Request No. | 2014-40 |
---|---|
Date of Request | December 31, 2014 |
Requester | CCCApply Steering Committee |
Status | Approved |
Application(s) | All Applications |
Section / Page | In-Progress Applications |
Steering Approval | APPROVED March 2017 |
Steering Hearing Date | June 16, 2016 |
Change to Downloads | No |
Change to Logic | No |
JIRA |
Problem / Issue
Colleges have requested access to the In-Progress application database for the purpose of identifying students who have started an application but never completed or submitted one. Outreach to students who appear to have abandoned the application process is a high priority to colleges. In addition, they claim that the legacy Xap system allowed them tthis access and they are requesting CCCApply be modified to allow them access to these applicants for recruitment purposes. Bottom line: colleges want to support students and help them get through the admission application process.
Per discussions during Steering Committee meetings, Tim Calhoon, CCCTC Exec Director, adds, "Note: If we (CCC) do the notifying to the student about an unfinished/unsubmitted application, then we are all good. BUT the COLLEGE CAN NOT LEGALLY NOTIFY THE STUDENT and therefore cannot see data or know anything about an unsubmitted application."
The purpose of this change is to implement a way where the system can generate a generic email to all students who have started an application but have not yet submitted it for processing. It is not legal for colleges to have access to the details of the application for the student has provided Consent by electronically signing their application and hitting "submit"; therefore, we will need to gain an understanding of what is permissible and what is legal in order for this generic email to go out to students who have not submitted an application. Patty plans to meet with the Steering Committee to finalize requirements.
Response from CCCApply
When a student starts an application with CCCApply, they are establishing a legal agreement / contract with the CCC Chancellor’s office. When they complete their application and submit, at this point, they are entering into an agreement to release their information to the college.
Steering Committee Response 11/1/16
After discussing the specific text and message content of the emails (many colleges want to provide the content with links to their site) Tim suggested that a few different options:
- Use the Admissions contact fields i n the Administrator to merge in specific contact information to the emails (colleges had issues with this process as these only include Admissions contacts and they have other support services in mind);
- Use the functionality in the Rules area: email messages and email rules that would enable the college to create their own email content;
- Create a generic email message for the colleges who don't create an email message.
Proposed Solution
Send a system-generated, generic email from CCCApply (on behalf of the CCCCO) to Applicant who starts an application to a college but does not submit the application after 24 hours. The email "nudge" would be repeated after 7 days, providing links to the My Applications to "sign-in, resume app, and submit" or "delete/remove the unsubmitted application";
- Create two generic, merge-field Emails which will be sent to student's email address <email> , using <firstname>+<lastname>
- System logic is implemented to send Email #1 is sent to student if the application has not been submitted after 24 hours of starting app.
- Logic is implemented to send Email #2 to Applicant if after 7 days the application still has not been submitted (7 days since start of application and no submission).
- Phase I: Email Content
The content of the emails would serve several purposes:- Remind the student that they started an application but have not submitted the application to the specific college
- Provide links back to OpenCCCApply for use cases: :
- Link to My Applications page and RESUME the application process.
- Return to My Applications page and delete the application in-progress.
- Provide links and information to - alternately - contact the college directly for assistance (to College Admissions contact information that currently appears on the confirmation page, including College name, college URL, Admissions Contact and Admissions phone and email)
- Provide links to OpenCCC Helpdesk and CCCHelp.info
- If after 7 days from start of application process the student still has not submitted the application, send Email #2 with similar links and information.
- Phase II: Allow colleges control over message text and dynamic content through enhanced functionality built into the new CCC Administrator Messaging Module.
- Phase III: TBD. Colleges want access to in-progress, unsubmitted application data to better provide support and services to prospect students. This phase involves challenging the current privacy policy and working with CCCCO and State Legal entities to better understand and potentially modify our policy interpreting FERPA.
Approved Implementation Phases & Objectives
Phase | Description | Objective | Future Enhancement(s) |
---|---|---|---|
One | System-generated, Generic Email Messages Templates for Unsubmitted Applications Email #1: Send after 24hours Email #2: Send after 7 days. Phase 1 functionality can legally send reminder emails from CCCApply (a state agency) but will reference the college and include college Admissions Office contact information, configured through settings in the College tab of the CCCApply Admiinistrator. Content of the emails is determined in collaboration with the CCCApply Steering Committee. | Main objective is to follow-up and provide encouragement to students who may need assistance with the application process, which maintaining compliance with FERPA and other privacy laws and regulations. Emails are sent by CCCApply but will reference the College and include college Admissions Office contact, phone and email address, and encourage the student to contact the college directly for assistance with the admission process. Secondary objectives include:
| Initially these reminder messages will be sent via email; however, once OpenCCC and CCCApply servers have moved on to Amazon Web Services, Text Messaging can also be used for outreach, reminders, and alerts. Set Messaging Preferences in MyOpenCCC Account |
Two | System-generated Messages for Unsubmitted Applications Using Custom, College-Configured Content Colleges can customize the email message sent to unsubmitted applications via messaging center developed in the new CCC Administrator (2.0) currently under-development. Using same logic in place to detect unsubmitted apps, colleges will have more control of integrated text/language, dynamic content, hyperlinks, tables, graphs, images, and other features, configurable by the College. Timeline: 2018 | In addition to the objectives listed above, this phase of implementation offers more control to the college to customize the language and dynamic content in the messages sent to the student. College will be able to leverage more advanced logic and application data fields into the email body; Through Admin configurable settings, colleges can have more functionality, more control over the messaging, ability to use logic to custom message, configure when the messages are sent and set the contacts and the fielddsrules engine, machine learning and other and can | This level of functionality is dependent on the release of the new CCC Administrator 2.0, and the new CCCApply 3.0 version (going to RFP in Feburary 2017). |
Three | College has access to in-progress student application data in order to provide better support for student needs. |
Technical Change Specifications
# | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
1 | Create logic to send up to 2 reminder emails to the student regarding an unsubmitted, in-progress CCCApply application | Technical tasks to be determined |
2 | Create and send "Email #1" IF application has not been submitted (to any college) after 24 hours of starting and not submitting a new application. | Content of Email #1:
|
Message Content for Email #1 | See Change Requirements below. | |
3 | Create and send "Email #2" IF application has still not been submitted (to any college) after 7 Days of starting an application | Content of Email #2 Slightly stronger encouragement language to drive the student to either complete the application or remove/delete the application from their My Applications page after 7 days;
|
Message content for Email #2 | See Change Requirements below | |
4 | Create ability to track emails? | Add Google Analytics to email links |
5 | Use new CCCApply Logo |
Proposed Message Content for Email #1 - 24 hours
REPLY TO: <Use same Reply To address used in OpenCCC Account Confirmation email>
SUBJECT: Reminder: Your CCCApply Application To <college_name> Has Not Been Submitted
LOGO: <See logo below>
HEADLINE: IMPORTANT: Your CCCApply Admission Application to {College_Name} Still Needs to Be Submitted!
BODY: <See below>
IMPORTANT: Your CCCApply Admission Application to {College_Name} Still Needs to Be Submitted!
Hi Patty <firstname>,
Thank you for considering <college_name>. This is a reminder that the CCCApply application you started yesterday was not completed and still needs to be submitted.
To resume your application, click here to go to your My Applications page on CCCApply. Find your in-progress application in the "Applications in Progress" table and click "Resume".
Need help completing your application? Contact the Admissions Office:
{college_name}
{admission_contact}
{amission_phone}
{admission_email}
Thank you for considering {college_name}. Visit us at {college_url} for more information.
Did you forget your OpenCCC Account password?
Click here to recover your username or reset your password.
Or contact the OpenCCC Helpdesk for assistance:
OpenCCC Helpdesk
Call Toll-Free: (877) 247-4836
Email: support@openccc.net
Having trouble completing the application online?
Contact <college_name> to request a paper application from the Admissions Office at <admission_phone>, or email us at <admission_email>.
Proposed Message Content for Email #2 - 7 Days
REPLY TO: <Use same Reply To as OpenCCC Account Confirmation email>
SUBJECT LINE: Final Reminder: Your CCCApply Application to <college_name> Still Needs To Be Submitted
LOGO: < See logo below and attached >
HEADLINE: Important! Your Admission Application to <college_name> Is Still Waiting to Be Submitted In CCCApply
Important! Your Admission Application to <college_name> Is Still Waiting to Be Submitted In CCCApply
Hi Patty <firstname>,
The CCCApply application you started a week ago for {college_name} was never finished or submitted.
If you are still planning to apply, please return to your My Applications page at CCCApply and submit your application today!
How can we help? Please contact the Admissions Office directly for assistance:
<college_name>
<admission_contact>
<admission_phone>
<admission_email>
Ready to resume?
If you're ready to resume your application, click here to go to your My Applications page and find your in-progress application in the “Applications in Progress” table (shown below). Click "Resume" to complete all pages and submit.
Did you forget your OpenCCC Account password?
Click here to recover your username or reset your password.
Or contact the Helpdesk. Support representatives will answer your call in 30 seconds or less.
OpenCCC Helpdesk
Call Toll-Free: (877)247-4836
Email: support@openccc.net
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Having trouble completing the online application?
Please contact <college_name> and request a paper application from the Admissions Office, <admission_phone>, <admission_email>.
<< End Email #2 Language >>
Steering Needs (Nov 1)
- Confirmation of the legalities that colleges can not access student in-progress application data (which federal or state law, is it FERPA for sure?) (Steering)
- Content of the generic email message(s) (Steering)
- Content of the college specific template (we create the template and allow colleges to complete the template) (Steering)
- Confirmation of the number of days or amount of time that the in-progress app sits before the email goes out (Steering)
- Need to understand the use case for wanting the <app id> shown in the email. Perhaps it would be useful for help desk reps. We could also modify the table in My Applications to show the appid as well.