Note: This proposal is subject to change due to the forthcoming Oracle PeopleSoft system upgrade from version 8.0 to 8.9.
Can the PeopleSoft Student Administration (PS SA) system support the Cornell concept of “forbidden overlaps” in course content? “Forbidden overlaps” are separate courses that have equivalent or nearly the same content. Students are not supposed to enroll in both of these courses. If a student does enroll in multiple courses with the same content, only one of the courses can be used to satisfy degree requirements.
PS SA can satisfy this requirement through the use of the “equivalent courses” capability. The equivalent courses capability allows for an unlimited number of courses to be linked in a way that indicates they have the same or nearly the same content. Courses linked as equivalent courses will be seen as the same course for repeat processing, requisite processing, and degree audit processing.
The enrollment engine in the PS SA uses repeat processing to identify equivalent courses and to stop the student from enrolling in more than one of the equivalents.
In some cases at Cornell, courses are considered equivalent by one college but not by another. PS SA allows you to indicate that certain courses are “requisites” (i.e. corequisites and pre-requisites). The “requisite” assignment to a course can be used to stop certain students — based on parameters such as career (degree program), program (college), or plan (major) — from enrolling in it even if it is linked as an equivalent course. Requisites are not included in the PS SA project scope for features to be available when the production system “goes live.” The use of requisite assignments will start when the system goes into production, however, and will grow over time.