Important Consideration: The Alumni Phase is not supported by the Applicant Experience. If this feature is part of your office's processes, you should continue to use the classic interface or discuss other options with your office to move forward with a transition to the Applicant Experience.
The Alumni feature can be used as a method for allowing past participants of a program to list their contact and bio information for potential participants to access. They can provide permission for new applicants to contact them regarding the program. As with all applicant submitted information, all submissions made by an alumni must first be vetted by an administrator before the content is distributed publicly.
The Alumni feature can be activated under Settings > System Features > Features tab > Alumni > Enable Alumni Option for Programs. The start date of the alumni phase is chosen by entering a value in the box 'Offer alumni option XX day(s) following the return date.' After the return date and this period of time passes, the application will enter the 'alumni' phase.
An application will move into the Alumni phase after it has been in the Returnee Phase for the number of days specified under Settings > System Features > Features tab.
In the Alumni Phase, the applicant can use the "Manage your alumni information" link displayed next to the program name to enter their Alumni information and agree to be contacted by other applicants interested in participating in the same program. Applications move into this phase only if the "Enable Alumni Program" setting is selected on the System Features page. If that setting is not selected, the application will remain in the Returnee phase indefinitely.
Note: If an applicant should see the link for alumni information, but doesn't, check the status of their application. The application must have a status of "Committed" (or an alias of Committed) in order for the alumni link to be visible to the applicant. Changing the status of the application to "Committed" should trigger the alumni link to display on their application homepage.
Once the link is selected, they will see the option to select the type of information they want to make available as well as when the information is made available for applicants. The alumni can select bio info, contact info, or both. The context box for the bio info is 4000 characters and the address information is editable. The alumni can select for their information to be made available to either applicants that have applied to the program or only to applicants that have been accepted to the program. After the alumni submits their information, it will remain in a pending status until reviewed by an admin who can either publish or reject the entry.
In the Alumni Phase, the applicant can use the "Manage your alumni information" link displayed next to the program name to enter their Alumni information and agree to be contacted by other applicants interested in participating in the same program. Applications move into this phase only if the "Enable Alumni Program" setting is selected on the System Features page. If that setting is not selected, the application will remain in the Returnee phase indefinitely.
Note: If an applicant should see the link for alumni information, but doesn't, check the status of their application. The application must have a status of "Committed" (or an alias of Committed) in order for the alumni link to be visible to the applicant. Changing the status of the application to "Committed" should trigger the alumni link to display on their application homepage.
Once the link is selected, they will see the option to select the type of information they want to make available as well as when the information is made available for applicants. The alumni can select bio info, contact info, or both. The context box for the bio info is 4000 characters and the address information is editable. The alumni can select for their information to be made available to either applicants that have applied to the program or only to applicants that have been accepted to the program. After the alumni submits their information, it will remain in a pending status until reviewed by an admin who can either publish or reject the entry.
Once the entry is published, new applicants can view the selected information from their application pages. On the top left information section of the application page there will be a link "view profiles" which will allow the applicant to either send an email to the alumni or view the alumni profile. Depending on the alumni preference, either new applicants or only accepted applicants will be able view the information and contact the alumni from this interface on the application page.
Managing Alumni Information
Alumni Information is managed under Applicants > Alumni Information. Staff must have the relevant admin privileges to access this tool. Each individual program also has an alumni management tab in the program builder that allows the admin to publish/reject alumni submitted information for that particular program. The alumni feature can be disabled for particular programs on the Alumni tab of the program builder.
When an alum submits information, it is stored under the Pending tab. After reviewing the information, staff can decide to either publish or reject the post, by clicking the appropriate button.
Once published, the entries are moved under the Published tab. You can reject a published entry at a later date by clicking the 'Reject' button preceding the corresponding entry.
If you reject the entries, they are moved under the Rejected tab. You can publish a rejected entry at a later date by clicking the 'Publish' button preceding the corresponding entry.
Once an alumni’s information is published, it is then available for viewing by applicants to that program. Alumni can choose what personal information they would like others to see, such as email address or phone number. Other applicants access information about alumni from their application.
This interface for alumni management is also available from the program builder and can be used to manage alumni information for a specific program that uses it.
Deleting Alumni Information
Alumni information can be permanently removed by scrubbing the application. To scrub the application, go to Maintenance > Scrub Application > search by the applicant name > select the appropriate application that has the journal entry and/or alumni information > follow the prompts to scrub the application. This completely deletes the application, journal entries, and alumni information. The applicant data is not removed. If the application was submitted by a real applicant, it is not recommended to scrub the application.