ADMISSIONS MANUAL FOR SCT
RTS Admissions Manual For SCT
Table Of Contents
I. Procedures for Admissions Data Entry/Front Desk Assistant 3
Entering Info in Various Tabs
Scheduled Actions
Mail Merge Processing
Sending Letters by Email
IQ Web Online Inquiries
II. Procedures for Admissions Counselors 8
Checklist
Explanation of Inquiry Tabs
First Follow-up Contact
Subsequent Calls
Subsequent Emails
Scheduling Future Actions
Communication with Applicants
Other Relevant Communication Issues
Proper Steps for Scheduling Future Actions 13
Procedure for Communication with Applicants 15
Other Relevant Communication Issues 17
Deep Thoughts 18
III. Making Someone an Admissions Counselor 19
IV. Transferring Contacts from one Counselor to Another 20
V. Deactivating an Admissions Counselor 21
VI. Application Procedure: Converting Inquiries to Applicants 22
VII. Withdrawing Applicants 23
VIII. Frequently Used Reports 24
IX. Monthly Report Information 26
Total Inquiries in a Month 26
New Applications in a Month 26
Total Files to Account For 26
X. Creating Action IDs 28
XI. Creating Action Rules 30
XII. Directions for Putting Photos on SCT 31
XIII. Directions for Creating Student and Faculty IDs 32
XIV. Directions for Creating Student Directories 33
I. Procedures for Admissions Data Entry/Front Desk Assistant
Prospectives make the first contact (call, e-mail, etc.), and admissions office gathers as much information as possible from the individual(s) (especially denomination, ministry, degree of interest) on Request Information (Pink) Sheet.
Admissions Coordinator’s assistant enters an inquiry’s information into PowerCampus by going into the “Admissions” setflow and then the “Inquiries” workflow.
Once in the “Inquiries” workflow, click on “New” (the pencil icon along the top toolbar) and a box appears with a series of tabs across the top.
In the “Name” tab, enter all known information about the contact’s name (first, middle, last, nickname, any prefix or suffix). Once the name has been fully entered, a new box will appear entitled “Duplicate People Lookup.” This will indicate whether or not this person or someone with the same name is already in the database. It is important to look up any duplicates in the “People” workflow and to compare information such as address, phone number, email address, or any notes.
5. If the duplicates are in fact different people, then proceed with entering the rest of the inquiry’s information as described below.
6. If the inquiry is already in the database, remember the people id, go back to the “Inquiries” workflow, click on “Open” (the book icon along the top toolbar), type in the people id, and the contact will either open as an inquiry, or a box will come up that says “Person is not an inquiry. Would you like to flag as an inquiry?” Click on yes and proceed as described below.
Once the inquiry’s name has been entered, indicate gender and preferred address. Always insert “pre-entry address” as the preferred address.
In the “Address” tab, first select “pre-entry address” as address type, then click on the small “+” sign to the right to expand the view. Type in all address information. When you type in the zip code for US contacts, the city, state, and county will automatically be entered. When you type in the phone number, type in all 10 digits but do not put any dashes or parentheses as these will automatically be formatted. For US inquiries, be sure that country is left blank (NOT undefined). For International inquiries, be sure to indicate country. If the inquiry was already in the database and had a previous address that is no longer valid, be sure to change the status from active to inactive and insert a new address. There should be only one active address and it should be the pre-entry address.
In the “Inquiry” tab, enter the year, term, session, program, degree, and curriculum (or as much of this information as you know). Then search for counselors, click on the counselor you want to assign to this inquiry, and click “select.”
➢ To see a list of how many contacts each counselor has, go to Tools, Vista, Vista Reports and select “Quick View a Report.” Click next and scroll down to “Counselor Assignment Count.” Click next, type in “Orlando” in the space entitled “Enter campus here,” then click “Build” in the bottom left and you will get a list of all counselors and how many contacts each has. This will help you be able to distribute contacts evenly among counselors.
Proceed to the “Education” tab. If you know where the inquiry went to school, search for institutions keeping in mind that sometimes schools are listed with an abbreviation such as “univ” for university or “miss” for Mississippi. Select the inquiry’s school, and then enter all known information about the inquiry’s degree, curriculum, and start and end date. For consistency, if an exact date of graduation is not known, enter May 1st for inquiries who graduated in the spring and December 1st for inquiries who graduated in the winter. If only a year is given, assume spring. If the school is not listed under institutions, type in information about education under notes in Scheduled Actions (how to enter notes will be described below).
In the “Source” tab, indicate how the inquiry heard about RTS, if known. Search for sources and then click select to insert the correct one. The box at the bottom of this tab entitled Inquiry/Applicant/Academic has the information entered in the “Inquiry” tab about year/term/etc. Drag and drop this row of information into the box above beside “Source ID.”
In the “Affiliations” tab, enter information about an inquiry’s church, vocation, and ministry. Search for organizations to see if these are listed in PowerCampus. All major PCA churches should be listed. If the church is not listed, search for “misc” which will pull up the organization “miscellaneous unlisted churches.” Select this and underneath of it in the “Affiliations” tab, enter the name of the church. To the right, under “affiliation,” indicate if the inquiry is a member or an employee of this church. If the person is an employee, indicate their position in the “position” box below with the drop down tab. In the “comments” box below, you can elaborate on any ministry positions held. Insert additional rows for other affiliations. These may include campus ministries such as RUF or InterVarsity. You can also search for just the word “vocation,” insert it, and underneath type in the specifics of the person’s current vocation.
Proceed to the “Relationships” tab. Type in the people ID of anyone already in the database with whom the inquiry has a relationship whether as a friend, spouse, pastor, etc…
In the “Demographic” tab, fill in any known information, especially marital status and denomination.
In the “Interest” tab, drag and drop the info and then assign a “5”.
In the “Scheduled Actions” tab, make sure that all necessary actions have been automatically scheduled.
➢ For inquiries in the US, make sure a DVD label is scheduled.
➢ For inquiries in the US, Western Europe, Canada, and Korea, make sure that the appropriate letters (regular, DMin, MFT), an admissions label, a second touch email, and a financial aid/housing email are all scheduled. Due to a quirk with the online inquiry forms, international inquiries automatically get everything scheduled including a DVD label, an admissions label, regular and international letters, and an envelope. Be sure to delete the DVD label, the regular letter, and the envelope. Internationals should only have an admissions label, an international letter, the financial aid/housing email, and the second touch email.
➢ For all other international inquiries, make sure that the international letter, an envelope, a second touch email, and a financial aid/housing email are scheduled. Due to the quirk with the online inquiry described above, you will have to delete the DVD label, the regular letter, and the admissions label.
➢ For inquiries who come into the office to pick up materials, be sure to check off all scheduled actions that have already been completed so that the inquiry does not receive another packet or DVD.
➢ For inquiries with additional information (such as from the comments portion of the inquiry form) that won’t fit under any other tab, insert a new scheduled action, choose JNOTES (Jackson Notes) as the Action ID, double click on the white note under the “notes” column, and type in all information. Close out of notes, and check off the action as complete. The white note under the “notes” column should now have black lines on it, indicating that there are notes written.
When you are ready for mail merge so that you can print your letters, go to “Workflow” then “Mail Merge Processing.” Choose JALTSA (Jackson Admissions Letter’s Today’s Scheduled Actions) from Actions Available, then drag and drop it in Actions to Process. On the line entitled “Folder,” type in C:/SHARE FOLDERS/JACKSON/MAILMERG. Click on “Process” in the lower right. PowerCampus will produce a list of all the actions processed and any problems that occurred. Close that box. Go to your desktop and find “Share Folders” then “Jackson” then “Mail Merge.” Open the letters, labels, and envelopes to check for any mistakes. Print them. Put packets together and mail them to the inquiries. Be sure to delete all these documents from Share Folders once you have printed them.
There is a separate Mail Merge procedure to send letters by email. Be sure you are logged into the Terminal Server as Admissions.Jackson. This ensures that the emails will come from admissions.jackson@rts.edu rather than from your own email address. Open the “Mail Merge Processing” Workflow again.
19. This time choose JAETSA (Jackson Admissions Email Today’s Scheduled Actions) from Actions Available. Drag and drop it in Actions to Process. On the line entitled “Folder,” type in C:/SHARE FOLDERS/JACKSON/MAILMERG. Click the box “Send Letter as Email” and type “RTS Jackson” as the Email Subject. Click on “Process” in the lower right.
20. A box will appear asking to allow access to email. Check the box to allow access and choose 10 minutes from the drop down options. Then click yes and another box will appear saying that “A program is trying to automatically send an email on your behalf. Do you want to allow this?” You will have to click “yes” for every email sent.
21. Sometimes while sending the emails, an error message from the system will appear. It will ask if you want to stop the process. Ignore it until all the emails have been sent. Then click “no” and go back to Workflow(Mail Merge Processing. This time on the left hand side under “Perform Mail Merge” select “Create data records only.” Find JAETSA, drag and drop it in Actions to Process, and click Process. The reason this is done is so that the action gets completed under the inquiry’s Scheduled Actions. Otherwise, even though the email was sent, the error message left it marked incomplete instead of completing it.
22. After all emails are processed, go to the admissions.jackson email account to check for emails from the System Administrator entitled “Undeliverable.” Open each of these messages and record the email address of the recipient who could not be reached.
23. Open PowerCampus and go to Tools(Vista(Vista Reports. Click on “Quick View a Report,” then scroll down to “Email Address Search.” Click “Next” and then type in the contact’s email address where prompted. Click “Build” in the lower left hand corner, and PowerCampus will display the name and number of the contact. Open this person in the Inquiry workflow. Click the “Scheduled Actions” tab, find the action “Jackson Financial Aid and Housing Email” or “Jackson Second Touch Email” and click on the notepad to the right to add notes. Enter “email did not go through” so that this contact’s counselor will know that he or she did not receive information about Financial Aid and Housing or the information in the Second Touch Email.
Admissions Coordinator’s assistant is also responsible for checking the admissions.jackson@rts.edu email account and responding to the emails received or forwarding them to the appropriate people. This account receives the information of prospective students who inquire online or through Christianity Today. Print these requests and enter their contact information into PowerCampus using the process described above. This account also receives the information of prospective students who inquire online about campus visits. These intake forms should be forwarded to the appropriate people who coordinate visits. Be sure the inquiry is entered into PowerCampus by searching the Inquiry workflow before forwarding, and if not, enter the inquiry’s information.
The admissions.jackson@rts.edu email account also receives emails from IQ Web giving notification when someone has made an online inquiry. When these emails are received, follow the procedure below to enter this person into PowerCampus:
26. Log-in to your IQ Web account. If you are logged in as a student, go to “Change Roles” along the left hand side and change to “Admissions Access.”
27. Go to “Handle Requests.” This will open the “Requests” page. For “Request Type” select “Jackson Online Inquiry.” For “Request Status” select “All available.” For “Batch Status” select “Show all.” Click on “Show Results.”
28. The status of requests can be In Progress, Completed, or Accepted. You are concerned with the requests marked “Completed.” For these, click on the magnifying glass to the left to open up the person’s request. At the top, you will see the Duplicate People Finder. It is important to sign into PowerCampus and check if this person is already entered. If so, open the person’s record and make any changes to the information based on this online inquiry form.
29. If the person is not already in PowerCampus, look over the online inquiry to be sure the inquiry put in the information correctly. For example, be sure that the program, degree, and curriculum match up to something that we actually offer. Once you have reviewed the inquiry, scroll down to the bottom and select “Accept and Process Request” under “Desired Action.”
30. You will then see a page with a “Conversion Log” listing which tables were updated or inserted. At this point, the person has been entered in PowerCampus.
31. Click on “Back to Request Generator Administrator Main Menu” and then click on “Show Results” again.
32. The request that you just processed is now marked “Accepted.” Click on the magnifying glass again and print the request for your records.
33. Open up PowerCampus and find this new inquiry in the Inquiry workflow. The “Undergraduate Information” and “Ministry/Vocation Information” must be entered manually. Go through each tab to check the information.
34. In the Inquiry tab, remember to assign a counselor.
35. In the Education tab, enter the appropriate information about undergraduate degree, major, and graduation date.
36. In the Affiliations tab, enter the information about the inquiry’s church and ministry.
37. For some reason, PowerCampus automatically puts in an “Initial Follow Up” when the person is entered and then an additional one when a counselor is assigned. In the Scheduled Actions tab, you must delete the “Initial Follow Up” action that is not assigned to a counselor. It is usually the first one listed, but double check by double clicking on the action and making sure there is nobody listed in the box labeled “Responsible.” Then select the Delete icon (the eraser) along the top toolbar to erase the extra record.
38. At this point, you are finished with this inquiry. To move onto the next, click again on “Handle Requests” and then “Show Results,” and repeat the procedure with any other inquiries whose status is “Completed.”
II. Procedures for Admissions Counselors
The admissions counselor goes to the computer and looks up her contacts by performing the following functions: Open the Power Campus icon displayed on the desktop. A screen will appear requesting “user name” and “password”. Enter the appropriate information. A new desktop will appear with different icons. Open the Power Campus icon. A small window will materialize asking for the selection of a database connection. Select “RTS PowerCAMPUS”. A new window calling for “user name” and “password” will replace the former. Enter the appropriate information. The Power Campus program will load, and a new screen will be presented. Open the “Setflow” option on the taskbar and choose “Admissions”. A new window will launch with a different taskbar. Select the “Workflow” option on the taskbar and choose “Checklist”. A list of the admissions counselor’s scheduled actions for her designated prospective students will appear. The checklist catalogs scheduled actions by dates, from earliest to latest.
Visually accessible and conveniently located information about the prospective student aids in ensuring that the admissions counselor performs each action to the best of her ability. Therefore, certain windows containing important information should be displayed on the “Checklist” screen. Knowing the address, past actions, and if the prospective student possesses the status of “inquiry” or “applicant” enhance the admissions counselor’s ability to perform the next action, and expedites the process. Therefore, windows containing these sets of information may and should be regularly stationed on the checklist screen. To allow the “Actions”, “Address”, and “Applicant” windows to be present on the “Checklist” screen, open the “Options” choice located in the taskbar after already opening the “Checklist” window. Find and select the “View” option. A small box will emerge titled “Checklist Views”. Pick the options “Actions”, “Address”, and “Applicant”, and press “OK”. The new windows will appear on the Checklist screen. Organize the windows so that each may be viewed simultaneously. The “Actions” window displays past and future actions and their specificities. The “Address” window presents the prospective student’s address. The “Applicant” window indicates if the student has applied to RTS. If so, then the individual’s file should be viewed under “Applicants”. If not, the admissions counselor should consult “Inquiries” for information and actions concerning the prospective student (more about how to perform the above actions will be provided in the following sections).
Before contacting a prospective student for the first time, the admissions counselor should review the individual’s previously recorded personal information. To do so, select the “Workflow” option on the taskbar and choose “Inquiries”. A new window will emerge. Enter the prospective student’s name according to the directions in the upper right-hand corner and click “Get Data”. A list of names (including a small bit of information concerning the individual’s interest) will appear. Select the desired choice. A small window containing a number of different tabs will open. Each tab is labeled and possesses specific information corresponding to the label. Review the information, noting which items of information are present and which are missing. After gathering a sufficient knowledge of the individual and his or her data, perform the contact.
Explanation of “Inquiries” Tabs
43. Directions on how to view and enter information are located in the upper, right-hand corner of the small window (next to the hand with a red string tied around the pointer finger). Furthermore, all information must be saved in order to be retained within the database (save by clicking on the “Save” option located on the toolbar (it looks like a floppy disk with a black arrow pointing at it)).
44. Name: The “Name” tab provides the inquirer’s name, nickname (if any), birth date, government ID, and preferred address.
45. Address: To view the inquirer’s address under the “Address” tab, click on the small “plus” sign located below and to the right of the word “Recurring”. The inquirer’s address will appear, as well as phone information, and the date the address was submitted. If multiple addresses are given, the most current address can be detected by selecting the address with the most frequent start date.
46. Inquiry: The “Inquiry” tab displays what day the inquiry into any RTS campus was made, the inquirer’s program of interest, the inquirer’s desired starting date, and various other, less pertinent, information. Furthermore, the “Inquiry” tab holds the name of the counselor assigned to the prospective student.
47. Education: The “Education” tab contains the inquirer’s academic information, most notably the previous institution attended. In order to record the institution, open the “Search” option on the taskbar and select “Institutions”. A small window will appear with a row of black spaces above which rest titles. Enter the name of the institution into the blank titled “Name” and press the “Search” button. The desired institution will appear beneath the row of blanks. Choose “Select”. The institution with its identifier code will automatically be recorded in the “Education” tab. Various other information regarding the inquirer’s academic career exists in this tab.
48. Sources: The “Sources” tab indicates how the inquirer learned of RTS, such as from a friend, pastor, or former student. To note a source, open the “Search” option on the taskbar and select “Source”. A small window exhibiting a row of blanks will materialize. Simply choose the search option and pick from the limited number of options presented. The source will automatically be recorded in the “Source” tab.
49. Affiliations: The “Affiliations” tab catalogs the inquirer’s relation to a church, ministry, or vocation. To link a church with the inquirer, open the “Search” option on the taskbar and select “Organizations”. A small window with a row of blanks will emerge. Enter the name of the church in the blank titled “Name”. If the church exists within the programs database, simply choose the desired title. However, if the church cannot be found, select the “Miscellaneous Unlisted Churches” option which can be found by searching for “misc.” In both cases the affiliation id will be automatically entered. If the “Miscellaneous Unlisted Churches” option was elected, enter the name of the Church beneath this title. Furthermore, under the “Affiliation” title at the end of the rows, designate the inquirer’s link with the church (employee, member, etc.). To link a ministry with the inquirer, follow the same process. To link a vocation with an inquirer, open the “Search” option on the taskbar and select “Organizations”. Type vocation under the blank titled “Name”, and select the “vocation” option. Record the name of the inquirer’s employee in the blank titled “Name” within the “Affiliations” tab, and enter the inquirer’s corresponding position with the employer.
50. Relationships: The “Relationships” tab itemizes the inquirer’s relations, particularly those involved with RTS. To designate a relation, open the “Search” option on the taskbar and select “People”. A small window with a row of blanks will appear. Enter the first and last name of the inquirer’s relation. Choose the desired name. The relation will automatically be recorded in the “Relationships” tab. Be sure to enter the form of relation the inquirer possesses with the individual. If a relation does not exist within the database, simply record the name within the “Relationships” tab and indicate the connection.
51. Demographic: The “Demographic” tab contains detailed information about the inquirer, most notably denominational affiliation and citizenship.
52. Interest Level: The “Interest Level” tab indicates the inquirer’s interest in any of the RTS campuses, as well as RTS’s reciprocal interest in her. Before detailing how to perform the recording actions, a brief discussion of the RTS’s ranking is in order. RTS displays its interest in the individual through a ranking system. The ranking system works as follows:
1: This is a student who is very aware of Reformed distinctives (probably within the PCA or RUF), has expressed leadership qualities (perhaps through significant involvement in a ministry or by communicating in a compelling fashion through phone, e-mail, or in person), and is looking at coming to seminary within the next year OR a student who is so outstanding that she would be an excellent addition to RTS (perhaps extremely well read, or very influential so that if this student came, others would follow).
2: This is a student who is very aware of Reformed distinctives (probably within the PCA or RUF), may or may not have expressed leadership qualities (perhaps by communicating in a compelling fashion through phone, e-mail, or in person), and is interested in going to seminary within the next two years OR has a general knowledge of theology (probably involves some kind theological reading), has expressed leadership qualities (deeply involved with a campus ministry or his/her church), and is interested in going to seminary within the next two years OR a student that should be targeted despite being years away from seminary.
3: This is a student who has little theological understanding, but has expressed leadership qualities OR has sound theological understanding, but has expressed minimal leadership qualities.
4: This is a neutral student.
5: This is a student who may be divisive or problematic and should be encouraged to go somewhere else OR someone who gives a strong reason for their salvation to be questioned.
53. After ascertaining the inquirer’s interest in RTS, make sure the “Interest Type” option displays the words “Inquiry interest”. After this affirmation, observe if the “Interest Level” slot is empty. If so, examine the information resting within the “Inquiry” block. Find the information corresponding to the RTS campus in which the student is interested, and drag it into the empty “Interest Level” slot. Finally, beneath the formerly empty slot, enter the student’s interest level for the appropriate campus.
54. To rank an inquirer using the RTS ranking system, first make sure the “Interest Type” option displays the words “Inquiry interest”. After this affirmation, observe if the “Interest Level” slot is empty. If so, examine the information resting within the “Inquiry” block. Find the RTS campus under which the ranking will be performed, and drag it into the empty “Interest Level” slot. Finally, beneath the formerly empty slot, enter the appropriate ranking for the corresponding RTS campus.
55. Scheduled Actions: The “Scheduled Actions” tab displays the complete and pending actions for the inquirer, notes, and any other actions that may have been performed that directly involve the inquiry. A number of rows and columns normally fill this page. The “Action ID” column indicates what type of action took place, or will take place. Each RTS campus possesses a special ID code for a certain action. For instance, an e-mail from the Jackson campus owns the ID code “JEMAIL”, while an e-mail from the Orlando campus owns the ID code “OEMAIL”. The “Request” column specifies at what time and day the action was scheduled. The “Scheduled” column displays at what time and day the action took place, or should take place in the future. The “Status” column explains the current state of the action (past due, future, etc.), and the “Complete” column shows if the action has been completed. Double-clicking on the individual “sheet of paper” in the “Notes” column allows an individual to view the specificities of a scheduled action, such as assigned admissions counselor, etc. Also, written notes about actions may be recorded. If a note or any writing is recorded within the notes option, the “sheet of paper” will not appear blank, but will possess lines as if someone has written on the paper.
56. To insert an action on the page, select the “Insert” option on the toolbar (it looks like a piece of paper with blue lines and has a red arrow pointing to it). A new, blank row will appear. Enter a new action by clicking on the arrow next to the blank under the “Action ID” column. The rest of the row will automatically be completed. Proceed to the “Notes” column and enter into the notes section by double clicking on the “sheet of paper”. On the left-hand side, enter the student id of the admissions counselor responsible for the action in the “Responsible” blank. If scheduling a future action, place the desired date in the blank labeled “Scheduled Date” (the current date will be present, so simply erase it). If writing a note, use the large blank located in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.
57. To delete an inserted action, click on the action, proceed to the toolbar, and select the “Delete” option (the delete option appears as a pencil with an eraser).
58. Prior to the installation and activation of “PowerCAMPUS”, RTS used different programs to catalog and record interaction with prospective students. “PowerCAMPUS” has only been in use since the beginning of 2006. Therefore, communication with prospective students which has occurred before 2006 will not always appear as recorded in the “Scheduled Actions” tab. To access actions and interaction between admissions counselors and a prospective student before 2006 (if prior communication does exist), enter the name of the individual in the “Get Data” blank using the steps previously provided. In the upper left-hand corner rest two separate options, each containing a down arrow located on the right side of the option. Select the down arrow of the option located on the right of the two options (the one farther from the edge of the screen). Choose “& Inquiries_2”. Finally, open the name of the individual for which information is desired. A new window will appear listing the actions previously carried out between RTS and the prospective student.
When performing the first follow-up contact, the admissions counselor should aim to establish a friendship with the prospective student. Therefore, sensitivity is of the utmost importance. As an admissions counselor, try to answer any questions about the information packet, find out what the prospective student is looking for in a seminary, complete the appropriate information & rank the prospective student. An initial phone call may allow the admissions counselor to fulfill most of these tasks. Using e-mail may postpone the tasks’ completion until the prospective student’s response. Be wary of coming off as pushy or brash, as this may result in the prospective students losing interest in RTS.
During the first follow-up call:
61. The admissions counselor should attempt to collect as much information as possible in order to complete all the tabs under the prospective student’s “Inquiry” file. However, refrain from being over zealous if the prospective student seems unwilling to offer any information.
The first follow-up e-mail:
63. Similar to the first follow-up call, the first e-mail to a prospective student should present a kind and sincere front and act as a means to initiate casual, continual correspondence. Offer to answer any questions the inquirer may have concerning RTS, and also propose that the two of you become acquainted on a more intimate level. Provide RTS’s contact information, and gently imply that a response is greatly welcomed and even expected. The documentation of information must await a response.
If you cannot reach your contact by phone or by email due to missing or incorrect information, schedule a No Phone Letter. Go to Scheduled Actions and find JNOPHONE. An envelope will be scheduled automatically. This letter asks the contact to respond by email or by phone to give the counselor the needed contact information.
After the first follow-up call and each subsequent call to or by an inquirer:
66. As an admissions counselor, open Power Campus, and enter the “Inquiries” window following the steps previously provided. Enter the inquirers name, and open the “Scheduled Actions” tab. Proceed to the “Notes” column and open the “sheet of paper” corresponding to the action just performed. Located in the bottom left-hand corner of the window rest three blanks titled “Contact”, “Response”, and “Rating” respectively.
67. “Contact”:
68. If when making the call nobody answers, no answering machine message plays, or a message is left with an individual other than the intended recipient, choose the “Call Attempted” option. The inquirer never directly receives the caller’s “Words”. Therefore, the “Call Attempted” option should be chosen.
69. If when making the call a message is left on the answering machine, select the “Left Message” choice. The inquirer has access to the “Words” of the caller.
70. If the intended recipient answers the phone and a conversation occurs, elect the “Call Completed” option. Furthermore, the “Response” and “Rating” blanks below “Contact” should be completed.
71. “Response”: If the inquirer receives the phone call positively, select the “Positive” option. If the inquirer receives the phone call negatively, select the “Negative” option.
72. “Rating”: The admission counselor should rate the call on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the best. If the call went extremely well and the inquirer was very pleasant, select 1. If the call went well and inquirer was responsive, select 2. If the call neither went well nor poorly, select 3. If the call went poorly and the inquirer seemed unresponsive, select 4. If the call went horribly and the inquirer acted inappropriately, select 5.
73. If the inquirer calls RTS, enter the “Call Received” option and perform the “Response” and “Rating” actions according to the above steps.
74. Notes about the call or inquirer may be entered in the large, open box in the bottom right-hand corner of the “Notes” window.
75. After completing “Contact”, “Response” and “Rating”, click on the small square box to the left of the word “Completed” beneath the “Scheduled Date” label. The action is now recorded as complete. Save the information.
76. After completing the information for the performed action, a new future scheduled action should be created for the inquirer. Using the steps described earlier, insert and schedule a future action.
After the first e-mail and each subsequent e-mail to or by an inquirer:
78. To perform an e-mail recorded by Power Campus: Open the “Inquiries” window following the provided steps. Enter the name of the intended e-mail recipient in the “Get Data” space. After the name appears, right click on the name and select the “Reset E-mail List” option. Following this action, right click on the name again and choose the “Add To E-mail List” option. Proceed to the toolbar and open “File”. Pick “Send E-mail”. A new window will materialize titled “PowerCAMPUS Send eMail”. To insert the appropriate e-mail address, select the “List Window” button listed under “Address Options”. The e-mail address retrieved from the “Inquiries” window should be present. Select the address and choose “Add to Send”. The e-mail address should automatically be placed in the blank titled “Send To”. Next, locate the blank titled “Action Options”. Click on the tiny down arrow located to the right of the blank, and list of actions for each different campus will appear. Locate the campus actions from which the e-mail will be sent, and select its e-mail option (for instance, “JEMAIL” should be chosen if a letter is being sent from the Jackson campus). Finally, complete the empty blanks designated as “Subject” and Message Text”, and press the “Send eMail” button located in the upper right-hand corner.
79. The sent e-mail action and the e-mail text will automatically be recorded as a completed action in the “Scheduled Actions” tab of the prospective student’s file. However, despite the automatic itemization, the e-mail sender should proceed to the “Scheduled Actions” tab after each e-mail and either verify the existence of a future scheduled action, or schedule an action for the future.
80. If a prospective student responds through e-mail form, copy the text (unless the RTS recipient feels the e-mail is private and should not be available for public viewing) and open the “Scheduled Actions” tab placed in the individual’s file. Insert a new action, and label the action “Email Received”. Enter the “Notes” section of the action, and paste the text of the e-mail in the large, open blank in the bottom-right hand corner. Furthermore, enter the Student ID of the person responsible for the creation of the action. Respond to the student accordingly, and validate the presence of a future scheduled action.
Proper Steps for Scheduling Future Actions
The following guidelines should be adhered to when scheduling future contact actions:
82. If during the first initial or follow-up call nobody answers, no answering machine message plays, or a message is left with an individual other than the intended recipient, schedule a future contact action for one week after the attempt. The intended recipient has not received the admissions counselor’s “Words”, therefore a follow-up action may be performed closer to the previous attempt.
83. If during the first initial, or follow-up, call a message is left on the answering machine, schedule a future contact action for two weeks after the attempt. The prospective student has obtained the admissions counselor’s “Words”, therefore the follow-up action may be executed farther from the first attempt in order to give the recipient time to respond.
84. After the initial or a follow-up e-mail, schedule a future contact action for two weeks after the attempt. The intended recipient has received the admissions counselor’s “Words” and should be given two weeks to respond.
85. If the admissions counselor successfully contacts, or is contacted by, a prospective student (whether by phone call or e-mail), she should follow the procedure and philosophy previously provided. After diligently assigning the proper ranking, the admissions counselor may then abide by the following rules which rely on the ranking system. However, the admissions counselor does possess the ability to use discernment and judgment when assigning the next action and contacting prospective students.
86. If prospective student receives a ranking of 1 or a 2, the next follow-up may be made after two weeks and should probably not exceed a month. However, much depends on the timeframe for which the prospective student is interested in attending RTS. If a student possesses great potential and RTS desires to pursue him or her, yet the inquirer is not interested for another two years, then contact with the individual should be maintained, but slightly minimized. Furthermore, the admissions counselor must establish a “feel” for how the individual responds to contact. If contact seems to cause annoyance, then the admissions counselor should open communication only when necessary. On the other hand, if the prospective student enjoys conversation and requests frequent calls, then the admissions counselor may keep in touch with the student on a more regular basis.
87. If a prospective student receives a ranking of 3, the next follow-up contact may be performed between one or two months after the contact. Once again, the admission counselor requires discernment concerning the judgment, but a ranking of 3 should normally not receive the same attention as a ranking of 1 or 2.
88. If a prospective student receives a ranking of 4, the next follow-up contact may be carried out between four and six months after the exchange. Discernment and judgment are still needed, but a ranking of 4 normally indicates a student RTS is not seriously considering. Therefore, the admissions counselor should limit communication.
89. If a prospective student receives the ranking of 5, the admissions counselor should not attempt to contact the individual
90. When scheduling follow-up actions the admissions counselor should take into consideration the interest the student posits in RTS. If a student shows high to medium high interest (1 & 2), then dealings with the student may be made without threat of infringement. However, if the student maintains a medium low to low interest (4 & 5) in RTS, frequent communication attempts with the students may be viewed as a nuisance and are normally unnecessary. Therefore, consider the prospective students interest in the institution before scheduling future actions. For instance, although RTS may rank an individual as a 1, the prospective student may only have a medium low interest in RTS. Therefore, the admissions counselor must consider the individual’s sentiments, and schedule actions corresponding to them. In the example above, the student’s low interest in the school probably would lead to a follow-up action no sooner than four months after the previous attempt. As can be seen, the admission counselor may compare and weigh the student’s interest with the RTS’s ranking system in order to calculate the appropriate time for a future scheduled action.
91. Scheduling a “No Follow Up Letter” Action: A “No Follow Up Letter” action indicates that the admissions counselor has attempted to contact the inquirer and been unsuccessful. Furthermore, the intended recipient has not responded to any of the attempts. To create this action, enter the “Scheduled Actions” tab and insert a new action. Find and select the action labeled “No Follow Up Letter”. The actual action (sending a letter to elusive recipient) will be performed by the Admissions Coordinator or the Admissions Coordinator’s Assistant. The selection of the “No Follow Up Letter” occurs after a series of failed contact attempts. However, this action should not be executed flippantly. Accord to the following guidelines before assigning a “No Follow Up Letter” action. To simplify the explanation, a point system will be used.
92. If the intended recipient never received the admissions counselor’s “Words”, such as if a message was left with another individual or no answering machine played, this contact attempt earns 1 point. If the prospective student receives the admissions counselor’s “Words”, such as through the means of an answering machine or e-mail, this contact attempt warrants 2 points. 4 total points are needed in order to schedule a ‘No Follow Up Letter” action.
93. When the admissions counselor schedules a “No Follow Up Letter” action, she should remove herself as the prospective student’s counselor by opening the “Inquiry” tab under the individual’s “Inquiries” file and delete her name. Furthermore, the admissions counselor must verify that no further actions other than the “No Follow Up Letter” action and any accompanying it are scheduled.
94. If a prospective student requests not to be contacted by RTS in some manner, open the “Address” tab located in the “Inquiries” file. After selecting the tiny “plus” symbol and revealing the address, find the blank titled “Mail No Contact” in the upper right-hand corner. Select the down arrow and choose the option corresponding with the wish of the inquirer. If the individual desires not to be contacted at all, select the “Requested No Contact” option, and proceed to the “Scheduled Actions” tab. Delete any future scheduled actions. Finally, the admissions counselor should remove herself from the position of counselor by deleting the record in the “Inquiry” tab.
95. Communication with Applicants to RTS clearly follows a different set of guidelines. By the time inquirers have reached the status of “Applicant” they most likely have developed relationships with certain admissions counselors and have also increased their knowledge of RTS procedure and application steps. Thus, contact with applicants relies heavily upon the judgment of the admissions counselor, and mostly on a “need” or “friendship” basis. For instance, if an applicant is missing a piece from the application, an admissions counselor should contact the applicant and explain that a component of the application is absent. Also, an admissions counselor may want to call or e-mail periodically during the application process simply to inquire of the applicant’s well-being. Finally, although not required, an admissions counselor may contact the prospective student and give updates on the application, even congratulating the applicant on an acceptance. Therefore, mandatory contact is largely limited to contacting the applicant if pieces of the application are missing or a deadline is approaching, etc. However, the admissions counselor should never inform an applicant of her rejection.
Procedure for Communication with Applicants
An inquirer’s status changes to that of “applicant” after the prospective student officially sends in an application to RTS. A new file is created in the “Applicants” section of “PowerCAMPUS” containing all the application information, including much of the data present in the “Inquiries” file. This new file receives priority over the “Inquiries” entry and should be viewed by the admissions counselor. To perform scheduled actions involving applicants, view applicant’s file, or update applicant’s information, enter “PowerCAMPUS” and open the “Setflow” option on the taskbar. Choose “Admissions”. A new window will launch with a different taskbar. Select the “Workflow” option on the taskbar and select “Applicants”. A new window resembling “Inquiries” will appear. Enter the prospective student’s name according to the directions in the upper, right-hand corner and click “Get Data”. A list of names (including a small bit of information concerning the application status) will appear. Select the desired choice. A small window containing a number of different tabs will open. These tabs contain all the information present in the prospective student’s “Inquiries” file. However, the “Applicants” file does possess certain differences. The “Applicant” file holds more tabs (some of which are irrelevant for the admissions counselor’s work). Furthermore, some of the tabs contain the same information as in the “Inquiries” file, but are labeled differently. Finally, some of the tabs own information specific to the application process. The interpretation of the information in the “Application” file, a description of the relevant and different tabs, and the process for entering and evaluating data is provided in the following exposition.
97. The first tab residing in the prospective student’s “Applicants” window is labeled “Applicant Name”. This tab corresponds with the “Name” tab in the prospective student’s “Inquiries” file and holds the same information as the “Name” tab. However, certain demographic information (such as denomination) found in the “Demographic” tab in the “Inquiries” file also rests in this “Applicant Name” tab.
98. The most important tab within the applicant’s file is marked “Application”. The “Application” tab matches the “Inquiry” tab in a number of ways, but also contains different, significant information. Instead of indicating for which program the prospective student has interest, the “Application” tab displays the program for which the prospective student has applied. The left-hand side of the tab explains the type of program and other relevant information for which the prospective student has applied. Furthermore, the tab displays the designated counselor to the applicant, and other less pertinent information. However, the most important information for the admissions counselor lies in the upper right-hand corner of the tab. Three titled options explain the status of the application, which affects the admissions counselor when corresponding with the application
99. “Application Date”: The “Application Date” option displays the day on which the application was received.
100. “Status”: The “Status option exhibits the status of the application. A number of different options are available to this blank. If the option shows “Application Received”, the application has been received. If the option shows “Confirmed Deposit”, the applicant has already been accepted (as will be displayed in the box beneath this option (see “Decision”)) and paid the necessary tuition deposit. If the option shows “Confirmed No Deposit”, the necessary deposit has not been paid. If the option shows “Withdrawn”, the applicant has withdrawn her application.
101. “Decision”: The “Decision” option displays the decision of the review committee on the application. If the option displays “Accepted”, the applicant has been accepted. If the option displays “Accepted on Aca Prob”, the applicant has been accepted on academic probation. If the option displays “Accepted Pending”, the applicant has been accepted pending the completion of some task, normally on the applicant’s part. If the option displays “Accepted Provisional”, the applicant has been accepted but a provision has been made for the applicant (the nature of the provision may be sought from the Dean of Students). If the option displays “Canceled”, the application review has been canceled for some reason. If the option displays “Denied”, the applicant has been denied acceptance into RTS. If the option displays “File Incomplete”, at least one required piece is missing from the application. To ascertain the identity of the missing piece the admissions counselor should consult the applicant’s “Scheduled Actions” tab which displays a list of all the pieces required for a file to be complete. As missing pieces are received, the Admissions Coordinator will check them off as complete. Applicants can view their checklist of missing pieces through IQ web. If there is any confusion about the missing pieces, look at the applicant’s physical file. If the option displays “Under Review”, the application is still under review by the review committee.
102. The “Status” and “Decision” option work together, and the proper interpretation of one can only be gained by consulting the other. Therefore, an admissions counselor should always view both options when gathering information concerning the current status of the application.
103. The above information describes the most important aspects of a prospective student’s “Applicants” file. Either the rest of the information was simply transferred from the “Inquiries” file to exact (or almost precise) matching tabs, or the tab proves irrelevant to the work of the admission counselor. The tabs located in the “Applicants’ file should be navigated in the same manner as the tabs in the “Inquiries” file. For instance, to schedule an action, simply open the “Scheduled Actions” tab and follow the steps as if in the “Inquiries” file.
104. Communication with applicants, as described above in the “Proper Steps for Scheduling Actions” section, is mainly limited to exchanges concerning the application, such as missing materials, if the application is still under review, etc. Therefore, the “Applicant” tab remains the most frequently visited location in the prospective student’s “Applicant’s” file. For more details about how to communicate with an applicant, consult the section of “Proper Steps for Scheduling Actions” dealing with applicants.
Other Relevant Communication Issues
Modern technology has afforded RTS the ability to relay and send information to prospective students efficiently and in a timely manner. Students entered into the “PowerCAMPUS” database (by the Admissions Coordinator or the Admissions Coordinator’s Assistant) will automatically receive a wealth of materials ranging from a standard RTS catalog, to financial information, to e-mails containing helpful information and links to the useful RTS website. As an admission counselor, feel free to discuss the materials with the each student, acting as a guide and instructor during the decision making process.
Many topics and issues will arise during the communication process between an admission counselor and a prospective student. Listed below are a number of different subject areas which may casually occur in conversation, or which the admissions counselor may want to call to the prospective student’s attention. The first list of topics states those that the admissions counselor should definitely talk with the prospective student about in some manner. The latter list is comprised of suggested areas of conversation, including helpful hints.
Necessary topics of conversation:
108. Financial Strategy
109. Seminary Preparation - reading, ministry involvement, etc.
110. Church/calling
111. Family - relocation, seminary demands
• Suggested topics
112. Upcoming RTS Events
113. Campus Visit
114. Issues dear to the prospective student’s heart
115. Faculty: Brilliant scholars, good communicators, and pastoral focus; the faculty faithfully ministers to the students and looks to invest in the lives of the students.
116. Academic Philosophy: knowing, being, doing.
117. Classroom: Style of teaching varies with professor.
118. Community: There is a tremendous sense of camaraderie, and students lean on each other in study groups and learn from each other in discussions. Interdependence permeates campus.
119. Housing: Both on and off campus housing is extremely affordable and both residential areas contain a wonderful sense of community and togetherness.
120. Financial Aid: Many different forms of scholarships are used to make RTS affordable. We also have the Supplemental Scholarship Fund and the Church Partnership Program. Also, there are RUF & Covenant Discounts.
121. Spiritual Life: Students and their families place their relationships with God above all else, recognizing that studies remain in second place. Therefore, RTS maintains a vibrant, spiritual atmosphere.
122. Churches: At least fourteen PCA churches in the area. This large number of churches leads to the existence of many local internships in and around the Jackson Metro area.
123. Internships: there are opportunities in the surrounding communities in addition to the opportunity for pulpit supply. RTS requires 400 hours of field education for the M.Div. program, and the abundance of churches aids in the fulfillment of these.
124. City: Jackson is a charming city that has a moral backbone, cultural opportunities and a slower pace of life.
125. Schools: The Clinton school district offers outstanding public schools, as well as private, Christian schools such as Mt. Salus and First Presbyterian. A tremendous home schooling community also permeates the area.
126. Spouse’s Involvement: A thriving women’s ministry program, in addition to various other Bible studies, exists at RTS.
127. Facilities: RTS Jackson possesses an excellent library (including an “old book” room), wireless internet, a fully operational gym, weight room and racquetball court, separate classroom facilities, and a pleasant, popular student center.
128. Placement: RTS maintains an outstanding placement record for its graduates.
129. Curriculum: The RTS curriculum integrates all different areas of study and learning. This results in an organic, gradual, well-nourished growth.
130. Theological Perspective: RTS’s possesses a theologically unified faculty. The perspective a student receives from the Biblical Studies department directly parallels the perspective of the Missions department, Theological Studies department, etc. RTS expresses conservative doctrine derived from Southern Presbyterian and Scottish Theology. Each year the professors sign on to the Chicago Statement of Inerrancy and The Westminster Confession of Faith.
Deep Thoughts
The admissions counselor possesses a pivotal role in the decision making process concerning seminary. Many times prospective students require guidance and assistance in ensuring their will accords with the will of the Lord. Take the time to listen to their sentiments and concerns. At all times be open and honest with these individuals, never quick to tell them what they would like to hear, but always steadfast in supplying the truth and Biblical advice. It is a privilege to be involved in such a critical time in man’s or woman’s life, and this honor must be handled with care and respect. Show love for those seeking to glorify the Lord with their lives, and “do not forget to do good and share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:16, NKJV).
III. Making Someone an Admissions Counselor
1. Be sure that you have “Admission DBA” in your profile so that you will have the rights to make these changes. To check your profile, open the System Administrator setflow and then go to the User Information workflow. Click “Get Data” in the upper right hand corner and find your name. Double click to open it up, then go to Options(Profiles and you will see what is listed on your profile.
2. Go to the Admissions setflow and open up the person whom you want to make a counselor in the Applicant workflow. Scroll over to “Record Type” and be sure “student” is listed there to confirm that this is the person’s primary record in case he or she is accidentally in the database more than once. Then insert a new record type for “counselor.”
3. Go back to the System Administrator setflow and open the User Information workflow. Click the pencil icon along the top tool bar to insert a new user.
a. Operator ID is the first letter of the person’s first name followed by the entire last name.
b. People ID is the PowerCampus ID number.
c. Logon ID is the same as Operator ID.
d. Password is “power.”
e. SEVIS Logon is left blank.
4. Go to Options(Profiles and insert “Admission.”
5. Go back to the Admissions setflow and go to Tools(Setup(Inquiry Groups. Click on the appropriate Campus under “Group,” find the person’s name on the far right list, click on it and then click “Select” to add to the list of members in that group. Go back to Tools(Setup and repeat this procedure for Applicant Groups.
6. To edit this new counselor’s filters:
a. Logoff of PowerCampus and logon as the user you have just created. Open the Admissions setflow and the Checklist workflow. Got to Options ( Filters ( Filter Actions. Select “Orlando Admissions” in offices. Next to “Select Action Types:” and “Select Date:” click All. Under “Select Status:” click Incomplete.
b. Go to Options(Views and highlight Academic, Actions, Address, Applicant. Click ok. All four of these boxes will then show up in the upper left corner. In the space below “Checklist To Do’s” put the Actions box and expand it so that it fills this space. In the space to the right of “Checklist To Do’s” put the Applicant, Address, and Academic boxes one above the other so that they each equally fill this space.
c. Open the Inquiries workflow and open any inquiry. Go to “Scheduled Actions” and double click on the notecard with the hand pointing at it on the left. This will open “Filter Actions.” Under “Select the Offices” click the Admissions office of the appropriate campus. Then select the “All” boxes for “Select Action Types,” “Select Date,” and “Select Status.” This will set the correct filter for both the Inquiries and Applicants workflows.
IV. Transferring Contacts from one Counselor to Another
1. Be sure that you have “Admission DBA” in your profile so that you will have the rights to make these changes. To check your profile, open the System Administrator setflow and then go to the User Information workflow. Click “Get Data” in the upper right hand corner and find your name. Double click to open it up, then go to Options(Profiles and you will see what is listed on your profile.
2. Go to the Admissions setflow and open the Record Maintenance workflow. Double click on “Global Change.”
a. Select the “Academic” Table. Click “Next.”
b. Select “Counselor.” Click on “Edit” to the right and then on “Filter” in the box that opens. Find “Academic.Counselor” under “Select a Column” and click “Add” to list it in the Retrieval Criteria above. Select the = sign for Operator. Type the PowerCampus ID of the former counselor under Criteria.
i. If you only want to transfer some of this counselor’s contacts to another, you can use the filter to select which ones. For example, click “Add” and then select the column “Academic.Inquiry Date” to transfer inquiries who applied before or after a given date (use the < or > Operators). Or select the column “Academic.Degree” or “Academic.Curriculum” to transfer only the inquiries interested in a specific degree or curriculum (for example, only MFTs).
ii. Click save and close that box. Also close the “Modify Report” box. Click “Next.”
c. In the bottom left select “Global Update.” This screen entitled “Selected Rows-Academic” gives a list of all the contacts who will be transferred (not their names, but all their academic information since this is using the Academic table). This allows you to see how many are being transferred if you are trying to divide up a counselor’s contacts. Click “Next.”
d. Under Columns select “Counselor.”
e. In the “Change From” box, type in the PowerCampus ID of the former counselor being sure to put a capital “P” before the number. In the “Change To” box, type in the PowerCampus ID of the new counselor, again being sure to use the capital “P.”
f. Click “Next” and the Global Update is complete.
V. Deactivating an Admissions Counselor
1. Be sure this person no longer has any contacts by transferring all contacts to another counselor using the procedure above.
2. Go to the System Administrator setflow and then open the User Information workflow. Click “Get Data” in the upper right hand corner and find the person’s user ID.
3. Open that person by double clicking and click in the People ID field. Click on the delete icon along the top toolbar (it looks like an eraser) and it will ask if you want to delete Record 1. Click yes.
4. Go to the Admissions setflow and open the person in the People workflow being sure you have the correct PowerCampus ID. Go to “Record Type” and change “Counselor” to “Counselor (former).”
5. Go to Tools(Setup(Inquiry Groups. Click on the appropriate Campus under “Group,” find the person’s name under Members, click on it and then click “Deselect” to remove that person from the Inquiry Group. Go back to Tools(Setup and repeat this procedure for Applicant Groups.
6. This person is no longer an Admissions Counselor and will not be able to logon to PowerCampus.
VI. Application Procedure: Converting Inquiries to Applicants
1. Open the applicant in the inquiry workflow.
2. If the applicant is not in the inquiry workflow, go to the applicant workflow, open a new record, and enter the appropriate information for this applicant. Assign an admissions counselor when appropriate.
3. If the applicant is in the inquiry workflow, open the record and go to the inquiry tab. Make any corrections to year, term, session, program, degree, and curriculum. For example, many inquiries are entered with default settings, but these may not accurately reflect their application. Their inquiry record may say “Spring 2007” when they are actually applying for “Fall 2007.” Any corrections need to be made at this step before conversion.
4. Once corrections have been made, find the box labeled “Status” (located below “Session”) and change the status from “inquiry” to “applied.” This converts their record from inquiry to applicant.
5. Now open this person in the applicant workflow. Go to the application tab and fill in the appropriate information for status and decision. When applicants are converted this way, the defaults do not get entered, so it is very important to enter this information.
6. Enter other additional information included in the application in the appropriate tabs such as information on education, demographics, or changes in address.
7. Under the scheduled actions tab, schedule the Jackson Need Letter. This letter gives instructions to applicants on how to set up their account with IQ Web. Setting up an IQ Web account allows applicants not only to become familiar with IQ Web before they come to RTS, but it also gives them access to their checklist. Their checklist displays which pieces of their application they are missing.
8. When a person is converted to an applicant, all of the appropriate Missing Pieces are automatically scheduled. These can be viewed through the scheduled actions tab. As the Admissions office receives these pieces of the application, the appropriate Missing Pieces need to be checked off as complete under Scheduled Actions. This alerts applicants to what they are still missing when they check their checklist through IQ Web as described in the Need Letter.
VII. Withdrawing Applicants
1. After a given term we withdraw all the applicants who have that term as their term of entry but who did not enroll.
2. There is a report entitled “Applicant Report2.” This report pulls all applicants whose enrollment status is enrollment expected or left blank. The report prompts you to enter the year, term, and session. Based on the list generated by the report, open up each applicant listed and change their status to “Withdrawn.”
3. If an applicant applies for a certain term but then changes the application to a later term, withdraw them for the original term and create a new application record for the new term. If the applicant has been accepted, create the new application record, and in the bottom right hand corner under the application tab, put the year, term, session, and admit date under “Admit.” It is important to keep a record of when they were admitted because if they do not enroll within a year of acceptance, they must submit a new application.
VIII. Frequently Used Reports
*Vista Reports are found under “Tools(Vista(Vista Reports.” To run the report, click on “Quick View a Report.” To see and/or edit details about the report, go to “Edit or View a Report.” If a report prompts you to enter specific information, remember to click “Build” in the lower left rather than just clicking “Next.”
1. Contact history
a. Provides a list of all scheduled actions for a given contact by entering the contact’s PowerCampus ID when prompted, then clicking on “Build” in the lower left
b. In order to print the report and to view all notes in their entirety, export the report as a “CSV with headers”
c. Once exported, open the file and expand the columns as needed to be able to read the information. For the “Notes” column, highlight the entire column and go to Format(Column(Width. The width is usually about 255 and needs to be decreased to about 50. Leave the column highlighted and go to Format(Cells, then go to the Alignment tab and click on the check mark next to Wrap Text so that it turns from gray to black. This will format the cells so that all text is displayed.
d. To get the scheduled actions in order by date, go to Data(Sort and select sort by Execution Date.
2. Counselor Assignment Count
a. Provides a list of all counselors and how many contacts are assigned to them for a given campus.
3. Counselor Assignment List
a. Gives a list of all the scheduled actions for all of a counselor’s contacts. This report is helpful to see if any contacts are assigned to a counselor but not appearing on the counselor’s checklist. This happens in cases where a contact has scheduled actions that are all complete, or an incomplete scheduled action(s) that are not assigned to the counselor. Every contact should have at least one scheduled action that is incomplete and is assigned to the counselor.
4. Counselor Contact History
a. Gives a list of all of a counselor’s contacts with information on program, degree, and curriculum.
5. Email Address Search
a. Allows counselors to search for a contact by email address.
6. Entry Grid
a. Gives information on all applicants for a given session, year, term, and degree.
7. MFT Entry Grid
a. Gives information on all MFT applicants for a given year, term, and session.
8. Returning Students
a. Gives information on returning students for a given year, term, and session.
9. Student Directory Report
a. Retrieves all information needed to create a student directory for a given year, term, and session.
b. See “Directions for Creating Student Directory” for information on how to export to Excel and format.
10. Adms MonRep Enrolled
a. Calculates the number of students that enrolled in a given semester.
11. Adms MonRep Inquiries
a. Calculates the number of inquiries from a given period of time.
12. Adms MonRep New Apps
a. Calculates the number of new applicants in a given month.
13. Adms MonRep Tot Files
a. Calculates the total number of applicants on file.
IX. Monthly Report Information
There are three main parts of the Admissions Monthly Report. First is the total number of inquiries in a month. Second is the total number of new applicants in a month. Third is the total number of files to account for. Let me explain how we get the numbers for each of these three parts.
Total Inquiries in a Month
This report uses the “Inquiry Date” field to count the total number of inquiries whose inquiry date fits into a specified range (for example, the month of October). This report also uses the “Academic Session” field to distinguish between the inquiries at the various campuses. There are a few things that could throw off these numbers. One is if you change the Inquiry Date for some reason when you enter an inquiry. The date defaults to the day you enter that person in, however, you can change it. If you do for some reason change it, especially around the beginning or end of the month, then the numbers will be affected. At this point, this field should only be changed when you want to back date an inquiry. A second potential problem is when the Academic Session field is left blank. This should not happen if everyone who works in your office is in the Inquiry Group for your campus. Thirdly, and obviously, not entering inquiries at all will greatly affect the numbers.
If you want to see the people behind the numbers for this report, use the Vista Report “Mon Inq Grid.” When you go to Vista Reports, select “Quick View a Report,” select the report from the list, enter a start and end date (for this report you should enter the first day of the month for the start date and the first day of the following month for the end date), and enter the name of your campus (Jackson, for example).
New Applications in a Month
This report uses the “Application Date” field to count the total number of applicants whose application date fits into a specified range. This report also uses the “Academic Session” field to distinguish between the applicants at the various campuses. Like the Inquiry report, changing the application date could affect this report. Also, not entering applicants would obviously affect this report. Thankfully, the system will not allow you to enter an applicant without an Academic Session, so there should be no problems with the session field.
If you want to see the people behind the numbers for this report, use the Vista Report “Mon App Grid.” Run it just like the “Mon Inq Grid,” however, enter the last day of the month for the end date instead of the first day of the following month.
Total Files to Account For
This report has the most potential of the three to be messed up by user errors, so you need to check this data periodically. The report uses the “Application Decision” field, the “Application Status” field, and the “Enrollment Status” field. Basically, any applicant who has a Status of “Withdrawn” or has a Decision of “Canceled” or “Denied” or has an Enrollment Status of “Enrolled” is excluded from the report, thus leaving all other applicants in the report. Several things can throw off this report. First, any old applications of applicants who never enrolled which have not been withdrawn will be counted. Also, any applications of students who did enroll, but were not properly processed (not applied for the term they actually enrolled in or not marked as confirmed/confirmed no deposit before enrolling). The enrollment status field can also be changed back to “Enrollment Expected” if you change anything on the application tab of a student who is already enrolled (this includes removing the counselor id). If you need to remove the counselor from enrolled students, please let me know and I will do it for you. I also plan to do this at the beginning of every term. Finally, not entering an applicant will affect these numbers.
To see the people behind the number for this report, use the Vista Report “Tot App Files (w/ Names).” You can Quick View it just like the others, however, you will only have to enter the campus name. If you see in this report old applications which need to be withdrawn, then please withdraw them. If you see any applications for students who have actually enrolled, please let me know who they are so that I can fix them. If you do not find someone in this report you think should be, check and make sure that they have an application record in PowerCAMPUS and make sure the data is accurate. If you cannot get them in the report, let me know and we will look at it togther.
I hope this has helped clear up any confusion over what drives this Monthly Report. Please use the Vista Reports I have told you about to check the data and clean up any problems. If you are unsure how to clean up a problem, please let me know and we will work on it together. Also, send me a list of any current students you see in the “Tot App Files (w/ Names)” who should not be there so that I can clean them up.
X. Creating Action IDs
1. Action IDs are created and displayed through Tools(Action Definition. Clicking on “Get Data” in the upper right hand corner displays all existing Actions IDs. Action IDs are used to schedule actions either automatically by linking them to Action Rules (see instructions for Action Rules below) or manually by inserting them into a person’s Scheduled Actions.
2. To create a new Action ID, click on the “New” icon along the top toolbar once on the Action Definition page found through Tools. Enter an ID no longer than 8 characters. IDs should be relevant to the action and consistent among related actions. For example, all of Jackson’s Missing Pieces actions begin with “JMP…”
3. Select the appropriate office as well as the appropriate action type. Anything that will be run using the Mail Merge feature should be designated as “Power Campus Letter” under Type. Only when the Type is Power Campus Letter will the tab “Mail Merge” be displayed. In this case, a Mail Merge Variation must be set to determine the recipients of the letter. See Step 5 for setting Variations. Other Types frequently used include Personal Email (for emails sent to and received from inquiries/applicants), Personal Note (for notes about inquiries/applicants), and Missing Pieces (for parts of an applicant’s application that have not been received).
4. In the Name field, type out the full name of the action. Leave the boxes under Priority as they are. In Notes, there is the option to give a more detailed description of the Action ID if necessary.
5. To set up a Mail Merge Variation, click on the Mail Merge tab that appears when the Type is PowerCampus Letter. If an existing Mailing List and Variation will be used, fill in the appropriate fields. If a Variation needs to be modified or a new Variation created, to Options(Mailing List Variations. A new window will open.
a. In the first field at the top left, click on the drop down arrow to select the Mailing List.
b. In the second field at the top left, click on the drop down arrow to select a Variation to be modified or click on New below to create a completely new Variation.
c. To modify an existing Variation, first copy the Variation by selecting Copy at the bottom right. To make the modifications, click on Edit, then on Filter.
d. Change the Subtitle and Sub description to reflect this new Variation.
e. The Retrieval Criteria displays the current criteria being used in this Variation. Use Add and Delete to make appropriate changes. Under Select a Column, select the appropriate information, using Load Code Table Criteria below to see the options for that column. For example, if the letter will only go to MFT Inquiries and Applicants, use the Academic.Degree and Academic.Curriculum to change the filter. Be sure to use the correct operators and parentheses, and to fill in and/or.
f. Click on save to save this new Variation. Go back to the Mail Merge tab. Select the Mailing List and then under Variation, select the new Variation just created.
g. The Form Document and Data File fields will be described below.
6. A group of Action IDs can all be assigned to one person by filling in Responsible Staff with that person’s PowerCampus ID. This streamlines the Mail Merge process because then one person’s Scheduled Actions can be run which will merge all letters assigned to that person rather than having to run each letter individually.
a. For example, if the Admissions Coordinator is responsible for sending out all letters to applicants, then all of these letters would have his/her number in Responsible Staff.
b. Another Action ID would then be created as that person’s Today’s Scheduled Actions. No Responsible Staff would be put on this Action ID. Instead, the filter on the Mail Merge Variation on this person’s Today’s Scheduled Actions would be set to pull together all actions assigned to this person. In this case, the Mailing List would be Scheduled Actions, and then a Variation would be created entitled this person’s Today’s Scheduled Actions. The Filter would then be set so that the Column Action Schedule.Responsible Staff would equal this person’s PowerCampus ID. See Jackson Admissions Letters Today’s Scheduled Actions as a template.
7. A Microsoft Word document can be attached to an Action ID so that running the Mail Merge function merges all appropriate information into the document for all people in PowerCampus to whom this Action ID is assigned.
a. First create a Microsoft Word document and save it using the name of the corresponding Action ID.
b. Open up the Action ID and go to the Mail Merge tab. Click on Find Form Document to tell PowerCampus where to find the document. PowerCampus will then automatically fill in the Data File field.
c. Once the document is attached to the Action ID, it can be modified to have merge fields from PowerCampus. With the Mail Merge tab still open, go to Options(Edit Form Document. On the toolbar in Word directly to the left of Insert Word Field, there is an icon to Insert Merge Field. This displays a list of Merge Fields from PowerCampus. These include fields for address, academic information, demographic information, etc…
8. To run the Mail Merge, go to the Mail Merge Processing workflow. Select the action under Actions Available and drag it over to Actions to Process. If information is being merged into a Word document, tell PowerCampus where to send the merged files in the Folder field.
XI. Creating Action Rules
1. Action Rules can be created to schedule an action automatically. Go to Tools(Action Rule Setup(Create a New Action Rule.
2. Enter a Rule Name and Description and select Approved for status. Then select the appropriate Office. Click Next
3. Enter the criteria to be used to tell PowerCampus when to schedule this action. For example, if the criteria is Academic Session=Jackson and Inquiry Flag=Y, the action will be scheduled whenever a new Inquiry is put in at the Jackson Campus. An action can also be scheduled that will be contingent upon another scheduled action. For example, if you want an envelope to be scheduled whenever a certain letter is, you can use the Action Schedule table to select the Action ID of this letter. Click Next.
4. Check the boxes to tell PowerCampus when to schedule the action, whether on Insert, Update, or Delete. Multiple boxes can be selected. If it is on Insert, the action will only be scheduled for a new entry. If it is on Update, it will be rescheduled every time a change is made to the table(s) being used to Define Criteria. Click Next.
5. Select the Action ID to be scheduled. Offset Days can be changed to tell PowerCampus to wait a specific number of days before scheduling the action. For example, inquiries could get an initial follow-up from a counselor automatically scheduled 10 days after they are entered into the database by entering 10 under Offset Days. Click Next and then Finish.
6. The rule is not yet active. Go to Tools(Action Rule Regen to activate the rule. Click the box beside the new rule under the Active column. Click Next. Select all three boxes beside the Stoplight, click Next, then Finish.
7. If a rule ever needs to be modified, it must first be deactivated by deselecting it under Action Rule Regen. Then it can be edited through Tools(Action Rule Setup(Edit an Inactive Rule. Remember to reactivate it through Action Rule Regen after it has been edited.
XII. Directions for Putting Photos on SCT
1. Load pictures onto to the computer and save in the folder \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson. There is a faculty folder and a student folder, so save pictures in the appropriate place. View the pictures as tiles by selecting “Tiles” under “View” on the toolbar across the top. This view shows the dimensions of the pictures which will be important later.
2. Pictures must be cropped and resized. Open the picture in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. If the picture does not automatically open in Picture Manager, right click on the picture, choose “Open With,” and then select Picture Manager.
a. To crop the picture, click on “Edit Pictures..” (along the top toolbar), then “Crop.” On right hand side you will see “Picture Dimensions.” Drag in the top, bottom, and sides so that the person is centered and the picture is a perfect square. The picture is square when the pixels under “Picture Dimensions” are the same for height and width for the new picture. It doesn’t matter how many pixels the picture is as long as height and width are equal.
b. Once the picture is square, it must then be resized if it is greater than 500x500 pixels. To resize, click again on “Edit Pictures” and then on “Resize.” Click on “Custom width and height” and change the size to 480x480 pixels, then click “Ok” to see the resized picture. Save the picture and close out of Picture Manager.
3. Pictures also need to be renamed. Right click on the picture tile and click “Rename.” Then rename the picture as the person’s Power Campus ID without any dashes or spaces.
4. To put the picture on Power Campus, open the person in the People workflow and find the “Picture” tab. Put “Jackson Students” for location, jpg for extension, and the person’s Power Campus ID as the file name, again without any dashes or spaces. The picture should then appear below once you hit enter. Be sure to save it.
XIII. Directions for Creating Student and Faculty IDs
1. Student and Faculty IDs are created through Microsoft Office Publisher. The templates are saved in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson for the Jackson Campus and in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Publisher Templates for all other campuses. There are separate templates for students and faculty because Faculty IDs include the person’s title.
2. Prior to creating the IDs in Publisher, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet must be created with the columns First Name, Last Name, People ID, Photo, and Title (for faculty only) for everyone for whom an ID needs to be created. The photo column is just the extension where the photo can be found. It will simply be people ID followed by “.jpg.” Just copy and paste the people ID column and add “.jpg.” This spreadsheet can be created manually or by creating a vista view with this information (with the exception of the photo column which will have to be added later) and exporting it to excel. The photo extension will only work properly when the spreadsheet is merged into Publisher if the spreadsheet is saved in the same location as the photos. Therefore, save student spreadsheets in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson\Students and faculty spreadsheets in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson\Faculty (or in the folder for your campus if not in Jackson).
3. Open up the appropriate student or faculty template for IDs in Publisher. Go to “Tools(Mail and Catalog Merge(Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard.” Click “Mail Merge” and then “Next: Select Data Source.”
4. Under “Select Data Source” click “Use an existing source” then click “Select a different list.” Find the excel spreadsheet previously created and click Open. Then click “Next: Create your publication.” This will show all the merge fields that can be selected (they should already be in the ID template so you don’t have to do anything with them).
5. Click “Next: Preview your publication.” Along the left hand side, you’ll see arrows that will allow you to scroll through the IDs to be sure they merged correctly. If the information is not correct, you cannot edit here. You must go back to the spreadsheet, change what is incorrect, save it, and then go through the merge process again. One thing that can be changed is font size which is sometimes necessary for the “Title” field on the faculty IDs if the title is too long for the space provided.
6. Click “Next: Complete the merge” once you’ve checked them to be sure everything is correct. This is where you can print the IDs. Select print from the left hand column to merge the IDs to the printer.
7. The back of the IDs is saved in F:\Student IDs (for Jackson) and also in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Publisher Templates. Print the backs first and then run the pages back through for the front. Cut them, put the library barcode on the back, laminate them, and you’re all finished.
XIV. Directions for Creating Student Directories
1. Create directories after registration when students have had the opportunity to update their address on IQ web through “maintain addresses.” Be sure they are entering the address as “During RTS address.”
2. Use the Vista Report entitled “Student Directory Report.” Specify the year, term, and session when prompted. Export this to an excel spreadsheet. Save the spreadsheet in the same folder that contains the pictures of students (\\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson\Students for the Jackson campus).
3. Open up the excel spreadsheet and correct any messy data especially in the address columns (apartment numbers, etc). Sort the data alphabetically by last name by going to “Data” then “Sort” then find “Last Name” and click “Ascending” being sure to click “Header Row.” Also be sure to expand selection if prompted.
4. Rename the columns as follows so that they will correspond to the merge fields in Publisher: First Name, Last Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, Address Line 3, City, State, Zip, Day Phone, Evening Phone, Cell Phone, Email, Degree, Curriculum, Class Status, Denomination, Marital Status, RTS ID.
5. The phone numbers will also need to be formatted.
a. Get rid of any punctuation such as parentheses or dashes.
b. Excel recognizes all the numbers as text, so they must first be formatted to be numbers. Note that when you click on the cell containing one of the phone numbers, a small box will appear to the left containing a diamond with an exclaimation point. Highlight all of the phone numbers and the same box should appear. Click on this and then on “Convert to Number.”
c. Highlight all of the phone numbers again, right click and go to “Format Cells.” Under the Number tab click “Custom” and then under “Type” type in ###-###-####. This will put all these phone numbers in this format.
6. The last column on the spreadsheet should be RTS ID. After this column, create another entitled “Photo.” Copy and paste all the RTS IDs into this column and add “.jpg” to the end of each number. This will tell Publisher where to find the pictures when the spreadsheet is merged into it provided that the spreadsheet is saved in the same folder as the pictures.
7. Once all the data is cleaned up appropriately, save the spreadsheet and close it.
8. Open up the Student Directory Template in Publisher. This is saved in \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Publisher Templates (Jackson Campus use \\rtssctpc\Share Folders\Pictures\Jackson\Publisher Templates).
9. Go to “Tools(Mail and Catalog Merge(Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard.” Click “Mail Merge” and then “Next: Select Data Source.”
10. Under “Select Data Source” click “Use an existing source” then click “Select a different list.” Find the excel spreadsheet previously created and click Open. Then click “Next: Create your publication.” This will show all the merge fields that can be selected. They should already be in the ID template so you don’t have to do anything with them. However, if one of your column names did not correspond to the merge field, it will say “Missing Merge Field.” In this instance, insert the name of the merge field from the drop down list.
11. Click “Next: Preview your publication.” Along the left hand side, you’ll see arrows that will allow you to scroll through to be sure they merged correctly. If the information is not correct, you cannot edit here. You must go back to the spreadsheet, change what is incorrect, save it, and then go through the merge process again.
12. Click “Next: Complete the merge” once you’ve checked them to be sure everything is correct. This is where you can print the IDs. Select print from the left hand column to merge the IDs to the printer. There will be 8 per page. You cannot specify to print just one page; rather, you must tell the printer what numbers of entries you want (for example, entries 1-8 is page 1, entries 9-16 is page 2…) To print multiple copies of the same page, go to “Properties” then click on the “Advanced” tab and click on the plus sign beside Paper/Output. (These printing directions are for the printer in Jackson Admissions).
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