Save the Completed Report Using Committee Title and Date (Example: WASFAA JRSMLI Feb 10
Washington Financial Aid AssociationExecutive Council Meeting
Committee Report Template
Save the completed report using the following format: WFAA.MeetingName.Date.CommitteeName.doc. Submit your report via email to the WFAA Executive Council listserv no less than 4 days prior to meeting.
WFAA Committee Report 2015/2016
/Executive Council Meeting Date / 06/02/2016
Executive Council Meeting Location / Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Wa.
Committee Information
Office Held / 2 Year Sector RepresentativeOfficer / Jane Baumgarden, Spokane Falls CC
Committee Members
Committee Goals
Strategic Plan Goals that are being met (check all that apply)Goal 1: Be a leader in providing training and professional development opportunities that are responsive to member needs / X
Goal 2: Maintain the long-term financial stability of the Association
Goal 3: Assess and monitor the performance of the Association and implement strategic Adjustments
Goal 4: Increase member participation in Association activities / X
Goal 5: Continually improve methods and processes for communicating with the membership
/ XGoal 6: Consolidate and communicate the public policy positions of financial aid administrators in Washington State and provide members with support and education to further their own advocacy efforts
/ XGoal 7: Maintain and enhance the diversity of our membership and the Executive Committee
Goal 8: Collaborate and coordinate with other organizations and associations in order to serve our members more efficiently and effectively
/ XSpecific Committee Goals / 1. Reach out to and advocate for financial aid employees at 2 year public
schools to bring forward their issues/concerns.
2. Identify training opportunities pertaining to issues relative to Washington’s 2 year public sector.
3. Facilitate and encourage networking opportunities and involvement with WFAA, within the 2 year public sector and outside of the 2 year public sector. Be the link for communication between WFAA and the 2 year public sector membership which includes identifying and communicating legislative issues.
4. Aid in providing methods to address the ‘Issues’ listed on next page-.
Summary of Activities (Descending Chronological)
ISSUES:1. All of the 2 year public community colleges in the state will be transitioning to a new computer system (Peoplesoft/ctcLink) during the next 5 years. A transition to a new all encompassing computer system has been attempted several times in the past with no luck. Our issues in moving to a new system are very different than the four year and private colleges because we are 34 different entities who also have the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) as the managing entity for our systems and processes. The current move to Peoplesoft was delayed 3 times before finally having a set ‘Go Live’ date for the first 3 colleges of August 24, 2015. There is a lot of concern about this new system and the transition period and how it will affect the other waves of community colleges in the state and their student populations. The college I work for is one of the first 3 colleges to transition. I am a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for this transition, one of a few Community Colleges of Spokane designated Super Users, the office Peoplesoft security person, and have been/was heavily involved in all the testing, resolution, validation, training, meetings, cleanup, etc. from the beginning.
I plan to pass on as much as possible to the next waves of the 2 yr schools to transition and to seek resolution to as many issues as possible prior to the next waves going live in ctcLink/Peoplesoft. This is my goal as the 2 yr sector representative to the EC committee.
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES:
06/2015- Attended EC Transition 2 day meeting in Tacoma.
Ongoing- Attended Subject Matter Expert (SME) Financial Aid meetings (between sbctc and first
3 Colleges) pertaining to Peoplesoft transition.
06/2015- Sent email out to all on our Community and Technical College Pri-Faid list serve
introducing myself and asking for input and areas of concern to take to WFAA from our
group. This private list has Directors, Assoc, Directors, and Asst Directors on it from all
the community college financial aid offices in the state.
07/2015- Attended ‘refresher’ training for the transition to Peoplesoft. Suggested that the queries
FirstLink colleges create be shared with all the community colleges in the later waves.
Asked for additional information regarding the BAS programs and the capability of our
‘out of the box’ Peoplesoft version bought since many community colleges are
implementing BAS programs. I also found an audit/liability in the design of our version
of Peoplesoft regarding reporting of loan actual disbursement dates. They are trying to
fix and/or design a workaround for all schools.
07/2015- Did UAT testing of queries pertaining to enrollment levels, census day, and programs.
07/2015- Sent email to Conference Chair suggesting we have another Peoplesoft Transition
session at fall conference.
07/2015- Contacted sbctc Team lead regarding co-presenting at WFAA conference session if it is
approved.
07/2015- Contacted the Financial Aid Directors at the 3 First Link colleges to see if they would co-
lead (with sbctc Team lead) a Transition to Peoplesoft session at fall conference if it was
approved.
07/2015- Submitted proposal for WFAA fall conference session pertaining to the transition to
Peoplesoft with the sbctc Team Lead and the FA Directors at 3 FirstLInk colleges co-
leading the session.
07/2015- Designed 6 week count down calendar incorporating pre, during, and post Go Live
additional duties, cut off days for processing, extra manual processes, and regular
office processes/deadlines.
07/2015- Sent email out to all FA Directors/ Assoc and Asst Directors requesting ideas for WFAA
Conference Sessions and for WFAA session pertaining to transition to Peoplesoft.
08/2015- Attended ‘Go Live’ communication meeting.
08/2015- Attended WFAA Conference GoTo Meeting.
08/2015- Attended WFAA Executive Committee Go To Meeting
08/2015- Ciber training setting up jobsets, workarounds, issue resolution for ctcLink
08/2015- Research and communications with college print shop and conference chair regarding
printing, etc. the conference program at our college.
08/2015- Joined listservs pertaining to ctcLink coding and reporting
08/2015- Go Live to ctcLink for the 3 FirstLink colleges
08/2015- Submitted article for WFAA newsletter on day 3 of Go Live.
08/2015- Emails with FAC president regarding ctcLink presentation at FAC meeting at fall
conference by sbctc and FirstLink Fin Aid Directors.
09/2015- Became primary security person for security requests for financial aid at college
09/2015- Various emails regarding fall conference sessions, presenters, etc.
09/2015- Attended conference session Go To meeting.
09/2015- Email to the 3 FirstLink college financial aid directors letting them know the proposal for
the ctcLink session at conference was accepted. Confirmation from all 3 directors that
they would work with sbctc lead to put together the session.
09/2015- Conversation with sbctc team lead (while she was in our office helping with Go Live)
regarding the ctcLink session at conference.
09/2015- Attended conference planning Go To meeting. Agreed to volunteer at conference
registration and be a moderator where needed.
09/2015- Heavily involved in 6 weeks of cleanup and determining day to day job processes for ‘all
things financial aid’ in new ctcLink system.
09/2015- Email from (and followup) FAC president regarding who to contact for refreshments at
FAC meeting at fall conference.
09/2015- Conversations with Ciber, sbctc leaders, and IT leaders regarding issues encountered
and how many of them could be avoided. Made suggestions so that the next waves of
community colleges do not encounter the conversion and cleanup issues we
encountered and can actually start on business processes shortly after Go Live.
09/2015- Research of resolution of issues and testing of resolution in the test environment prior to
it being approved to be moved by sbctc to ctcLink production environment.
09/2015- Email to FAC president asking if she thinks they will need time at the CTC Breakout
session on Thursday of the conference to finish business leftover from the FAC meeting
on Wednesday.
09/2015- Emails with conference chair regarding our college printing conference programs.
10/2015- Emails with conference co-chair and presenters regarding ctcLink session,FAC
Meeting, and sessions I’m moderating at conference.
10/2015- Agreed to sit in on ctcLink conference session for SFCC Director as she is unable to
attend. I will answer questions and give SFCC perspective on our transition experience.
I was asked to do this by the sbctc team lead.
10/2015- Assigned as one of few designated Peoplesoft Super User’s for the Community
Colleges of Spokane.
On-going- Bi-weekly pillar meetings regarding Peoplesoft issues with District Finance,
Extension campus’, and the Registration and Financial Aid depts. at SFCC and SCC.
10/2015- Worked Registration desk at WFAA annual conference.
10/2015- Panel presenter at WFAA annual conference regarding ctcLink transition and issues.
10/2015- Moderated 2 year sector meeting at WFAA annual conference.
On-going- Meetings regarding the vast issues related to financial aid and problem resolution so
future waves (and their students) don’t experience the same first quarter problems.
On-going- Cleanup of the new system and conversion issues.
On-going- Changes to ‘normal’ business processes because of ctcLink system which means
refining and redocumenting the new procedures.
12/2015- Meeting with sbctc and Ciber management regarding the conversion and setup
problems, ongoing issues with PS system, inability to obtain resolution, problems with
ticketing system, etc.
12/2015- Registration for HEUG conference in March to seek help with ctcLink issues we are still
having and look for streamline ideas other colleges are utilizing with the Peoplesoft
system.
12/2015- Because of previous meeting, a daily help webex was started by sbctc and ciber to get
immediate help with resolution of ongoing and newly discovered system and business
process challenges/issues. There is a webex for each module. I started to attend (or
have staff attend) the daily ctcLink help webex for at least part of each day to hear about
issues and resolutions brought forward by the 3 first link colleges as other colleges
discovered issues we hadn’t encountered yet and to hear discussion and resolution
regarding issues our staff brought forward on webex.
01/2016- Email from 2 yr FAC president asking if I could do part of presentation at annual
Rainbow Lodge meeting in March(for 2 yr sector FA Directors/Assc Directors) regarding
ctcLink.
On-going- Testing of queries and suggested resolutions to issues in the test environment prior to
waiting for approval and movement of the fix to the production environment.
On-going- Attendance at daily webex regarding system and business process issues.
01/2016- Email to all on 2 yr list serv regarding enrollment levels in ctcLink and coding and
followup email to/from several 2 yr Directors/Assoc Directors regarding ctcLink issues.
02/2016- Email to EC President and WFAA conference co-chair regarding community college
sector meeting, FAC meeting, and needs of the 2 yr sector.
03/2016- Attended 3 day HEUG Alliance conference to seek system process flow and streamlining
ideas as well as resolutions to system issues with Peoplesoft. As a result, submitted
ticket to sbctc/ciber with conference screen prints regarding system capability to do loan
proration so schools don’t have to identify and do proration manually and ticket for
V4,V5 reporting so it is not a manual process.
On-going- Bi-weekly pillar meetings regarding Peoplesoft issues with District Finance,
Extension campus’, and the Registration and Financial Aid depts. at SFCC and SCC.
03/2016- Several emails with sbctc and Directors at FirstLink colleges regarding FAC
presentation.
03/2016- Provided several hours worth of information as part of a panel presentation at FAC 2 ½
day conference for Wash. CTC’s at Rainbow as well as business process handouts and
issue/problem discussion and resolution.
On-going- Meetings regarding the vast issues related to financial aid and problem resolution so
future waves (and their students) don’t experience the same first quarter problems.
04/2016- Two day setup meeting with sbctc and ciber in Olympia regarding ctcLink/Peoplesoft for
the upcoming year.
On-going- Changes to ‘normal’ business processes because of ctcLink/Peoplesoft system which
means refining and redocumenting the new procedures.
05/2016- Ongoing setup and cleanup issues to prepare for upcoming year awarding and mass
packaging of large volumes of files in ctcLink/Peoplesoft system. Gathered info to share
with next wave of CTC’s to Go Live in new system in October.
05/2016- Emails with SCC director and our staff regarding FAC presentations pertaining to
ctcLink.
05/2016- Attended CTC FAC meeting at SCC. Provided input regarding staff presentations and
handouts for the CTC’s regarding the Peoplesoft system.
05/2016- Tickets opened with sbctc/CIBER regarding the new ctcLink/Peoplesoft system for mass
packaging resolution and queries, budget assignment issues upon ISIR import, and
equity packaging plan training/information for mass packaging.
06/2016- Attended 2 day 4th Quarter EC transition meeting in Ellensburg.
Budget Information
Approved Budget / $
Budget Expenditures to Date / TOTAL = $
Event Information (complete if applicable)
Event Name
Location
Date
Number / Cost of Registration / Subtotal
Attendees
Complimentary Registrations (if applicable – i.e., scholarship recipients)
Add more rows as needed for additional events.
Suggestions for Future Committee
Calendar of Events/Timelines
Date / Committee / DescriptionPage | 1