What we do and when to contact ASR Training & Support

The ASR Training and Support team supports staff and faculty, specifically users of student record systems at the University of Minnesota. Our team conducts training for University staff (both online and in person), creates UPK topics and other documentation for users, and provides support to the users of the systems on which we provide training. We are here to support staff and faculty who use:

• PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
• Collaborative Class Scheduling (CCS)
• Grades and Faculty Center
• Class Permissions (numbers)
• Student Program/Plan 
• Enrollment processing
• Service Indicators
• Student Advisor
• Student Groups 
• Program & Curriculum Approval System (PCAS)
• Electronic Course Authorization System (ECAS)
• Astra Schedule
• Reporting Center (Student Services)

We are also happy to help direct you if you’re not sure who in ASR a question should go to.

Our team is composed of four staff members: Renae Faunce, Sally Gutierrez, Heather Micek, and Jennifer Selander. Contact us at 612-625-2803 or srhelp@umn.edu whenever you have questions about the training we offer or the systems and processes we support.

Gain efficiency by setting up a blank filter in Astra

In the course of using Astra, sometimes as a scheduler you have to apply many filter criteria to your Events list or Academic Section list. It can take a lot of clicks to remove each criterion later, when they are no longer needed.

To gain efficiency, you can quickly remove your existing filter criteria by setting up and saving a “blank” filter. To set one up, simply delete all existing criteria, click search, and then click the save button. Next time you want to remove all existing criteria just select your “blank” filter and click search.

Quick admit improvement

Does your office use the Quick Admit process for activating non-degree students? There has been an improvement to the PeopleSoft Quick Admit process. Contact ASR Training and Support if you would like to know more.

Key links for PCAS & ECAS added to MyU

If you have update access to PCAS or ECAS, links to these systems have been added to MyU portal under Key Links. If you do not have update access to these applications, but wish to login to view information in PCAS or ECAS, you may access these systems through Academic Support Resources' website. It is available to add these links to your Favorites in MyU.

Mid-term grade rosters

Mid-term grade rosters are available for fall term regular session classes. A quick start guide on the manual entry of mid-term grades is available. New this year, instructors have the option to upload mid-term grades from a spreadsheet. Grade upload instructions are available from a link within Faculty Center.

Entering Leave of Absence on Student Program/Plan

If a Leave of Absence (LEAV) row is added to the Student Program/Plan page before the student’s registration is dropped for the term, the system will provide a warning message when the user attempts to save, but it will not stop the user from saving the change.



It is best practice for staff who process student leave of absence requests to ensure that any registration for the term of leave is dropped before adding the LEAV row. If registration existed for the term, the LEAV row must then be added with an effective date of the second day of the term (for fall 2016, this is 9/7/2016 on the Twin Cities campus).

Beware, should any day prior to the second day of the term be used for the LEAV row and the student has not yet dropped their classes, the student will be unable to do so. If you make an error and haven’t used the correct effective date, please email srhelp@umn.edu and we can correct it for you.

Using RLOAs on Student Program/Plan

At the same time you put a leave of absence (LEAV) on the Program/Plan page, please take a moment to also add a return from leave (RLOA) for the first day of term for which the student indicates that he/she will resume his or her studies.

With the RLOA row in place, the student will be appear active for that future term in PeopleSoft allowing the following automatic updates:

• Term activation
• Enrollment appointment assignment

Your RLOA processing will help ensure that your student can resume their studies without needing to contact your office for assistance.

Entering Plan and Subplan changes

When making Plan or Subplan changes on Student Program/Plan which are effective for fall 2016, the Effective Date of the Plan Change (PLNC) or Data Change (DATA) row must be backdated to the first day of the term. If any date after the first day of the term is used, the plan change will not be effective until the following term (spring 2017). If you forget and realize too late that you haven’t backdated the Effective Date, please email srhelp@umn.edu with the details, and we can correct it for you.

Designating classes eligible for freshman full year registration

Freshman Orientation is well underway on the Twin Cities campus, at which students will register for both Fall 2016 and Spring 2017.

Spring 2017 classes eligible for Freshman Full Year Registration are designated by the Course Attribute, “FRFY Freshman full year reg,” in the CCS Basic Data tab.

 

Classes with the attribute are open for registration, but only to students with the “FRFY Freshman Full Yr Registration” Student Group on their record.

Classes without the FRFY Class Attribute are restricted by the temporary use of a class requisite that prohibits registration. If you discover your department missed applying the FRFY attribute to a class, the CCS scheduler should add the attribute in CCS. A daily query identifies those with a newly added FRFY attribute and the requisite is removed to allow freshmen to register.

Auto-enroll from wait list emails sent to students

The auto-enroll process generates emails to students on a class’ wait list each time auto-enroll runs for the class. The PeopleSoft UM Waitlist Email History page (Main Menu > Records and Enrollment > Term Processing > Waitlist > UM Waitlist Email History) keeps records of the email messages generated to students in this process. Messages include:

• notification of enrollment in a class for which a student had been waiting,
• notification enrollment was attempted but not successful due to a time conflict or maximum credit limit, or
• notification that auto-enroll ran for a class, but that a student was not yet enrolled because other students were ahead of them on the wait list.

Class schedulers and wait list managers may visit the UM Waitlist Email History page to view the system-generated emails. On this page, the system creates a row for each email sent to the student for the selected term. Note that the emails are listed in chronological order starting with the earliest email sent.

Get ECAS Help When You Need it

When you need help with ECAS, please consult the ECAS UPK topics which are published on the Quickstart Guides page. Conveniently, you may also access these UPK topics through the PeopleSoft ‘Help’ link. We do have the ECAS Manual available for reference on the ECAS home page. Please note, however, the manual is no longer being revised, as it is being replaced with the UPK topics.

Quick Start Guides Available on Many Topics

In addition to UPK topics that can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Help’ link in PeopleSoft, the Training and Support Team maintains a quick start guide library at https://asr.umn.edu/qsguides. Here users can find helpful guides on using Faculty Center, Advisor Center, Student Center, academic standing, entering manual registration appointments, Astra Schedule, ECAS, and more.

Supplemental Class Search Tool

With registration for summer and fall 2016 underway, advisors and student services staff may wish to use the Supplemental Class Search tool to assist students with class selection. It can be used along with the class search to find courses that meet multiple LE requirements, to view the reserve capacity on the class, and to easily identify online and distance learning classes. You can find this supplemental tool on the One Stop staff page under “Advising”, and may wish to add it to your MyU Favorites.

As you use this tool, remember that it is designed to assist advising and student services staff with their work advising students. It has limited search options and there is no integration between this tool and the registration shopping cart. For these reasons, please do not share this link with students. While it’s understood that students may encounter it as you work with them, it is not being promoted to them.

Use MyU Favorites to Bookmark System Links

If you are a user of ECAS, PCAS, Astra Schedule, or other systems not housed in MyU Key Links, consider adding these to your MyU Favorites for quick and easy access to the systems with just one login. To add a MyU Favorite:

1. Click the Favorites tab
2. Click ‘Add External Link’
3. Name your Favorite and copy/paste the URL link
4. Click ‘Add my Favorite’

Reminder: ECAS UPK topics now available

Several ECAS User Productivity Kit (UPK) topics are available for your use and more are under construction and will be available soon. These topics are available from the PeopleSoft Help link, as well as from our training website. They include:

• Introduction to ECAS
• Basic update steps in ECAS
• Updating a current course in ECAS
• ECAS Approval Process

Dates for registration batch processes posted for summer & fall 2016

A listing of the run-dates for batch jobs that affect registration (term activation, permission numbers, enrollment appointments) has been updated to include summer and fall 2016. These dates are as of February 9.

You may also reach this page by going to the ASR Training and Support Team website and clicking on the "Batch Process Dates" link under Related Resources.

Multiple Meeting Patterns

If your course has multiple meeting patterns, be sure that the instructor is listed on each meeting pattern and that the Print checkbox is checked. Otherwise, the meeting pattern will fail to display in MyU.

Change of Employment Status form

If an employee has a change of employment status, such as retirement, termination, or department transfer, the Change of Employment Status Form should be completed to provide notification to IT Provisioning and Requests. This ensures that Enterprise system access is adjusted appropriately and removes individuals from email lists pertaining to systems they no longer use.

Class prerequisites reminder

Please keep in mind that when updating class prerequisites in ECAS, the prerequisite information should be included as part of the Class Description field as well. This ensures that when students use Class Search, the prerequisites are easily viewable and understandable in the Description field. While there is a separate field for enforced prerequisites in ECAS, this information is usually in abbreviated form and not always “student-speak.” Including the prerequisite information in the Class Description in clear language will aid students in understanding registration requirements.

Saving favorite pages in PeopleSoft

When saving favorite pages within PeopleSoft it’s important to follow the correct process in order to avoid carrying a student ID number with you every time to navigate to that page from your Favorites menu. To add a PeopleSoft page as a favorite:

1. Navigate to its search page.
2. If any criteria, such as a student’s ID number, carried onto the search page criteria, click the Clear button.
3. Select the Favorites drop down menu and then Add to Favorites.
4. Change the description, if you wish, and click OK.

If you’ve accidentally set up a favorite page so that a student’s ID number carries onto it, you may take the following corrective action:

1. Go to Favorites > Edit Favorites.
2. Delete the Favorite page and Save.
3. Clear your Internet browser’s history.
4. Log back into PeopleSoft and save the page as a Favorite again, using the above instructions.