April 05, 2021 by ctcLink Communications
The ctcLink Project includes all the activities needed to move colleges from the HP Legacy system to ctcLink (Oracle PeopleSoft products: Campus Solutions, Finance, Human Capital Management, as well as key third-party applications) in several deployment groups.
Who Works with Colleges Before Go-Live?
As each group of colleges (deployment groups) moves toward its go-live date, they work with the ctcLink Project team on a series of phased activities. The primary role of the ctcLink Project team is to deploy colleges on ctcLink within scope, schedule, budget.
When Does the ctcLink Project End?
After each group of deployed colleges goes live in ctcLink, they rely on the ctcLink Support organization at SBCTC. When ctcLink is fully implemented across the college system and the current 35-plus-year-old HP Legacy administrative system is fully replaced (by late Spring 2022), the ctcLink Project will close down.
Final reports will be submitted to the Washington state Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Moran Technology Consulting and other stakeholder groups. The ctcLink Project Director and Project team members will move on; some to new roles at SBCTC.
Who Works with the Colleges After Go-Live?
ctcLink Support — whose primary role is to support, stabilize and work toward optimizing the ctcLink system — is scaling up as the ctcLink Project completes its final implementation activities in partnership with ctcLink Deployment Groups 5 and 6.
SBCTC ctcLink Support
As each group of deployed colleges goes live in ctcLink, they will rely on the ctcLink Support organization at SBCTC whose primary role is to support and stabilize ctcLink colleges and work toward optimizing the system. Support areas include:
- ctcLink Customer Support
- ServiceDesk
- Change Management Board
- ctcLink Accessibility
- ctcLink Training (post go-live)
- ctcLink Security (roles/permissions post go-live)
- Application Services
- Technical/operational support, development, application upgrades, environment/hardware support, technical application security support, production testing.
- Third-party application support such as HighPoint mobile, Online Admissions Application Portal (OAAP) and CampusCE.
- Data Services
- Data Integration & dataLink, Data Warehouse, ctcLink PeopleSoft Reporting, Query training
Go-Live Doesn’t End After Go-Live weekend
Go-Live includes all the activities to get staff and students up and running in the days, weeks and months leading up to the cutover date. The ctcLink Customer Support team helps colleges get their footing in ctcLink with a series of focused activities designed to transition SMEs from Project activities to ctcLink Support services.
ctcLink Support Meet & Greet
Held about a month before the go-live weekends begin, the ctcLink Support Meet & Greet gives colleges a chance to get to know the support team members, explore resources, and prepare for upcoming activities.
College PMs, functional/business analysts, colleges subject matter experts (SMEs), and support staff, as well as college leads for security, training, testing, and reporting/query development should attend. Topics include:
- Meet the ctcLink Customer Support team members who will support you post go-live
- Resources available for live colleges
- Preview key activities for the two-week, post go-live period
- Confirm shut-down dates
- Triage plans – confirm college and SBCTC responsibilities
Post Go-Live Activities: Welcome to ctcLink
The ctcLink Customer Support team conducts two weeks of pillar/module-specific WebEx meetings with focused activities for colleges in the latest deployment group. DG4-A and DG4-B college SMEs participated as a group; as will DG5-A, DG5-B and DG5-C.
All staff are encouraged to participate in open support and focused, scheduled instructor-led sessions to hear upstream and downstream processes as well as participate in hands-on guidance in topics such as:
- Verify HR and Payroll Status
- Records and Enrollment
- Dual Processing Jobset and Legacy Job Outcomes
- Tuition Calculation, Waivers, and Queries
- Travel and Expenses
- Cross-pillar Integration
You can get a preview for what’s in store for DG5 and DG6 at the ctcLink Post Go-Live Activity Outline: Welcome to ctcLink DG4-A and DG4A Go-Live Pillar At-a-Glance Schedule. (Topics and schedule subject to revision for future deployment groups.)
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