Setting Up Communications

To set up communications, use the following components: Standard Letter Table (SA_STNDR_LTR_TABLE), Communication Context Table (COMM_CTXT_TBL), Communication Category Table (COMM_CATG_TBL), Communication 3C Groups (COMM_GRP_3C_TBL), and Communication Speed Key Table (COMM_SPEED_KY_INST).

Use the Communication Contexts (SCC_COMM_CTXT_TBL) and Communication Categories (SCC_COMM_CATG_TBL) component interfaces to load the data into the tables for these components.

This chapter provides an overview of setting up communications and discusses how to:

Define standard letter codes.
Define communication contexts.
Define communication categories.
Set up communication 3C groups.
Create communication speed keys.
View communications reports.

See Also

Understanding Letter Generation

Prerequisites

Before designing your communication structure, do the following to analyze your functional areas and institutional needs for tracking and scheduling communications:

Understand the use of administrative functions and 3C groups and make sure they are set up properly.
Identify all incoming, outgoing, and in-person contacts to track.
Identify the various types of contact (for example, phone, letter, email, and fax) that your institution wants to track.

Setting Up Administrative Functions

Managing Communications

Understanding Communications Setup

You must design your communications structure before you can assign communications to individuals, organizations, or groups of individuals.

PeopleSoft delivers sample letter templates in Microsoft Word. If your institution uses Microsoft Word, you can use the sample Word templates as they are, modify them, or create your own. Review the sample templates to determine if they serve your institution's needs or if you must create additional templates. You must then define letter codes for each template that you plan to use.

You can set up standard letter codes to link extracted letter data to your text editor or letter templates for the purpose of generating letters. You can also use the codes to group letters to send together as enclosures.

Communication contexts are broad groupings that indicate the type of communication and how it was sent or received. You can specify more than one method of communication for each context. For example, if students can contact your institution by letter, email, or phone to confirm admission acceptance, you might create an Admissions Acceptance communication context that includes all three methods. You must create communication contexts and then group them into communication categories to set up communication management.

A communication category is a broad grouping of communication contexts that generally indicates why a communication was sent or received. For example, you might create a communication category, called Admissions, that includes the following communication contexts: application received, admission acceptance, admission decline, admission deferral, frosh admit, frosh deny, and so on, or you might decide to create much more detailed communication categories such as Frosh Recruit, Frosh Admission, Graduate Recruit, and Graduate Admission.

You can create communications 3C groups and use them to grant groups of users inquiry or update security access to categories of communications in your database.

Comm Keys (communication speed keys) enable you to create a shorthand method of specifying common communication data. With the five controls in place—standard letter codes, communication methods, communication directions, communication contexts, and communication categories—you can set up Comm Keys to combine these controls with a number of defaults into one shortcut page control.

Note. Comm Keys are required if you are going to use the 3C engine or mass change function to assign communications to individuals or organizations.

See Also

Understanding Letter Generation

Setting Up 3C Group Security

Pages Used to Set Up Communications

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Standard Letters	SCC_STN_LTR_TBL	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Communications, Standard Letter Table CS Campus Community, Communications, Set up Communications, Standard Letter Table CS Contributor Relations, Communications, Set Up Communications, Standard Letter Table	Review or define the types of letters that your institution wants to generate, assigning a letter code and administrative function to each. You can also group letters here to create enclosures.
Communication Context	COMM_CTXT_TABLE	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Communications, Communication Context Table Contributor Relations, Communications, Set Up Communications, Communication Context Table Campus Community, Communications, Set up Communications, Communication Context Table	Create and define communication contexts.
Communication Categories	COMM_CATG_TABLE	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Communications, Communication Category Table Contributor Relations, Communications, Set Up Communications, Communication Category Table Campus Community, Communications, Set up Communications, Communication Category Table	Define categories of communication contexts to indicate why a communication was sent or received.
3C Update/Inquiry Group Table	GRP_3C_TABLE	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, 3C Update/Inquiry Group Table	Define a group of users who have similar needs and interests.
Communication 3C Groups	COMM_GRP_3C_TABLE	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Communications, Communication 3C Groups Contributor Relations, Communications, Set Up Communications, Communication 3C Groups Campus Community, Communications, Set up Communications, Communication 3C Groups	Associate one or more 3C update/inquiry groups with a communication category.
Communication Speed Keys	COMM_SPDKEY_TABLE	Set Up SACR, Common Definitions, Communications, Communication Speed Key Table Contributor Relations, Communications, Set Up Communications, Communication Comm Key Table Campus Community, Communications, Set up Communications, Communication Speed Key Table	Create Comm Keys for specifying common communication data.

Defining Standard Letter Codes

Access the Standard Letters page.

Note. Standard letter codes are not shared between Campus Solutions and HRMS. Standard letter codes for Campus Solutions are stored in the SCC_STN_LTR_TBL. Standard letter codes for HRMS are stored in the STANDARD_LTR_TBL. Be sure to read the specific product documentation before modifying a letter code delivered within that product.

Within Campus Solutions, you must be familiar with the scope of the PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Aid FAN code or template before modifying it.

See Setting Up and Generating Form Letters, Creating the FAN Extract File and Producing the FAN Letter.

Set Letter Code	Select the category (such as Admit Letters, Inquiry Response Letters, Recruitment Letters, and so on) that best describes the group of letters that includes this letter code. This field is optional and for information only. Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. You can modify these translate values.
Function	Select the function, from the Administrative Function Table page, that identifies the variable data to extract for communications associated with this letter code. For example, if you are sending a letter to a freshman applicant under the function of Student Term, the variable data of Academic Career and Term are extracted for the communication. The variable data are set up in the Administrative Function Table and cannot be modified.
Letter Printed Data	Select the value to use to control the data shown on the Communication Letter Data page. (When you run the letter generation data extract process, a huge amount of data is extracted. The extracted data that you specify here are listed on the Letter Data page for your view.) All: All of the communication section headers and their data should be included. If you select this, note that the table will be very large and could take significant time to load. Name/Address Only: Only the name and address communication section headers and data should be included. None: None of the communication section headers and data should be included. Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Do not modify these values in any way. Any modifications to these values could require substantial programming effort.
SQC Name	Enter the name of the unique SQC, if any, required to generate additional variable data for communications associated with this letter code. The letter generation process uses the unique SQC to extract data into a letter template. You must modify the letter generation SQR to look for any SQCs that you specify here. Warning! Do not modify the CCLTRWOL.SQC. The User Profiles Management process requires this SQC. Any modifications to this could require substantial programming effort. For information about the SQCs that are delivered with your system, see PeopleSoft Customer Connection.
Letter Type	Select the check box for the desired output form for this letter. Values are: Hardcopy: Does not allow the system to extract data or merge into a softcopy template. Indicates preprinted items, such as brochures or pamphlets. Softcopy: Allows the system to extract data and merge into a softcopy template, which you can then print. Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Do not modify these values in any way. Any modifications to these values could require substantial programming effort.
Joint Communications Allowed	Select this check box to permit this letter to be addressed jointly to two people at the same address, provided that they have a relationship, defined in your database, that permits joint communications. The sample Microsoft Word template CCLTRJNT.doc is delivered with your system for use with joint communications. See Managing Communications.
Include Enclosures	Select this check box to indicate that other letters need to be grouped and sent with this letter.

Enclosures

This scroll area is available only when the Include Enclosures check box is selected. You can group a maximum of ten letter codes as enclosures here. Letter codes from which to choose must already exist on the Standard Letters page.

Seq Number(sequence number)	Displays the number of this enclosure in the list of enclosures for this letter. The system automatically enters the next sequential number for each enclosure that you add. You can override the numbers manually to reorder the list of enclosures. When you run the letter generation data extract process, the process lists, in the order identified here, up to ten enclosures on the main letter in the order identified here.
Enclosure Code	Enter the code for the letter to include as an enclosure. The letter codes available are those associated with the same function that you select for the main letter code. For example, if you select the function ADMA for the main letter code, the Enclosure Code prompt list displays the letter codes that exist and that are associated with the function ADMA on the Standard Letters page.
Enclosure Type	The system displays the type of output associated with the selected enclosure letter code, either Softcopy or Hardcopy.
Required	Select this check box to indicate that the specific enclosure must accompany the main letter at all times. Administrative users can remove optional enclosures when they assign the communication to an individual on the Communication Management 1 page.
Comment	Enter comments to further identify or describe this enclosure. Enclosure comments are for information purposes only. They will not be printed in the communication.

Defining Communication Contexts

Access the Communication Context page.

Communication Context Method

Method

Select the form of this communication (for example, letter, email or, phone call).

A communication context can have multiple methods. For example, for the context of Award, you might send a letter and also make a phone call.

Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. The Letter value is required for generating letters; do not modify it. You can, however, modify any of the other method translate values.

Direction

Specify the direction of this communication, such as in person, incoming communication, or outgoing communication).

Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Except for the value of Outgoing Communication, you can modify these translate values.

Letter Code

Enter the code for this communication. The code specifies the variable data associated with this communication. The Letter Code field is available only when you specify Outgoing Communication in the Direction field.

Available letter codes are from the Standard Letters CS page.

Defining Communication Categories

Access the Communication Categories page.

Note. Communication categories are assigned to communication 3C groups on the Communications 3C Groups page for the purpose of limiting access to the communications associated with those categories. Therefore, make your communication categories specific so that you have more flexibility to determine which users have access to which communications.

Communication Category Description

Function

Enter the functional area to include in this category. The function determines the variable data that will be associated with communications in this category.

Available function codes are from the Administrative Functions page.

Communication Context

Context

Enter each context to include in this category.

Available context codes are from the Communication Contexts page.

Description

The system displays the long description from the Communication Contexts page of the context that you select.

Warning! All contexts from the Communication Context page are available, regardless of whether they include a letter code associated with the same function as the communication category. For example, if you select a context that has a letter code associated with the ADMA function and a category associated with the PROP function, the letter code will not be available as a valid choice when you assign the communication on the Communication Management page.

Defining 3C Update/Inquiry Groups

Access the 3C Update/Inquiry Groups page.

Define a group of users who have similar needs and interests. You can then associate one or more 3C Update/Inquiry Groups with a communication category to create a Communication 3C Group.

Security Administrators give users security access based on 3C update/inquiry groups.

See Also

Setting Up 3C Group Security

Defining Communication 3C Groups

Access the Communication 3C Groups page.

Update/Inquiry Group

Group

Enter each group that should have access to this communication category.

Available group codes are from the 3C Groups page.

Description

The system displays the long description from the 3C Groups page, of the group that you select.

See Also

Selecting the Type of 3C Group Access

Defining Communication Speed Keys

Access the Communication Speed Keys page.

Comm Key (communication key)

Enter the name of the communication speed key to represent this set of communication elements.

Category

Enter the communication category to associate with this communication speed key.

Context

Enter the communication context to associate with this communication speed key.

Duration

Enter the average duration, expressed in minutes, for the type of communication that you are associating with this communication speed key. (Optional)

Duration is usually used to specify the length of time for in-person communications (for example, the duration of a phone call).

Method

Specify the typical method of the communication that you are associating with this communication speed key. The Letter method is required when generating letters.

Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Except for the value of Letter, you can modify these translate values.

Direction

Specify the direction of the communication you are associating with this communication speed key. The Outgoing Communication direction is required when generating letters.

Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Except for the value of Outgoing Communication, you can modify these translate values.

Letter Code

Enter the code, from the Standard Letters CS page, for the communication that you are associating with this communication speed key.

Comments

Enter comments to further describe or identify the communication to associate with this communication speed key.

Print Comment

Select this check box to include or print the comments on the Comments pages in the communication associated this communication speed key.

Activity Completed

Select this check box to make the status of Completeavailable with this communication speed key.

This option is useful when data for a communication is typically entered after the activity is completed. For example, if the communication is an incoming phone call or an incoming letter, when you report it in the system, the communication is already complete.

Unsuccessful Outcome

Select this check box to make the status of Unsuccessfulavailable with this communication speed key.

For example, if you were to hold a telephone fund-raising event, you might want to record each call to track your success rate. You could create two communication speed keys—one for successful phone calls, and one for unsuccessful phone calls.

Note. Before users can use the communication speed keys defined here, the communication speed key codes must be assigned in the users' defaults.

See Also

Setting Defaults for Communication Keys

Comm Key (communication key)	Enter the name of the communication speed key to represent this set of communication elements.
Category	Enter the communication category to associate with this communication speed key.
Context	Enter the communication context to associate with this communication speed key.
Duration	Enter the average duration, expressed in minutes, for the type of communication that you are associating with this communication speed key. (Optional) Duration is usually used to specify the length of time for in-person communications (for example, the duration of a phone call).
Method	Specify the typical method of the communication that you are associating with this communication speed key. The Letter method is required when generating letters. Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Except for the value of Letter, you can modify these translate values.
Direction	Specify the direction of the communication you are associating with this communication speed key. The Outgoing Communication direction is required when generating letters. Values for this field are delivered with your system as translate values. Except for the value of Outgoing Communication, you can modify these translate values.
Letter Code	Enter the code, from the Standard Letters CS page, for the communication that you are associating with this communication speed key.
Comments	Enter comments to further describe or identify the communication to associate with this communication speed key.
Print Comment	Select this check box to include or print the comments on the Comments pages in the communication associated this communication speed key.
Activity Completed	Select this check box to make the status of Completeavailable with this communication speed key. This option is useful when data for a communication is typically entered after the activity is completed. For example, if the communication is an incoming phone call or an incoming letter, when you report it in the system, the communication is already complete.
Unsuccessful Outcome	Select this check box to make the status of Unsuccessfulavailable with this communication speed key. For example, if you were to hold a telephone fund-raising event, you might want to record each call to track your success rate. You could create two communication speed keys—one for successful phone calls, and one for unsuccessful phone calls.