Academic Organizations and the Academic Organization Tree

Purpose: This document provides an overview of Academic Organizations and the Academic Organization Tree, including how they are used to organize data, manage security access, and request updates within ctcLink Campus Solutions.

Audience: Campus Community

Overview

Academic Organizations are used to enforce security on and organize subjects, courses, classes, instructors, and advisors. Academic Organization hierarchy is defined when Academic Organizations are created and added to the Academic Organization Tree.

Academic Organization Tree

College users currently do not have access to view the Academic Organization Tree. Submit a ticket if you would like to see the current configuration of your local Academic Organization Tree.

The Academic Organization Tree serves two primary purposes:

  • Security: The Academic Organization Tree determines which users can interact with particular subjects, courses, or classes and controls how instructors are assigned to classes.
  • Querying: Academic Organizations can help to organize subject, course, class, instructor, and advisor data.
PeopleSoft Tree Viewer page displaying the ACAD_ORGANIZATION hierarchy with expanded academic organization and department folders.

The Academic Organization Tree is organized hierarchically.

  • The topmost level of the hierarchy is the college-level Academic Organization (e.g., "280BATES", "270RENTON"). This organization holds all Academic Organizations found at the college.
  • The second level of the hierarchy is generally occupied by codes representing Divisions and Departments.
  • The third (and subsequent) levels are generally occupied by codes representing various subcategories within Divisions and Departments.

Users can interact with Academic Organizations based on their Academic Org Security SACR. Users with the highest access (e.g., "280BATES", "270RENTON") can access all courses, classes, etc. that belong to the college. Users with access to a specific Division or Department code can interact only with that code and any codes beneath it. This means staff access can be very granular (e.g., when a user is granted access to one Academic Organization that has no other Academic Organizations beneath it) or very broad (e.g., when a user is granted access to the college-level Academic Organization and has access to all Academic Organizations that belong to the college).

Academic Organizations can be added to and moved within the Academic Organization Tree structure. Changes to user security take effect once the Academic Organization Tree has been updated and the Update Security - Acad Orgs process has been run by SBCTC. The primary use of the Academic Organization Tree and Table is to enforce security. Your local Academic Organization Tree and Table might mirror your local college’s organizational structure, but they do not need to.

To reduce unwanted access issues, Academic Organizations are rarely deleted from the Academic Organization Tree. Submit a ticket for assistance when an Academic Organization needs to be inactivated.

Academic Organization Table

You must have at least one of these local college-managed security roles to view the Academic Organization Table:

  • ZC FWL Maintain Config
  • ZD FWL View Config
  • ZD SACR Found Tbl Config Inq
  • ZD SR Super User

College users do not have access to make changes to the Academic Organization Table. Review the following section and submit a ticket to request additions and updates to this table.

If you need assistance with the above security roles, please contact your local college supervisor or IT Admin to request role access.

PeopleSoft Academic Organization Table page displaying details for the Business & Communication Department academic organization.

Colleges can create and maintain Academic Organizations by submitting a ticket to the CS Core Support team.

If requesting a new Academic Organization, include the following information in your ticket:

  • Desired code. All Academic Organization codes begin with a three-digit college code and are followed by brief descriptive characters ("120ACCT", "160SURGTEC", "300HUMDEPT"). Codes are limited to numbers and letters; special characters are not used. Codes are permanent and cannot be changed once created.
  • Description of up to 50 characters ("Arts and Sciences", "Information Technology Division", "Anthropology Department").
  • Describe where the new Academic Organization should be placed in your local Academic Organization Tree.

If requesting an update to an Academic Organization, include the following information in your ticket:

  • The Academic Organization code.
  • A list of requested edits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question Answer
The description of my academic organization has been changed (for example, a department or division has been renamed). Can the Academic Organization code be updated to match the new description? No. Academic Organization codes are permanent and cannot be changed once created. Descriptions do not need to exactly match the Academic Organization code. Codes are just codes; it does not matter if the code “matches” the description. What matters is if the description is accurate.
The description of my academic organization has been changed and I want the Academic Organization code to match the new description. Can a new Academic Organization be created? Creating a new Academic Organization when description changes occur is not recommended. Academic Organizations are referenced throughout the Campus Solutions pillar, and new Academic Organizations do not automatically replace existing codes. Creating a new code to match an updated description can result in significant manual updates across multiple Campus Solutions pages and processes.
A division on campus has radically changed (for example, two divisions merged into one or one division split into two). How should Academic Organizations be updated? This depends on local college business processes. In general:
  • If a smaller division or department is absorbed into a larger division or department, the larger entity’s Academic Organization code is typically used moving forward.
  • If a division or department splits into two separate entities, one entity may retain the original Academic Organization code with an updated description, or both entities may receive new Academic Organization codes.
Include details about the local business scenario in the support ticket so CS Core Support can help determine the best approach.
When requesting a new Academic Organization, do I need to provide information for the Acad Organization FS Owner or Acad Organization HR Owner tabs? No. These tabs can remain blank. The most important information is entered on the Academic Organization Table tab, including the Academic Organization code and description.
After updating an Academic Organization, can the changes automatically roll forward to scheduled classes? No. Changes made to Academic Organizations at the course level do not automatically update scheduled classes. Updates to scheduled classes must be completed manually.

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