Campus buildings will be closed Thursday, August 21 for employee professional development activities. Services will resume Friday, August 22.
The Colleague User Group comprised of Classified Professional from areas across campus. The purpose of the group is 3 fold. 1. To figure out solutions for user issues in Colleague. 2. To develop solutions to improve business practices, through better use of Colleague, including training and moving to best practices. and 3. Develop and support Data Governance on campus.
The group was assembled due to feedback that Evolve gathered at its Summits about the need for systems improvements and training within the systems across campus.
Have a long standing issue you would like us to investigate, wonder if Colleague can do something, or have suggestions about trainings? Please fill out this form. If you have an immediate or new issue, log in problem, etc. please contact the helpdesk.
Issues | Recommendation | Outcome |
Welcome emails need to be revised to be specific by admit status and need to include more welcoming wording | Revise welcome letter and provide different information for specific admin status | Completed revision of the letter |
Share information widely as processes change | Develop a communications strategy for this | CUG will tackle |
IRP is using ODS for data reporting and was not involved in the original ODS implementation or the configuration of Colleague to ODS, hence, staff members are not as knowledgeable of Colleague fields and views as they would like. | Create ODS-Colleague Data Dictionary | In progress - CUG |
IRP requests that data entry guidelines for ALL offices be communicated with the goal to educate other offices on how their data entry impacts others. To ensure Identity management (address, phone, email) which appears to be inconsistent, IRP suggests a policy on which data elements can be modified by students (and method used to request change). | Develop data entry guides and train users. | CUG Data Governance Phase |
Purchasing desires processes for mass dis-encumbrances, pushing remaining funds/encumbrance forward for multiple year contracts. | Research mass dis-encumbrance functionality in Colleague. | Solution found - sent to Administrative Services |
It has been reported that employees (not in purchasing) who are entering Requisitions would like start date and end date fields, instead of putting these dates in comment fields which are not searchable or conducive to sorting for reports. | Explore appropriate fields for start and end dates or fields that could be re-appropriated for this data. | Not a function. However, with the implementation of the Procurement Module it will be substantially easier to track requisitions through the process. |
ECC uses Fixed approvers based on GL hierarchy. Participants questioned if Colleague has functionality to store/remember correct approver hierarchy, i.e. chair, dean, VP, etc., in approval queues. Also, can Workflow be used for requisition approvals, or approval hierarchy? | Investigate Colleague functionality and configurations for approval queues including the use of Workflow. | Will be resolved with implementation of Procurement Module in Self-Service - ITS is working on this |
No notification is sent to approvers when a requisition is ready to approve. This would assist approvers to review requisitions in a timelier manner. | Investigate a CM field for notifications out of Colleague. Self-Service may have capabilities to setup notifications. | Will be resolved with implementation of Procurement Module in Self-Service - ITS is working on this |
Staff experience difficulty with financial aid reconciliation down to student-level data for audit purposes. | Develop reports with IRP and ITS to retrieve Colleague delivered student-level data fields (on Financial Aid, AR Payments, and GL tables) in transmittal process. | Financial Aid is working on addressing the audit findings involving R2T4 and retroactive withdraw dates |
Payroll is processed outside of Colleague by Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE); it is SIG’s understanding that this process will not change. One of the negative effects of this outside processing is the lack of updating CWS earnings for students in the Federal Work Study (FWS) program. Staff is currently manually entering the data to report CWS earnings. Colleague baseline functionality will provide an automatic update of CWS earnings for FWS students when payroll processing is used in Colleague. It was also reported that fraud was found in Work Study hours worked. | A thorough review of the data from payroll processing is needed to determine if a system-based workaround is possible to avoid manual CWS earnings entry and fraud. It is also suggested to connect with peer Colleague institutions to learn if others are manually entering data and/or have problems with fraud. | Can easily automate by using Time Keeping in Colleague. This would also allow the College to sunset its use of Timekeeper |
A relatively small number of custom screens and processes are used by Financial Aid in Colleague. The CAL Grant functionality was developed by Ellucian and is necessary for accurate and effective processing. However, there are other custom processes e.g., FA Decision maintenance and student exemption maintenance that may be replaced by Colleague functionality. | Transitions to Ellucian CAL grant mod, moving for 24-25, should be automated and smoother | Complete |
FA staff reported that a break in enrollment could cause students to slip through SAP calculations and either have false calculations or have failure to calculate at all. SAP is one area in which FA staff attempt to utilize Communications Management, but some workflows seem to be failing based on meeting discussions. Staff members are currently using “dummy” codes on AIDE for internal messaging between staff e.g., ineligible for Pell, hold packaging for verification, etc.; baseline Colleague functions and fields, such as CM functions, FA Decisions, and others, can accomplish the same functions and align more with best practice. In addition, there are concerns that programs are incomplete with the Academic Program Requirements Screen (APRS) is not always populated with the 150% Max timeframe field. | A thorough review of the SAP setup in Colleague needs to be conducted with appropriate refinements made so as to return to baseline functionality. | Not started |
FA staff reported changes in residency made by A&R have impacted aid eligibility. When changes are made the associated budget does not automatically re-calculate. FA staff has developed internal awareness and an exception report to track changes. Similarly, students’ majors can change at virtually any time, which negatively impacts financial aid staff’s evaluation for CPoS. | It is suggested that an auto-notification be sent to appropriate personnel when changes are made. | No automatic update notification, however an ASPR report can be run for changes in residency |
To be in compliance with SEVIS, ECC must be able to run a report of the last semester’s students to determine if they are registered for the current semester, i.e., a “not registered for next term” list. This is required by SEVIS, in addition to being a retention issue. | Work with ITS to develop a report that can be run to list students not registered for the current semester. This will aid Counselors in connecting with students to discuss registration and thus improve retention. | Dean of Enrollment Services is will complete the update. |
Transfer credit is not posted until the end of a student’s career. This can possibly put the institution at risk for non-compliance. There was confusion and concern also expressed about how transfer credit course titles appear on the transcript. | Evaluating transcripts when a student is admitted is considered a best practice as well as being a compliance requirement. Explore realistic solutions to providing resources to evaluate transcripts as soon as possible after a student has been admitted to ECC. Research also should be conducted to clarify the issue with how transfer credit course titles appear on the transcript. | Status unknown |
Overrides and exceptions were discussed revealing that there is no formal procedure for entering these permissions. There was also confusion if overrides and exceptions are entered in Starfish’s educational plan or Colleague Degree Audit. | Resolution requires transcript review by A&R evaluators and implementation of TES to track course equivalencies first. | Status unknown |
During discussions there were concerns over the correctness of section start dates. There was confusion as to which data field date is being used. It appears that the dates are inconsistent causing Financial Aid compliance issues related to timing of disbursements and return of funds calculations for withdrawn students. | In consultation with the registrar and financial aid director, review if SEC.START.DATE is the term date or if the field is being populated with CSM.START.DATE. Determine which date is correct and make configuration adjustments. | SEC.START.DATE is populated by term date. |
There were problems mentioned with degree audit and education plans. Currently, degree audit and education plans must be rebuilt multiple times. | It is recommended that a review and analysis be conducted on degree audit functionality including the building of education plans. It is imperative that education plans be correct and usable to remain in compliance with Federal Financial Aid. | pending. Status of degree audit in A&R; currently working on graduation module |
All participants were not aware of Colleague functionality to archive education plans in Self-Service Student Planning. Those that were aware agreed that the archive feature is weak; however, it is baseline and it could be useful. | Review the archive feature in Self-Service Student Planning and determine if this functionality could be useful. If so, establish a standard procedure and inform all appropriate personnel. | Working toward full implementation of the Planning. |
Courses in a student’s program of study are not being followed in some cases since education plans do not tie back to Colleague. | Consider the most appropriate method of including education plans into Colleague given that Colleague is the system of record. | Working toward full implementation of the Planning. |
It was revealed that Canadian provinces information is lacking in the STATES table. In addition, there may be information in the COUNTRIES table that needs to be updated. This was raised as a potential compliance issue with SEVIS. | It is recommended to conduct a thorough review of the STATES and COUNTRIES tables and update as appropriate. Confirm that all SEVIS requirements are followed. | Integration of SEVIS with Colleague is pending. |
Counseling personnel do not seem to have consistency in all procedures and processes. There are multiple methods of recording data in multiple systems. It was reported that the college catalog is manually entered into Starfish. There is no Counseling “system of record.” | To ensure consistent reporting that informs planning and future procedures, it is recommended to adopt one technology application as the system of record for Counseling. Colleague is system of record for the college | Working toward full implementation of the Planning. |
Another discovered inconsistency is in Level and Requisite clearances. Discussions revealed that these may not be processed consistently. In addition, course equivalencies need to be reviewed. It has been some time since these have been validated, e.g., regular ENGL 100A is not being fulfilled by honors ENGL 100H for Requisites. There may be issues with some Math courses as well. | It is recommended to investigate how Level and Requisites are cleared. If a standard procedure is not in place, one should be developed and followed. Course equivalencies need to be reviewed and updated. | Review of Requisites |
Recruit is used by ECC for prospecting and recruiting. Participants commented that there are some fields in Recruit that are not being pushed to Colleague. | A review of the imported fields from Recruit to Colleague is recommended. There may be data that is not mapped correctly e.g., size of SQL field vs Unidata field. | CRM Recruit is being evaluate by Student Services, to implement other features. |
Comments were expressed by participants concerning duplicate checking criteria in Recruit as to the validity and completeness of the criteria. Address weighting criteria was also included. | Review duplicate checking criteria used by Recruit and adjust address weighting as needed. | CRM Recruit is being evaluate by Student Services, to implement other features including duplicate checking. |
Overload issues for students. | This is a known issue. | Solution is to have A&R or Registrar hand registr overload. |
Employees may not have the proper access to Colleague for them to do work tasks. | Colleague access should be reviewed once per year or when there are questions to ensure that job tasks can be completed. | CUG will develop access per job class |
Discussed awareness of all Colleague screens that pertain to the work in the Registrar’s Office. All employees may be lacking in knowledge of required baseline screens. | A review of all available screens and functionality be conducted and included in the training.` | CUG will create training guides. |
Participants may have maintenance access to forms in Colleague that should be hidden or limited to view only, based on job responsibilities. | Research possibility of using Security Class Definitions (SCDs) to grant mixed maintenance and inquiry views to Sections screens. | CUG will create training guides. |
Currently, there does not seem to be an oversight group for CORE screen changes such as updating basic codes and locations. | Add Locations to use at the section on CORE screens. CUG or a CUG subgroup should manage these changes. | CUG will oversee these process. |
The faculty workload report, FWLR, which itemizes each faculty member’s instructional and non-instructional workload for a specified time period was discussed. There is an Ellucian webcast presentation for updates related to faculty contracts as an option. | Research selection criteria/parameters for running the report and determine the usability of the data. | Training being created for use of FWLR for tentative assignments - Fall 2025 |
Session Cycles and Yearly Cycles are not coded resulting in a lack of data for baseline Colleague reporting. | Add codes for Session Cycles and Yearly Cycles on COFF (course offering) to assist with section creation, planning, and Self-Service registration. These codes will benefit students with additional information plus provide data for the baseline report that can be used administratively. | In process - Fall 2025 |
There were discussions concerning the Ellucian promised enhancement to display printed comments that have no resolution at the section level. | Research Ellucian’s decision to develop or deliver as well as the timetable for implementation. | Complete - Printed comments show in Self-Service Schedule |
Colleague HR is primarily used for issuing faculty contracts with schedules, hours, pay/stipends, and release time. Any faculty overload is managed on a separate contract. ECC uses a custom process to “re-money” contracts to stipends when the situation demands. Employee/faculty records in Colleague are given a position ID which has a 13-16 character naming convention to associate with the HRS job class. | Investigate if the custom process for stipends can be accommodated in baseline Colleague. | In process - Winter 2026 |
Student address maintenance issues were reported. Office personnel are not fully aware of the steps for changing addresses or documents required, if any, to prove the student requested the update. There may also be a timing issue if the change is submitted via WA as ‘Web’ address and it was reported that staff members are not sure if the address verification process is being run to push address type to another status (local/home/preferred/mailing). | Work with A&R which owns student addresses to inform users of what is needed to change a student address and the documentation needed. Clarify how the process is managed. | Completed address and email update - Spring 2025 |
Discussions revealed that there is no formal method to determine which ID will be the one to keep during the resolution of duplicate records. In addition, a consistent procedure to flag the duplicate record that is not to be used is not in place. Having a lack of standardized and documented procedures results in errors that then requires additional work in resolving issues. | It is recommended to survey peer institutions as to procedures that they follow for resolving duplicate records. Review and adapt effective procedures for ECC and standardize. Inform appropriate personnel and implement new methods. | Process for duplicate records - student fills out the SSN merge form. Assistant Director merges accounts. Student driven process, no process for employees. Duplicate records are not supressed. Investiate suppressing records and Ellucian best practices for duplicate records. |
Crystle Martin
El Camino College
Liaison for the Committee
Dean, Library and Learning Resources