SIS Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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Academic Advisement The module in SIS that contains tools to help students with their academic programs and careers.
Academic Career A grouping of all academic work undertaken by a student that the school groups into a single student record. The careers at Tufts are:

  • ASEG – Arts, Sciences Engineering Graduate
  • ASEU – Arts, Sciences, Engineering Undergraduate
  • DEGD – Dental Advanced Education
  • DENT – School of Dental Medicine
  • FLTR – Fletcher School
  • MED – School of Medicine
  • NUTR – Friedman School
  • PDPR – TUSM Professional Degree Progs
  • PHPR – TUSM Public Health Programs
  • SKLR – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
  • VETG – Cummings School Grad Program
  • VETP – Cummings School DVM Program
Academic Group The Academic Group provides a breakdown within schools for tuition calculation or catalog offerings. For example, this allows separate grouping of the Engineering courses/students and Arts & Sciences courses/students, even though they are in the same school.
Academic Institution A university or college that is independent of other similar entities and has its own set of rules and business processes. TUFTS is the Academic Institution.
Academic Organization Academic organizations at Tufts are entities that manage courses or majors.
Academic Plan The field of study or curriculum pursued by the student. Can be a major, minor, concentration or honor.  May be associated to the Academic Career or the Academic Program
Academic Program The combination of courses and/or requirements leading to a degree, certificate, major, co-major, minor, academic track, and/or concentration.
Academic Subplan Subplans are used to define concentrations within a plan.
Academic Term A division of an academic year. Summer, Spring, Fall etc.
Add Row Button The “plus” icon adds a new row immediately following the selected row.
Add to Favorites Opens the My Favorites page to add the current page to your list of favorites or pages used most often.
Address Type This field allows multiple addresses to be entered by assigning each address a different type. Every student will have a home address and a mailing address. Students may also have separate addresses for Billing, Local, Dormitory, and 2nd Parent Mailing.
Adjustment Calendar The Adjustment Calendar controls how a student’s account is charged when dropping a class or withdrawing from a term. The charge is adjusted based on how much time has elapsed from a predetermined date and a percentage of the original charge amount.
Admit Type A designation between first-year applicants and transfers.
Advanced Search A search record for a component based on multiple values.
Anticipated Aid Financial aid that has been awarded but not yet disbursed.
As Of Date The date for which the Report or Process is effective/valid. Use of As Of Dates indicates that the included information may be applicable for a limited time.
ATP Code
A 4-digit code issued by the American Testing Program (ATP) to identify higher education institutions on standardized tests.
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Basic Search A search for a record based on a single value.
Billing Career If a student is active in more than one career, the Billing Career is the one career under which other careers are grouped for billing purposes.
Bio-Demographic Data (Bio-Demo) Basic information about an individual including name, address, telephone number(s), e-mail address, gender, ethnicity and other demographic data.
Breadcrumbs The navigation shown across the top of the workspace that allows for backwards and forward navigation from any point in the navigation path.
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Calculations Included in the processes and page displays are built-in calculations performed against the data to determine time frames, amounts to be paid or refunded and similar calculated amounts.
Calendar Icon Click the icon to open a calendar to select a date for the associated date field.
Campus A division of a university that is a separate physical entity but is administratively joined to the rest of the university. Tufts has three campuses: Boston, Grafton, and Medford.
Campus Community The SIS module that provides information on all individuals associated with the university.
Campus Solutions The SIS module that contains the data and pages necessary to maintain the records of the Institution.
Career Academic Career. A grouping of all academic work undertaken by a student that the school groups into a single student record All course work that a student undertakes at an institution that is grouped into a single record. The careers at Tufts are:

  • ASEG – Arts & Sciences Graduate
  • ASEU – Arts & Sciences Undergraduate
  • DEGD – Dental Advanced Education
  • DENT – School of Dental Medicine
  • FLTR – Fletcher School
  • MED – School of Medicine
  • NUTR – Friedman School
  • PDPR – TUSM Professional Degree Progs
  • PHPR – TUSM Public Health Programs
  • SKLR – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
  • VETG – Cummings School Grad Program
  • VETP – Cummings School DVM Program
CEEB Code
A standardized ID number that is assigned to a high school, college, or university.  These 4- to 6-digit codes are issued by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and are used to identify schools on a student application. As schools are added to Tufts, they are entered with the actual code. If no code exists a Tufts-Specific code is assigned.
Checkbox Click to select or de-select the box to indicate a Yes/No value.
Class A special offering of a course component within an academic term.
Class Fee A fee attached at the section level.
Clearance A period of time during which a constituent is approved for involvement in an initiative or action. This prevents multiple requests to a constituent during the same time period.
Collapse Section A downward-facing arrow that allows you to close a section of data in order to hide it on the page.
Component The lowest level of organization on the menu. Components are used for data entry, review, or to initiate a process or report. Components consist of several pages within the same window.
Usually these are pages that are related and need to be completed in succession. To move between the pages, you can select the folder tabs, press the corresponding access key, or click the links at the bottom of each page
Correction Mode A mode of access to data that allows the user to overwrite data (erasing the historical data).  Must be used judiciously.
Course A unit of study (class). It has a standard syllabus and credit level and may be delivered in different formats. Course offerings are typically described in the course catalog.
Course Fee A fee attached at the catalog level that applies to all sections of the offering.
Credit History Aging information. Debts are assigned to aging categories. Credit history drives the due diligence process.
Currency Code The 3-letter code in which the currency is specified.
Customer Account A view of account transactions for a student organized by term and account type.
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Default Data that is automatically populated from another source in the system.
Delete Row Button The “minus” icon deletes the row on which the cursor is displayed.
Description Free-form text field up to 36 characters that describes what you are defining.
Do It! Button to open a small window with the process steps.  It is intended to sit on top of SIS as a guide through the process. Mouse clicks move from step to step in the process and the displayed step can actually be performed in SIS.
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Effective Date A method of dating information. You can predate information to add historical data to your system, or postdate information in order to enter it before it actually goes into effect. By using effective dates, you don’t delete values; you enter a new value with a current effective date. This date also determines when you can view and change the information. Pages or panels and background processes that use the information use the current row.
EmplID Unique identifier for each person entered into Campus Solutions. Students are assigned a Student ID which is used in any relevant EmplID or ID fields.
Equity Item Limit The amount of funds the institution allows to be awarded with discretionary or gift funds.  This may be reduced by amounts equal to EFC or parent contribution. Students are packaged by equity item type or related equity item types.
Expand Section An arrow facing right that allows you to open a section of data in order to see it on the page.
External Organizations Schools, businesses, or non-profit organizations that do business with Tufts.
External Org ID A unique code used to identify an External Organization.
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Favorites A menu that allows the user to add favorite pages for easy access.
FERPA Family Education Rights and Privacy Act – a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.
FICE Code
A 6-digit code created by the Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) to identify schools doing business with the Office of Education.
Financial Aid The module in SIS that contains the data and pages necessary to administer financial aid processes.
Financial Aid Term Defined during setup, this is a combination of a period of time that the school determines as an instructional accounting period and an academic career. Only terms eligible for financial aid are set up for each financial aid career.
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Gift Table A table (donor pyramid) that describes the number and size of gifts expected to be needed to complete a campaign. You can estimate the number of donors and prospects you need at each gift level to reach the campaign goal.
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Holds Also known as Service Indicators, Holds are set by various offices and prevent students from course enrollment until the Hold is resolved.
Home link Closes the current component and menus and clears the workspace. If there is unsaved data, a prompt to save will appear.
Home Page The landing page which is displayed after logging into the LOB solution.
Hot Keys
Navigational shortcuts using keyboard navigation. For a list of Hot Keys, view the SIS Hot Keys and Access Keys Job Aid.
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Inquiry Access A type of security that gives the user view-only access to SIS.
Inquiry Pages Processed data is available on inquiry pages that allow a view of the information to be displayed quickly without running reports or asking another person to obtain the information.
Institution Academic Institution. A university or college that is independent of other similar entities and has its own set of rules and business processes. TUFTS is the Academic Institution.
Integration A relationship between two compatible integration points that enables communication to take place between systems. Integrations enable SIS to work seamlessly with other PeopleSoft Enterprise applications or with third-party systems or software.
Integration Point An interface that a system uses to communicate with another PeopleSoft Enterprise application or an external application.
Interface A computer program written to transfer data from one system to another.
Item Shuffle Process that allows you to change a payment allocation without reversing the transaction.
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Jump-In Menu An arrow displaying a menu of points within the topic where it can be started (as opposed to starting from the beginning).
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Keyword A term linked to particular elements in Student Financials, Financial Aid, and Contributor Relationships to link to specific elements. May use for search criteria.
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Last Run On The date that a report or process was last run.
Launch Page A page in SIS from which one or more activities is launched.
Legacy System An outdated or obsolete technology, computer system, or application. For the SIS Project, the legacy system is the system currently in place that is being replaced.
Look Up Icon Click on the magnifying glass icon to access a look up page to enter data and search for the appropriate value. The displayed values come from setup or other tables in the system and provide consistency in data entry.
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Module In SIS, a module is a group of processes that are related to each other and cover a specific functionality.
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National ID Identification code used by countries to track information on their residents for payroll, identification, benefits, and other purposes. For example, for US residents this would be their Social Security Number; for German residents it would be their Social Insurance Number, and for UK residents it would be their National Insurance Code.
Navigation Controls Controls that appear in the header bar of a section which allow for navigation and viewing of multiple records.
Need The difference between the cost of attendance (COA) and expected family contribution (EFC).
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Operator A comparison value used with a search value to limit the matching results that are returned on a search page. Available Operators are as follows:

  • Begins with
  • Contains
  • =
  • Not=
  • <
  • <=
  • >
  • Between
  • In
Operator Defaults An individual user’s personal defaults for pages.
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Page A screen on which data is displayed or entered.
Pagebar A set of icons at the top of each page that links to other helpful places in the system while working with on a page.
Pagelet Each block of content on the home page is called a pagelet. These pagelets display summary information within a small rectangular area on the page.
Payment Shuffle A process to allow payments previously posted to a student’s account to be reapplied automatically when a higher payment is posted or the definition of the payment allocation is changed.
Personal Portfolio A user-accessible menu item that displays a student’s name, address, phone, and other personal information.
Plan Academic Plan. The field of study or curriculum pursued by the student. Can be a major, minor, concentration or honor.  May be associated to the Academic Career or the Academic Program.
Population The middle level of the three tiered classification structure. It can be linked to other levels and can be used for reporting.
Portal The webpage that provides the entry point to all components of SIS.
Primacy Number A number used by the system to prioritize financial aid applications when students are enrolled in multiple academic careers or programs.
Print It! Button to generate a printed copy of the steps to complete the process in one of two pre-determined styles: system process or job aid.  In addition it can be pre-determined whether the document will be in a Word or PDF document.
Process Instance A unique number that identifies each process request. This value is automatically incremented and assigned to each requested process when the process is submitted to run.
Process Job You can link process definitions into a job request and process each request serially or in parallel. You can also initiate subsequent processes based on the return code from each prior request.
Process Monitor Click this button to access the Process List page, where you can view the status of submitted process requests.
Process Request A single run request, such as a Structured Query Report (SQR), a COBOL or Application Engine program, or a Crystal report that you run through PeopleSoft Process Scheduler.
Program Academic Program. The combination of courses and/or requirements leading to a degree, certificate, major, co-major, minor, academic track, and/or concentration.
Program/Plan Stack A history of the programs and plans to which the student has applied or has been matriculated.
Prospect Recruiting and Admissions: A student who is interested in applying for admission to the University.
Contributor Relations: An individual or organization who is likely to make a contribution or commitment.
Pushbutton Performs an action on the page using the data that was entered.  For example, Next in List refreshes the page with information on the next record in the search list.
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Query A reporting tool within SIS that allows for running ad-hoc reports against the data in the database.
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Recname The name of a record that is used to determine the associated field to match a value or set of values.
Recognition A data element to indicate that the donor is the primary donor or if he/she shares commitment.
Report ID Identifies a report. Report Manager Click this button to access the Report List page, where you can view report content, check the status of a report, and see content detail messages (which show you a description of the report and the distribution list).
Request ID A request identification that represents a set of selection criteria for a report or process. Run Click this button to access the Process Scheduler request page, where you can specify the location where a process or job runs and the process output format.
Required Field Identified by an asterisk (*). The page cannot be saved or processed without this data.
Reversal Indicator A variable that indicates if a payment has been reversed.
Role Role(s) are assigned so users can access specific pages and activities to perform the daily tasks for that organizational group Workflow: A role is a class of users who perform the same type of work, such as clerks or managers. Your business rules typically specify what user role needs to do an activity.
Run Date The date that a process was run or a report was generated.
Run Control A run control is a type of online page that is used to begin a process, such as the batch processing of a payroll run. Run control pages generally start a program that manipulates data.
Run Control ID A unique ID to associate each user with his or her own run control table entries.
Run Time The time that a process was run or a report was generated.
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Search Query You use this set of objects to pass a query string and operators to the search engine. The search index returns a set of matching results with keys to the source documents.
Search Value A full or partial entry in a search field used to search for a system record.
Search/Match A feature that enables you to search for and identify duplicate records in the database.
Seasonal Address An address that recurs for the same length of time at the same time of year each year until adjusted or deleted.
Security Profile A group of permissions assigned to a group or individual that determines what can be accessed in the system.
See It! Click on this button to learn by watching a view-only demonstration of tasks performed.  All steps are performed on the screen without interaction.
Service Impact The action triggered as a result of a service indicator applied to a student’s record.
Service Indicator An icon that appears on the Student Services Center and on other pages to indicate whether the student is OK to process,  whether holds have been placed on the account or whether the student requires special processing. Positive indicators are identified by a star; negative indicators are represented by a circle with a slash icon.
Session Student Records: Time elements used to record the time periods in which classes are offered.
Contributor Relations: The means to validate a gift, pledge, membership or adjustment data entry. It controls access to a specific user ID. Sessions must be balanced, queued and posted to the financial system in order to enter matching gifts or pledge payments, to make an adjustment or to process giving clubs or acknowledgements.
Short Description Free-form field up to 15 characters.
Single Sign-On With single sign-on, users can, after being authenticated by a PeopleSoft Enterprise application server, access a second PeopleSoft Enterprise application server without entering a user ID or password.
Source Key Process A process to relate a transaction to the source of the child or financial aid. On some pages, you can drill down to particular charges.
Status Indicates whether a row in a table is Active or Inactive.
Student ID
The field name “Student ID” is not standard in SIS. The Student ID is typically referred to as “EmplID” or “ID.”
Subplan Academic Subplan. Subplans are used to define concentrations within a plan.
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Tab Folder tabs at the top of a displayed page that allow movement between pages in a component. The tab for the page currently being used is displayed in a darker color.
Tax Authority An element that combines a description and tax percentage with an account type, item type and a service impact.
Term Academic term. A division of an academic year. Summer, Spring, Fall etc.
Term Activation Making students active for the term. Tuition calculation and enrollment depend on the term activation record.
Try It! Click on this button to walk through the process in an interactive mode, performing the steps as instructed.
Tuition Group Students are grouped by characteristics such as the academic program.
Tuition Lock A feature allowing the specification of a specific date in the term after which a lock fee is required.
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Universal Navigation Header Every SIS page includes the universal navigation header, intended to appear at the top of every page as long as the user is signed on to the portal. In addition to providing access to the standard navigation buttons (like Home, Favorites, and sign-off) the universal navigation header can also display a welcome message for each user. For more information about the Universal Navigation Header, view the SIS Basic Navigation Job Aid – Recognizing Universal Navigation Elements.
Unofficial Transcript
An unofficial, online version of a student’s Transcript that can be viewed in SIS.
Update Access A Security mode allowing the user to add data to the system.
UPK Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK). Online coaching and help for learning to use SIS.
User ID The system identifier for the individual who generates a transaction.
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View Only Descriptions Descriptions that are displayed on the page after a code is entered, allowing the viewer to see both the code and the description.
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Wait List
When a class is full, a student may add himself to the wait list, as applicable. Then, if a space for that student opens in the class, the wait listed student will be contacted via email with a class permission number and instructed to add himself to the class.
Wildcard A Wildcard is a special symbol that stands for one or more characters in a search parameter. Using Wildcards enables you to select records when you do not know the full name of the search parameter or if you want to match multiple records. For more information about using Wildcards, view the SIS Basic Navigation Job Aid – Search and Lookup Features in SIS.
Worklist The automated to-do list that PeopleSoft Workflow creates. From the worklist, you can directly access the pages you need to perform the next action, and then return to the worklist for another item.
Workspace The area on the program desktop where the current page is displayed.