This article provides information on application phases and application statuses used in Terra Dotta. The following topics are covered:
Important Note:
- The advising phase is not supported by Deployment Rules and should not be used with rules-based app cycles. Instead, the Advising Program (i.e. a program type) is available for use with rules-based app cycles.
- The "Alumni" phase is considered classic functionality. It is not supported in the Applicant Experience and is not discussed in this article.
Application Phases
Terra Dotta's application process uses a series of distinct time periods, known as application phases, to manage when and how information appears on applications. Process elements are deployed to program applications to appear to applicants in one of these phases.
Advising
An application in the advising phase does not have a program associated with it. It is the phase designated for applications that have not yet been assigned a program or application cycle. This is an optional phase that can be enabled under Settings > System Features.
Important Note: The advising phase is not available for use with Deployment Rules. Offices should use the Advising Program instead.
Application Process/Pre-Decision
An application will be in the application process or "Pre-Decision" phase if:
- The status of the application is "pending"; or
- The application has a status of "accepted", "rejected", "waitlisted", or "committed" but the decision date has not been reached.
- The application has a status of "accepted" or "committed"; and
- The decision date has been reached, but the start date of the program has not been reached.
- The application has a status of "accepted" or "committed"; and
- The earliest start date of an application itinerary record has been reached; and
- The latest end date of the application itinerary records has not been reached.
- The application has a status of "accepted" or "committed"; and
- The latest end date of the application's itinerary records has been reached.
- The "returnee" phase is the final phase of the application.
Application Phases & Process Elements
When an application moves from one phase to the next, all the process elements from the previous phase continue to display in the subsequent phases under the "Completed Requirements" section of the application.
The one exception to this is the "advising" process elements. These no longer display to the applicant on their application page once they've been assigned to a program/app cycle. They will be accessible to the administrators viewing the applications (questionnaire responses will still be accessible/reportable), but the applicants will no longer see them when they go to that application. As noted above, the advising phase is not compatible with Deployment Rules. Offices should use the Advising Program instead.
Application Statuses
In Terra Dotta, a "status" refers to the state of an application at a particular time. There are seven standard status aliases available for use. It is possible to modify these status aliases so that they better align with your office's terminology. When a "default alias" is configured, it will appear in lieu of the status alias throughout the software. When an "other alias" is configured, it will appear as an additional option along with the default alias and status alias when selecting the status of an application, either from Application Finder or from an individual application in Application Admin Manager.
To manage application statuses, navigate to Settings > Statuses.
The "Status" column in Application Finder will display the current status of an application, whether that is using a status alias or a default alias (inclusive of any aliases assigned as "other aliases").
Advising Status
A status of "advising" means that the student has an advising application. The admin is responsible for changing the status to "pending" and selecting a program when the applicant is ready to move on to an actual program application.
Pending Status
A status of "pending" means that the application is in the "pre-decision" phase. Most new applications automatically begin in the "pending" status and remain as such until an admin changes the status and the decision date is reached.
"Pending" status aliases do not appear to an applicant. An applicant will be able to see that they have an application in the pre-decision phase, yet the actual status of "Pending" or a "Pending" alias will only be visible to administrators.
Accepted Status
A status of "accepted" means that the application is in the "post-decision" phase as soon as the decision date is reached. An admin can change the status to "accepted" for an application in the Application Admin Manager.
If the status is changed from "pending" to "accepted", the applicant is immediately notified by email if the decision date has already been reached. If the decision date is in the future, the applicant view will remain in the "pending" phase until the decision date is reached.
When an application has an "accepted" status, the applicant will see a panel with two buttons on their application page so they can choose to "commit" or "decline" the offer.
Important Note: If the applicant cannot see the commitment panel, then the start and end dates for the application's program are likely improperly set. If the program start date was mistakenly entered as a date that has already passed, the students will be immediately assigned to the "returnee" phase instead of the "post-decision" phase. Only students in the "post-decision" phase have the option to commit to the program displayed on the application pages.
Committed Status
A status of "committed" means that the application is still in the "post-decision" phase if the decision date is in the past, but now the admin has confirmation that the applicant has committed to participate in the program.
An admin can change the status of an application to "committed", but generally, applicants will change that status themselves by clicking the "commit" button on their application page. The application indefinitely remains in the "committed" status. The applicant will move through the "while abroad" and "returnee" phases while the status of their application remains as "committed". For ISSS offices, the default alias for the "committed status" is "active".
Rejected Status
A status of "rejected" means that the application was not accepted. The applicant is notified of the decision once the decision date is reached, and their application remains locked in the "pre-decision" phase indefinitely. For ISSS offices, the default alias for the "rejected" status is "non-active".
Waitlist Status
A status of "waitlist" means that the application is locked after the deadline. It is essentially paused while in the "pre-decision" phase until a decision is made.
Withdrawn Status
A status of "withdrawn" means that the applicant has chosen not to participate - or the admin has removed the application from consideration for the program. There are four sub-statuses which can be applied to a withdrawn action to detail the reason as to why the application has been withdrawn:
- Withdrawn: Pre-Decision
- Application is withdrawn by applicant during the pre-decision phase by using the "Withdraw" button next to the program on the applicant home page.
- Applicants can withdraw their own application at any time (even if the deadline and/or decision date have passed) from the applicant home page as long as they remain in the "pending" status, or an alias of the "pending" status.
- After the application deadline and decision date have both passed and the application has been accepted, the application can no longer be withdrawn by the applicant in this way.
- Withdrawn: Declined
- For an application in "Accepted" status, the applicant clicks the "decline" button from the commitment panel on their application page.
- Applicants need the assistance of an administrator in order to reinstate an application for which they've declined participation.
- Withdrawn: Didn't Commit
- Action chose by an admin to distinguish that the application was approved; however, the applicant neither committed nor declined.
- Withdrawn: By Staff
- A staff member can withdraw an application at any time.
- Usually done at the end of each app cycle for incomplete applications.
More information can be found in the Withdrawing an Application Knowledgebase (KB) article.
Editing Application Statuses
To add a new alias, click the "New Statuses" tab at the top of the page. Enter the alias name and select the status for which it will be an alias. Click "Submit" to preserve your changes.
Editing an Alias
To edit an existing alias (default or other), click the edit pencil next to the alias name that you want to modify. Change the name of the alias. Click "Update" to preserve the changes or "Cancel" to ignore them.
Deleting an Alias
To delete an alias, click the red 'X' located to the right of the alias name. A dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the action. Click "OK" to proceed or "Cancel" to ignore the action.
Important Note:
- You cannot delete a default alias. Rather, it can only be modified.
- If you delete any "other aliases" for a status, then keep in mind the following:
- All applications that were marked with this alias will be changed to the default alias. This means if applications were marked "In Review" as an other alias for "Pending" and that alias is deleted, then the applications' status will change to "Pending".
- If the alias was being used in a status setting associated with a "Submit" button, then the value will for that status setting will revert to "null".
- It is best practice is to avoid using special characters with status aliases.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How can I notify my applicants of application activity during the pre-decision phase?
If you have created an alias for the "Pending" status, you may encounter the following scenario as the "Pending" status and any of its aliases do not display on the application page to applicants. You want to notify an applicant that their application has been tentatively approved by faculty, so you move the application status from "Pending" to an alias for this status, such as "Faculty Approved". The status change modal provides you with the option to send a notification to your applicant alerting them of an update. This notification uses the "Status Change" email template, which can be found under Process > Notifications > Email Templates. Admins have the ability to customize this email template with merge fields, such as "Status", which would communicate the update to the applicant.