Meeting Minutes December 9, 2010

Fall Updates

• Student Record Clean-up




• Purged ~3,000 student records who never attended


• Adjusted ~250 individual record errors (emails sent to wrong student file, etc


• Created pop out view for emails in advising history (suggested by committee to add CLOSE button to top of email pop out)




• Misc tweaks and fixes – still in progress

Topics of discussion:

• Results of Priority Ranking for new development areas




1. Student Profile Adjust


2. More Search Filters


3. Department Settings and Templates


4. Reports


5. Emails


6. Forms


7. Calendar


8. Advisement Sheet


9. Virtual Server




• Student Profile Adjustments




• Update navigation (multiple tabs) one screen viewing (reduce scrolling, reduce time to load profile load)


• One tab would be open for all advisors/departments to see, discussed the following:




• Preferred names, assigned advisors


• Status (i.e. Disqualified, Transferred out, Departed, Study Abroad Sem/Location, Verbal graduation date)


• Follow-up notes (i.e. referred student to…, or please contact advisor if you see this student…, remind student to…)




• Lead to discussion about database being capable of sending reminder emails to advisor and/or student for follow-up


• Heather will look into this possibility




• NREG Statistics




• Authorizations Tab for FERPA




• More Search Filters (Placement results, Enrollment term, #Enrolled units) – discussion:




• Some options covered by Custom reports


• Search Enrolled # of units: full-time, part-time


• Cumulative GPA by term – showing progression each semester

Next Meeting:

• Last week of January or first week of February – meeting request to follow


• Plan to continue discussion on Profile change and possibly finalize


• Discuss sending out survey

USC Undergraduate Advisement Database Committee Minutes

Summer Updates

Custom Report Rebuild

• In July, 27.5 hours
• More than double what was estimated!
  
  Holds
• Table can be updated
• Academic Status - will request that order is modified (more recent at top)
  
  Program owner
• Search all LAS students
  
  Reviewed other search examples based on discussion
• Referred or manually added majors - Search students who are not officially in major but added major/program tab (UNDL)
• Comments - Filter comments from all program tabs
  
  To Do
• Record Fixes and Corrections
• Post code clean up and inactive posts (students who were admitted and never enrolled)
• Line breaks to be added to comments and emails
• Multi column sort of student list
• Announcement emails - remove from advising history and add to separate tab
• General areas to focus on in Fall 2010 - Priority ranking (1-9) distributed at today’s meeting
  

Advisement database survey will be distributed to advisors after CAA Survey ends.

Perhaps at next CAA meeting, we can discuss how to better handle student crises.

Filter by Program Owner

Finding it tricky to keep your program filters up-to-date with new posts? The majors, minors, post code and program search fields require that you enter each program individually.

A new filter has been added for you to search for student programs based on the owning school instead of inputting each program separately. The new field is call Program Owner and is located under the ACADEMIC FIELDS section of the search field list.

Here's how it works: just enter the type of programs you are looking for (major, minor, etc.) and the SIS code for your school (LAS, ENGR, BUAD, etc.). For example:

major-LAS
major-LASN
major-BUAD, minor-BUAD

The first example will return all students with at least one major in the College. The second example will return all students with a major in any of the Natural Sciences within the College. And, the third example will return all students with a major or minor in Marshall.

A list of the SIS program owner codes for each school is provided below for your reference:
ACCT - Leventhal School of Accounting
ANSC - Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
ARCH - School of Architecture
BUAD - Marshall School of Business
CNTV - School of Cinematic Arts
DENT - Ostrow School of Dentistry
EDUC - Rossier School of Education
ENGR - Viterbi School of Engineering
FA - Roski School of Fine Arts
GERO - Davis School of Gerontology
GRAD - The Graduate School
LAS - College of Letters, Arts & Sciences (all programs)
LASH - College of Letters, Arts & Sciences - Humanities
LASN - College of Letters, Arts & Sciences - Natural Sciences & Mathematics
LASO - College of Letters, Arts & Sciences - Other Programs (Undecided, Undeclared)
LASS - College of Letters, Arts & Sciences - Social Sciences
LAW - Gould School of Law
MED - Keck School of Medicine
MUS - Thornton School of Music
PHAR - School of Pharmacy
PPD - School of Policy, Planning, and Development
SOWK - School of Social Work
THTR - School of Theatre

VPN now online

It is now possible to VPN without downloading any software by using:
sslvpn.usc.edu

This should be able to allow you to use the advisement database, my.usc.edu and other USC websites from home.

USC Advisement Database Meeting Minutes July 27, 2010

Attendants: Christina Aumann, Chris Noll, Elizabeth Erickson, Jeanne Herman, Russ Sommer (Note Taker), Nashira Thomas, Heather Cartagena (Ex- officio), Michael Kurland (Chair).

1. Recently Completed Updates
a. Custom Report Extension – went 8 hours over estimate due to adding photos to system.
i. Contains Department tab information
ii. Photos not available in EXCEL export, but are available in Word/PDF
b. SIS Display Updates – Including:
i. Academic Status & SAP
1. Currently lists are formatted from entering semester to current will plan to reverse order so current is first seen
2. Descriptions are displayed on Student Profile page and are static based on department/SIS descriptions
ii. Other HOLDS on Profile page are hyper-linked to an external table which further defines hold (descriptions pulled from SIS, but can be updated by Heather)
iii. HOLDS which restrict registration appear with a RED Exclamation Point !
2. Budget Status
a. 12 hours remain for July
b. Contract for 20 hours of service each month will continue
3. Next Items (Estimates pending – Programmer out of town at present)
a. Student List Multi-Column Sort - ability to sort a list by Holds and alphabetically for example
b. Filter by specific program in reports
c. Modify and add display of Student profile – to view all material on one screen with tabs to reduce scrolling
d. Search for Placement Results
e. Lock Advising History to not show announcement emails as default – brief discussion about locking personal preferences in filter
f. Add Email signature templates
g. Trouble shoot MAC issues
4. General areas to focus on for Fall 2010 discussion
a. Virtual Server for student access – ITS has made an update for web access.
i. Worked for Heather to sign in from home please visit: sslvpn.usc.edu
ii. Virtual Server may not be necessary if students can access this site
b. Number of items Advising sheets, Calendar function, Emails, Templates, Forms, Reports, Search Filters
c. Discussion tabled to receive feedback from Advisors
i. Will develop a primer survey to measure Database usage and concerns that will be sent to community for feedback – to be sent mid/late August
ii. Using survey results plan to have an open forum with advisors to demonstrate Database functions, best practices, and receive further feedback on concerns once a semester.
5. General Announcements/Discussion
a. Michael will be stepping down as Co-Chair of the committee upon completing his CAA Steering term
b. Next meeting will be seat by new Co-chair to be determined after new Steering team announced
c. Survey to advisors regarding caseloads and responsibilities still in the works
d. Discussed SC retention rate – 6 yr window for completion and with Provost efforts percentage increase to at least 89%
e. Possible to get tuition grant for students needing only 4-8 units to graduate.
f. Michael and Ian are still seeking Advising Narratives – Please contact if you’d like to assist them – mkurland@usc.edu
g. Removing data categories from Department custom tabs (i.e. items that are no longer relevant or have been
i. Difficult and not possible unless every field/value is blank for the item to be deleted
ii. NOT Possible for check box items – unchecked boxes still considered data

Translation of SIS Codes for Academic Status, SAP Status and Activity Restrictions

A variety of updates have been made to the display of certain SIS information within the Advisement Database to help you better understand the meaning of different codes for Academic Status, SAP Status, and Activity Restrictions.

Academic Status indicates the students academic standing for a given term, such as academic probation or disqualification. For students whose academic standing has always been good, this information will display as a single "OK". But, for students who have been or currently are on academic probation, you will be able to see the history of the probation and/or disqualification status. The information is listed on the Student Profile page below the Advisement History box.

SAP Status indicates the students status relative to Financial Aid eligibility for a given year. For students whose SAP eligibility has never been reviewed, this information will display as a single "N/A". But, for students who have been reviewed for SAP, a status will appear for each year. A short description of each status is also included. The information is also listed on the Student Profile page below the Advisement History box.

Activity Restrictions have always been included in the Advisement Database. These include a variety of information from SCP or Athletics holds to Collections, and Library holds to Student Conduct. However, did you know that not all holds (activity restricts) actually stop a student from registering? There are several other "information only" holds. The new updates to the display of this information includes a small icon of a red exclamation point next to holds that actually restrict registration. Also, you can click on any hold to get additional information about the activity restrictions description and the contact information of the office or department who can remove the hold. The information is also listed on the Student Profile page above the Advisement History box.

Expanded Field Options for Custom Reports

The Custom Report option has been greatly expanded to allow you to export just about any of the fields available in the Advisement Database for your students. Previously, the custom report fields were limited to student name, USC ID, majors, minors, addresses, and USC email. Now you are able to create a filter on the Student List based on any criteria and then export a variety of information for the students on the filtered list.

The custom report fields include just about anything that is viewable within the Advisement Database including GPA, expected graduation, all requirements satisfied, degree date, mandatory advisement, and even USCard photo. You can also export information that you have been entering into your department's custom fields!

The report can then be sorted and grouped with output as a Word document (RTF), PDF, or Excel. Please note that USCard photos are *not* available in the Excel format, only RTF and PDF.

To access the custom report, just click on the Reports link in the navigation bar and select Custom Reports in the top center of the page under the "New Reports" heading.

Meeting Minutes 6/28/10

USC Advisement Database Meeting Minutes
June 28, 2010

Agenda:
1. 2009-2010 Review
2. Budget Status
3. List of new items

Our committee has been in existence for one year.
Many changes that we requested have been made.
Need to use remaining FY2010 hrs.
-600,000 individual items/ day
-Log of system 300 million items
Logged information will be deleted after 30 days
-Perhaps this will help speed up the system? Maybe…
-Urban Insight will continue updates (custom report rebuild, SIS data displays) – will bill under FY2010
Budget refreshes for July = 20 hrs/month
Filter advisement sheet, all programs
*If we want to test advisement database, we can request access to the record of “Thomas Trojan” thru Heather

What is the purpose of our committee?
Survey – Find out who is using the system. What do they want to know?
Let’s have working meetings in computer labs (advance training for advisors across campus).
-Perhaps in our meetings, we can put together training workshops?
-Survey – how familiar are you with certain processes? (Scale 1-10)
-If you scored 8, 9, or 10, would you be able to train other advisors?
-Template – supposed to have pop-up box
-click “Save” and then click back or close browser
-Heather will fix – it is a bug!
Expired Posts still show up as “active” in database
KUALI will eventually replace SIS

USC Advisement System
– designed to promote retention and help advisors communicate between double majors/ minors.
Graduate Advisement System
– not likely in the near future.
Wish list for July
1. Multi-level sort
2. LOA- wait for Heather! No action now
3. Filter by program in reports (Similar to at-risk reports)
4. Update profile screen with fields that can be edited by all users (major and minor advisors)
5. Placement test results
6. Mac trouble shooting
7. Email signature included in template
8. Filter locked (default) - lock filter so announcements are not seen.

Meeting Minutes 6/7/10

Database Committee notes for 6/7/10 Meeting Minutes

Attendants: Christina Chris Noll, Ian B. Keil, Elizabeth Erickson, Jeanne Herman, Jennifer Gerson, Michael Kurland (Chair).
1. Spoke about updates, email lockups, cleaning up logs and custom reports will use up the time remaining for June.
2. Emailing system has been locking up since April/May, what Is causing this and why should we pay for it? Is it ITS fault? If so then can we bill them?
3. Re-evaluation of what the committee should be about was discussed.
a. Want to create a panel (us) of Liaisons or advisers to advisers about the advisement database (ADB) so that we can go back to our schools/departments and be an additional resource.
b. Thus, we will need to understand the parts better and use part of each meeting going through a section of ADB.
c. We will also continue to rank the importance of updates and new changes to be done to the ADB both through focusing on the specific parts (such as Advisement Sheet or Search) as well as comparing all parts and ranking.
d. We will also like to create in conjunction with Heather helpful hints, cheat sheets, and other helpful things for us and other users.
4. It was thought that templates could not be updated, but tested that they could be. Although, the advisement sheets template would save and not close, it was found to press the save button and then hit back twice in order to get out. (Instead of loading the page over again).
5. Question: Does custom report cover LOAs?
6. Contact ITS to see if they can have a representative at our meetings
7. Some wants:
a. Would be good if the lock on the filter would stay until taken off (for all tabs)
b. Search function for audits (but low priority as there is a work around)
c. Separate announcement tab for emails – will it only filter new announcements or all? Is not as needed if the filter would stay locked.
d. Email subject lines – does it give a subject line if we email the ADB?
e. Email breaks for the emails to ADB would make those emails useful and not unreadable.
f. More discussion is needed on the next steps to take
8. Next meeting will be in 2-4 weeks, a meeting wizard will be sent out.

Database Committee notes for 4/29 Meeting Minutes

Attendants: Christina Aumann, Diana Jaramillo, Deri Leong-Miller, Chris Mattson, Russ Sommer (Note taker), Ian B. Keil, Elizabeth Erickson, Enrica Hodder, Michael Kurland (Chair), Heather Cartagena (Ex-officio).
1. Discussed recently completed updates
a. Multiple Email Attachments –
i. Ian noticed a little glitch and will continue to test.
ii. The estimated 6 hrs for this update, actually took 11 hours
b. Custom Report Rebuild –
i. in-process
ii. Original 24-26 hours expected, but may take longer
iii. Possibly completed before grades are posted
2. Discussed budget invoice
a. March Invoice = 21.75 hours
b. Still have 10.75 hours banked from previous months
c. Unexpected April hours
i. Shibboleth system failure issues resulted in downed system –may require newer version of Shibboleth (unsure if we will pursue at this time)
ii. 2-3 hours to trouble shoot the above and locked email issues
iii. ITS – changed email ports which resulted in some email confirmation issues
3. Next Database updates
a. Displaying SIS Data – 15 hrs
i. Academic Status – 4hrs
ii. Holds/Activity Restrictions – 7hrs
iii. SAP Status – 2 hrs
iv. Testing – 2 hrs
4. Summer Items and Beyond – Discussion - After Custom Reports and SIS Data updates
a. Remove USC Intranet/VPN – 32 hours
i. Would involve virtual student server
ii. Some departments find it easier for students to connect than others
iii. Having recent Course Plan available has helped
iv. Continue to remind students to sign in on campus computers
b. Separate Announcement Emails from Advising History View – Estimate Pending
i. Brief discussion on this being an extra tab or other format
5. Other points of discussion –
a. Possibility of adding Academic Support tab automatically when an Academic Probation/Review tab is added
b. Discussed the Database Email Void that Heather manages
i. Incorrect ID format on email tag lines
ii. Sending emails to system prior student data being added – returning students
iii. Heather will continue to manage for various reasons
c. KWALI (sp?) – Consortium to replace SIS system
i. Currently working on financial piece
ii. Still in development state
iii. Will likely still need DARS/STARS system with KWALI – mainly a registration/information conduit
iv. Should not affect Database itself
v. Will be open sourced so multiple schools could use
vi. Still several years before implementation
d. NREG list is active
e. Revisited Database APPT Calendar
i. Many departments are not using, so has dropped in priority
ii. Still an important tool for some
iii. Discussed different strategies and uses between departments
6. Next meeting likely first few weeks of June before weekly orientations.

Meeting Minutes 3-8-2010

Present: (no particular order) Diana Jaramillo, Russ Sommer (Note taker), Christina Aumann, Christopher Noll, Jeanne Herman, Enrica Holder, Deri Leong-Miller, Elizabeth Erickson, Michael Kurland (Chair), Heather Cartagena(Ex-officio).

1. Discussed Recently Completed Updates


1. Progress Audit Icons – took a total of 8 hours (2 over estimate)


1. Resulted in a bit of confusion but overall no major complaints or concerns


2. May decide to hide these buttons in preferences and view during Audits


2. Mid-term Alert Emails


1. Received well by all departments


2. Plans to add line breaks to emails in the future


3. Multiple Email Attachments – this item is in-progress


2. Budget Status


1. February – 14.25 hours used total


2. With Jan/Feb excess – leaves 32.50 hours for March


3. Latest Quotes


1. Custom Report Fields (24-26 hours)


1. The entire Report system will be rebuilt with this time


2. Which includes all items presented including Department Fields and Pictures


2. SIS Data Displays


1. Academic Status – 4 hrs

1. Semester by semester status updates instead of just ‘N’
2. Allowing Advisors to better track students on probation


2. Holds/Activity Descriptions – 7 hours

1. Holds will result in hyperlink to descriptions
2. Too much data to include in Student Profile


3. SAP Status – 2 hrs

1. Translated labels in profile


4. Testing / Debugging – 2 hrs


5. Total Estimate – 15 hrs


3. USC Intranet/VPN Requirement Issues with Student Access – 2 approaches (currently students need to download VPN and subsequent programs to make appointments and via Course Plans on OASIS -> this is a confusing and difficult process for many).


1. Provided detailed packet of information in response to options


2. Create a new student portal server – 32 hours

1. Cheaper than purchasing a new server
2. Would partition one of the two current servers and allow students to access off-campus


3. Create a separate website for student access – 8 hours

1. Less secure – NOT RECOMMENDED


4. DISCUSSION – Likely to proceed with creating portal server perhaps in summer. Though few departments use appointment scheduling (partially due to this difficulty) in the future more items may be placed in MyUSC for students – so the need will likely grow


4. No longer seeking new ITP position despite interviews


1. Appears to be more cost effective to continue working with vendor


5. Future Plans


1. Move forward with Custom Reports updates (March)


2. Move forward with all SIS Data Displays (borrowing time from April if needed)


6. Future Meeting


1. Expected Late – April. Michael will send invites soon.


2. Discussion topics:


1. VPN Virtual Server


2. Revisit original list and reprioritize future plans

*NEW* Progress Audit Icons

Trying to figure out if your processed all of your students in the latest round of progress audits? Two new icons and search filters have been added to the system to help you keep track of your completed (or uncompleted) progress audits. Here are the specifics:

Two new icons (a green and white "3" and a blue and white "5") have been added to each student's record. The icons are based on the presence of an email in the student’s record marked “3rd Semester Audit” or “5th Semester Audit”.

Since the email categories are also relatively new (as of July 2009), the 3rd semester audit icons have been activated only for students with an entry term of 20083 or later and the 5th semester audit icons have been activated only for students with an entry term of 20073 or later. For students with earlier entry terms, these icons will always appear as "off".

Each icon also has a field in the search filter list under the ACADEMIC FIELDS section. They are called "3rd Semester Audit" and "5th Semester Audit". Each search field is a checkbox. Searching with the box checked will find all students with the icon "on" (audit not completed), and searching with the box unchecked will find all students with the icon "off" (audit completed).

Be sure to use these new search fields in combination with your programs and the "Entry Term" field.


TIP: Oops! Did you accidentally send your audit email as an "Advising" email instead of a 3rd Semester or 5th Semester Audit email? This means that the corresponding icon for that student will still be "on" even though you've completed the audit. Here is what you can do:

Open up a new individual email for the student, but change the student's email address in the TO: line to your email so the student doesn’t get a duplicate message. Next put what you would usually put in the subject line for an audit, and put something in the body like, “Audit email mistakenly sent as Advising email on” whatever the date was. Be sure to tag the email as “3rd Semester Audit” or "5th Semester Audit" and when you hit send the corresponding audit icon will turn off.

Increased Edit Time

Are you always getting interrupted when working on your course plans for students? Tired of having to abandon and delete your work or save a half-completed version of your forms and comments? If so, then this should be good news for you:

The "edit" time has been increased from 5 minutes to 72 hours (3 days)! Now you can return to items worked on earlier and continue to modify, edit, build, or even delete within 72 hours.

If you prefer to preserve the previous version and save an updated version to document changes that were made in a subsequent advising session, you can still choose to Create New from the existing item (even if it is within the editing time period).

The edit rule affects the following advising items:
» Advisement Sheet
» Course Plan
» Comments
» Academic Review form
» Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) form
» Structured Curriculum Program (SCP) form
» Leave of Absence form