Catalog Status Tracking: Check the Status of and Request a School's Catalog
This article provides an overview of how users can view the availability of other institutions' catalogs and course data sets in TES®. From there, the user can:
- Add the catalog to the institution's watchlist to track it through the receipt & production cycle; or
- In instances where no information is available about the catalog and it has not already been requested from CollegeSource, request that it be added to TES.
In this article:
CollegeSource maintains an extensive database of college catalogs. Catalogs from United States institutions are collected annually (or by print cycle) where permission exists or where it is implied by subscription to a CollegeSource service. For more information, see CollegeSource’s Catalog Collection Policy.
CollegeSource makes every effort to ensure that catalog holdings are up to date. However, when going to build an equivalency or initiate an evaluation task, colleges may occasionally find an institution's catalog (and its corresponding course data set) unavailable.
A catalog may not be available in TES® when:
- An institution has not yet shared it with CollegeSource;
- A school revises its catalog throughout the academic year and asks CollegeSource not to publish it until it is complete; or
- CollegeSource is no longer actively collecting catalogs from the institution.
Additionally, a catalog may have been received from an institution but is not yet available for use in TES because it needs to go through processing and quality control checks. Below is the process that users can follow to determine catalog availability in TES.
Search for a Course Catalog
To determine if a course catalog (and its corresponding course data set) is available within TES®:
- Go to the Search menu.
- Select Course Finder.
- Use the INSTITUTION SEARCH box to enter the name of the institution.
- The U.S. Schools toggle is selected by default.
- If needed, toggle Non-U.S. Schools or All to broaden the search.
- Select Search.
- Select the arrow to the left of the institution's name.
- Use the DATA SET dropdown to view the list of available course data sets.
- Use the CATALOG drop-down to view the list of available catalogs.
Depending on whether and what information is available, one of the following messages will appear either in place of or below these fields in TES. These messages can help the user determine the next steps in locating the catalog and/or data set needed.
Data Set and Catalog Messages
Data Sets or Catalogs Not Available
If no data sets are available from the institution, the following message will appear in place of the DATA SET drop-down:
If no catalogs are available from the institution, the following message will appear in place of the CATALOG drop-down:
If neither course data sets nor catalogs have been collected from an institution, at the bottom of the page, the following message will also appear:
Users can select the bolded, hyperlinked portion of the message to request more information from CollegeSource.
New Catalogs Not Being Actively Pursued
In the event that new catalogs are not being actively pursued, at the bottom of the page, the following message will appear:
Users can select the bolded, hyperlinked portion of the message to request more information from CollegeSource.
Some Data Sets and/or Catalogs Available
If at least one data set and/or catalog is available for the institution, the following message will display:
Users can select the bolded, hyperlinked portion of this message to:
- Check the catalog's status;
- Manage the institution's watchlist; or
- Request a catalog be added to TES.
Check a Catalog's Status
To check a catalog (and its corresponding data set's) status:
- Where the following note appears in Course Finder 2 (see above), select the bolded, hyperlinked portion of the text.
- The Status Tracking page will appear with the following information:
Field | Description |
Catalog Title | Drop-down menu of pre-populated catalog titles from the selected institution |
Academic Year | Drop-down menu of the ten most recent academic calendar years, including the upcoming academic year (once available); presented in one-year increments The upcoming academic year drop-down becomes available on the first day of the new calendar year (i.e., January 20xx). |
Check Status | Button to check catalog receipt & processing status of the selected catalog title within the chosen academic year |
WATCHLIST | Selection of institution catalogs added by all users at the college or university If no catalogs have been added to the watchlist, the heading name will appear, followed by a message stating that no catalog production status tracking records were found. Up to 25 catalog titles can be added to the watchlist |
Where one or more catalogs have been added to the watchlist, the following information is displayed:
Field | Description |
VIEW | Button to take the user to the CATALOG STATUS pop-up, where the following are noted: Catalog Title and Academic Year Catalog status: File Received File has been received by CollegeSource; has not yet entered processing stage In Progress Catalog processing underway Quality Control Catalog import and processing complete; data quality analysis occurring Completed Catalog and data set now available for use in TES; the user will need to remove the catalog title from the institution watchlist A blank circle indicates that a stage has not begun. Once a stage is entered into, an angle bracket ( > ) will appear in the status circle; when a stage is complete, a checkmark will be noted. If the catalog has already been requested by a user (including one outside the institution's account), a note will appear indicating this. If the catalog has been added to the institution's watchlist, a message will indicate this along with the First Name and Last Name of the user who made the addition. |
CATALOG TITLE | Title of the institution catalog requested |
ACADEMIC YEAR | Academic year for which the catalog was requested |
STATUS | Catalog receipt and processing statuses: No Information Available File Received In Progress Quality Control Completed |
ADDED BY | Name of the user who added the catalog to the watchlist Format: First, Last |
ADDED ON | Date on which the catalog was added to the watchlist Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
REMOVE | Button to remove the catalog title from institution's watchlist TES Administrators can remove any catalog title from the institution's watchlist; any other user can only remove catalog titles that the individual added If a user is not authorized to remove a catalog title, the button/icon will not be visible on the row: |
To view a catalog's status, select the Catalog Title and applicable Academic Year from the drop-down menus.
- Select Check Status.
- Review the information presented.
Example: No information available
Example: No information available; catalog has already been requested
Example: File Received
Example: In Progress; catalog previously added to the institution's watchlist
Example: Quality Control; catalog has already been requested
Example: Completed
Add a Catalog to the Institution Watchlist
If no information is available about a specific catalog, or a catalog file has been received but not completed, the user will be presented with the option to add the catalog to the institution's watchlist. Select the Watchlist button to do so.
Once added, the catalog will appear in the watchlist of all users at the institution:
Adding a catalog to an institution watchlist does not influence the acquisition or processing of catalogs by CollegeSource. Watchlists are a way for colleges and universities to view available information about the acquisition process. Catalog processing timelines vary once a file is received.
Manage the Institution Watchlist
All active TES® users can add catalogs to or manage the catalogs within an institution's watchlist. Since the watchlist is not user-specific, any changes to the watchlist will span across the college or university account. As noted above, only TES Administrators can remove any catalog title from the institution's watchlist; any other user can only remove catalog titles that the individual added.
The institution's watchlist can be managed via one of two paths:
- The Dashboard
- The Course Finder
To manage the watchlist from within the Dashboard:
- Go to the Manage menu.
- Select Dashboard.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page until the CATALOG STATUS TRACKING WATCHLIST appears.
From here, the user can:
- Sort the results by heading (select the heading name).
- Select the View button (eyeball) to the left of a CATALOG TITLE to view the catalog's status.
- If the user who added the catalog to the watchlist or a TES Administrator, select the Remove button to the right of a CATALOG TITLE to take it off the institution's watchlist.
To manage the watchlist from within Course Finder:
- Go to the Search menu.
- Select Course Finder.
- Use the INSTITUTION SEARCH box to enter the name of an institution for which at least one data set and/or catalog is available.
- The U.S. Schools toggle is selected by default.
- Select Search.
- Select the arrow to the left of the institution's name.
- If at least one data set and/or catalog is available, the following message will appear:
- Select the bolded, hyperlinked portion of the text.
- The Status Tracking page will appear.
From here, the user can:
- Sort the results by heading (select the heading name).
- Check the status of a catalog from the institution selected.
- From there, the catalog can be added to the watchlist and/or requested.
- Select the View button (eyeball) to the left of a CATALOG TITLE to view the catalog's status.
- If the user who added the catalog to the watchlist or a TES Administrator, select the Remove button to the right of a CATALOG TITLE to take it off the institution's watchlist.
Request a Catalog Be Added to TES
If no information is available and the catalog has not already been requested, the user will be presented with two options:
- Add the catalog to the institution watchlist; or
- Request the catalog be added to TES®.
To request the catalog be added to TES:
- Select the Catalog Request button.
- Complete the form below.
- Catalog Title and Academic Year are pre-populated from prior selections.
- Requestor, Account Name, and Email will be pre-populated from users' CollegeSource accounts.
- The Instructions button links to this article.
Select and/or enter the following:
Data Type: Toggle DATASET to request data from which to create equivalencies and evaluation tasks in TES Toggle PDF to request a document file |
Urgency: Toggle to indicate urgency level: High, Normal, Low |
Comments: Add additional information in the box |
- Select Submit.
A Data Request Confirmation will be generated, noting:
- The Case ID#
- The catalog title and academic year requested
A confirmation email will also be sent from tes-support@collegesource.com, referencing a ticket number. CollegeSource will follow up when the data is available.
Request More Information
In some instances, no catalog data may be available for an institution, or, CollegeSource may no longer be actively acquiring catalogs from that source. If searching for a catalog or course data set and these messages appear, users may reach out to CollegeSource for additional information.
1. Use the instructions above to locate the institution and view existing course data sets and/or catalogs.
2. At the bottom of the screen, one of the following messages will be displayed:
- Catalog data is not currently available for this institution. Request more information.
- New catalogs from the institution are not actively being pursued. Request more information.
Select Request more information.
3. Complete the form below.
- Requestor, Account Name, and Email will be pre-populated from users' CollegeSource accounts.
- Institution name is pre-populated based on prior selection.
- The Instructions button links to this article.
Select and/or enter the following:
Urgency: Toggle to indicate urgency level: High, Normal, Low |
Comments: Add additional information in the box |
- Select Submit.
A Data Request Confirmation will be generated, noting:
- The Case ID#
- The name of the institution
A confirmation email will also be sent from tes-support@collegesource.com, referencing a ticket number. CollegeSource will follow up with additional information.