Overview
Content Management is part of the Configuration menu of the Admin Console.
This article covers the following topics related to Content Management:
- Access & Permissions
- Understanding Content Management
- The Cascade Wizard
- Questionnaires
- Signature Documents
- Material Submissions
- Learning Content
- Assessments
- Recommendation Forms
- Reviewer Forms
Important Note:
- Process element tags and delivery dates are not supported in Content Management.
- Content Management is used in conjunction with Deployment Rules, a feature which requires that the Applicant Experience be enabled on your site.
- At this time, it is only possible to designate a learning content as the prerequisite for an assessment.
- The main instruction fields for each requirement do provide a rich-text editor and have a maximum character limit of 4000. If you exceed this limit, the additional characters will not be saved.
Access & Permissions
Content Management can be accessed as follows:
1) From the Admin Console, navigate to the Configurations" menu.
2) Click on "Content Management".
This feature is available for use by administrators with each applicable Process Admin: View, Add, Edit permission per process element.
Important Note: See the Admin Console for Terra Dotta Study Abroad article for information on DAOs (data access objects).
Six main tabs organize configurations for each type of process element and form:
- Questionnaires
- Signature Documents
- Material Submissions
- Learning Content
- Assessments
- Recommendation Forms
- Important Note: Recommendations, when enabled for a program in Program Wizard, are required of all applicants to the program. Deployment rules are used to deploy the desired recommendation form for use with the recommendation. It is not possible to designate to whom a recommendation is required with deployment rules at this time. A recommendation form is created to be completed by the recommender, not the applicant.
- Reviewer Forms
- Important Note: Reviewer forms are used in conjunction with the Reviewers Management system. They are assigned to a Reviewer Role and are created to be completed by the respective reviewer, not the applicant.
Each tabbed page includes a central "search by name" field and a toggle switch which allows you to switch views between "active" status and "retired" status process elements.
Keyword Search
The central "search by name" field uses keyword search, and a minimum of three characters must be entered in order to trigger the search to run. (If you want to search on a number, such as "8", then you would type 8 followed by two spaces to trigger the three characters.)
A keyword search means that the results produced are inclusive of all names that contain any of the keywords entered. When more keywords are used, the more likely your results will be broad and numerous because the system will return any program name that contains one or more of the keywords.
To narrow down your results and perform a more granular search, we would recommend that you search using less keywords and those that are the most unique.
Information is organized with columns (from left to right) as follows:
- Name: This is the title assigned to your process element.
- Actions: Edit your process element and view any rules that deploy this process element.
Paginated search results give the admin the ability to increase (250 items per page max) or limit the number of items which appear per page.
Understanding Content Management
Content Management is a unique builder space dedicated to creating each of your process elements for deployment using a rules-based app cycle. This is significantly different from the classic process map-based system where you are required to create your content, define configurations such as program type, program, and term during that creation process, and manage various process maps that dictate when and how your process elements are deployed. Because this classic process requires that you define configurations for each process element, this often requires you to manage multiple versions of the same process element configured for different program types, for example.
With the use of rules-based app cycles and the Content Management section of the Admin Console, you will no longer need to dictate the program type, phase, and other classic configuration options when you create your content. Thus, it is with intention that you do not see these configuration options in Content Management. Instead, after creating a process element in Content Management, you will navigate to Deployment Rules to configure the desired conditions that, when met, will trigger the deployment of the desired process elements to the applicable program applications in rules-based app cycles. This means that it is possible to create and manage one process element that can be deployed across all program types. Deployment Rules give you more granular control of configurations in this way.
1) I assign my rule a name that is reflective of how the rule will perform. For this example, I know that this rule is to deploy all of the general content I'd expect an applicant to see in the pre-decision phase if they applied to any programs in the program group of "Programs in Brazil".
2) I select the application phase of pre-decision and starting app cycle of Fall 2021. This app cycle is using rules-based deployment.
3) I assign the conditions for this particular rule which can be as broad or definite as desired. This step replaces the need to individually define and maintain configurations for each of your process elements as done before when using process maps.
Next in step two, I select the process elements that I want deployed when all of the conditions from step one are met.
Getting Started with Content Management
Deploying Process Elements with Rules-Based App Cycles
After a process element is updated in Content Management, the cascade wizard appears. From this modal, and admin can select the desired rules-based app cycles that they want to update with this new version of the process element.
The cascade wizard will display those app cycles which meet the following criteria:
- They have Deployment Rules enabled.
- They are set to an "Active" status.
- They have a closing date set in the future.
If the cascade wizard does not appear, check your app cycles in App Cycle Management to make sure that you have at least one app cycle which meets the criteria listed above. Then the next time you make a change to a process element in Content Management, click "Update". This will trigger a window that says "App Cycles Eligible for Cascade" to appear where you will be able to select or de-select from any rules-based app cycles in "active" status.
After a new, second version of a process element is created, the system will update application as follows:
For Pre-existing Applications:
- The changes will be immediately applied to active applications in app cycles to which the changes were cascaded if the process element has not yet been started (i.e. assessments and questionnaires) or completed.
- If the process element was already started or completed, then the changes will not be applied. For example, if an applicant had already submitted a questionnaire, then the questionnaire would need to be erased and the application would need to be refreshed in order for the application to display the updated version of the questionnaire.
For Future Applications:
- Applications created in those app cycle to which the changes were cascaded will contain the most current version of the process element.
Questionnaires
Questionnaire creation tools - also known as the Questionnaire Builder within Content Management - allow an admin to create and maintain question items and questionnaires in this space. For a full overview of this feature of the Admin Console, including conditional question item functionality, see The Questionnaire Builder Knowledgebase (KB) article.
Signature Documents
Signature documents allow offices to obtain proof that applicants have reviewed and acknowledged essential information as a required component of their application.
Clicking into the "Signature Documents" tab of Content Management brings you to a listing of all signature documents on your site. By default, these process elements are listed from A to Z. With similar feature tools available in other areas of the Admin Console, admins can conduct a search by document name, use paginated search results to easily browse though a large number of items, and create new process elements as needed.
Clicking on the "View" icon allows an admin to view what deployment rules are being used to deploy each specific process element.
Edits can be made to existing signature documents with the edit pencil tool.
Click on the "+" sign in the lower right corner of the page to open a new signature document creation modal and build with these steps:
1. Add a title for the new signature document.
2. Use the available toggle switches to enable specified characteristics of this document as applicable. This includes marking the signature document for internal-use only and making it conditional. When marked as "conditional", you will be prompted to enter a conditional question and designate if the response of "yes" or "no" requires the applicant to complete the signature document.
3. Use the WYSIWYG editor to add desired content. A rich-text editor provides styling options, mail merge options, and the ability to embed media.
4. Click "Add" to preserve your changes. The new signature document will appear within your main listing.
When making edits to a signature document, you will click "Update" to preserve your changes.
When presented with a signature document on the application page, an applicant views the content of the signature document along with an attestation (Text Interface identifier 10297) which states the following:
I understand that I am signing a legal document. By clicking "Sign", I am performing the same task as though I were signing on paper and hold legal responsibility for signing this document.
The action of clicking "Accept" to these terms is equivalent to electronically signing the document. It is not possible for an applicant to add a written signature.
When an applicant completes a signature document, the admin's view of the submitted signature document displays the content, name of the signatory, date of signature, and the IP address of the signatory within the same modal:
This modal can be accessed by clicking on submitted signature documents within the Admin Console's admin view of applications.
Material Submissions
Material submissions allows offices to collect fees, transcripts, and other required documents that are often completed outside of the software.
Clicking into the "Material Submissions" tab of Content Management brings you to a listing of all materials on your site. By default, these process elements are listed from A to Z. With similar feature tools available in other areas of the Admin Console, admins can conduct a search by document name, use paginated search results to easily browse though a large number of items, and create new process elements as needed.
Clicking on the "View" icon allows an admin to view what deployment rules are being used to deploy each specific process element.
Edits can be made to existing materials with the edit pencil tool.
Click on the "+" sign in the lower right corner of the page to open a new materials creation modal and build with these steps:
1. Add a title for the new material.
2. Use the available toggle switches to enable specified characteristics of this process element as applicable. These include the following options:
- Include mailing instructions.
- Mark material as internal-use only.
- Create a payment material.
- Mark material as a conditional submission.
3. Use the WYSIWYG editor to add desired content. A rich-text editor provides styling options, mail merge options, and the ability to embed media.
4. Click "Add" to preserve your changes.
Important Note for AlertTraveler® Clients: AlertTraveler® App Activation Materials are system-generated and designed to work cooperatively with AlertTraveler® Eligibility functionality. For this reason, they behave a little differently than other materials found in Content Management. To avoid disruption, the content of these materials should only be edited from the following location: AlertTraveler > Settings >Admin >App Activation Material. The associated deployment rules should not be edited.
Learning Content
Learning content is used to share key information with applicants that they must mark as "read" in order to complete. Clicking into the "Learning Content" tab of Content Management brings you to a listing of all learning content on your site. By default, these process elements are listed from A to Z. With similar feature tools available in other areas of the Admin Console, admins can conduct a search by learning content name, use paginated search results to easily browse though a large number of items, and create new process elements as needed.
It is possible to configure learning content as a prerequisite for an assessment. When this setting is enabled and both the learning content and assessment appear in the same application, then an applicant will not be able to attempt the assessment until the learning content has been marked as read.
For full details on this feature, see the Using Learning Content article.
Assessments
Clicking into the "Assessments" tab of Content Management brings you to a listing of all assessments on your site. By default, these process elements are listed from A to Z. With similar feature tools available in other areas of the Admin Console, admins can conduct a search by assessment name, use paginated search results to easily browse though a large number of items, and create new process elements as needed.
For full details on this feature, see the Using Assessments article.
Recommendation Forms
The recommendation feature allows offices to gather feedback about an applicant from different recommender types, such as advisors or faculty. Recommendations are enabled from the Application Lifecycle page in Program Wizard. When enabled, recommendations are required of all applicants to a program. The admin sets the number of required recommendations for each recommendation type.
Recommendation forms are created as a way to collect the desired feedback from recommenders. Think of them as a questionnaire that gets deployed; however, the form appears only to recommenders and never to applicants.
Clicking into the "Recommendations Form" tab of Content Management brings you to a listing of all recommendation forms on your site. By default, these process elements are listed from A to Z. A column unique to this tab is that of "type" which establishes the specific type of recommendation for which this form has been created.
With similar feature tools available in other areas of the Admin Console, admins can conduct a search by the process element's name, use paginated search results to easily browse though a large number of items, and create new process elements as needed.
Important Note: Recommendation forms only appear in this section of Content Management. They are created within this builder using the same bank of question items from which questionnaires are created. The instructions for creating a recommendation form are therefore very similar to those for creating a questionnaire. Refer to the Questionnaire Builder KB article for additional information on question items.
Click on the "+" sign in the lower right corner of the page to open a new recommendation form and build with these steps:
1) Add a title for the new recommendation form.
2) Select the desired recommendation type. Options will include "All" and "General" by default in addition to any recommendation types configured under Settings > Rec Types.
3) Add the desired instructions. A rich-text editor gives you formatting options.
4) Note that the "active" toggle is enabled by default and can be used to retire the recommendation form.
5) Begin creating question items. This can be done by clicking the plus "+" symbol on the bottom left of the page. An information window will appear giving you options on how to proceed. These include "Create New" and "Add Existing".
To create a new question item, proceed in the builder using the following options:
1) Question: Write your question here.
2) Type: Use the drop-down menu to make a selection of Field, Yes or No, Date, Rating, Data Lookup, Data Lookup with Search, or File Upload.
3) Sub Type: This field will appear as applicable, and a drop-down menu will provide options. For example, if you select "Field" as your type, then choose from Text, Numeric, Short Description, or Essay under Sub Type.
4) Add Instructions: These are specific to the question item.
5) Mark as Required: Click the toggle switch to mark this question item as required or not.
6) Delete: Click the trash can to remove your entry for this question item if you decide not to proceed.
Currently, a new question item will go into the "Uncategorized" folder by default and can be reused in another questionnaire.
To add an existing question item, proceed in the builder using with the following options:
1) After selecting the option to use an existing question item, a display page will appear with a full list of existing question items for you to choose from. Use the paginated search results (located on the bottom right of the page) to control the number of items which appear per page.
2) Select a question by clicking into its corresponding checkbox. More than one question item can be added at a time.
3) Once you are ready to proceed, click "Continue". If you do not want to proceed, click "Cancel".
4) After clicking continue, you will be directed back to your builder page and will see that the selected question item has been added. By default, this question item will appear last in your recommendation form. However, you can use the "Question Order" arrow to change the placement of this question item.
After building your first question item, you can click the plus "+" sign in the left bottom corner to create another new question item or add an existing question item to the recommendation form.
Click "Add" to preserve your changes.
Important Note
When using deployment rules with recommendation forms, it's important to understand how this unique feature is managed by the system. This includes the differences between enabling a recommendation with a program-level setting versus deploying a recommendation form with a rule. Detailed information can be found in the "Creating a Deployment Rule" section of the Admin Console: Deployment Rules article.
Reviewer Forms
The Reviewer Form is a questionnaire that can be created by an admin and used as a means to gather additional information about an application from a reviewer.