Academic Structure The group of setup tables in the Oracle PeopleSoft system that defines your institution to the PeopleSoft Student Administration system. It is the foundation for all components of the system, representing the institution's physical and logical academic structure.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Academic Institution (“institution level” Academic Organization) An individual university or college, working with the same course catalog and showing on the same transcript.
Cornell equivalent: University.
Academic Interest A subject area in which a prospect or applicant has indicated an interest. Academic Interests are not limited to programs and plans offered at Cornell.
Academic Group (“group level” Academic Organization) The highest level within an academic institution offering courses; the Group is the entity that offers the course. One exception is the Cornell Graduate School, which is an “Academic Group level” Academic Organization that offers only two courses: GRAD 001 (Doctoral Dissertation Research) and GRAD 002 (Masters Thesis Research).
Cornell equivalent: College.
Academic Organization For data entry, the Cornell department is usually what you enter into the Academic Organization field. One exception is the Cornell Graduate School, which is an “Academic Group level” Academic Organization that offers only two courses: GRAD 001 (Doctoral Dissertation Research) and GRAD 002 (Masters Thesis Research).
In this context, you can think of the Academic Organization as the administrative unit that manages courses offered within a specific academic subject.
Cornell equivalent: Department.
Action Reason Used in conjunction with a Program Action to indicate why a particular program action was taken or offer a further description of the program action.
Accounting Feed See G/L Interface.
Adjustment Calendar How student fees get refunded after that student’s withdrawal. Controls how a particular charge is adjusted on a student’s account when they drop classes or withdraw from a term. The charge adjustment is based on how much time has elapsed from a predetermined date and applies by percent of the original charge amount.
Cornell equivalent: Refund Schedule.
Administrative Function a functional area within the PeopleSoft Student Administration application, such as PROS (Prospect), PROP (Prospect Program), or LOAN (a Financial Aid function) that defines key data fields (the variable data) to be associated with communications in a particular communications category.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Aging See Credit History.
Auto-populate Once a specific field is filled in, tabbing out of that field will cause other specific fields in that section to automatically fill in as well.
Cornell equivalent: Auto-populate.
Billing Careers If a student is actively simultaneously in multiple careers, some of these careers may be grouped for billing purposes under the name of one of the careers. This one career is called the billing career.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Bio/Demo Data Information that identifies a person, such as: name, birth date, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, address, and telephone number.
Cornell equivalent: Bio/Demo data.
Brightness is the measurement of how light, or dark, the screen of a video display (e.g., computer monitor) is. This is measured by candle power (candela).
Brio-Hyperion Insight A browser plug-in for Internet Explorer which enables you to open and view reports.
Brio-Hyperion Portal The interface which allows you to view and select reports for processing for SADM. Once a report is selected, the Student Reporting Dashboard will open in a second window.
3C Group a broad grouping of users to be allowed access to a particular administrative function for use in creating communications. For example, the UGAD (undergraduate admissions staff) group needs access to the PROS (Prospect) administrative function.
3Cs stands for Communications, Comments, and Checklists.
Campus Defined within an institution as where the academic groups manage their courses.
Cornell equivalent: Campus Location.
Campus Community the central repository of the PeopleSoft system for data that is shared across the three main business areas of Human Resources, Contributor Relations, and Student Administration. It is used to manage biographic and demographic information on people and organizations, known as Bio/Demo data. All the processes and activities you perform in the PeopleSoft system are performed in relation to records for individuals in Campus Community.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Campus Location See Campus.
Career A grouping of all academic work undertaken by a student at a school, which the school groups into a single academic record: Undergraduate, Graduate, Veterinary Medicine, Graduate Management, Law and Non-Degree.
Cornell equivalent: Career.
Catalog Nbr (4 digits) Number assigned to a course that appears in the Course Catalog. You do type this in. For instance, for Math 1101, the number “1101” is the Catalog Number.
Cornell equivalent: Course Number (3 digits).
Checklist 3C Group a collection of 3C groups linked to a particular checklist code.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Checklist Item an object or a task that represents one of the entries on a list of documents to compile or jobs to be done. An example would be the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is listed on the checklist of documents required to complete a Veterinary College application for financial aid.
Cornell equivalent: Checklist item.
Class Specific instances of the time, place, and term of a course. Students enroll in classes. Grades are based on classes. Classes are listed in the Cornell Course and Room Roster.
Cornell equivalent: Class or “Course.”
Class Number (generally 4, but up to 5 digits) Unique number assigned to a class. A class is a specific instance of the time, place, and term of a course.
Cornell equivalent: CID, CourseID (6 digits).
College See Academic Group or Program.
Comment Category the link between a specific comment and an administrative function. It determines who has access to certain comments. For example, the comment category MISC gives users in the UGAD 3C Group access to comments for the administration function PROS.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Comment 3C Group a collection of 3C groups associated with a particular comment category.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Communication A contact between an individual and Cornell such as a phone call, letter, or campus visit.
Cornell equivalent: Contact Code
Communications 3C Group a collection of 3C groups linked to a particular communications category.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Communications Category a group of communications contexts tied to functional processing such as communications with prospects. Categories are made up of 3C Groups, so the Groups must exist before the categories can be created.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Communications Context describes the type of communication, how it was made, and in what direction (incoming or outgoing). For example, an Underrepresented Minority Prospect Follow-up (URMPRF) is an outgoing communication that could take place by telephone, email, U.S. Mail, or an in-person visit to the prospect’s school to meet with that person.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Communications Speed Key (Comm Key) a communication shortcut used to quickly enter a predefined communication context with its related method, direction and letter code.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Component A collection of pages related to a particular PeopleSoft task. Example: Find an Existing Value, Add a New Value, and Test Tables are pages in the Test Tables component.
Concentration See Plan or Sub-Plan.
Contact Code See Communication, Recruitment Category, or Referral Source
Course Record in the Oracle PeopleSoft system representing training students receive on a subject at an academic institution; shows what is being taught, the structure for reporting, and credit awarded for successful study. Courses are listed in the Cornell Courses of Study Catalog.
Cornell equivalent: Course.
Course Component Format and location type of the course, such as lecture, lab, or seminar.
Cornell equivalent: Section Type (section, lecture, or lab).
CourseID (CID) See Class Number.
Course ID Permanent, unique number assigned automatically to each course as it is created in the Oracle PeopleSoft Course Catalog. You do not type this in. This six-digit Course ID is attached to a course when the course is created, and this same Course ID stays attached to that course forever. It is not the same as the SIS Course ID, which is a six-digit number assigned to a class for one term, with a new six-digit number being assigned to the class each time it is offered. If there are several offerings of a course in the same term, e.g., Bio G 102, Biological Science Lec, each class has its own six-digit number.
The term "Course ID" as currently used in SIS is replaced in Oracle PeopleSoft by the term "Class Number," a unique number assigned to a class each time it is offered. (See "Class Number.")
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Course Number See Catalog Nbr.
Credit History Ages unpaid services not satisfied on a student’s account.
Cornell equivalent: Aging.
Department See Academic Organization or Subject.
Due Date an alternative to Due Days, wherein a specific deadline date is specified for completion of a checklist or checklist item. Cornell equivalent: Due Date.
Due Days the interval of time between the date a checklist or a single checklist item is assigned and the date by which it is supposed to be complete.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Effective Date This is the date the Oracle PeopleSoft production system uses to determine when a row of information becomes active. Automatically defaults to the system date (today's date). It may be overridden to reflect a prior or future date.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Event A program sponsored by Cornell that can have one or more meetings with specific times and locations.
Event Type A generic category attached to multiple specific events, such as Undergraduate CAAAN Programs and Veterinary Medicine Presentations.
External Org ID Unique system-generated number when a new external organization is first added and saved.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
External Organization Entities that are outside of Cornell, such as schools, businesses, or non-profits with which Cornell does business. For example, for Student Administration this would be high school and university contacts.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Field See Program.
Filter In student reporting dashboards, a dynamically-applied restriction on data previously returned by the processing of a report. Also known as a local limit.
Fit/Gap The process of analyzing where a new system "fits" with an organization's business processes and where there are "gaps" between the system's functionality and the organization's business needs. A "fit" occurs when the organization's needs are met by the new system. A "gap" occurs when the organization's needs are not met by the new system. Functionality lost in "gaps" is typically addressed by end user training, interfaces between systems, and system modifications.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
G/L Interface General Ledger Interface. The process of sending transactions from Student Financials to the General Ledger. Item Types are mapped to specific General Ledger Accounts, enabling transactions to move to the General Ledger when the G/L Interface process is run.
Cornell equivalent: Accounting Feed. (At Cornell, the Accounting Feed process feeds but does not interface to the General Ledger.)
Holds See Service Indicators.
Hyperion Performance Suite The official name of the Brio Portal or the Brio-Hyperion portal and its Web application, Insight. Often called "Brio."
IDP The CedarCrestone Interactive Design and Prototype (IDP) methodology is an implementation philosophy and technique designed to support the knowledge growth and understanding of the PeopleSoft system that is the key to Cornell's production success. It focuses on examining current business processes and, through discussions with the STARS Project team and subject matter experts from the broader campus community, determining whether there may be more effective ways to operate in the future. A critical aspect of this project is looking for approaches that take advantage of the characteristics of the integrated PeopleSoft system. Due to the integrated nature of the system and the desire to construct processes that best meet the needs of all users, cross module IDPs as well as module specific IDPs will be conducted. The resulting decisions will be tested, refined, and, if necessary revisited to ensure the best implementation outcome. IDPs will continue throughout most of the implementation.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
IF Statement Type of merge field that displays one of two options, depending on the criteria set in the statement (ex. If it rains, we’ll watch a movie; if not, we’ll go to the beach).
Cornell equivalent: IF Statement.
Item Type Identifier (12 characters) that classifies an item on a student’s account. Item Types enable schools to uniquely categorize a student’s bill. The determining factor for creating an item type or using an existing item type is the mapping to the GL (General Ledger) and how a breakdown occurs on a student bill.
Cornell equivalent: Subcode. (5 characters)
Load/Edit Parameters The criteria used to select records to be processed.
Cornell equivalent: Parameters.
Local limit In student reporting dashboards, another term for a filter.
Major See Plan.
Meeting An individual session within a single event.
Meeting Template Represents all of the meetings that could be used when planning a specific event with the attached event type. The meeting templates specify details about the meeting, such as the meeting type.
Merge Field Name of data field inserted into document. When the document is merged with the data, this field is replaced by the value of the data field (ex. A merge field “{FIRSTNAME}” would become “John” in a merged document).
Cornell equivalent: Merge Field.
Metadata Data about data. In student reporting dashboards, properties and options pertaining to particular database content or other resources. The Metadata report describes the kinds of information available in the SADM. Users are encouraged to take advantage of the metadata report to help them to understand the many tables and columns in the database which are available for use. Full metadata results sets and reports (with no query limits applied) are available in all dashboards.
Minor See Plan.
Oracle PeopleSoft A provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for large organizations. Cornell's divisions of Human Resources and Alumni Affairs and Development currently use Oracle PeopleSoft applications to manage their administrative data. Areas of the university involved in student data administration, such as Admissions and the Registrar, are in the process of implementing Oracle PeopleSoft applications to manage their administrative data as well. PeopleSoft merged with Oracle Corporation in December of 2004.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Organization Affiliation Area of the Oracle PeopleSoft production system used to link the External Organization record to Cornell's school group types such as Key, Magnet or Feeder.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Organization Contact Area of the Oracle PeopleSoft production system that is used to enter information for multiple contacts for a specific External Organization. This must be entered after the Organization Location.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Organization Department Area of the Oracle PeopleSoft production system which is used to enter multiple department information for a specific External Organization. This must be entered after the Organization Location.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
Organization Location Area of the Oracle PeopleSoft production system that is used to enter information regarding addresses and phone numbers for a specific External Organization. This must be entered prior to Organization Contacts and Organization Departments.
Cornell equivalent: (no parallel term at Cornell).
PeopleSoft When we say "PeopleSoft" in a document, we really mean Oracle PeopleSoft.
Cornell equivalent: PeopleSoft.
Person Record Data in PeopleSoft that uniquely identifies a person. Includes information that identifies a person, such as: name, birth date, gender, citizenship, ethnicity, address, and telephone number. Each person has only one person record in PeopleSoft.
Plan An area of study within a Career or a Program. Plans resulting in degrees are directly associated to the Program. Other types of plans (e.g. Minor, Concentration, Specialization) may be associated to the Career or to the Program, depending on how they are offered.
Cornell equivalent: Major, Minor, Concentration, or Specialization.
Post Value The status of a record in the Suspense File that has been considered for entry in the database. The possible values are Complete, Error, and Perform. If a record examined during the Search/Match/Post process contained no errors (missing or invalid values) and was not a duplicate, or possible duplicate, of an existing record, it would be added to the database and its Post Value would be Complete. If the Search/Match/Post process found errors or possible duplicates, the Post Value would be Error.
Program An academic entity to which a student applies, is accepted, and from which the student graduates. There are 7 undergraduate programs, 3 professional programs, 99 graduate programs, and 3 areas within Continuing Education, which are represented by the Extended Education career.
At Cornell, there are no Graduate Colleges, just Fields. The Graduate Field is the Program.
Cornell equivalent: College or Field.
Program Action A change to an applicant’s program data indicating the applicant’s status in the application process (e.g., Application or Admit). Used in conjunction with an Action Reason.
Prospect An individual that has expressed interest in attending Cornell or an individual that Cornell is interested in.
Cornell equivalent: Prospect.
Purge process A set of steps the system executes to remove values from tables in the database.
Query The act of reading a database and returning specific results.
Query limits In student reporting dashboards, restrictions on data to be returned which are applied to a report before processing.
Recruiting Center Used to link prospects with specific recruiting offices. At Cornell, each of the four careers (UG, GR, VM, and CE) are recruiting centers.
Recruiting Status Term used to describe a person’s current relationship with Cornell’s admission process. The delivered values are Applicant, Inactive, Inquiry, Prospect, and Suspect. Cornell will use Inquiry as the default value and will use the values of Inactive and Applicant as appropriate. We will not use the values of Prospect and Suspect.
Recruitment Category Indicates prospects or applicants with interests or characteristics that are of interest to Cornell University at a general, career, or program level.
Referral Source A code that indicates how Cornell first heard about a prospect (e.g., SELF for Self-Referred or TEST for Test Score Download).
Results In student reporting dashboards, the raw data returned to the user after running a query.
Report A printable version of results which have been read and returned from a database.
Run Control ID The name a user gives to a set of parameters defined to run a process. For example, you might assign the Run Control ID "grescoreload" to the parameters you define to load GRE Scores to the database.
Cornell equivalent: Names assigned by CIT Production Control to batch processes.
SADM See Student Administration Data Mart.
Search/Match Examines all records in the database to identify possible duplicates, but does not post unduplicated records.
Cornell equivalent: Find a person/Add a person.
Search/Match/Post process Examines all records in the database to identify possible duplicates and posts unduplicated records, if you have selected the Post option.
Cornell equivalent: Find a person/Add a person.
Section Type See Course Component.
Self-Service Self-Service applications provide an easy-to-use interface to Cornell's administrative and academic database systems. Self-Service applications are designed for wide range of users, such as Cornell instructors, advisors, faculty, staff, students, alumni, Cornell affiliates, and non-Cornell affiliates. In this context, if an application is defined as "Self-Service," it is intuitive to use, it provides access to data through a commonly-used interface (such as a web browser), and it does not require the user to install additional software. "Just the Facts," for instance, is a Self-Service application at Cornell that provides students with access to information about their grades and class schedules.
Cornell equivalent: Self-Service.
Service Indicators Buttons that display on pages to indicate services that should be withheld or provided to an individual.
Negative Service Indicators indicate holds that prevent the individual from receiving certain services such as no check cashing privileges or denied registration for classes.
Positive Service Indicators designate special services that should be provided to the individual such as front of line service or special services for disabled students.
Cornell equivalent: Holds. (Holds at Cornell restrict services and prevent registration.)
Service Impact An action triggered by a Service Indicator. For example, a Service Indicator that reflects non-payment of account balances by a student may result in a Service Impact that prohibits registration for classes.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Set Letter Code an identifier for the group of letter codes to which a particular letter code belongs.
Cornell equivalent: None.
Specialization See Plan.
SQC a Structured Query Language common code file.
SQR a Structured Query Language program file.
Standard Letter Code an identifier for a particular outgoing document or publication.
Cornell equivalent: None.
STARS This acronym stands for System for Tracking Administrative Records for Students. The STARS project is implementing a new central computing system for student data administration at Cornell University. Both the project and the new system for student data administration are known as "STARS."
Student Administration Data Mart (SADM) The database which contains student-related information collected by the PeopleSoft application. Data is entered into the PeopleSoft system, extracted into topic-specific Data Mart tables, and then is retrieved through reports which query (i.e., read from) the Data Mart. The Data Mart therefore contains data for Admissions, Student Records, Student Financials, and Financial Aid.
Student reporting dashboard A Web-based application for querying databases using predefined reports. It is part of the Hyperion Brio Performance Suite family of software.
Subcode See Item Type.
Subject The area of study in which courses are offered by Academic Organizations. Sometimes it is the same as the Academic Organization (Department, course entry view); sometimes it is different. For instance, the Department of Math (Organization) offers Math (Subject) courses, but the Department of Romance Studies (Organization) offers French (Subject) courses.
For the two courses administered by the Cornell Graduate School, GRAD 001 (Doctoral Dissertation Research) and GRAD 002 (Masters Thesis Research), the Subject is GRAD.
Cornell equivalent: Department.
Sub-Plan An area of further specialized studies directly within an academic plan. Sub-plans must be tied to Plans.
Cornell equivalent: Minor, Concentration, or Specialization.
Suspense File A temporary table to which test score records are loaded for review and, if necessary, cleanup before being posted to the database.
Cornell equivalent: Suspense File.
Test Component A portion of a standardized test of academic achievement for which the score achieved will be reported separately, e.g., the Verbal component of the Graduate Record Examination.
Tracking Group a combination of one or more related checklists into a single unit for ease of monitoring their progress toward completion.
Cornell equivalent: None.
University See Academic Institution.
Variable Data the information that links a specific communication to a person in the database, using key data from the person’s record. The key for PROS is Academic Career; for PROP, there are three keys, which are: Academic Career, Academic Program, and Recruiting Center.
Cornell equivalent: None.