Documentation :: Overview

Program Finder information comes from several sources:

• PeopleSoft: definitive source of all programs
• Section: categorised, free-text data to describe a program
• Admissions: prerequisites, SATAC, and other domestic admissions data maintained by the Admissions Office
• International: admissions and equivalent scores maintained by the International Office
• Checkbox data: "meta" information associated with a program

PeopleSoft and Program Finder

PeopleSoft provides the definitive list of programs on offer at the University. If a program is not in PeopleSoft, it can not appear on Program Finder. This means that a program that is pending approval by PAC will not appear in Program Finder until it is approved and entered into the PeopleSoft system.

Changes to PeopleSoft data must be made by filling in the New, Revise, Inactivate Program and Plan Forms. Some changes may have to be approved by PAC.

Program Finder uses many key fields from the PeopleSoft "program", "plan", and "program planner" panels. The "program planner" panel is updated annually through the Campus File process, managed by Student Systems Solutions.

• title - the official, full program title
• abbreviation - the abbreviation for the degree received, e.g. B.Arts
• academic career - level of study for the program, e.g. Undergraduate, Postgraduate Coursework, or VETS.
• degree type - type of degree conferred, e.g. Bachelor, Honours Bachelor, Diploma
• duration - number of years required to complete the program
• campus - list of campuses where the program is taught
• double/combined degree? - yes/no flags indicating if the degree is a double or combined degree, e.g., Bachelor of Arts with Bachelor of Economics vs. Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) and Bachelor of Arts
• availability - several yes/no flags indicating whether the program is available to continuing students, commencing students, international students, commonwealth-supported students, and full-fee paying students.
• SATAC - yes/no flag and SATAC code indicating whether the program application is managed by SATAC.
• Cutoff scores - minimum TER scores used for the previous year's entry requirements for commonwealth-supported and full-fee paying
• IELTS scores - minimum IELTS total, reading, writing, listening, and speaking scores required for international student entry
• Tuition costs - indicative annual program costs for commonwealth-supported, full-fee paying, and international students

The images below indicate where each of these fields displays in Program Finder. PeopleSoft-sourced information is circled in red, while Program Finder information is circled in blue.

Fig 1. PeopleSoft provides basic data about the programs on offer. On the program list pages, PeopleSoft provides the study level (degree type, e.g. Bachelor, Masters by Coursework), program title (long description, e.g. Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting)), and degree abbreviation (short description, e.g. B.Com(Acc).

Fig 2. On the program view pages, PeopleSoft provides the program title (long description, e.g Bachelor of Business Information Technology), degree abbreviation (short description, e.g. B.BIT), location(s) (campus list, e.g. North Terrace), duration (EFTSU, e.g. 3 years (full time)), degree type (Plan type, e.g. Bachelor).
Program Finder determines which year's data is available for viewing and which year is the active or current year, e.g. 2008, 2009.

Fig 3. PeopleSoft also provides several pieces of data that feed the Admissions Information section, including whether a program is available to domestic students, international students, commencing students, and continuing students. PeopleSoft also provides basic entry score cutoffs for TER and IELTS, and is the definitive source of program fee data.

Program Finder polls PeopleSoft daily for changes to the program data it uses, so changes in PeopleSoft are not visible immediately. In the event of an emergency, Web Services can force an immediate update.