Student Information Systems Developing an Online Admission Review System Rich Rutty Software Developer/Analyst

Student Information Systems Enrollment and admissions Summer / Fall 2010 Enrollment: 38,420Undergraduate 11,582Graduate 1,193Law 51,195Total 2010 Admissions: 7,275First-Time Freshmen (Summer / Fall) 2,400Undergraduate Transfer (Fall only) 3,300New Graduate (Summer / Fall)

Student Information Systems Freshman admissions Fall 2010 Freshman Admission Statistics: 31,022Applied 14,583Admitted 7,275Enrolled Comprehensive application and document review for those not automatically admitted (via Texas House Bill “Top 10% Rule”) Applicants eligible for certain scholarships also get reviewed. 18,964Freshman applicants scored Schools of Architecture and Fine Arts also review applicant files. ~600More freshman applicants reviewed Honors program applicants are not necessarily “scored,” but reviewed. 3,226Honors applications completed

Student Information Systems Personnel and timelines Fall 2010 Freshman Reviewer Roles: 23 Full file reviewers,825 applicants per reviewer 27 Essay readers,702 applicants per reader 106 Viewers Most of the reviewers and readers worked off-campus. Fall 2010 Freshman Review Deadlines: 12/15/2009Application deadline 02/15/2010Review deadline

Student Information Systems Printing files Mailing files to reviewers Reviewing paper files Mailing files to Admission Office Entering review scores What were we doing?

Student Information Systems How much paper was used? Printouts for Fall 2009 Freshman review used about 90 boxes of paper. 90 boxes → stack of paper 150 feet high

Student Information Systems What we could do... Create electronic files Distribute to reviewer inboxes Review files online Reviewer enters scores

Student Information Systems What we could do... Create electronic files Review files online Reviewer enters scores Distribute to reviewer inboxes

Student Information Systems What we could do... Create electronic files Review files online Reviewer enters scores Distribute to reviewer inboxes

Student Information Systems Read files almost anywhere we please. (portable) Scribble notes about the applicant directly on paper. Stacks of files give a sense of how much work has been accomplished and how much work is left to do. (visual of work status) What we can do with paper

Student Information Systems What can be better than paper? Reviewers can score files immediately. Each reviewer can customize the order in which the documents are viewed. The pending files can be easily prioritized by date of application materials completed. Distribution of files is automatic. Easier to track files assigned to reviewers. Reviewers can still choose to print their files.

Student Information Systems Inspiration for a document reader

Student Information Systems Perspiration for a document reader 1)Applicant files abound. 2)Applicants may or may not have certain documents. 3)Some documents are imaged, some are separate web pages, others are raw text. 4)Different reviewer roles should only be able to view certain document types. 5)Documents must be secure.

Student Information Systems Sufficient servers to handle traffic. Try to keep document size small. –Generate raw text when feasible: applications, essays Try to limit database access and updates. –Retrieve only the documents necessary for review. –Eliminate “notes.” Update scores only. Make online document review as efficient as possible. –Emphasize the document in the viewer. –Score entry should be quick and easy. –Inbox management should be automatic. What we have done

Student Information Systems First attempt at a document viewer

Student Information Systems First attempt at a document viewer

Student Information Systems First attempt at a document viewer

Student Information Systems Better document viewer

Student Information Systems Based upon role, retrieve only the documents allowed to be viewed for the role. Build document list for each applicant RoleCan update scoresDocument families Freshman - PAI ReviewerPAI, Essay1, Essay2WRELTHNM Freshman - Essay ReaderEssay1, Essay2E Freshman - ManagerPAI, Essay1, Essay2WRELTHNM Freshman - Viewer HNWRELTM Graduate - Manager WARELTSFGM Graduate - Viewer WARELTSFGM

Student Information Systems Documents for Freshman PAI Reviewer Document FamilyDocumentFormat Essays (E)Freshman essayE, I Honors Application (H)Honors ApplicationE Letters of Recommendation (L)generic Freshman letter of recommendationH generic letter of recommendationI Business Honors recommendationH Plan II recommendationH Natural Sciences Honors recommendationH Engineering Honors recommendationH Turing Scholars recommendationH Liberal Arts Honors recommendationH Miscellaneous documents (M)Miscellaneous admissions documentsI Miscellaneous admissions application documentsI Honors essays (N)Honors application essayE Resumes (R)Freshman resumeH generic resumeI Transcripts (T)U.S. high school transcriptH, I U.S. college transcriptH, I Foreign college transcriptI Foreign high school transcriptI Miscellaneous transcript documentI Review worksheet (W)Freshman review worksheetE Document formats: E = electronic H = HTML I = imaged

Student Information Systems Document Customization Sort inbox in date order (reviewers and essay readers) or name order (viewers). Sort document families within a file.

Student Information Systems Document formats Electronic – comprises raw text which was originally designed for our printing process HTML – a structured web page to display information Imaged – scanned documents retrieved by our image servers We added another web page to display electronic documents (electronic → HTML). The system now only needs to handle HTML and imaged documents. HTML documents are displayed within the viewer (iframe). Imaged documents are embedded into the viewer (object).

Student Information Systems Security considerations Authentication occurs with every page view. Roles limit which applicants and which documents can be viewed. Roles also limit who can submit review scores. Login through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is required if accessed off-campus. Each link to an imaged document can only be used once. Audit all input and encode (almost) all output. Scripts (client and server) are used to prevent many web- based attacks.

Student Information Systems Inbox for Freshman PAI Reviewer

Student Information Systems Manager functions - Authorization

Student Information Systems Manager functions – Score report

Student Information Systems Manager functions – Inbox spoofing

Student Information Systems Questions?

Student Information Systems Acknowledgements Marilyn Galvan – Sr. Systems Analyst Brent Heustess – Sr. Systems Analyst Michael Caldwell – Assistant Director – Admissions Susan Kearns – Associate Director – Admissions Steve Rung – Assistant Director – SIS Michael Orr – Associate Director – Admissions Angela Svoboda – Director - SIS

Student Information Systems Rich Rutty – Contact: