Transitioning to Paperless Application Processing and Review

Transitioning to Paperless
Application Processing and Review
Lita Malveaux, Assistant Director
July 28, 2015

Today…
 Preparation: Four Key Issues
 Process
 Benefits & Challenges
 Next Steps

A Little About Us…
Georgia State University
 Urban research institution located in downtown Atlanta, GA
 Enrollment of 32,000 (approx. 54,000 once consolidated with GPC)
 Decentralized
The College of Arts & Sciences
 Largest college in the university (13,000 undergrad/2,200 grad)
 Over 20 departments and over 100 graduate degree programs
Office of Graduate Services
 Responsible for the admission process, advisement on and governance of
college policy, graduation clearance, dissertation and thesis formatting review,
and tuition waivers.
 Student Information System: Banner (including Xtender)
 Hobsons client since 2010 (AppyYourself, Connect, and AppReview)
 Staff of 10

A Little About Our Paperless Journey…
A CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVE
THAT EVOLVED
INTO A PROCESS OVERHAUL

Preparing to Go Paperless…
Let’s take a quick look at the before:
Applications printed and sorted into file folders
Incoming materials matched with application file and data
entered into Banner checklist
File checked-out to the department, reviewed, returned, and
then sent to Dean’s office for final decision
And its challenges:
Processing time
Unhappy applicants – poor user experience
No collaboration and little transparency

Preparing to Go Paperless
4 Key Issues:
1. All parts and pieces of the application in one place
2. Advisor’s workload can be managed electronically
3. Departments can access files with flexibility for varying
review styles
4. BUY-IN!!!

Issue #1: Application Components in One Place
Resolution = ApplyYourself
 Official test scores and other data are imported to AY
daily from Banner
 Supplemental materials are collected via required
questions in the application using business rules
 Letters of recommendation are collected through AY
 Transcripts are imaged and uploaded to an internal
section in AY

Issue #2: Electronic Application Processing
Resolution = ApplyYourself & Connect
 Advisors use queries to manage applications
 Applications are given an audit stage, which is displayed
to applicant via the VIP page checklist
 Advisors have several options for reviewing a record or
group of records and managing load. Ex
 Applicant summary, including internal sections (AY)
 Exports (AY and Connect)
 Summary Form (AY-email template generated as letter)
 Views (Connect)
 Dashboards (Connect)

Issue #3: Electronic Application Review
Resolution = ApplyYourself
 Departments use queries to concurrently manage in-
progress and submitted applications
 Each department given an account for faculty review
 Each department given a grad director account with
emailing and exporting access
 Department receives a Recommendation Form once audit
is complete
 Recommendations for accept go to Dean’s office for final review
 Decision letters generated in AY using decision and enrollment

Issue# 4: BUY-IN!!!
Resolution = Phased Roll Outs & Opened Gates
 Phased roll-outs for departments and advisors – slow
transitions
 Quite the gate-keeping business – collaboration and
transparency

Let’s Take a Look
 Application Components:
 Applicant Summary
 Electronic Application Processing:
 Audit Status Stages and Queries
 Exports, Summary Form, Views, and Dashboard
 Recommendation Form
 Electronic Application Review:
 Audit Status Stages and Queries
 Dashboard
 Customer Service:
 VIP Page

Ongoing Challenges
 Technical Training
 Transcripts
 Letters of Recommendation (Hard Copies)
 Signature Workflow AppReview

AppReview: Signature Workflow
ApplyYourself AppReviewComplete applications
pushed to AppReview
REVIEW BUNDLE: program/term specific
Graduate Director Reviews Bundle as
Head Reviewer
[move to next round and mapped review sheet
data to AY features activated]
FULL STATUS ACCEPTS:
Dean’s Full Status bundle for
final review via workflow
SPECIAL STATUS ACCEPTS:
Dean’s Special Status bundle
for final review via workflow
Routing Rules
(Single Review Pool)
DENIES:
No further
review

Benefits of Going Paperless
 Happy Applicants - Improved User Experience
 Decreased Processing and Review Time
 Collaboration
 Transparency
 It’s Green-er

Happy Applicants: Communications
Hi Lita,
Thank you for letting me know it
was received by a human. You
never know.
Gregory

Decreased Processing Time: Psychology, Ph.D.
 550-650 applications each fall
 Application Submission Cycle: Oct - Dec
 Interviews: Feb (scheduled in Jan)
 Two month decrease in processing time
 Old Processing cycle: Nov – March/April
 New Processing cycle: Nov – Jan/Feb

Decreased Review Time: PhD Accepts
6.12%
1.17%
37.90%
33.53%
10.20%
9.33%
1.75%
0.54%
9.73%
47.03%
24.86%
7.84% 8.65%
1.35%
0.00%
11.92%
56.10%
15.70%
8.14%
4.07% 4.07%
2.19%
19.44%
48.59%
21.00%
6.27% 2.51%
0.00%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Accept Accept Accept Accept Accept Accept Accept
January February March April May June July
Fall 2012
Fall 2013
Fall 2014
Fall 2015
*Data pulled 6/17/15

Next Steps
 Phase in AppReview
 Records management - what to keep and where
to keep it
 Set standards for turn-around times
 Transcripts – explore imaging prior to application
submission and taking unofficial
transcripts…again
 Radius Migration???

Transitioning to Paperless Application Processing and Review

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