Step by step setting up Elements of Academic Structure

Step by step setting up Elements of Academic Structure 

1.    Overview 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.

2.    Basic Elements of Academic Structure


 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.

3.2 Defining Repeat Scheme


     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.

3.3 Defining Academic Institutions


     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.




4.    Setting Up Academic Groups and Careers


4.1 Defining Academic Groups

     n   Describe academic groups.
     n   Link academic career catalog numbers to academic groups.
     n   Define standard class meeting patterns.

4.2 Defining Academic Careers

     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.

4.3 Setting Up Holiday Schedules Values

     n   Define holiday schedule values on the Holiday Schedule Table page in HRMS.



5.    Setting Up Academic Programs, Plans and Sub-Plans


5.1 Defining an Academic Calendar

     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.

5.2 Defining Academic Level and Load Rules

     n   Define academic level and load determination values.
     n   Define level rules.
     n   Define load rules.
     n   Define contiguous term load rules.

5.3 Academic Programmes

     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.

5.4 Academic Plans

     n   Describe academic plans.
     n   Set up print options.
     n   Set up taxonomy.
     n   Establish academic organization ownership.

5.5 Academic Sub-Plans

     n   Describe academic subplans.
     n   Set up taxonomy.

6.    Establishing Academic Terms and Sessions


6.1 Defining Tem Values

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).

6.2 Defining Time Periods

     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.

6.3 Defining Academic Terms and Sessions

     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.




7.    Defining Academic Organizations


7.1 Setting up Organisations

     n   Add/Modify academic organizations.
     n   Designate financial ownership for academic organizations.
     n   Designate human resource ownership for academic organizations.

7.2 Setting Up Academic Subjects

     n   Describe subject areas.
     n   Define subject area taxonomy.
     n   Define subject and component multipliers from Subject workload page.


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