New GPAS training and website content

New training and website content have been developed for the Graduate Planning and Audit System (GPAS). The improved GPAS System Training provides users with a comprehensive understanding of the system as a whole. The new GPAS webpage features system access information, contact information, and eight new user guides. ​​The previous GPAS website, training, and help guides are being retired. Please make sure to update any bookmarks you have. 

On November 18, all current GPCs, DGSs, and College Coordinators were enrolled in the training, and all new GPCs, DGSs, and College Coordinators will be required to complete it before gaining access to GPAS. Faculty advisors and anyone else who uses GPAS would benefit from taking the new training and are encouraged to complete it and review the user guides.

Academic Standing training course

A refreshed version of the Academic Standing training course was released earlier this month. Only new users who are responsible for updating the academic standing of undergraduate students are required to take this course. 

25Live update

25Live is replacing Astra on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Astra will become view/read-only at the end of the day June 13, 2025. Departmental schedulers are required to take online training and have already been enrolled in the course in Training Hub. No training is required for those who only request rooms. You can find more information about 25Live on the ASR website.

25Live update

A launch date has been set for 25Live, the class and room scheduling system replacing Astra at the University of Minnesota. Beginning Tuesday, June 17, 2025, all academic and event room scheduling will be done in 25Live.  

Training is currently being developed and will be available in Training Hub in late May. Training will be required for those who will manage spaces in 25Live. Those required to complete training will be automatically enrolled in late May and will receive further information.

More information is available on the 25Live project page. 

Milestones training course

A refreshed version of the Milestones training course was released in late January. You are only required to take this course if you are responsible for adding and updating milestones in Campus Solutions using the Student Milestones page. 

Degree Clearance training course

A refreshed version of the Degree Clearance training course was released in December. Only new users who are responsible for clearing degrees using the UM Degree Clearance page are required to take this course.

New FERPA training requirement

If you have access to PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and/or APLUS, you will need to complete the new FERPA training course by October 31, 2024. This training needs to be completed regardless of any previous FERPA training recorded. If you do not complete the new training on time, you will lose your PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and/or APLUS access. 

The new course should take 20-30 minutes to complete. If you are required to take the training, you will be automatically enrolled through Training Hub the first week of October. You will receive additional information and reminders by email. 

Moving forward, FERPA training will need to be completed on a regular basis to maintain access to PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and APLUS. This is to ensure that those with access to private student data remain informed of their responsibilities and to prevent FERPA violations. If you have questions, you can contact cctraining@umn.edu. 

New Registration training course

A refreshed version of the Registration training course will be released in early August. Only new users who are responsible for administratively registering students are required to take this course.

Manage Advising Committees training course

A refreshed version of the Manage Advising Committees course was released in March. Only new users who manage undergraduate advising committee membership are required to take this course. 

Coursedog update

The Coursedog project is moving towards our August 21, 2023 launch date. Thank you to all of our fabulous project team members and stakeholders who have provided their time & expertise throughout the project. Without campus support, this transition from ECAS & PCAS to Coursedog would not be possible.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

This month, 18.5% of current ECAS & PCAS users in the University community participated in UAT testing to validate that the Coursedog system fulfills business requirements. These participants represented almost every TC college and each campus. A post-test survey found that Coursedog scored better or about the same as ECAS & PCAS in all of the following: look & feel, intuitiveness, accuracy, time/number of steps required to complete a task, and help functions.

Upcoming milestones

• Coursedog "freeze": June 2, 2023
• The project team will be locked out of the Coursedog system as they work to copy over our Coursedog testing environment configurations and settings to a new production environment.
• ECAS & PCAS “freeze”: July 8, 2023
• The data transfer between current systems and Coursedog begins. Extensive data validation is completed, and ECAS and PCAS users of all levels will no longer be able to make any changes in current systems.
• Coursedog Training Modules available: July 2023
• Coursedog training modules will become available in Training Hub starting the end of July 2023. Current ECAS & PCAS users will receive an email invite as soon as they are ready.
• Coursedog go-live: August 21, 2023
• Coursedog will become available to previous users of ECAS and PCAS at equivalent access roles.

More information, including a project timeline and sneak peak videos, are available on the Coursedog project page.

Updated Enrollment Appointments course released

Work continues on refreshing the Student Data Update Add-on training courses. An updated version of the Enrollment Appointments course was released mid-February. Only new users who need to add or update enrollment appointments are required to take this course.

Residency Access Role

To improve data security, updates were recently made to the Residency Update role with the Student Data Update security group. Faculty and staff with Student Data Update access will be able to view data on the residency pages, but will no longer be able to update it unless they also have access to higher level security groups, including theCC Bio Demo Update, CC Bio Demo Correct, or Fast Activation (Quick admit) security groups. We expect that most staff who update Residency will still have the access they need. However, if you need to update Residency and find you’re no longer able to do so, please contact cctraining@umn.edu.

New online Student Program Plan training course

Academic Support Resources (ASR) recently created a new online training course for the Student Program Plan. Previously, the training was done in-person and then shifted to self-guided training materials. The new course is now offered in Canvas in order to make it more efficient for learners and easier to keep up to date and track in Training Hub. Learners can self-enroll and complete it at their own pace.

The course takes 20-30 minutes to complete. Only new users who need to make updates to the Student Program Plan are required to take the course. Note that FERPA, Student Data Inquiry, and Student Data Update courses are prerequisites for this course.

FERPA training revision

As many of you are aware, the Board of Regents policy on Student Education Records regarding private student data under FERPA changed as of August 1, 2021. Since federal law, state law, and regents' policy govern access to student records, ASR has updated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) training for University of Minnesota employees.

This training reflects the recent changes made to the Student Education Records policy:

1. Students’ contact information (addresses, phone numbers, and university email address) are now in a new category called “limited directory information” and will be classified as private-restricted according to the University’s data classification table. The Managing Student Records policy and appendices are also being reviewed to be updated.
2. The University and its members will no longer share students’ contact information for public data requests or other third parties unless we have student consent.

The U of M is not requiring employees to retake the FERPA training. However, it is recommended if you would like a refresher, or if you are responsible for supervising employees who also take the FERPA training. You can access the FERPA training in the training hub.

Student Data Update course revision completed

Academic Support Resources staff have revised the Student Data Update (SDU) training course. The updated course reflects current PeopleSoft Campus Solutions navigation. The new format provides a better user experience and shortens the time required to complete the course. It also allows us to more easily make edits to the course in the future.

The new SDU course will continue to provide staff with initial training on how to make updates in Campus Solutions, specifically to the Student Advisor, Term Activation, Service Indicators, and Student Groups pages. SDU will remain a prerequisite for the SDU Add-on training courses. Staff with existing SDU-level access to Campus Solutions will not need to take the new course.

Student Data Update course revision

Academic Support Resources staff are working to revise the current Student Data Update (SDU) training course. The revised course will reflect current PeopleSoft Campus Solutions navigation. Its new format will provide a better user experience and will allow us to more easily make updates to the course in the future.

The new SDU course will continue to provide staff with initial training on how to make updates in Campus Solutions, specifically to the Student Advisor, Term Activation, Service Indicators, and Student Groups pages. SDU will remain a prerequisite for the SDU Add-on training courses. Staff with existing SDU-level access to Campus Solutions will not need to take the new course. We expect to release the revised SDU course in the coming months.

Student Data Inquiry (SDI) training update

Academic Support Resources has been reviewing and reformatting the Student Data Inquiry (SDI) training course content in order to make it more efficient for learners and easier to keep up to date. The updated course will be available in Training Hub by the end of August 2020. Only new PeopleSoft Campus Solutions users will be required to take the course. One notable change is that the FERPA compliance training course will be a prerequisite to SDI for new users. If you have any questions, please contact the OTR Training and Support Team at srhelp@umn.edu.

Required training during the stay-at-home order

Required, in-person training has been transitioned to video conferencing by the OTR Training and Support team. They will continue to support your training needs in a timely way. You can register as usual on the Training Hub website, and the team will email you with arrangements for the new format. Please contact the team at SRHelp@umn.edu for any concerns about in-person, student records training.

Student Program Plan training

Student Program Plan training will continue to be offered for staff who need training. Instead of being in-person format, we’re transitioning to a remote format to accommodate staff working off-campus.

As always, staff may enroll in training through the Training Hub. OTR Training and Support will then contact enrolled individuals to provide them with instructions for joining the training online.

Access Request Form information

The ASR website has a new subtab page under Training & Support which is dedicated to Access Request Form (ARF) information. A resource on the page, which may interest managers and Key Contacts, is a list of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions pages that may be viewed after you have taken Student Data Inquiry training.

This page is intended to complement information provided by the Office of Information Technology. Additional information is expected to be added to the ARF page as work continues.