The Prospect Tracking and Admissions system handles the processing of prospective students from the point of initial inquiry, through the receipt of an application, continuing with the interview and acceptance processes and ending with the disposition determination and notification. The acceptance process may involve various stages and criteria’s of candidate selection, which can be customized and initial short listed candidate list published.
Features
- Allows to track prospective candidate life cycle in all stages till he/she registers as a student
- Accounts every effort and resource used / spent prior to course / curriculum commencement.
- Customizable criteria for selection process at every stage of prospect
- Automated correspondence in popular modes of communication
- Support for template based document management system
- Allows to evaluate profitability or course worthiness after successful completion and helps enhance subsequent course repetitions
Prospect / Inquiries
- The prospect can be guardian / parent / student who enquire and desire a wish to get enrolled. The prospective student database system will record the name, address and other pertinent information about a potential applicant as an inquiry is received via telephone, correspondence or walk-in. It will also keep a record of when a catalog / application were sent out, and if and when an application was received back. Any financial transaction such as sale of application form / prospectus or other chargeable promotional material can be linked with accounts and inventory.
Recruiting Process and Correspondence
- Individual or group recruiting process plans can be configured. Any prerequisites or criteria’s of selection can be established to filter and derive eligible prospect. These plans can include activity such as scheduled correspondence, historical record verification, campus visits, callbacks, etc... Timed correspondence will be generated when predefined time intervals are met and whichever is the preferred medium of communication a notification / reminder is triggered.
Applicant
- The system maintains detailed individual records about each applicant. Information is stored relating to biographic data, educational background, references, academic / employment history, choice of elective and pre test data. The software supports web based interface to fill application forms and validates correct data entry and sanitized prospect information. This process also establishes and validates links of sibling history, alumni / staff child, reserved category candidates etc…
Interview / Personal Interaction
- The admission counselors who interview applicants / guardians for admission can enter the interview timings, notes, comments and recommendations. Any historical log of iterative admission attempts can be retrieved to justify prior unsuccessful admission tries.
Disposition / Final Selection
- After the admissions committee has met, the registrar will enter the final decisions about applicant placement, record what information has been sent and received, and flag when an applicant is ready to move from the Admissions module to the Student Management System. The state of a prospect changes to a wait / short listed applicant. The validity of this state can be programmed to predefined number of days or definitive period after, which the short listed candidate loses his eligibility or claim to admission. This period involves the collection / certification of documents and partial / full fees payment transacted in specified mode of payment and instrument amount.
Reporting
- The system produces a variety of reports, which assist in tracking a prospective student or group of student's progress through the complete application process which includes listing and summarized report for Prospective Student, Applicant Profile, Individual Interview Schedules / Results / Outcomes, Applicant Disposition, Admissions Committee Worksheet etc...
Web Interface
- The entire process of filling of application forms, short lists, and wait list along with results of intermediate selection process can be customized for web interface within the existing institute’s web site. This speeds up the process of data digitization, filtering and analysis and makes the selection process transparent. The historical data of applicants can be deleted or archived for record purposes. The web interface also guarantees that the data gets validated by the prospective candidate hence any data entry error or interpreted discrepancies are avoided.
STAGE 1 offline : MASTER AND FORMAT STANDARDIZATION
Step 1:
Defining master data as per institute, program, intake capacity, quotas/reservations, model of education, admission category, form number series etc…
Step 2:
Defining sorting criteria’s in order of dependencies for merit list declaration. Ex: Aggregate Percentage, Admission Category, Alternate Conditions for considerations in case of equal weightages of criteria, rounding offs
Step 3:
Synchronizing mode of payments, payment realization with acceptance of application.
Step 4:
Staging / Accepting data as per data filter rules and notifying acceptance of application (if needed)
Step 5:
Standardize formats of data exchange/export/import and reports for web publishing or notice boards
STAGE 2 offline/online : DEFINING/SETTING MODES OF DATA COLLECTION
Defining application processing methodologies for fastest mode of data collection. Online, Offline, Bulk Import/Export
STAGE 3 offline : DATA SANITIZATION
Step 1:
Extraction, Transformation, Cleansing, Loading (ETLC) i.e. standardize data for case, numeric precision, data field width, reserved characters
Step 2:
Sanitize collected data, duplicates removal, invalid entries, rejection due to data entry errors
Step 3:
Manually correct rejected data (if possible) and repeat Step1 & 2
Step 4:
If “See and Key” offline method is used, compare data from known sources and reject invalid entries Publish/Recheck rejection list for valid Form Numbers but invalid entries (optional)
Step 5:
FTP, mail, export to desired format if any third party needs sanitized data (optional)
STAGE 4 offline : RUBRIC TRANSLATION
Step 1:
Validating data as per eligibility rubrics (non academic data)
Step 2:
Translation of verbose data to numeric formats
Step 3:
Calculation of cumulative scores in addition to academic records.
Step 4:
Publishing of translated data for manual verification and further processing (if needed)
Step 5:
FTP, mail, export to desired format if any third party needs translated data (optional)
STAGE 5 online/offline : PAYMENT COLLECTION & REALIZATION
After the admissions committee has met, the registrar will enter the final decisions about applicant placement, record what information has been sent and received, and flag when an applicant is ready to move from the Admissions module to the Student Management System. The state of a prospect changes to a wait / short listed applicant. The validity of this state can be programmed to predefined number of days or definitive period after, which the short listed candidate loses his eligibility or claim to admission. This period involves the collection / certification of documents and partial / full fees payment transacted in specified mode of payment and instrument amount.
STAGE 6 offline : PROSPECT TO APPLICANT
Step 1:
Tag candidate as applicant and forward data for merit list processing
Step 2:
Publish first merit list in order of most eligible candidates within limits of applied quota/category
Step 3:
Notification to candidate about short listing (optional)
Step 4:
FTP, mail, export to desired format if any third party needs merit list data (optional)
STAGE 7 offline : PRECUR TO ADMISSION
Step 1:
Define masters for fees and map with respective accounts. Finalize transfer, refund, concession, cancellation and forfeit rules. Standardize fee receipt formats and pre printed stationery.
Step 2:
Capture valid data from “Admission Form” needed for student life cycle. Verify and archive documents and tag if provisional.
Step 3:
Notification to candidate about dates for admission and validity period to exercise eligibility (optional)
Step 4:
FTP, mail, export to desired format if any third party needs short listed data (optional). Redirection to DDL or vocational courses
STAGE 8 offline : MERIT LIST GENERATION
Step 1:
Define selection criteria in the order of priority for merit.
Step 2:
Define “tie” rules which sequences order of merit list generation.
Step 3:
Define policy for rejection and tagging schedule.
Step 4:
Define policy for exceptions and readmitting of defaulted applicants.
Step 4:
Define admission calling/batching sequence with appropriate method of notification
STAGE 9 offline : RISKS AND MITIGATIONS
Step 1:
Infrastructure availability and consistency in performance during admission life cycle.
Step 2:
Readiness to switch over seamlessly to alternates during failure of primary resources without disturbing admission processes
Step 3:
Testing, managing operational scalability for unplanned disruption
Step 4:
How IIMS manages to achieve this considering legacy processes and reluctance of co operation during such contingencies or acceptance for trying untested alternate method.
INSTITUTES ADMISSION POLICY
Adherence to statutory / mandatory policies
Deviations from the same (in case of exceptions)
Criteria specific to institute programs/courses and priority order
Policy for naming convention, automated numbers (application/enrollment), data filters
Disqualifying conditions (ex: duplicate/invalid application numbers), intentional fudging of marks
Data entry process (filtering from ‘n’ entries)
Document verification / provisional admission
Transfers/Refund and changes in fee structure
Integration with current web site
Data purging / forwarding once admissions are over