Release Summary

The CCCApply Release 6.2.0 is a combined release of three development projects that will deploy together in order to stand up the new core admin service, CCC Administrator, and the upgrade version of the existing CCCApply Administrator 1.0 tool (Admin 1.0).  The new CCC Administrator and the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 Upgrade tool will completely replace Admin 1.0, which means that all 110 colleges who have adopted the OpenCCCApply applications will be affected by the cut-over of users and data to the new system as part of this deployment.

Therefore the completion of implementation and user acceptance testing by all CCCApply-using colleges is a condition that must be met before the production release, and before Admin 1.0 reaches end-of-life.

Minimal Changes to CCCApply Applications - No New Required Data Fields

The good news is there are very few changes to the CCCApply applications themselves in this release. There are no new questions or data fields that need to be added to data downloads. We took advantage of this release to fix a long list of bugs and technical debt issues across Apply, Promise Grant, and International which are listed below (by Application).   

New Spam Filter Web Service 

However, one new service being added to the CCCApply Standard application - the Spam Filter Web Service - is being implemented to combat the large number of fraudulent applications coming in through the Standard application. This service does have a required user component that colleges will need to monitor regularly in order to ensure the machine learning model behind the service continues to grow, learn and identify fraud as the spammers change their tactics to avoid being detected. This service sits in the post-submission application pipeline and will not affect the user experience; however colleges will be given training on how to monitor and process spam applications through the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 as part of their implementation & UAT session.

Contents

Outline of Release Items

Below is the outline breakdown of each area in this multiple-project, inter-dependent product launch and maintenance release covered in these Release Notes.   

• CCCApply 6.2.0 Release

  • Maintenance release updates and bug fixes for all four OpenCCCApply applications 
  • Approved change requests & CCCCO mandates
  • New! - Spam Filter Web Service
    • Machine-Learning algorithm & prediction service
    • Fraud status data field and tagging options
    • (See Spam Filter Web Service for CCCApply slide deck)
      
      

• CCCApply Administrator 2.0 Upgrade

  • Feature parity rewrite of the CCCApply Administrator 
    • Breakdown of feature functionality in new user interface
    • Breakdown of features that were removed from the system (and moved to other locations) 
    • Overview of new features
      • Spam Filter User Interface (CCCApply Standard Application only)
      • Enhancement to the Majors module: new "Major Category" field and filter
      • Pilot Only: Enhancement to the Majors module: new "Education Goal Alignment" filter*
    • New! - CCCApply Administrator 2.0 - Overview of the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 Upgrade
      
      

• CCC Administrator  (Core Administrator Platform)

  • Overview of purpose and system/technical requirements
    • Proxy integration requirement

  • Overview of features and functionality

    • "Getting There" information

      • New custom URL for college and district users

      • Authentication & Authorization Summary

    • Launching integrated administrator tools, including the CCCApply Administrator 2.0

    • User Management - Basic User Authorization

  • New! - Introduction to the New CCC Administrator
    

OpenCCC Account Changes

The following changes were implemented in the 6.2.0 release. 

CCCApply Standard Application Changes

CC Promise Grant (BOG) Changes

The following changes were implemented in the 6.2.0 release code.

Release Strategy

On June 28, 2018, the "Pilot" versions of the new CCCApply Administrator v.2.0 tool - along with the new core CCC Administrator platform - will be rolled out to the Pilot environment and the current CCCApply Admin 1.0 will no longer be available. College pilot data will be migrated over to the new administrator which is now fully integrated with the CCCApply applications, database(s), download servers, and Report Center.

30-Day Pilot Period: College Implementation & User Acceptance Testing  

June 28 - July 26: Similar to all previous CCCApply releases, Release 6.2.0 will deploy a full feature version of the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 to the Pilot sandbox environment for 30 days, allowing the colleges to work with College Support Services to complete the "Pilot Implementation & User Acceptance Testing" process to validate your new college URLs and verify migration data. 

Recurring Pilot Updates

June 28 - July 11: During the Pilot period development will continue with regression testing and fixing bugs identified during the migration and implementation process. This first few weeks is geared towards getting colleges to sign in and

July 12:  The next scheduled Pilot refresh release is scheduled for July 1. Note: Data changes made in the Pilot environment may be overwritten by a data refresh scheduled for July 12. 

Once your college has completed the required implementation and UAT checklist and training, authorized Pilot users will be able to access the new Administrator and manage data.  

Pilot Implementation & UAT Plan

The new CCC Administrator and the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 Upgrade tool will completely replace the current CCCApply admin system (Admin 1.0), which means that all 110 colleges who have adopted the CCCApply application will be affected by this product release. 

The purpose of this pilot release plan is to ensure that every college and district has been informed about the scope and timeline for this release; and have completed the technical requirements and operational tasks necessary to ensure a successful transition to the new system - before we migrate off the production server and turn on the new common admin service to all colleges across the system.

A successful migration and implementation in the pilot environment will be the indicator of whether we are ready to make the switch in production, and when.

Pilot UAT Project

To ensure the successful transition of your CCCApply Admin 1.0 data from the legacy app to the new 2.0 system, we will deploy to the pilot environment for 4-6 weeks and work with a small set of colleges to streamline the transitionary support process. Once we have successfully met our objectives across the pilot colleges, the Tech Center support staff will work with each college individually on each step - ensuring each college is successfully able to complete the following tasks:

1. Confirm that your college data, terms, and majors are setup correctly in the Admin 1.0 production environment (legacy system) - ensuring your production system data is ready for migration prior to the transition (switch) to the new system;   
2. Confirm successful login to the new CCC Administrator system with your new, college-specific URLs (one for pilot and one for production) and authentication with your existing user accounts
3. Confirm individual access permissions are set correctly in the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0, including launching authorized applications from the CCC Administrator homepage
4. Confirm that authorized users can navigate to the new CCCApply Spam Filter Interface and have reviewed the training video and user information for processing fraudulent applications
5. Confirm that Admissions and Financial Aid staff have been informed and have access to training videos and user documentation for admin features and functionality
6. Confirm that college users have registered for the College Support Site and understand how to request support for any of the new admin configuration tools  

Support

Support for the new CCC Administrator, and all current and future integrated web applications - including the CCCApply Administrator 2.0, Canvas Web App, and the CCC Report Center - is provided by the CCCTC College Support Services.  Colleges can contact support in a number of ways:

• Post a question or comment related to CCC Technology Center products and services on the College Support Site (CCCTechnology.info)
• Submit a request for technical or operational support through the College Support Site (See Using the College Support Site for more information)
• Contact College Support Services directly by email at staffsupportccctc@openccc.zendesk.com

Information is available online at:  CCC Support Services

College Support Site

CCCTechnology.info - the College Support Site for the CCC Technology Center - is the starting place for requesting support for all OpenCCCApply applications and services, including the new CCCApply Spam Filter web service and user interface, the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0 tool, and all current and future OpenCCCApply projects and services.  

California Community Colleges faculty and staff are encouraged to register for an account on the CCCTechnology.info site to stay informed on outgoing information, as well as to start or join a discussion about products, programs and other services supported by the CCC Technology Center. 

Upgrade Overview: Feature Parity and New Features

In this first release, our objective is to rewrite all the existing features and functionality that are in the current admin system with minimal changes in an upgraded interface. This accounts for approximately 90% of the development work we are releasing in this version. The features that have not changed, and remain in the CCCApply Administrator 2.0, are:

• Terms
• Majors*
• Rules
• Messages
• Supplemental Questions
• College & District Information
• Reset Downloads
• English Proficiency Information (International only)

New features account for the other 10% and include:

• New Spam Filter User Interface
• New Major Category Filter (OPTIONAL)
• New Ed Goal Alignment Filter (OPTIONAL)

The feature functionality that moved to the new core admin system (CCC Administrator) are: 

• Getting to the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 with a new URL for each college
• Authentication - User accounts will continue to authenticate you when you login to the new system.
• Authorization - User accounts and permissions are maintained in the new core admin platform. All user authorization is managed by the Tech Center in the first release.
• Launching authorized admin systems from the CCC Administrator homepage
• Launch Applications Menu
  

Navigation & User Interface Enhancements

• Applications Menu

  • Quickly move between your authorized CCCApply applications by selecting from the "Applications" menu in the header of all pages.

• Modules Menu Navigation Bar

  • Quickly move between application modules without leaving the current screen or application (more benefits and functionality here)

• Colleges Menu Navigation Bar

  • Benefits for District Users: Quickly navigate between the colleges in your district. Drop down menu appears on all pages in the Administrator.
    

• New Utilities Menu
  • Designed to scale as new utilities are added to CCCApply, access application-specific utilities, web services, and other integrated technology components from the Modules menu in each application;
  • Reset Downloads: Find the Reset Downloads module under "Utilities" menu in each application.
  • Spam Filter User Interface - Find the new Spam Filter user interface module under the "Utilities" menu in the Standard Application only. 

New! CCC Administrator

The CCC Administrator is the new centralized admin service for California Community Colleges faculty and staff - providing SSO-based authentication and user management for all CCC Tech Center and systemwide administrator tools and services.  This new service is designed to scale as users, products and services are developed and integrated with this central system.

Getting to the Administrators

• New Custom URLs for Admin 2.0 and Report Center: Now that the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 is accessed through the new CCC Administrator system, there is no longer a direct link to get there. Colleges will have new custom URLs for the Pilot and Production systems - based on their .edu domain, making it easier for faculty and staff to get to the central system and launch all of their authorized applications and services. 
  
  

• NOTE: Colleges will continue to use their existing URL link to the CCC Report Center until further notice. Your existing user accounts will still authenticate and authorize your access to your college or district reports and data. 

Land & Launch Interface

All integrated admin applications, including the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 application, will launch from the CCC Administrator global landing page.

• New Landing Page:  The home page of the CCC Administrator is now the central “landing page” for all users.  From there, users must select the administrator tool they seek to manage via the Applications menu on the CAP homepage.  
  
  

• New “Applications” Menu:  In this first release (CAP 1.0), CCCApply and Canvas College Adaptor admin tools are the only tools accessible from the CCC Administrator. As more CCCTC admin applications are developed and integrated with CAP, they will launch from this core system AND leverage the same SSO, authorizations, and System Administrator (to define their own application-specific roles and permissions).
  
  

Authorized User Management

User and Access Management has been moved from the CCCApply Administrator 1.0 to the core admin platform system in order to merge and streamline all the Admin 1.0 user accounts that exist across the three CCCApply Applications and Report Center - into just two accounts per user; one for Pilot and one for the Production environment systems.

However, for the first phase of development and implementation of this central service, all user roles and application access will be managed by the CCC Tech Center (Support Services and Enabling Services).

• ALL USERS must have a Basic User Account in order to authenticate into the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0.

• ALL USER ACCOUNTS for the CCCApply Administrator 2.0 and the CCC Report Center will now be created and managed in the “User Manager” system in the CCC Administrator.  

• ALL EXISTING USER ACCOUNTS for the Admin 1.0 and the CCC Report Center systems will be migrated over to the new 2.0 system prior to Pilot and Production releases.

• ALL USERS will have "Basic User" permissions for the initial Pilot launch of the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0. This basic user authorization will allow users to login (authentication) to the CCC Administrator tool, and from there can launch and access the administrator applications they are currently authorized to access. 

• College Support Services will schedule one-on-one calls (online sessions) with a designated college or district representative during the weeks of July 2 - July 22, 2018.

• All existing college and district user accounts will be validated by an authorized CCCTC College Support Services technician during the Pilot Implementation process. Updates will be made during the support session to ensure only valid users will have accounts moving forward. 

• The purpose of the Pilot Implementation and support session is to ensure that each college completes implementation tasks and user acceptance testing (UAT) to verify each user account is valid prior to production release. To schedule your Pilot Implementation session, please contact CCCTC College Support Services today! 

During the CCCApply Release 6.2.0 “30-day Pilot Period”, College Support Services will work with each CCC college (or district) to verify every Admin 1.0 user accounts created under your MIS code to ensure they are still current and valid prior to the production release on July 27. All CCCApply Administrator 2.0 users must have a validated user account in order to log in to the new system. This validation is confirmed during your required Pilot Implementation session (one per college). Please schedule your session today, contact CCCTC College Support Services today! 

Phase 1: Project Glue for CCCApply (College Adapter 2.5)

With the CCCTC Technology Platform College Adaptor version 2.5, Colleges can receive a full dataset of a student’s CCCApply data directly to a staging table in their college ERP/SIS. A student’s Apply data will be delivered as soon as their application is complete. The Apply dataset includes unencrypted LGBTQ data that can be used for mandatory reporting to the Chancellor’s office. Delivery of College Promise and International data is not supported in this version of the adaptor. College ERPs supported: Colleague, Banner and PeopleSoft.

Project Glue for CCCApply - Phase 1

The Phase 1 goal of the Project Glue Support for CCCApply is to securely deliver in real time CCCApply records into a staging table in the College SIS via the Glue College Adaptor. Records will include the entire CCCApply dataset, including the college's custom Supplemental Questions, and unencrypted AB620 data fields: Sexual Orientation and Transgender. Implementation of this delivery will require data to be stored in an encrypted database table at the college.

We foresee colleges using this dataset in two possible scenarios:

1. Scenario 1: College Continues to Use the CCCApply Download Client as well as the College Adaptor CCCApply Dataset
   College continues to use their existing CCCApply Download Client (DL Client) workflow to manage and process new applications without disruption to existing business processes. The college uses the new College Adaptor dataset to join AB620 data via the Application_ID field to applications processed through the Download Client, for storage in the College SIS for MIS reporting purposes.
   
   
2. Scenario 2: College Discontinues Use of the Download Client; Implements College Adaptor with College SIS
   College discontinues use of the DL Client and fully integrates the College Adaptor with their college SIS.  In this scenario, the college will work with the CCC Technology Center to point their post processing scripts at the new secure staging table and adjust the scripts to consume the newly delivered CCCApply dataset. With minor adjustments the scripts would run as before, storing the data in the college SIS or prepare the necessary files for upload.

What is Project Glue?

Project Glue is the integrations framework for the products of the California Community Colleges Technology Center (CCCTC). Project Glue integrations facilitate data exchange between the system-wide products built by or purchased by the CCCTC and college student information systems*. This includes the following applications:

• Course Exchange: 
• Canvas Webapp
• My Path Enterprise Student Portal
• Career Planning Systems
• Multiple Measures Student Placement Platform
• CCCApply
• Promise Grant Application (BOG)

The following fields have been added to the CCC Report Center. 

Download Client Changes

The following fields have been added to the Download Client. To add them to your download file, update your Download Format XML files, as indicated.

The New Pilot Environment

The OpenCCCApply Pilot Environment is a preview and testing site used by colleges to implement the CCCApply applications and the OpenCCC Student Account System. The Pilot environment provides a copy of the production code during the year, except during the 30-Day Pilot Preview period - when it contains pre-production code for an upcoming release. The Pilot Environment has separate /wiki/spaces/PD/pages/77562106, and different SLAs than the production versions of OpenCCC and CCCApply applications.

Getting to Your College's Pilot Applications

Please see the Pilot Environment section in the CCCApply Public Documentation space for more information on getting to the Pilot CCCApply Applications, pointing your download files to the Pilot download server, and identifying the Pilot Administrator & Report Center URLs.

Data Dictionaries & Release Documentation

The following links point to the most current versions of the CCCApply Data Dictionaries and User Guides.

Project Glue Support for CCCApply (College Adaptor 2.5)

• Complete CCCApply Standard Application data set including Supplemental Questions 
• Decryption support for AB620 data fields: Sexual Orientation & Transgender for College Adapter 2.5

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CCCApply Spam Filter Web Service

Over the past 18 months, the CCCApply development team has been working with a machine learning data research and analysis team to better understand the increasing number of spam/fraudulent applications coming in through CCCApply and ultimately build a spam filter service that will identify, flag, and suspend bad applications before they get to the college's download file. The filter will include an admin user-interface, similar to an email application spam filter system, where college admins can specify and process the flagged bad applications from the legitimate ones, thus training the backend algorithm each time an application is processed.

SPAM Filter User Interface

The Spam Filter User Interface is the suspension folder where the prediction service sends and stores applications that meet the criteria for spam. The user interface consists of one summary table that displays the applications that have been identified with a high probability or percentage of confidence, a search field to bring in applications to the folder, and action buttons that the college uses to "Confirm Spam" or "Mark as Valid", each application individually or multiple selected applications at the same time. The summary table functions similarly to the other tables in the Administrator, with sortable column headers and a search field that allows the college to bring an application into the filter to be processed.

until they are confirmed by the college. from the machine learning prediction model wait to be confirmed by the college.  and  to be fraud are removed from the submission pipeline before they reaches the college's Download Client or the College Adapter (Project Glue).  The user interface is built into the new CCCApply Administrator 2.0, a full feature parity upgrade to the legacy CCCApply Administrator (1.0) for the CCCApply Standard Application only. 

Each application in the filter summary table can be selected individually or multiple applications can be selected. Once an application is selected the action buttons become active; including the "Confirm Spam" button and the "Mark as Valid" button. 

The Confirm Spam button:

The Mark as Valid button:

The location for storing unwanted email as determined by a spam filter. Also called a "junk folder" or "junk mailbox," spam folders are created by mail servers as well as by the user's email program. In some mail programs, the messages in the spam folder can be sorted and viewed by the spam filter's rating, which is a percentage of confidence that the message is junk. Messages with lower ratings, such as below 50%, can be reviewed more carefully to be sure they are not legitimate.