Mikayla Davis
The Communicator

On August 25, 2014, the Community Colleges of Spokane will be the first of many switching to a new management system called ctcLink.
According to the ctcLink web site, sbctc.edu, “ctcLink is the implementation of a single, centralized system of online functions to give students, faculty and staff anytime, anywhere access to a modern, efficient way of doing their college business.”
Currently, the district uses separate systems, some 30-years-old, in order to maintain student information, financial information, etc. The new system, ctcLink, will combine all these different systems into one.
“Bigfoot Portal – it’s not an integrated system,” Anne Tucker, Public Information Officer for CCS, said. “The My Bigfoot Portal will go away and ctcLink will be the gateway.”
“There have been many attempts to try to improve the system,” Tucker said. “Now, software products, such as Peoplesoft, have evolved to the point where it is compatible with our systems and we can configure it to our college.”
Peoplesoft is the software that ctcLink will be using for the new system and is what enables the program to combine all their systems into one.
The new system will be “a learning curve for everyone,” Heather McKenzie WaitE, Director of Student Funded Programs at Spokane Falls Community College, said.
Some changes will be more apparent than others. “Students will be receiving new student ID numbers,” McKenzie WaitE said.
According to the ctcLink FAQs page, students will “use common online tools for everything from admission to graduation.”
“They will have a full service student center. They can apply online, apply for financial aid, find out if they were accepted, find out their financial aid award, register for classes, and find out if seats are still available,” Tucker said. “They’ll even be able to do a degree audit.”
Faculty and staff will have to reorganize and learn an entirely new system. According to the ctcLink FAQs, colleges “will benefit from a single source for accurate and timely data and the standardization of select administrative processes to support efficiency and effectiveness across the system.”
For example, faculty will have areas in the program for keeping track of their classes, advising students, and organizing their personal information such as benefits. It will all be contained within ctcLink.
The ctcLink system will be deployed in three phases over the course of five years, with up to eleven colleges each wave. According to the FAQ page, it’s estimated to cost each college about $3 million and “cost approximately $6 million per year,” for the ongoing maintenance.
“This project is being funded by a portion of tuition,” Tucker said, “about three percent.”
The first wave of testing began in March. “We’re going to find issues in testing and that’s a good thing,” Tawana Williamson, one of the testing leads for the System Integration Testing team, said in the ctcLink blog, ctclink.wordpress.com. “Now is the time to find defects and resolve them.”
At the end of May, SFCC faculty will see a preview of the new system.
“It’s not hands-training yet,” Tucker said. “They will see a presentation. They will be shown the faculty center.”
According to Tucker, faculty hands-on training will start a few days before fall classes. “September 18 and 19 will be pretty intensive,” Tucker said.
According to McKenzie WaitE, students should register for their fall classes before the college switches over to ctcLink in August.
Students who register before the switch “will have a better chance of avoiding any glitches,” McKenzie WaitE said.
“Students who wait to register for fall will be registered in the new system,” Tucker said.
Despite the bugs that will probably occur during the switchover, McKenzie WaitE said, “in the long run, it [ctcLink] will simplify things.”
“I think students will pick up the new system quickly,” Tucker said. “Over the summer, look for information coming from the college about the new student ID numbers.”