Important Note: This article discusses classic functionality. For information on the modern applicant experience, refer to the Applicant Experience Knowledgebase article.

Overview

The application cycle determines the availability of the term of study for which your applicants/users may apply. It stores the global deadline and decision date for each application cycle. In addition, each application cycle contains the process map for all applications/records in that application cycle and determines which questionnaires, signature documents, material submissions, learning content and assessments are deployed to the applicants/users (as well as the version and due dates of those process elements that are deployed).

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To manage the application cycles, go to Process > App Cycles.

This section helps an administrator in:

Managing the available application cycles
Checking for deadlines that have passed
Checking for rolling admission applications
Adding new application cycles

Managing Available Application Cycles

A staff member with 'Process admin: application cycles (view)' permission can view the available application cycles which lists the term, year, application deadline, and decision date. For a cycle that is in progress, the check box Active is checked.

An admin with 'Process admin: application cycles (edit)' permission can make changes to the terms by clicking the edit pencil in the last column of the page. A new page opens.

From the Dates tab, you can change the decision date and deadline for the application cycle and determine whether or not the application cycle is active and should be accepting applications.

From the process element tabs ( Questionnaires, Materials, Learning Content or Assessments):

You can add or remove any process element from the process map for an application cycle by selecting or deselecting the check box preceding the names. If any element is edited, the process elements retain previous versions of their content. This avoids the appearance of any erroneous and hidden information in old applications/records.
You can see a preview of the questionnaire or a material that is currently deployed to this app cycle by clicking the magnifying glass icon next to the name. It displays a preview of the item in a new tab.
You can set the process element due date for an element that has been deployed by clicking the plus "add" button or clicking the edit pencil next to an existing date. This will bring you the “Batch Applying Process Element Due Dates” screen where you can edit the date for the selected process element and batch apply that date to any other process elements of the same type currently deployed for the given application cycle.
- You can remove an existing due date by blanking out the date field on the update screen and updating the page.
- Process element due dates serve only as a visual indicator on the applicant/user home and application/record view and will not lock an applicant out of the process element until the overall application/record deadline has passed.
- These dates can be overridden at the program level on the Requirements tab of the program builder.

Note:

If the item has a green arrow next to it, that means that a new version of that material or questionnaire has been created. To update the version that is being deployed in this application cycle, click on the green arrow. To view the new version you must look under Process > Questionnaires, Materials, Learning Content or Assessments.
The last three columns on this page (T, P, and PG) are informational only. This is just to convey if that particular process element is term-specific (T), program-specific (P), or program group-specific (PG).

If a process element is found to be unnecessary at any stage, you can remove it from the application process map for the current and future application cycles by marking it as retired. But that process element still exists in the process map for the older applications/records. This is why a questionnaire or material that has been retired will still appear in the Process Map and still appear on applications/records. If an item is retired, it will say this beside the name of the item.

Checking for Deadlines That Have Passed

In the Application Deadlines section of the App Cycle home page, a single red asterisk (*) next to certain dates denotes that the deadline has passed.

Note: You may override these dates for specific programs in Program Dates area of the Program Admin section.

Checking for Rolling Admissions Applications/Records

In the Application Deadlines section of the Apps. Cycle page, two asterisks in black (**) next to certain dates indicate a rolling admission application cycle where applicants/users are moved into the post-decision phase immediately, if they are accepted/approved for the program.

Adding New Application Cycles

If you have 'Process admin: application cycles (add)' permission, you can add new application cycles by performing the following steps.

In the App Cycles page, click the Add Term Record tab.

Select a term and a year from the drop-down list boxes in the appropriate fields.
Click Next.
Enter the deadline and decision date in the spaces provided.
Click on each of the tabs in turn, selecting the process elements that you would like to be included in the term. You can select the items by selecting the check box preceding the name of the items.
- Note: Some process elements may already be checked off based on the process element settings
  - Further note that internal-use process elements will not be automatically included in a new cycle

Updating and App Cycle / Cascading Changes

When an existing application cycle is updated through Process > App Cycles, the administrator may be presented with a form listing a number of programs asking the administrator to 'Apply Application Cycle Date to Existing Programs'.

The form displayed is the list of programs that have program date records for the application cycle you just edited that are using the application cycle’s application global deadline and decision date, and checking to see if you want to update those program date records as well. If those program date records are not updated, they will not operate their application cycles based on the app cycle's application deadline and decision date, but use the dates displayed in the form.

This sort of update to the program date records is most commonly required in cases where start and end dates have been entered for programs that you still wish to follow the global application cycle's deadline and decision date.

Example:
Your site has 10 programs accepting applications/records for the Spring 2019 application cycle.

The Spring 2019 application cycle has an application deadline of October 1st, 2018 and a decision date of October 15th, 2017.

Your office staff has received the start and end dates for three of those programs and has created program date records for those three programs for the Spring 2019 application cycle. However, those three programs are still assigned to the Spring 2019 application deadline and decision date as defined in the application cycle.

On September 15th, you decide to extend the deadline for the Spring 2018 programs globally. You go to Process > App Cycle, choose to edit the Spring 2019 application cycle and modify the application deadline to October 7th, 2018.

When the 'update' button is clicked, a form is displayed with the three programs asking if you want to change their application deadlines as well (since they have program date records, they don’t follow the app cycle’s dates). Checking these programs off will edit the program date records of those programs for Spring 2018 so that they match the new October 7th, 2018 application deadline.

Opening and Application Cycle Early for Select Program(s)

To open the app cycle early for just one program or select programs, you would need to perform the following actions:

Go to Process > App Cycles and create the application cycle or edit it to make it active if it was already created. This will momentarily open the application cycle for all programs that use that term.
Go to the dates tab of the program builder for a program that should NOT yet be accepting applications/records for that cycle.
Scroll to the bottom and add a date record for the application cycle.
Uncheck the box for 'Accepting Applications.'
Click the twisty arrow next to 'Apply Dates to Multiple Programs' and select the names of all the other programs that should not be accepting applications/records for that app cycle.
Below that section, check the box for 'Apply active status to these programs (accepting applications).'

When you update that, all the selected programs will no longer be accepting applications/records for that app cycle - only the program(s) you want to be open will accept applications/records. You should also check the dates tab for that program to make sure it is using the correct dates.

Articles in this section

Study Abroad: Application Cycles in Process Maps (Classic) Follow