ctcLink is the implementation of a new, integrated technology foundation that will provide modern online services — anytime, anywhere — to all faculty, staff and students of Washington’s community and technical colleges (CTCs).

Commonly called an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, ctcLink will replace the CTCs’ aging legacy systems — such as the current Financial Management System (FMS), Student Management System (SMS) and Payroll/Personnel Management System (PPMS) — with a set of interconnected software modules to help the CTC system streamline and standardize the way colleges do business today.

Washington’s 34 CTCs have shared back-office administrative systems for 30 years, but the software and functionality is both limited and outdated. That’s why CTCs are seeking a new and more flexible information system to meet business and educational needs now and into the future.

This is a very large, very complex project, with 34 institutions and the office of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) migrating to the new system. Due to the magnitude of the project, the implementation is happening in waves.

Three pilot colleges (FirstLink colleges) have migrated and are continuing to optimize the system’s functionality, to be followed by Wave 1, Wave 2 and so on. Colleges in the FirstLink group went live with ctcLink in August 2015 (Spokane, Spokane Falls and Tacoma). As with any project of this size, the exact timelines are somewhat fluid, with frequent review and monitoring.

The Highline College ctcLink project team is keeping a close eye on project progress and will communicate timelines for various activities as they become clearer. At this time, it is expected that Highline will be included in Wave 2 or a subsequent wave.

While the larger project is technically being managed by the SBCTC and our implementation begin date has not yet been set, we have a good deal of work that can and should be done now in order to prepare us and set the stage for a successful transition at Highline.

One area we are working on now is business process mapping (BPM).

Business Process Mapping: BPM will take place through March 2018 or so. During this time, through a series of facilitated workshops, Highline College subject matter experts (SMEs) and consultants will identify and document close to 200 current business processes related to business activities. See the Business Process Mapping page for more information.