Project: COMPASS Scholarship Selection and Awarding Process
Primary UITS Contact: Julie Parmenter
Last Update: November 2, 2009
Original problem description: Currently, scholarships are awarded by several different departments using a number of diverse systems, which are difficult for students to find and hard for departments to administer. Fiscal reporting often occurs long after the awarding period. The ramifications of this are that some exceptional students are not receiving scholarships for which they are eligible. It also implies that some donated funding is improperly utilized or goes unutilized. The other impact is that the data is not available for proper reporting, so that further decisions about student usage or financial impacts are not possible.
This project will be delivered in several phases:
Phases that have been implemented:
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Phase 1: Implemented August 2008, this phase
automatically awards certain merit-based academic scholarships. These
scholarships are awarded at the time of admission to students who meet
certain selection criteria, and all of them are renewable for four
years of study at IU. This process has two main components:
- Initial review and awarding at the time the admission decision is made
- Updated awarding after admission triggered by receipt of new academic or test score information
This phase also included an administrative interface to let administrators update award criteria, add new awards, turn off awards, and view the status of students who had already been evaluated. This piece is now in its second year of production for IU Bloomington and the first year of production for IUPUI.
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Phase 1b: This phase saw the implementation of a
student self-service scholarship application used by the IU Foundation
and IU South Bend this past year. The application was open to all
students on all campuses for IU Foundation awards, and all students at
IUSB for all scholarships. The application was dynamic, based on IU
Foundation and campus-level requirements. IU Foundation and IUSB had
unique requirements regarding essays and other optional criteria. The
administrative user interface in this phase was used to manually enter
scholarship applications and to also change their status from saved to
submitted and vice versa. This process replaced an antiquated
paper-based system, which required an intensive manual effort to
manage. This piece is now in production.
- Phase 2: This phase saw the implementation of a student selective scholarship application, and the ability for departments to make decisions and recommend students for specific awards. Based on academic criteria at the time of admission, students may be eligible to apply via an online application to specific awarding organizations. The application is dynamic based on programs to which the student is eligible to apply. Each program has unique requirements regarding essays and recommendations. The administrative user interface in this phase is used to manage department information, essay questions, eligibility criteria, and the sorting and processing of student applications.
Outstanding phases:
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Phase 2b: This phase will include the
implementation of the campus-specific student-facing application. This
uses the infrastructure of Phase 1b with the new SIS student-facing
user interface, which was used in Phase 2. It also includes the
ability for a student to login with a guest account, and provides a
recommender interface. The coding phase is completed, and it is due
for implementation in early November 2009. Also, during the next few
months, there will be a roll-out of this application to all
campuses. Although the effort here is mostly in the arena of support
and assistance (since the application can be customized without coding
changes), there is a development team commitment to this effort. At
some point, we will want to roll this out to graduate students. We do
not know if that will require coding changes, but we hope our
structure is flexible enough to accommodate even the addition of
graduate fellowship applicants.
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Phase 3: This phase will include the Scholarship
Tracking Infrastructure, and consists of several initiatives. The
first is an extension to the SIS item type table, which will hold data
elements that allow for tracking of:
- Linkages to the IU Foundation system and to the FIS Chart of Accounts
- Donor intent
- Scholarship intent
- Descriptive information, as well as information about how to apply
- Replacement of the archaic coding structure behind Keyword 3.
This infrastructure will serve as a basis for a new eDoc that will be used to create new SIS item types, and will insure that all of the elements are linked and created using the correct IU business rules.
It will also be used to populate a searchable web site for students, parents, and administrators, so that it is possible to determine which scholarships a student will be eligible for. This can be used not only as a mechanism to promote awarding, but also as a student attraction and retention tool.
Lastly, this infrastructure will allow for better auditing, awarding, and management of scholarship funds. Many scholarships today go unawarded because of confusion over funding and eligibility. This new structure will make it possible to link funding sources in IU Foundation, SIS, and the FIS, and will clarify the donor and scholarship intent.
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Phase 4: This phase will include an Awarding Org
interface for all populations. An Awarding Org interface (also known
as the "Slice and Dice" page) was created in Phase 2 for Selective
Scholarship Applicants, so student dossiers could be reviewed,
selected, and awarded in one searchable interface. The first extension
to this functionality is to build an Awarding Org interface for
student applications that are submitted using the Phase 2b
campus-based application. This will utilize much of the existing code,
and will not require an extensive effort. The next extension is to
provide an Awarding Org page for students who did not submit an
application. It match students to potential scholarships based solely
on SIS data and the criteria on the SIS item type (which will be
created in Phase 3). This component might be created in the DSS
environment or using DSS data.
- Usability testing: The Compass management team has contracted with the UITS Usability Lab to conduct formal usability testing against the new student facing application, which went live in Phase 2. This testing will occur during November 2009. Once the analysis is completed and those reports are received, there will be an evaluation as to potential changes to the interface.
Outcome: Upon completion, the COMPASS system will process all varieties of scholarships for students on all IU campuses. With the completion of each phase of this project, administrators will be able to award and manage scholarships with greater ease from one central system. They will be able to award scholarships to more students, and more effectively report to donors. Students will be able to apply for scholarships, without difficulty, from one central location. The result is that more scholarships will be awarded, with the ultimate result being better attraction and retention of IU's most outstanding students.
Milestones and status:
- Phase 1 date for live production and full awarding of automatic scholarships was August 1, 2008 Completed
- Phase 1b was implemented January, 29, 2009 Completed
- Phase 2 delivery was implemented August 2009 Completed
- Phase 2b is targeted for November 2009
- Phases 2 and 4 are targeted for August 2010
Comment process: Send comments to Julie Parmenter.
Benefits: This project will:
- Provide an automated method for the awarding of IU scholarships
- Allow students an easy method to apply for scholarships
- Allow a better method for tracking donor intention and funding
- Better attraction and retention of most outstanding students
Risks: Each progressive phase relies on integration with other systems. Phase 1 is tightly coupled to SIS. Phase 2 relies on Onbase. Phase 3 pulls in FIS and IU Foundation data.
Primary client: Students, departments, Enrollment Management and Financial Aid offices
Client impact: The implementation of COMPASS brings about a new way of doing business for many staff, which might require training.
Project team: The team is made up of the SIS technical team, Office of Enrollment Management, Financial Aid and Scholarship Officers on all campuses, IU Foundation Officers, and SES staff.
Governance: A committee representing all concerned departments meets regularly. The SIS systems development manager is responsible for technical implementation.
