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Columbia University
Student Information Systems
Admissions Application Data:
Entering, Modifying and Processing v1
February 4, 2003
Introduction
Admissions application processing in SIS can range from bare bones to robust. This document is provided as an overview to the new admissions user or, a review for the curious admissions user who believes SIS might be used more extensively in his or her office.
For the purpose of brevity and to avoid redundancy, this document will often refer to companion documents that provide more detailed information on a particular aspect of admissions application processing in SIS. Please visit the SIS web site at columbia.edu/cu/sis to view our documentation library and download referenced documents. In addition, no admissions process can thrive without each office’s own companion documentation of its admissions policies, business process, and rules or guidelines for how applications should be entered and processed in SIS to maintain consistency throughout the office.
Entering Data: Manual Data Entry
The traditional method for entering Admissions Application Data, manual data entry, requires several steps. Actual entry of Admissions Application data is highly dependent on a particular Admissions Office’s business process and the original setup of reference tables in SIS that provide field labels, titles and code values that apply to a particular office, division or school.
Person Search
Starting on the SRCH screen, look for an existing Person Name record for the new applicant. Detailed instructions on using the SRCH screen to locate a record are contained in the document SIS Basic Training.
If ‘Searching’, yields a record for the person now applying, you would proceed to the NAME screen and update the existing information with the current information from the application. Another accompanying document Updating Name and Address Information in SIS details how to use the NAME screen to update this information. The most important elements to remember about updating Name and Address information are included here however:
1. Change the person’s First, Last or Middle name only if the new information is verifiable and more complete than existing NAME information in SIS. To change any part of a person’s name in SIS, type a ‘C’ at the function line, tab to the field you are updating, type in your changes, tab to the ‘FORMER-NAME’ field and enter a ‘Y’. Press ENTER. The name change will be recorded in a SIS Audit table along with your SIS ID (to indicate who made the change) and the current date.
2. Existing address records should never be deleted or changed. The procedure for modifying addresses is to expire old address information, and ‘Add’ a new address. Expiring an old address is accomplished by processing a ‘Change’ that makes the ‘TO-DATE’ (also known as the ‘Address Good Until Date’) yesterday’s date. The previous address will be kept in SIS for auditing and reference purposes and can be viewed in the NAM2 screen (an inquiry only screen). Now you can add the more current address from scratch in NAME.
Person Entry
If an inquiry in SRCH does not yield a record that can be verified to be the person who is now applying, you would proceed to the PIDN screen to enter this new applicant’s information from scratch and ask the system to assign a unique Person ID Number (PID) to this person. Though you have done a search for the applicant on your own through SRCH, the system will also attempt to find a match using its own search algorithm. If the system’s search finds potential matches, you will have to decide at PIDN whether the current person information is really new or if it should be attached to a Person record already in SIS.
At a blank PIDN screen, type ‘START’ at the function line and proceed through all fields in the ‘ENTRY’ column, entering all available information about the person. Be sure to use the TAB key rather than arrow keys, as this assures you’ve navigated into the fields correctly. A Last Name, First Name, Address Type and Street 1 (Address Line 1) are all required fields. With ‘START’ at the function line and all available information typed in, press ENTER. This begins the system’s version of the person search you performed manually on the SRCH screen.
If no potential matches are returned on the right side of the screen, you will create a new Person ID, Name Record and Address record by typing ‘ENTRY’ at the Function Line and pressing Enter. After ‘Entry’, go to NAME and continue to confirm and/or update Name and Address information.
If potential matches are found by SIS, they will be shown on the right side of the screen. You can ‘leaf’ through the possibilities using the information shown. If you find an entry that your are certain is the same person, type ‘MATCH’ at the function line to attach the new information just entered to the existing record in SIS.
Please see the SIS Common Users Guide and the ‘Updating Names and Addresses in SIS’ documents for further details.
Application Data Entry – ZAPC
Information provided by applicants on their Admissions Application is entered into several different screens (tables) in SIS. To assist the Admissions Community in quick data entry, SIS created a composite screen of the most commonly entered admissions data. This screen is called ZAPC.
In short, ZAPC is a composite of the APPL screen (Application Information), RESI (Citizenship/Residency Information), DEMO (Demographic Information), MPVD (Multi-School Previous Education Information), PVDG (Previous Degree Information) and TEST/TSTP (Test Information). ZAPC is not documented in the SIS Admissions User Guide because it is a composite of other screens. However every section/field on ZAPC conforms to the rules of the screen/field from which it was derived. Here is a picture of ZAPC with an indication of the screens/tables from which each section is derived.
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After completing entry of Name and Address information, type ZAPC at the top of the NAME screen displaying the current applicant’s Name and Address. You will get to ZAPC and several fields will likely be pre-populated. Be sure you are on the correct person’s record by verifying the Name at the top of the screen, as well as SSN if the applicant has provided it.
Several fields on ZAPC are required. Others are optional. With respect to optional fields, each Admissions office manager or director decides which fields should entered into SIS based on the school or division’s need to use SIS in the future to report on, review, or update information throughout the application cycle.
To add a new applicant via ZAPC tab to and populate the following required fields:
APPL:= Populate with a ‘/’. Never enter a number here. By entering ‘/’ you are asking the system to assign a new ‘APPL ID’ to this application when you press enter.
POOL: This is the Applicant Pool to which the application belongs. POOL CODES are set up in a reference table in SIS called POOL. A SIS Desktop Report is available for viewing all POOL CODES assigned to a particular admissions office at Columbia. Please consult with your Admissions Manager or Director to find out exactly how the Applicant Pool is determined from the Admissions Application. This varies significantly from school to school.
APPLY TERM: This is the year and term for which the applicant is applying. Terms in SIS always follow the following format: Calendar Year (4 characters) + Term Code (1 character, where 1=Spring, 2=Summer, and 3=Fall). For example, an application for the Fall of 2004 would look like this in SIS: APPLY TERM: 2004 3.
STATUS: Student Status for all applicants is always new. This is coded as ‘NW’ on ZAPC or APPL.
FEE/AMT: Fee Code and Amount are required for almost every admissions office (at Admissions Manager’s discretion). The most commonly used Codes are: P=Pending, R=Received, W=Waived. Please check with the Admissions Manager for the codes used by your office.
CIT?: The Citizenship Flag is not required for entry, but if left blank will default to ‘Y’ (yes, US Citizen). The following values can be entered into this field: Y=U.S. Citizen, N=Citizenship status is unknown or person is not a U.S. Citizen, P=Permanent Resident of U.S. (has a green card).
CTRY CIT: Country of citizenship will default to ‘USA’ if left blank. All values must be a 3-character code (found next to the Country Name in CTRY). Must not be ‘USA’ if applicant the Citizenship Flag is ‘N’ or ‘P’.
VISA: By request of the ISSO (International Students and Scholars Office) Visa Code should be entered as ‘Z1’ for all applicants who are not a U.S. Citizen or a U.S. Permanent Resident. ‘Z1’ should be entered regardless of how the applicant answered a Visa question on the application. ‘Z1’ indicates that the visa is in need of processing by the ISSO. Any alternate value may delay the person’s visa processing and arrival on campus if he/she is accepted. Visa Code may be left blank if the person is a U.S.Citizen (or a ‘C’ may be entered). Visa Code may be left blank when the person is a Permanent Resident (or a ‘P’ may be entered).
ETH: The Ethnic Group Code must be a value in the EGRP screen. Please see EGRP for correct values corresponding to applicant answers. If the student declined to answer, a ‘U’ (for Unknown) must be entered.
POB CTRY: The Place of Birth (Country) field should be provided (for ISSO) if available. It must be a valid 3-character Country Code in the CTRY screen.
OTHER FLAGS: Requirements and codes in the Other Flags section is strictly determined on a school-by-school basis. Please see the Admissions Manager or Director for guidance on how to populated these ‘User Defined’ flags properly for your office.
After pressing Enter, confirm that the application has been added by reviewing the information remaining on screen. Also read the confirmation, warning, and/or error messages at the bottom of the screen. To ascertain that the information was added, you can also type ‘S’ at the function line, leaving the Person ID (PID, C-Number) and the APPL ID showing and press enter. The information you just entered should remain on screen and you should not see ‘End of File’ or ‘Line not Found’ at the bottom of the screen.
Entering Data: Multiple Data Entry (MDE)
The SIS system features a function called Multiple Data Entry (MDE), which facilitates feeds from an outside sources (such as on-line application system, school/division shadow system, test agencies). MDE is an off-line batch job (run overnight) that takes a file containing applicant or prospect information (in a specified format) and processes that file to update several screens/tables in SIS.
Even though significant data entry time can be saved through MDE, there is still a human component to the process which includes file transfer, matching (similar to PIDN matching), and proofing (making sure data was loaded correctly). There is also an intensive setup process to design, create, test, implement and troubleshoot each new data feed. This process requires collaboration by the Admissions Manager or Director, Admissions Data Entry Personnel and SIS Managers. For this reason, Admissions MDE feeds are generally limited to those programs that would transmit more than 300 applications a year to SIS. Below this number of applications, manual data entry is more efficient.
For each MDE process put in place by SIS, the administering office should have received MDE documentation to assist them. Please see the SIS website to download additional documents commonly referred to during the MDE (Multiple Data Entry) process for Admissions.
Application Processing: Previous Education
Previous education information is entered into two screens in SIS: MPVD (Previous Education – Multi-school) and PVDG (Previous Degree).
Entry of previous education starts at MPVD (or ZAPC). MPVD provides users from different Admissions Offices ability to enter previous education information according to their own business process without affecting previous education information for the same person who may apply to another school or division for admission. For this reason, the ‘Admissions Office Code’ is a required field. Records added to SIS via MPVD are simultaneously added to a school-wide screen/table (PVED).
Previous degree information is entered in PVDG (or ZAPC). Previous degree information (PVDG) can only be entered after an MPVD record has been added for the person/institution combination about which you wish to enter degree information.
Additional information about using MPVD, PVED and PVDG are all available in the SIS Admissions User Guide.
Application Processing: Test Scores
Standardized test scores from ETS may be loaded via an MDE process separate from Application MDE. Currently, several Columbia admissions offices load SAT and GRE scores via MDE. (TOEFL scores are not loaded via MDE due to difficulties in matching applicants from a foreign population of applicants that generally do not have SSNs). Loading test scores from other tests is possible, but may require a special request. If your office is interested in loading test scores from a data file, please contact SIS at Infoline@columbia.edu for more information.
Some offices enter test scores manually in TEST or TSTP (these two screens contain similar information in different screen layouts).
When entering test information in either TEST or TSTP, only the Test Code, Test Date and other data regarding an applicant’s test scores are entered. Each test you wish to track for your applicants must first be defined in the TNAM screen with a Test Code, Test Name, Type. TNAM also defines score types and score ranges for each test. All members of the CU Admissions Community share TNAM data (it is not specific to your admissions office). Therefore, clients must submit a request to Infoline@columbia.edu to request any TNAM entries. Most common tests are already defined in TNAM.
If you are new to entering test data, please contact SIS for advice about what code to use for a particular test, or for help defining (in TNAM) a school-specific test you wish to track for your applicant population.
Application Processing: Credential Tracking
The Credential Tracking function in SIS allows Admissions Offices to track applicant ‘credentials’ and communicate with applicants about the completeness their application. An office must determine credential requirements for each Applicant Pool and set up a business process within SIS to reflect requirements and rules. If your office is not currently set up for Credential Tracking, or would like to review the current setup, please request a set up or review by e-mailing Infoline@columbia.edu. Setting up or reviewing Credential Tracking is a project that requires collaboration and input from the Admissions Manager or Director, Admissions Data Entry Personnel, and SIS Client Support Managers.
CTRK is the summary screen for viewing and processing application credentials. The ‘Ready for Evaluation’ and ‘Ready for Entry’ flags (Yes or No) indicate this applicant’s application completeness according to the rules set up by the office with SIS. A ‘Go’ at the Function line in CTRK sets of a ‘calculation’ of ‘Readiness’ and updates the two ‘Ready’ flags mentioned. Credentials currently tracked at Columbia University fall into 3 categories:
1. Previous Education/Transcripts: Transcript information is entered on MPVD and PVDG directly. A summary of Transcript status is displayed in CTRK. Transcript status cannot be updated manually on CTRK.
2. Test Scores: Test scores are entered into the TEST or TSTP screens. A summary of Test Requirement status is displayed in CTRK. The status of Test Requirements cannot be updated manually on CTRK.
3. Miscellaneous: This includes items sent by the applicant such as Essays, Personal Statements, Recommendations, etc..As these items arrive in the office, they can be marked as ‘Received’ (or with another appropriate ‘Receipt Code’) on CTRK.
For additional information about how to track credentials in SIS, please refer to the SIS Admissions User Guide.
Admissions Processing: Accessing APPL Records
The quickest method for accessing an APPL depends on the information you have available to you. Try one of these three options.
Person ID (PID), SSN or APPL ID not known
1. Go the SRCH screen and search by Name. You may also further specify ‘AP’ in the ‘SHOW’ field to have the system show only ‘Applicants’.
2. After locating the appropriate person, type APP2 in the Function line.
3. Tab to the record of the person if they are not on the first line of all the possibles shown.
4. Press Enter
5. You will see a list of all applications on file for this person, yours and those of other offices.
6. Type APPL at the Function Line
7. Tab to the line representing the Application (APPL) record you wish to access. Notice the Applying Term and Pool Code.
8. Press Enter (Note: You can only access records for your own school and will receive a security error if trying to access other office’s admissions records.)
9. If you did not see your applicants record in APP2, be sure you were at the top of all this person’s APPL records by typing ‘S’ at the function line, and blanking out the first few characters of the first APPL ID shown.
10. Press Enter and return to step 6.
PID/SSN Known
1. Go to APP2
2. Clear the screen. Type ‘S’ in the function line.
3. Tab to the ‘ID=’ or ‘SSN’ fields and enter this information.
4. Press Enter
5. Follow from step 6 above.
APPL ID Known
1. Go to APPL
2. Clear the screen.
3. Tab to the APPL ID: field
4. Enter APPL ID and press ENTER
Admissions Processing: Entering Decisions and Replies
Admissions decisions (such as Accept, Reject, No Decision) and admissions replies (such as Promise to Register, Not Coming, No Reply) are captured in the APPL screen. To enter an admissions decision for an applicant, you must know that valid ‘Decision Codes’ or ‘Reply Codes’ that represent the office’s various decision/reply possibilities. These codes are found in the DCSN/RPLY screens respectively. Most Admissions processors can view DCSN/RPLY, but the Admissions Manager is in charge of adding additional codes as needed. Codes should never be deleted from DCSN/RPLY. While DCSN and RPLY have ‘long names’ for what each code means, each office is dependent on it’s own internal documentation for any further clarification of what each code signifies in SIS.
If you are authorized to process Admissions Decisions or Replies, this is accomplished via the CHANGE function on the APPL Screen. When entering a Decision or Reply into an empty Decision/Reply field on APPL, the Decision and/or Reply Dates will automatically populate with the current system date. When changing an existing value in the field, you should update the associated date as well.
Admissions Processing: Interfacing with Other Offices
Many other offices depend directly or indirectly on Admissions data and Admission processing. Here are the most common examples
Registration and Billing
Admitted applicants can only begin receiving University Student Services after a Student or ‘STUD’ record is created for them in SIS. Admissions offices kick of the creation of STUD records via a process called Entrant Selection (ESEL). In a nutshell, Entrant Selection is a process whereby the Admissions Office indicates that an applicant has ‘Promised to Register’. Detailed information about the ESEL process is available on the SIS web site at columbia.edu/cu/sis.
ISSO
ISSO depends on admissions offices running a SISUMENU report (called ‘ISSO’) in order to receive critical information about incoming foreign students. Timely reports to ISSO help them process Visas for your applicants, so they can arrive on campus in time for classes. Information for running the ISSO report can be found on the SIS web site.
Student Financial Aid Process
A scheduled batch job set up with each financial aid office creates Financial Aid Application (FAAP) records in SIS for applicants who meet criteria determined by the financial aid office. Some offices base FAAP-creation on Admissions Decision and/or Reply Code. Others base FAAP creation on the value in the ‘Fin Aid’ flag in APPL. When changing your process with respect to any of these fields, please notify SIS and your financial aid office to avoid any delay in processing records in a new category.
How Can I Find Out More About Admissions Applications and SIS?
The SIS website features a documentation library that includes all documents referenced here. Please visit us at columbia.edu/cu/sis. We update and add documentation as often as possible to check with us often!
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