Overview
In Aeries, course characteristic codes in the Course Characteristics (CCH) table can be set up to describe characteristics of a course, including state-mandated transcript indicators. Course characteristics can be used in multiple ways:
- Course-specific course characteristic - A course characteristic can be associated with a particular course, such as Dual Credit. The course characteristic can be printed on the transcript for all students who take the course. A course can have multiple characteristics.
- If a course has one or more characteristics, use the Characteristics tab on Courses. These codes are added to the Course Characteristics table (CCH.CD).
- If a course has only one characteristic, the Type field on Courses > Other can be used. These codes are added to the Courses table (CRS.TY).
- Student-specific course characteristic - A course characteristic can be assigned on the transcript to an individual student, rather than the course, which facilitates adding a course characteristic to a student's transcript that is specific to the student (e.g., Credit by Exam). These characteristics are added to the Course History Characteristics (CHC) table and associated to the specific transcript record using the transcript's sequence number (HIS.SQ and CHC.HSQ)
- For Texas districts using custom GPAs, a course characteristic can be used to identify a course that has a specific weight. See GPA Configurations Page.
Once mapped on Transcript Indicator Definitions, the code will appear on transcripts in the Indicators column. The Explanation for the code will print in the Transcript Indicators Legend. Codes that are mapped to a state code are extracted for Texas Records Exchange (TREx).
The definitions must be set at the district level, since a student's transcript may contain courses from several schools. Indicator codes must be the same for every secondary school in the district.
Security ↑
District-level Admin access is required to define the Transcript Indicators.
Users that will be adding or updating codes for Course Characteristics will need the following permissions:
Table | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
Update Code Table (COD) | Read Insert Update Delete | Full permissions to COD to add and maintain Course Characteristic codes |
| Course History Characteristics (CHC) | Read Update | |
| Courses (CRS) | Read Insert Update | View Courses (CRS) and Course Characteristics (CCH) Add a new Course (CRS) Update Courses (CRS) and Course Characteristics (CCH) |
| Course History (Transcripts) (HIS) | Read | View Course Characteristics or Transcript Indicators on the transcript. |
| Cross Reference Information (XRF) | District-level Admin access is required to define the Transcript Indicators. |
Users that will be adding/updating/deleting Transcript records with Course Characteristics will need at a minimum the following permissions:
| Table | Permission | Description |
| Courses (CRS) | Read | View courses, search for courses when adding/updating transcript records |
| Course History Characteristics (CHC) | Read | View, insert, and delete Course History Characteristic (CHC) records associated with a transcript record |
| Course History (Transcripts) (HIS) | Read Insert Update Delete | View transcripts, course characteristics and indicators. Add transcript record Update transcript record Delete transcript record |
Configuration & Steps ↑
1. Add district-level codes.
On Update Code Table,
- Add the code and description for Table: CCH and Field: CD for each course characteristic.
- If using the Type field on Courses > Other, add the code for Table CRS Field TY.
2. Associate course characteristics with a course.
On the Courses page:
- (Optional) If a course has only one characteristic, on the Other tab, select the Type. The list is populated with codes entered on Update Code Table for CRS.TY.
Using the Type field is optional. You can also use the Characteristics tab to specify one characteristic for the course, as described in the next step.
- If a course has one or more characteristics, on the Characteristics tab, select the applicable characteristics. The list is populated with codes entered on Update Code Table for CCH.CD.
3. Map course characteristics to transcript indicators.
District Admin access is required.
On Transcript Indicator Definitions:
- Click Add, or click the Edit icon to edit an existing definition.
- Map the course characteristic code to the transcript Indicator code that will be used throughout the district.
- Indicator - Type a one-character district code (mapped to XRF.CD).
NOTE: Multiple course characteristics/fields can be mapped to the same Indicator code.
- Explanation - Enter the description of the indicator which will appear in the Transcript Indicators Legend (mapped to XRF.DE).
- Table - Select the table to use in the comparison (mapped to XRF.TC1).
- Select CCH to use a value from the Course Characteristics table.
- Select CRS to use a value from the Courses table.
- Select HIS to use a value from the Course History (Transcripts) table.
- Field - Select the field in the selected table to use in comparison (mapped to XRF.FC1).
- Comparison - Choose the comparison type (Equals, Not Equals, etc.) (mapped to XRF.SI).
- Value - Type the value to be used in comparison (mapped to XRF.CD1).
The Value should correspond to the Code added on Update Code Table in the previous step.
- State Code - Select the state code that corresponds to the district Indicator. The list corresponds to TREx code TC19 for the SPECIAL-EXPLANATION-CODE element.
4. Assign a course characteristic to a course for an individual student, if needed.
On the Transcripts page:
- Click Add 1 Record, or click the Edit icon to select the transcript record.
- In the Characteristics field, select the course characteristic that applies to the course for this student. The list is populated with characteristics defined on Transcript Indicator Definitions and in the Code (COD) table for Course Characteristics (CCH.CD).
- The course characteristic code, as defined on Transcript Indicator Definitions, is listed on the transcript in the Indicators column. The explanation is included in the legend.
