The new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 is primarily an application upgrade to the existing CCCApply Administrator (Admin 1.0), with a new look & feel and enhanced user navigation across all three integrated CCCApply applications (Standard, Promise Grant (BOG), and International). The technology has been upgraded from a PHP-based application to a java-based, spring boot platform, with a React user interface, which has allowed us to fix many of the bugs and issues that exist in our current administrator tool and implement one or two new features. Additional enhancements and new features and services are planned for future releases.
Pilot Migration & Implementation
However, the critical distinction between this upgrade and other application upgrades is that the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 tool, and it's new core administrator gateway known as the CCC Administrator, will completely replace the current Admin 1.0 application. The two administrators (Admin 1.0 versus 2.0) cannot run in parallel; only one database can be talking to the CCCApply student-facing applications in each environment at one time. Once the new system is deployed in the Pilot environment, the existing Pilot Admin 1.0 system will be shut down. The CCCTC College Support team will work with a set of beta colleges to measure the migration, implementation, and user acceptance testing (UAT) plan and ensure success is achieved through measurable outcomes with outcomes consistent with guaranteeing is successful before working with every college individually to ensure access and migration is complete. After colleges have completely and successfully transitioned to the new service in the Pilot environment, we will move forward with the production migration and release, and Admin 1.0 will be shut down completely.
Feature Parity
To ensure a successful migration and implementation of college data and user accounts for all 110 colleges currently using CCCApply, our primary objective for this initial release is to roll out the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 tool with minimal changes to the existing features and functionality and transition users to the tool through the new CCC Administrator gateway using their existing college or district user accounts, thereby enabling single sign-on (SSO) authentication to the current and future CCCTC admin applications via one single point-of-entry.
This means that your current Pilot and Production user accounts won't change, but the URLs you'll use to get to them will. See "What features are new or have changed in the new Administrator 2.0 system" below for more details.
Ninety percent (90%) of the development requirements for this upgrade is feature parity, which means the majority of the features are exactly the same and function the same way as they do today in the current Admin 1.0 tool. However, there are a few new features - which are discussed below - and several important changes to note.
Let's break the features down like this: 1) Which features have not changed and function exactly the same in the new Administrator 2.0?, and 2) What features are new or have changed in the new Administrator 2.0 system?
Which features have not changed and function exactly the same in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0?
As outlined above, the majority of the feature modules, services, utilities, and user experience will be exactly the same in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 upgrade. This includes the back-end database structure and all the admin data fields, the APIs, and for the most part, the user interface behaves very similar to what you are used to today in Admin 1.0. The Administrator will still integrate with the CCCApply applications (CCCApply Standard, International and the CC Promise Grant (BOG) applications) and authorized college staff will continue to configure your custom, college-specific data settings within this tool. This integration between the CCCApply Administrator and the student-facing CCCApply applications will continue to be managed, and kept up-to-date, in order for students to submit their CCCApply admissions- and financial aid applications to your college.
Authorized User Functionality
Authorized users must still have a user account to authenticate into the Administrator, and will continue to provision which applications the user has permission to manage.
Applications
The applications that can be managed in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 are:
- CCCApply Standard Application
- CCCApply International Application
- CC Promise Grant (BOG) Application
Administrator Modules
CCCApply Standard Application:
- Terms
- Majors
- Rules & Messages
- Supplemental Questions
- Reset Downloads
- College & District Information
CCCApply International Application:
- Terms
- Majors
- Rules & Messages
- Supplemental Questions
- English Proficiency Requirements
- Reset Downloads
- College & District Information
CC Promise Grant (BOG) Application:
- Rules & Messages
- Reset Downloads
- College & District Information
New Features
What features are new or have changed in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0?
Below is the full list of new features included in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 upgrade, as well as a summary of the existing functionality that has moved from the CCCApply Administrator to the new integrated CCC Administrator system, the core administrator platform that now manages all User management and single sign-on authentication.
- Major Category Filter
- Ed Goal Alignment Filter (Note: This filter will not be included in the Production version release on July 27. Read more below.)
- Spam Filter User Interface
The Major Category Filter
The Major Category filter allows colleges to create and align custom categories to their list of Majors or Programs of Study. Categories are created in the Add or Edit Major modal, or can be imported using the Import Majors function.
Important: This new filter is optional. Colleges do not have to implement the Major Category filter.
To implement this new filter, a new data field was added to the Majors database table: <major_category>. The new data field will function similarly to the way supplemental questions work, allowing colleges to define the values for the create one or more category values that can then be used to sort or group the display of new or existing majors in the student-facing application.
Many colleges have requested the ability to display their Majors offerings in CCCApply as “Meta-majors” - which are collections of academic majors that have related courses, programs, degrees, and certificates. The intent of using Meta-majors is to help the student choose a degree or program of study based on their interests, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The Major Category filter will enable the colleges to create these custom Meta-major categories.
The Ed Goal Alignment Filter
The Ed Goal alignment filter is another optional feature added to the Majors module, designed to give colleges the option to branch/display their majors and programs based on the education goal selected by the student. In other words, if a college chooses to align their majors and programs to education goals using the Ed Goal Alignment filter, when a student selects the education goal “Obtain a two-year degree without transfer” only the majors or programs that have been aligned to this education goal will be displayed to the student in the “Intended Major or Program of Study” dropdown menu on the Enrollment page in the Application.
Important: At the time of this publication, the Education Goal Alignment filter will not be released in the Production version of the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 on July 27, 2018. It will only be available to colleges in the Pilot Administrator version until such time as the development team can confirm successful user acceptance testing (UAT) from beta colleges and feedback can be incorporated into the implementation and user documentation.
SPAM Filter User Interface
The Spam Filter User Interface is arguably the most important new feature being added to the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 because it is not an optional feature and colleges will need to monitor their spam filter service to process all applications that have been identified as fraud and suspended from reaching the college's download client. This is not only a new back-end web service added to the CCCApply Standard post-submission pipeline, it is e
The purpose of the Spam Filter web service is to identify fraudulent applications coming into our system through CCCApply and prevent them from being passed to and processed by our colleges as legitimate applications.
A full series of articles detailing the new Spam Filter Web Service, including:
- Issue: Rise in Fraudulent Applications Coming in Through CCCApply
- Ways We Are Addressing Fraud in CCCApply
- Machine Learning Research Study
- Development: Spam Filter Web Service
- Development: Spam Filter User Interface
More resources will be available to support the successful implementation and regular monitoring of the Spam Filter Web Service, including the new updated CCCApply Administrator 2.0 User Guide documentation, video tutorials, and live training sessions during the Pilot implementation period.
Features Moved to the CCC Administrator
What is the CCCApply Administrator?
The CCCApply Administrator is the back-end admin configuration tool for (Standard, International, and CC Promise Grant/BOG), and the current version - known as Admin1 - has been in production since 2012 and used by all 109 CCCApply colleges.
This tool is integral for maintaining custom college Terms, Majors, custom Email Rules & Messages, Supplemental Questions and other required and optional settings integrated with the CCCApply applications.