Step by step setting up Elements
of Academic Structure
Academic structure is the foundation of the
PeopleSoft Student Administration modules and their functions. It encompasses
the institution’s schools and colleges, academic programs and departments, and
subject areas. The Academic Structure serves as the basis for the course
catalog and schedule, grading scheme, and all related tables that must be
created prior to implementation.
The academic
structure and its elements are the building blocks for an academic institution.
This diagram illustrates the institution’s academic structure at high level.
Figure 1: Academic Structure Elements
An academic institution can have many campuses.
Academic programs are part of academic careers and the academic institution.
Subject areas are part of academic organizations and the academic institution.
Academic plans and academic sub-plans are subdivisions of academic programs.
Degree records are directly linked to academic plans.
Courses and classes are subdivisions of subject areas and directly linked to terms and sessions.
Academic Institution: Institution is a
highest level of the academic structure. Institutions are assigned by SetId.
SetId allows the sharing of common codes, structures, and facilities between
colleges.
Academic Group:The academic group is the college
or school with in the university. These groups are attached to the catalog.
Academic Career: This is a level of study in
university or institution like Undergraduate, Graduate etc. This also refers to
a grouping of all academic work undertaken by a student that is grouped into a
single record (Transcript).
Academic Programs: An academic entity to which the
student applies to., is admitted into, and ultimately graduates from. Programs
offer plans and sub-plans.
Academic Plan: Plans refers to an area of study
within an academic program. The academic plan is a formal course of study that
a student pursues in order to receive a degree.
Academic Sub-Plans: Sub-plans refers to
specializations or concentrations that are directly linked to the academic
plan. Example: A student may be enrolled in the classical studies plan with a
sub-plan of Greek and Latin.
Academic
Structure Elements
|
Sample
Values
|
Academic
Institution
|
University
of Alberta
|
Academic
Group
|
Arts
& Science
|
Academic
Career
|
Undergraduate
|
Academic
Program
|
UGENG:
English
|
Academic
Plan
|
BA-CLAS:
Classical Studies
|
Academic
Sub-Plan
|
OPT-CLASG:
Greek
|
Table 1: Example of Academic Structure
This structure will impact the
development of the tables used in defining campus locations, academic
organizations, subjects, catalog, and course schedule.
Locations and Campuses: Campuses belongs to
single institution and use the same course catalog, Produce a common
transcript, and are usually associated with separate physical locations.
Academic Organization: Defines how an
institution is organized from a administrative perspective. The academic
organization information is used to create a Tree Manager. The tree controls
security levels and access to certain Peoplesoft panels and functions.
Subjects: An academic subject is aspecific
area of institution within an academic organization. For example, if the course
is MATH 155, Math is a subject area. This is tied back to the academic
organization Tree (Department). Academic subjects are also linked with course
catalog.
Catalog: Before the course catalog is developed,
the institution codes, academic group, subject, campuses, academic
organizations, and academic career must be defined. The course catalog panel
group contains panels that specify everything you need to enter for a course:
the definition, number of credits, contact hours, topic prerequisites, etc. The
course catalog information provides the template for scheduling classes. The
information entered rolls forward to the class schedules.
Schedules of class: The class schedule is generated
using information from the course catalog. Peoplesoft will allow roll classes
from term to term, adding new courses to the schedule, and revising those
already scheduled. Creating a schedule include Term and Sessions. Term is
defined as approved start and end dates with career. Sessions are created
within a term for art and end dates of course. Each term is associated with an
academic year.
Academic Term: The Term is defined as the start
and end dates of the semester. These dates are approved by university and affect
financial aid enrolment verification, and financial process.
Sessions: Sessions are created within term
and may have different start and end dates from the term. Academic dates, such
as last day of drop and add and refund of dates are determined by the session.
Each course must be attached to the session and term.
Academic
Institution is a highest level in academic structure and also a common key
field in all the major components in campus solutions. Academic institutions
are assigned with SetId’s. The SetId allows sharing of common codes.
3.1
Setting up Grading Scheme
n Define the name and
location of the academic institution.
n Set academic
institution defaults and options.
n Set additional
institutional defaults and option.
n Activate instructor
workload.
n Set repeat checking
controls.
n Define repeat schemes
and repeat codes.
n Define repeat rules.
n Set up repeat checking
for academic institutions.
n Set up repeat checking
for academic careers.
n Set up repeat checking
for academic programs.
n Define the name and
location of the academic institution.
n Set academic
institution defaults and options.
n Set additional
institutional defaults and option.
n Activate instructor
workload.
n Set repeat checking
controls.
n Describe academic
groups.
n Link academic career
catalog numbers to academic groups.
n Define standard class
meeting patterns.
n Describe academic
career parameters.
n Set additional academic career parameters.
n Set up academic career pointers.
n Set repeat checking controls for academic
careers.
n Set up self-service options.
n Define holiday
schedule values on the Holiday Schedule Table page in HRMS.
n Describe academic
calendars.
n Set up term landmark
dates.
n Define self-service
graduation terms.
n Set up session
cancellation and withdrawal dates.
n Set up session drop
dates.
n Define academic level
and load determination values.
n Define level rules.
n Define load rules.
n Define contiguous term
load rules.
n Set up defaults for
academic programs.
n Set up academic
standing parameters for academic programs.
n Set up honours and
award parameters for academic programs.
n Establish academic
organization ownership for academic programs.
n Set taxonomy and
repeat checking options for academic programs.
n Define campuses and
business units for academic programs.
n Define grade lapse
rules for academic programs.
n Set up term enrollment
limits for academic programs.
n Set up session
enrollment limits for academic programs.
n Set up course count
limits for academic programs.
n Describe academic
plans.
n Set up print options.
n Set up taxonomy.
n Establish academic
organization ownership.
n Describe academic
subplans.
n Set up taxonomy.
Set up term values and their
descriptions. You use these term values for all academic institutions and
careers throughout Campus Solutions, regardless of the structure of the terms
that you define.
Access the Term Values Table page
(Set Up SACR, Foundation Tables, Term Setup, Term Values Table, Term Values
Table).
n Use the Time Period
Table component (TIME_PERIOD_TABLE) to set up Time Period.
n Define the time
periods, or critical points in time, that are valid for each academic career
within a setID.
n You can add more time
period translate values, provided that you attach your own coding to them.
n Define terms within
academic careers. Different academic careers at an institution can have
different term structures.
n Define the sessions of
a term, including the significant dates within the session. Sessions subdivide
a term into multiple time periods in which to offer classes.
n Define landmark time
periods within each session of a term. The system uses time periods for
enrollment security purposes.
n Add/Modify academic
organizations.
n Designate financial ownership
for academic organizations.
n Designate human
resource ownership for academic organizations.
n Describe subject
areas.
n Define subject area
taxonomy.
n Define subject and
component multipliers from Subject workload page.
