wesleyan’s SFIS).
Career	Academic Career
Category	A broad grouping to which specific comments or communications (contexts) are assigned. Category codes are also linked to 3C access groups so that you can assign data-entry or view-only privileges across functions.	(Part of the Comm Gen process – see Communication Category)
Checklist Code	A code that represents a list of planned or completed action items that can be assigned to a staff member, volunteer, or unit. Checklists enable you to view all action assignments on one page.	(One of the 3Cs)
Class	A specific offering of a course component within an academic term.	(See Course)
Class Number	Unique number assigned to a class. A class is a specific instance of the time, place and term of a course.
Cohort	The highest level of the three-level classification structure that you define for enrollment management. You can define a cohort level, link it to other levels, and set enrollment target numbers for it.See also population and division.	cohort
Comments	One of the 3Cs, Comments creation allow you a flexible method for creating notes in PS about individuals and organizations.	(One of the 3Cs)
Committees	In the SFIS system there are a variety of  Committee Types with a number of Committees under each.  The composition and structure of Committees is specific to departments and offices, so you should follow existing instructions written for your area in creating and maintaining Committees.
Comm Gen	See Communication Generation.	(One of the 3Cs)
Comm Key	See Communication Key.	comm key
Communication Category	A group of communications contexts tied to functional processing.  Categories are made up of 3C Groups, so the Groups must exist before the categories can be created.	(See Category and 3C Group)
Communication Context	Describes the type of communication, how it was made and in what direction (incoming or outgoing).	(See Context)
Communication Generation	The Communication Generation (Comm Gen) process is an application engine process that enables you to select specific fields from which to extract critical data for a letter code assigned to the individual (or organization) IDs for whom you want to generate a communication.	(One of the 3Cs)
Communication Key	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.	(Part of the Comm Gen process)
Component	A collection of pages related to a particular PeopleSoft task.
Constituents	Friends, alumni, organizations, foundations, or other entities affiliated with the institution, and about which the institution maintains information	constituents
Context	A specific instance of a comment or communication. One or more contexts are assigned to a category, which you link to 3C access groups so that you can assign data-entry or view-only privileges across functions.	(Part of the Comm Gen process – see Communication Context)
Correct History	A Campus Solutions mode which allows the user to make changes to current or past records. Correct history mode is only meant to be used to fix mistakes, not to make changes. Changes to a record should be made by adding a new row with a new effective date.	(See Effective Date)
Course	A course that is offered by a school and that is typically described in a course catalog. A course has a standard syllabus and credit level; however, these may be modified at the class level. Courses can contain multiple components such as lecture, discussion, and lab.	(See Class)
Data Retrieval / Output	Methods available to the functional user for (1) retrieving data and (2) producing output.  Includes PS Query, Connected Query, XML File, Population Selection, BI Publisher, Communication Generation.
Default	Data that is automatically populated from another source in the system.
Division	The lowest level of the three-level classification structure that you define in PeopleSoft Enterprise Recruiting and Admissions for enrollment management. You can define a division level, link it to other levels, and set enrollment target numbers for it. See also population and cohort.
Edit Table	A table in the database that has its own record definition, such as the Department table. As fields are entered into a PeopleSoft Enterprise application, they can be validated against an edit table to ensure data integrity throughout the system.
Effective Date	A method of dating information in PeopleSoft Enterprise applications. You can overwrite an Effective Date to predate information to add historical data to your system, or postdate information in order to enter it before it actually goes into effect. This is the date the PeopleSoft production system uses to determine when a row of information becomes active.  Automatically defaults to the system date (today’s date). By using effective dates, you don’t delete values; you enter a new value with a current effective date.	(See Correct History)
EMPLID	Unique identifier for each person entered into Campus Solutions.  In SFIS, also called Wes ID.
External	A course offered by another academic institution. External courses are defined in order to award transfer credit.
External Org ID	Unique system-generated number when a new external organization is first added and saved.
FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)	A federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records.  Students may choose to release information to others, such as their parents or legal guardians.
Hold	Service Indicator	See Service Indicator
Home	Closes the current component and menus and clears the workspace.  If there are unsaved data, a prompt to save will appear.
Inquiry Access	A type of security access that permits the user only to view data.	See update access
Institution	An entity (such as a university or college) that is independent of other similar entities and that has its own set of rules and business processes.	WSLYN
Integration Point	An interface that a system uses to communicate with another PeopleSoft Enterprise application or an external application.
Joint Communication	When using Comm Gen, one letter that is addressed jointly to two people. For example, a letter might be addressed to both Mr. Sudhir Awat and Ms. Samantha Mortelli.  A relationship must be established between the two individuals in the database, and at least one of the individuals must have an ID in the database.	(Part of the Comm Gen process)
Location	Locations enable you to indicate the different types of addresses.  Each address has a different location number. The primary location—indicated by a 1—is the address you use most often and may be different from the main address.
Major	Academic Plan	(See Academic Plan)
Minor	Academic Plan	(See Academic Plan)
Modules	The applications that comprise Campus Solutions.  Examples include Student Records and Student Financials.
National ID	Identification code used by countries to track resident information for payroll, identification, benefits and other purposes. For example, for U.S. residents this would be their Social Security Number.
Operator	A comparison value used with a search value to limit the matching results that are returned on a search page.  Examples are “equal to,” “begins with,” or “contains.”
Organization Location	Area of the PeopleSoft production system that is used to enter information regarding addresses and phone numbers for a specific External Organization.
Page	A screen in which data is entered and/or displayed. Pages let users view, change, or add data. For example, a student has several pages in their Student Record account, such as one page for addresses, one page for bio/demo data, etc.  Also referred to as a Panel.
PeopleBooks	The extensive help documentation created by Oracle that explains Campus Solutions concepts, administration, and use. PeopleBooks is available from any page of Campus Solutions by clicking the Help link.
PeopleCode	PeopleCode is a proprietary language, executed by the PeopleSoft Enterprise component processor.  PeopleCode generates results based on existing data or user actions.
PeopleSoft	The system which serves as the foundation of Campus Solutions. The PeopleSoft system is designed to share data from a single location and provide a common source of information for all staff members and departments.
PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture (PIA)	The fundamental architecture on which PeopleSoft applications are constructed, consisting of a relational database management system (RDBMS), an application server, a web server, and a browser.
PeopleTools	PeopleTools is proprietary software originally created by PeopleSoft Corporation.   PeopleTools facilitates the deployment of both vendor and custom developed applications using an Internet-based architecture, known as the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA).  Campus Solutions is a PeopleTools application.  Query is located under PeopleTools.
Person of Interest	A person about whom the organization maintains information but who is not part of the workforce.
Person Record	Data in PeopleSoft that uniquely identifies a person.  Includes information that identifies a person, such as name, birth date, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, address and telephone number. Each person has only one person record in PeopleSoft.	(See Campus Community)
Plan	Academic Plan	(See Academic Plan)
Pop Select Query and Comm Gen	The Population Selection query is used to determine the population to whom you will be sending your communication and it is used to assign a new communication record to individuals.  Each Administrative Function has a Bind Record (or Bind Table) which must be included in any Pop Select query for it to be valid.	(Part of the Comm Gen process)
Population Selection (or Pop Select)	This process allows users to use different tools – such as query, equation engine or a flat file – to fine tune the selecting of person (and/or organization) IDs in several batch processes.  Examples of processes are:  Service Indicators, Student Groups, Posting of Transactions, etc.
Post Value	The status of a record in the Suspense File that has been considered for entry in the database. The possible values are Complete, Error, and Perform. If a record examined during the Search/Match/Post process contained no errors (missing or invalid values) and was not a duplicate — or possible duplicate — of an existing record, it would be added to the database and its Post Value would be Complete. If the Search/Match/Post process found errors or possible duplicates, the Post Value would be Error.	(See Search / Match / Post)
Primary Name Type	The name type that is used to link the name stored at the highest level within the system to the lower-level set of names that an individual provides.
Process	A set of actions that Campus Solutions executes according to specified parameters.
Process Definition	Process definitions define each process run request.
Process Instance	A unique number that identifies each process request. This value is automatically incremented and assigned to each requested process when the process is submitted to run.
Process Job	You can link process definitions into a job request and process each request serially or in parallel. You can also initiate subsequent processes based on the return code from each prior request.
Process Request	A single run request that you run through PeopleSoft Process Scheduler.
Process Run Control	A PeopleTools variable used to retain PeopleSoft Process Scheduler values needed at runtime for all requests that reference a run control ID. Do not confuse these with application run controls, which may be defined with the same run control ID, but only contain information specific to a given application process request.
Program	Academic Program	(See Academic Program)
Program Action	A change to program data indicating the new status. Used in conjunction with an Action Reason.	(See Action Reason)
Program / Plan Stack	A combination of a student’s academic program and academic plan.
Query	PeopleSoft Query is a graphical reporting tool that allows users to easily create requests (queries) about the data contained in the PeopleSoft database through Query Manager.  PS Query can serve as the data source for reports and communications with BI Publisher and Communication Generation.	(See Query)
Record Group	A set of logically and functionally related control tables and views. Record groups help enable TableSet sharing, which eliminates redundant data entry. Record groups ensure that TableSet sharing is applied consistently across all related tables and views.
Recname	The name of a record that is used to determine the associated field to match a value or set of values.
Requirement Term	The term that determines which degree requirements the student has to fulfill in order to graduate, often identical to his/her semester of admission.
Run Control	A run control is a type of online page that is used to begin a Process.  Run Control pages generally start a program that manipulates data.	(See Process)
Run Control ID	A unique ID to associate each user with his or her own run control table entries. A run control ID is an identifier that, when paired with your User ID, uniquely identifies the process you are running.  The Run Control ID defines parameters that are used when a process is run.  This ensures that when a process runs in the background, the system does not prompt you for additional values.  Run Control IDs make it easier to repeat processes without having to re-enter all of the relevant parameters.
Search / Match	A feature that enables you to search for and identify duplicate records in the database.  It examines all records in the database to identify possible duplicates, but does not post unduplicated records.	(See Post Value and Search / Match /Post)
Search / Match / Post	A process that examines all records in the database to identify possible duplicates and posts unduplicated records, if you have selected the Post option.	(See Post Value and Search / Match)
Seasonal Address	An address that recurs for the same length of time at the same time of year each year until adjusted or deleted.
Service Impact	The resulting action triggered by a service indicator. For example, a service indicator that reflects nonpayment of account balances by a student might result in a service impact that prohibits registration for classes.
Service Indicator	Indicates services that may be either withheld or provided to an individual. Negative service indicators indicate holds that prevent the individual from receiving specified services, such as registration for classes. Positive service indicators designate special services that are provided to the individual, such as front-of-line service or special services for disabled students.	(See Service Indicators  [Holds])
Session (also Term Session)	Time elements that subdivide a term into multiple time periods during which classes are offered.  A time period within a term designed to support the various enrollment periods within a term. Each session has distinct beginning and ending dates to drive selected key processing activities.
SFIS (Student Faculty Information System)	SFIS is the University’s comprehensive system to support student service offices.  (You may also see it referred to as Student Systems.)  The software for SFIS is PeopleSoft Campus Solutions.	Slide presentation about SFIS.
Single Sign On (SSO)	The ability to access other Campus Solutions applications without reentering a user ID or password after first-time authentication.
Speed Key	See Communication Key.	(Part of the Comm Gen process)
SQL (Structured Query Language)	A programming language designed for managing data in a database.  SQL can be used to create queries and run processes within Campus Solutions.
Standard Letter Code	A standard letter code used to identify each letter template available for use in mail merge functions. Every letter generated in the system must have a standard letter code identification.	(Part of the Comm Gen process)
Student Financials	PeopleSoft’s Campus Solutions Student Financials module.
Student Groups	Track student membership in various groups.
Student Records	PeopleSoft’s Campus Solutions Registration and Records module.
Subject	The area of study in which courses are offered by Academic Organizations. Sometimes it is the same as the Academic Organization  and sometimes it is different.
Template	An RTF document to provide a formatted report using data from an XML file.  Used for custom reports and communications.	Comm Gen and BI Publisher
Term	An Academic period, for example, Spring or Fall, etc.
Term Activation	The process which enables a student to enroll in classes, post transfer credit, and calculate tuition for a Term.
Term Code	A four-digit code associated with an academic term. Term codes are formatted as century (1 for the 21st century), last two digits of the academic year (for example, 17), and the number of the first month of the term (Fall is 9 for September; Spring is 1 for January).  For example, 1169 is September 2016. and 1171 is Spring 2017.
Translate table	A system edit table that stores codes and translate values for the miscellaneous fields in the database that do not warrant individual edit tables of their own.  Translate tables are effective dated.	Translate table
Universal Navigation Header	Every PeopleSoft Enterprise portal includes the universal navigation header, intended to appear at the top of every page as long as the user is signed on to the portal. In addition to providing access to the standard navigation buttons (like Home, Favorites, and signoff) the universal navigation header can also display a welcome message for each user.
Update Access	A type of security access that permits the user to edit and update data.	(See inquiry access)
User Defaults	A group of default values that Campus Solutions will automatically load on relevant pages, saving time and minimizing data entry errors.
Variable Data	The information that links a specific communication to a person in the database using key data from the person’s record.	(See Comm Gen)
Wildcard	A character, usually the percent sign (%) or the underscore (_) that is used in place of unknown values or to indicate a range of values.  Can be used in searching many PeopleSoft pages or in PS Query.  You can also use in Query with prompts as criteria.