Communications Management Basics NWEUG 2016 Tammy Robertson, PhD North Idaho College July 14, 2016 General Interest Forest Grove, Oregon

Session Rules of etiquette Please turn off your cell phone/pager If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversation during the session Thank you for your cooperation!

Session Agenda Overview Components of Communications Management and Communication Flow Getting Started Creating a Document Processing a Document Next Steps Session Summary

Overview The Who, What, and Why of Communications Management

What Can Communications Management Do? Create, process, and track all Incoming and outgoing correspondence Can be used across all institutional areas Housed in Core Accessible from all Colleague applications Multiple communication methods Letters HTML Texting Communications Management is a powerful tool used to create, process, and track incoming and outgoing communications between your institution and its constituents. It is a comprehensive module used by all areas of the institution; therefore, it is housed in Colleague Core and is accessible from all Colleague applications. Because it is a core feature, Comm Mngmnt utilizes the existing hierarchy for names, addresses, and email addresses.

What Can Communications Management Do? Captures and stores all communication efforts between the institution and its constituencies such as: Prospects & Applicants Students Alumni Donors Employees Vendors Job Applicants The Communications Management module is designed to capture and store all communication efforts from or to an individual or organizations .

Benefits of Communications Management Automation Monitoring Linking capabilities Scheduling or ad-hoc Some of the benefits of using Communications Management include the ability to: Automate outgoing items in a pre-defined sequence. Monitor requested and received incoming items noting when a file is completed. Link related incoming and outgoing communications. Process mailings on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis.

Who Can Use Communications Management? Admissions Residence Life Financial Aid Accounts Receivable Registration and Records Institutional Advancement Human Resources Every area of your institution can leverage the power of the Communications Management module. Here are some examples of how various business areas might use Communications Management to manage incoming and outgoing information. Admissions Record the admissions application and monitor all supporting documentation necessary to complete the application such as test scores and transcripts. Communicating with prospective students. You can record each time a prospective student contacts your institution as well as initiate letters, emails, or phone calls back to the prospect. Sending decision letters. You can send various admissions decision letters and follow up correspondence as appropriate. Residence Life: Send letters informing students of their room assignments in the dorm and of any additional information they may need before moving in or even throughout the semester. Financial Aid Record required documentation to complete the verification process such as tax returns and verification worksheets. Sending Satisfactory Academic Progress results. You can notify students if they are at risk of losing their financial aid for reasons such as poor academic performance. Monitoring entrance and exit interviews. You can send notifications to students who have loans but have not yet completed required entrance or exit interviews. Reminding students to accept/reject awards. You can send reminders to financial aid applicants that they need to either return their award letter or note their acceptance/rejection of awards via WebAdvisor. Accounts Receivable: Send letters to students who are in collections until full payment is made. Returning checks with insufficient funds. If a student writes a check but has insufficient funds to cover it, you can notify the student as well as request additional fees for the insufficient funds check. Notifying students of changes in class fees. You can send an email to all students registered for a course when there is a change in fees for the course. Reminding students of their balance. You can send regular emails or letters to remind students of their current balance. Registration and Records Record the items a student needs to provide for participation in commencement ceremonies such as fees, cap and gown reservations, and ticket requests. Notifying students of probationary status. You can notify students placed on academic probation of the terms of their probation. Monitoring orientation. You can remind incoming students that they must participate in orientation and complete certain requirements before they are allowed to register for classes. Completing the graduation application. You can monitor the requirements a student must complete in order for their application for graduation to be considered complete such as paying fees, reviewing any restrictions on their record, or reviewing their Degree Audit evaluation. Institutional Advancement Send an acknowledgement and/or receipt to the donor when a donation is received. Soliciting donations. You can send letters, cards, and emails to your alumni base requesting donations to build your endowment. Mailing pledge reminders. You can define a pledge reminder schedule so donors are aware of when pledge payments are due. Updating the directory. You can send requests to alumni asking for updated information so that you can update the alumni directory. Human Resources Record each item a new employee must complete upon hiring, such as W-2s, I-9s, and directory information. Recruiting prospective job applicants. You can record contacts from potential job applicants and inform them as new positions become available. Requesting benefits updates. You can send notices during your institution's open enrollment period requesting updates from employees as well as verifying receipt of any requested changes. Completing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requirements. You can send reminders to an employee who has applied for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligibility to complete the requirements before the request is processed.

Components of Communications Management and Communication Flow The major components of Communications Management and how they work together in a communication flow

Components of Communications Management Documents Letters Emails Tracks Date specific Specific number of days Request Definitions Group of communication codes Communication Codes Incoming contact Key component Four types Catalyst Shell Trigger Flag A document is a single outgoing item sent to an individual or organization. A track is a series of documents. Tracks define the sequence and date of items going out to an individual or organization. A communication code is a single incoming contact with your institution. When your institution is contacted by an individual or organization, you enter the corresponding communication code. Communication codes can then trigger other actions, such as updating an individual's status, sending a piece of outgoing correspondence, or assigning the individual to a follow-up track. Communication codes are used to represent each incoming item, whether it is requested or not. Examples of communication codes are returned mail, phone calls, website entries, completed forms, and emails. A request definition is a group of communication codes. It contains a list of items, represented by communication codes, that are requested from an individual. As each item is received or waived, the request definition is updated. In order for the request definition to be considered complete, each individual item must be received or waived by the institution. Now that you have some ideas of how you might use the Communications Management module, let's take a closer look at how you harness the power of the tool. The key is the communication codes.

Types of Communication Codes Externally Initiated Internally Initiated Catalyst Code that records an item sent to institution Can assign or delete Shell Does not assign or delete Trigger Code assigned by institution Result of an internal process Can assign or delete Flag Characteristic about the individual Does not assign or delete Catalyst: Code that records an item sent to your institution by an individual. It automatically assigns or deletes documents, tracks, or request definitions. Shell: Code that records an item sent to your institution by an individual. It does not assign or delete other components. Trigger: Code assigned by your institution as a result of an internal process. It automatically assigns or deletes documents, tracks, or request definitions. Flag: Code assigned by your institution to record a characteristic about the individual that cannot be stored elsewhere. It does not assign or delete other components.

Putting the Components Together

Communication Flow Order Build all documents Build tracks linking documents Create shell and flag communication codes Create request definitions associating communication codes Create catalyst and trigger communication codes associating documents, tracks, and request definitions This order allows you to associate existing components to new components without having to switch back and forth. For example, by building all the documents first, you do not need to worry about defining those documents as you are also building the track. You simply need to associate the existing documents to your new track.

Getting Started Naming conventions and adjusting your security settings in MS Office

Where do I start? Naming Convention Maximum of 8 Characters Office – 1 or 2 Characters Type – 1 Character Document Paragraph Email (rich text) HTML Email Track Communication Code Request Definition Year (if needed) – 2 Characters Description – Remaining Characters It is extremely important that you develop a naming convention for your Communications Management codes. Since all offices can use the module, standardized naming conventions (smart coding) will help determine which codes belong to which office, as well as what each code means. Communications Management coding decisions should be made at a high level (i.e., Core Team) to assure consistency. Try to keep smart coding as logical and simple as possible.

Security Settings

Creating a Document Let’s build a document

DOC - Let’s Build a Letter

Doc – Document Types

DOC – let’s build a Letter Receipt Numbers No Yes History Type Code Full None Send Multiple Print Day Receipt Numbers: Enter Y to print receipt numbers on documents. Enter Y to print receipt numbers on the documents. Enter N or leave this field empty if receipt numbers are not required. If you enter Y, the receipt number increases automatically when the receipt is created. The receipt number is stored in the LR.RECEIPT.NUMBER field of the LTREQ record for each document. The last number used is stored in the DOCUMENT.NEXT.RECEIPT.NUMBER field of the DOC.CTL record. CDD Name: DOCUMENT.RECEIPT.OPTION History type affects what data is stored in the individual's mailing history. The three options are: Code. This history type records the document code and processing date in the individual's historical mailing record. Code is the most frequently used history type. Full. This history type records a full history on the pending document details in the LTR.ARCV file. This is used infrequently since the data cannot be accessed from any form. None. This history type indicates that no history is maintained on the document, even if you elect to history the document through a batch process. This option is often used for reusable documents such as generic label documents. Send Multiple: If you enter Yes, the document can be automatically assigned multiple times to the same person. If you enter No, the document will not be assigned automatically to the same person multiple times. However, you can manually assign the document using the Individual Pending Correspondence (IPC) form. By selecting Daily, this document will be assigned to the individual regardless of the day of the week. You can also select a specific day of the week. If the Print Date calculated does not fall on the day of the week specified, the Print Date is changed to correspond with the day of the week you entered.

DOC – Let’s build a Letter Name/Addr Hierarchy Mail Type Merge File LTREQ PERSON Any PERSON co-file The hierarchy listed is used any time this document is processed. Hierarchies determine the appropriate name, address, or email address to use when the document is processed. You can select a mail type for individual or joint mailings. The code selected here is used in conjunction with the Joint Mail and Joint Solicit flags on the Joint Mailing (JTML) form. The five options are: Individual. If selected, the document will be sent to each person in the batch regardless of whether they have a relationship established on the JTML form. If the field is left blank, this option is used. Joint Mail Either. If the Joint Mail flag on the JTML form is set to Yes, the document will be sent to both people regardless of whether the second person is in the batch being processed. Joint Mail Both. If the Joint Mail flag on the JTML form is set to Yes, the document will be sent to both people only if both people are included in the batch being processed. Joint Solicit Either. If the Joint Solicit flag on the JTML form is set to Yes, the document will be sent to both people regardless of whether the second person is in the batch being processed. Joint Solicit Both. If the Joint Solicit flag on the JTML form is set to Yes, the document will be sent to both people only if both people are included in the batch being processed. The merge file influences what fields can be extracted from Colleague during processing so you want to enter a merge file that aligns with the fields you need to extract. Some commonly used files are: LTREQ since this contains name and address data based on the hierarchy specified above. PERSON since this contains basic demographic information you may want to include in the letter. Any PERSON co-file since there is a co-file in many business areas that contains data you require in your letter or links to other files with the data you need.

DOC – Let’s build a letter Although there are is more to do, it is good practice to save your changes first.

DFS – Document File Setup The merge file is used to identify which merge fields can be used for the document. You can use any fields in the merge file or any fields from other files as long as there is a defined pointer between the merge file and the file where the fields reside. This file stores the template document you will build in Word. This is also displayed on the Hardcopy Document Options (HDCD) form. PC.LTRS is a directory serving as the default location for the template documents. The Length, Justification, Fill, Truncate, and Conversion String columns will populate automatically when you enter each field. These parameters are pulled from the field's Central Data Dictionary (CDD) settings. If you are adding a multivalued field, you must enter a value in the Max Values column associated with the multivalued field. This will create a separate merge field in the header record for each value up to the Max Values setting. This prevents variable length records. If the field is not in the merge file listed, the Pointer field will populate automatically, based on the field's CDD settings. The Length, Justification, Fill, Truncate, and Conversion String columns will populate automatically when you enter each field. These parameters are pulled from the field's Central Data Dictionary (CDD) settings. If you are adding a multivalued field, you must enter a value in the Max Values column associated with the multivalued field. This will create a separate merge field in the header record for each value up to the Max Values setting. This prevents variable length records. If the field is not in the merge file listed, the Pointer field will populate automatically, based on the field's CDD settings. Knowing what fields to list on the DFS form requires research and practice.

HDCD – HardCopy Document Options Word Processor Document Format DOC MS Word .DOC file DOCX MS Word .docx file New docx File Version 2007 2010 The Word Processor Document Format setting allows you to specify the format in which a new word processor document will be created, or to change the format of an existing word processor document. Options include DOC for Word 2003 documents and DOCX for Word 2007 or Word 2010 documents.

Create/Edit Document - Setup If a popup message similar to the one on the right doesn’t open, you may have to click the link in the browser window (do not close).

Create/Edit Document - Setup

Create/Edit Document - Setup Insert Letterhead Insert Fields Write Letter Body Exit MS Word

Create/Edit Document - Setup

Create/Edit Document - Setup

Processing a Document Let’s see our handiwork

PCEX vs. PCB PCEX – Express Corresp. Processing Ad-hoc document processing Merge file must be LTREQ, PERSON, or PERSON co-file Can be processed in a single step or in two steps PCB – Process Correspondence Batch Document processing for a group Part of Communications Management automation and workflow process Additional housekeeping steps required

PCEX – Express Corresp. Processing Enter Document Name Build Letter Requests – Yes Process Letter Requests – Yes Enter Recipients Saved List Name Person IDs Save Work

PCEX – Express Corresp. Processing Click Finish Button and then close Report Browser.

PCEX – Express Corresp. Processing Don’t Click on Finish or Close Windows – Wait Until Screen on Right Appears Open CONTROL.docm Enable Content

PCEX – Express Corresp. Processing ALT + Shift + N Merge To New Document

Voila! Print and/or Save Merged Documents Locally Close Merged Documents Close DATATEL.docx – Do Not Save! Return to Colleague and Click Through Prompts Read Error Report

Error Report These 2 errors can be safely ignored. They are warnings that a temporary file was created and then deleted.

IHI – Individual History by Office

Next Steps The steps Ellucian recommends for building the Communications Management components

Next Steps Create a list of contacts initiated by your office Group or sequence similar outgoing items Create a list of all contacts received by your office Group similar items Determine how incoming items can be linked to outgoing items Determine how outgoing items can be linked to incoming items Identify ad-hoc incoming and outgoing items Map communication flows Build and test communication flow in test environment before proceeding to production

Session Summary The Big Picture of Communications Management Creating and Processing Hard Copy Documents Planning Your Communication Flow

Thank You! Tammy Robertson, PhD Tammy.Robertson@nic.edu (208) 660-8905