University of Delaware

Student Information System

Data row: Contains the entries for each field in a table. To identify each data row uniquely, PeopleSoft applications use a key consisting of one or more fields in the table.

Data validation: A process of verifying that the data in question is correct.

Date of Business: The date on which a series of transactions is being conducted. This date is not necessarily today's date. For example, a register can be closed and then reopened using tomorrow's date.

Degree: A certificate or certification earned by a student as a result of completing all requirements of an academic program or plan that offers the degree. Degrees are usually earned upon program completion, but students can earn intermediate certifications prior to program completion.

Division: A PeopleSoft Admissions enrollment management term for the lowest of the three level classification structures that you define. You can define a division level, link it to other levels, and set enrollment target numbers for it. See also Population and Cohort.

Duplicate Course: A course that a student has repeated beyond the allowable repeat limit. This course should carry no credit.

Duplicate Course Logic: Defines which course out of a repeated pair should retain credit. In PS, the repeat rule definition allows for “first taken,” “last taken,” and “best grade.”

Edit table: A table that is used to validate fields entered into a PeopleSoft application to ensure data integrity throughout the system.

Effective Date: Method of dating information in the system. The Effective Date usually defaults to the system's current date, but users can predate information to add historical data to the system, or postdate information to add data effective in the future.

End User: Individuals who will depend on and use information contained in the new system. End-users will use PeopleSoft for data entry, viewing sets of information, running reports, managing business processes, etc.

Enrollment Limits: Hours per semester that correspond to a limit for which a student can enroll. Enrollment limits are defined by Academic Program.

Enrollment Status: An indication of whether the student is attending on a full-time or part-time basis. Generally the student must be enrolled at least half-time—and in some cases full-time—to qualify for financial aid.

Equivalent Course Group: Course IDs may be placed into equivalent course groups. Equivalent courses are treated as if they were the same course for prerequisite checking, completion of degree requirements (optional) and repeat processing. From the advising point of view, the only difference between making courses equivalent and making them different offerings under the same Course ID is that specific requirements may choose whether or not to automatically accept equivalent courses in place of the course specified.

Ethnic Data: PeopleSoft allows us to track ethnicity in compliance with federal regulations for both students and employees.

Expanded Conditions: These conditions consist of entity groups and dynamic (or customized) conditions. Entity groups and dynamic conditions can be used as pre-conditions wherever pre-conditions occur in the Academic Advisement application.

FAO – Financial Aid Office: The college or university office responsible for determining financial need and awarding financial aid.

Fellowship: A form of financial aid given to graduate students to help support their education. Fellowships are a form of gift aid and do not have to be repaid.

FERPA: The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, As Amended in 1974. The purpose of FERPA is to afford specific rights to students concerning their educational records, including the right to review education records and the right to have specified control over the disclosure of information from these records. The Act requires post-secondary educational institutions to define a policy regarding the release of personally-identifiable student information, including a definition of "directory" or public information. More information is available at: www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

FERPA Indicator: A button that displays on a panel when a student has filed a request under FERPA to restrict certain directory information from release about them. Operators can click the button to determine what directory information is releasable about that individual.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP): Set of communication rules governing transmitting and receiving data.

Financial Aid Package: The complete collection of grants, scholarships, loans, and workstudy employment from all sources —federal, state, institutional, and private—offered to a student to enable them to attend the college or university. Note that unsubsidized Stafford loans and PLUS loans are not considered part of the financial aid package, since these financing options are available to the family to help them meet the EFC.

Fixes, Updates, Patches, Maintenance Releases: Corrected software that is updated as a result of problems found in the PeopleSoft delivered software and Tax updates, etc. These are found on the PeopleSoft Customer Connection web site and should be applied to the system.

G/L Business Unit: A unit in your institution that is an independent entity for accounting purposes. It maintains its own set of accounting books. A G/L Business Unit can have multiple SF Business Units mapped to it, or a SF Business Unit can have multiple G/L Business Units mapped to it. See also Business Unit.

G/L 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.

Go-Live: Day that departments and end users will begin using the new UDSiS system.

GPA (Grade Point Average): An average of a student's grades where the grades have been converted to a 4.0 scale, with 4.0 being an A, 3.0 being a B, and 2.0 being a C.

Grade Scheme: Attached to an academic career, Grade Schemes store all grade bases valid for an academic career.

Grade Basis: Attached to a grade scheme, each grade basis stores the valid individual grades for assignment (GRD – graded, PNP – Pass/No Pass, TRN – Transfer)

Graduate Assistantships: There are two types of graduate assistantships: teaching assistantships (TA) and research assistantships (RA). TAs and RAs receive a full or partial tuition waiver and a small living stipend. TAs are required to perform teaching duties. RAs are required to perform research duties, not necessarily related to the student's thesis research.

Graphical User Interface (GUI): A way of arranging information on a computer screen that is easy to understand and use because it uses icons, menus, and a mouse rather than only text.