You’ve configured the Slate essentials, you’ve built out your communications capacity, and you’ve brought in historical records. Now it’s time to build out your application.

The application and Reader processes build on data, forms and rules. Applications can collect both person- and application-scoped data.

Step 1: Configuring periods and rounds

Whether you'll be using a Slate-hosted application, importing applications from an external source, or both, you must configure periods and rounds for your application data.

▶️ Action item: Configure placeholder periods and rounds

Placeholder periods and rounds have been pre-configured in your database. These must be updated prior to going live.

To access periods and rounds, navigate to Database → Application Periods and Application Rounds.

Default periods:

• Inactive

• Active

Default rounds (4-year model):

• [Your University] Application

• Inactive Application

Default rounds (2-year model):

• [Institution Name] Application

Default rounds (K-12 model):

• [Institution Name] Application

• Inactive Application

📖 Further reading: Period and round structure.

Step 2: The Slate-hosted application

The standard Slate-hosted application lets you to stand up a functioning application quickly. It’s also easy to customized to fit your particular process.

📖 Further reading: The Slate-hosted application

➡️ Know you’re not hosting your own application In Slate? Skip to Importing applications.

Configuring application pages

Your database comes with several Slate-hosted application pages that must be configured before use. Additional application pages can be built with forms.

▶️ Action item: Configure, add, remove other application pages as needed

We include a number of commonly-used application pages in your database by default. You can update, add to, or remove these pages as needed.

📖 Further reading: Custom Application Pages

Application creation form

Your database comes with a form that creates a new application. Schools tend to use this as their “app lite” that doesn’t require a login.

📖 Further reading: Application Creation Form

To access the form, navigate to Forms → Application Creation Form → Edit Form.

Before the form will work, you must configure the following:

• This form has been pre-configured to include an application round and a PIN. These must be updated prior to going live. Instructions are included in the form’s description text.
  

• Communications have been configured and need to be customized. You must configure the Sender field to reflect your institutional email:

  1. Select Edit Communications.

  2. Select Edit Mailing.

  3. Select Edit Message.

  4. In the Sender field, enter your institution’s preferred sender email.

  5. Repeat for the other form communication.
     

Configure application submission requirements

Common submission requirements are pre-configured in your database in Database → Application Logic.

Any of these default requirements can be modified or removed. You can also create any additional requirements at any time.

▶️ Action item: Review application logic

Explore the list of pre-configured requirements and adjust them as necessary. Find more examples in Submission Requirements.

✨ Tip: Collect materials with application logic

Enforce material submission before application submission using hard fails.

Collecting recommendations

Recommendations submitted directly to Slate are fulfilled by a form submission.

▶️ Action item

Configure Slate-hosted recommendations.

Step 3: Imported applications

If you receive applications from external sources, this will be your first major integration to set up in Slate.

We return to other integrations—like payments and student information systems—in the next Roadmap stage. For now, we’ll focus on just your application sources.

▶️ Action item: Configure your application source import

1. See the Importing Data Overview. In particular, we’re concerned with the recurring data feed option.

2. Explore the Source Format Library and the Application Sources section.

3. Locate your application source of choice in this section and follow the steps in its article to set up the integration. If you don’t see your application source in these lists, create a custom source format to intake its data.

Importing recommendations

We recommend using Slate-hosted recommendations, but you can also import recommendations using a PDF Material.

📖 Further reading: Materials Overview

Step 4: Additional application configurations

Whether you use the Slate-hosted application, import external applications, or both, configure these additional application components:

The applicant status portal

Slate features a standard applicant status portal.

▶️ Action item: Configure the standard applicant status portal

The application status portal has been pre-configured. However, this portal can be enhanced based on institutional needs at any time.

📖 Further reading: Custom Applicant Status Portal

Collecting materials with the applicant status portal checklist

Collect materials after application submission using the checklist on the applicant status portal. To take advantage of the Slate checklist for current applications collected in another system, import school-scoped materials.

📖 Further reading: Getting Started with Checklists, School-Scoped Materials

Application communications

System emails are pre-built, automated application-related communications triggered by transactional activities such as application creation and application submission.

▶️ Action item

Create additional application communications in Deliver as necessary.

📖 Further Reading: System Emails

Customize application status, fee rules

Your database includes a number of rules that move applications through the various application statuses.

Access these rules in Database → Rules → Folders → Application Status.

▶️ Action item

Customize these rules to match your process.

Configure application sharing with Slate.org

When you start sharing your application information directly with students and counselors, you join a growing movement to democratize access in higher education.

📖 Further reading

• Slate.org for Colleges

• Slate.org Application Sharing Settings

Step 5: Reader and workflows

You can manage your application and material review processes in the Reader, the visual application review tool in Slate.

Reader review processes are built with workflows. Workflows let you manage all the different aspects of any review process in one place.

📖 Further Reading: Getting Started with Reader and Workflows

Customize your application review workflow

Your database comes with a pre-configured application review workflow (2-year model databases also come with an early alert workflow).

▶️ Action item: Customize the application review workflow

This workflow covers the basics, but feel free to expand it to fit your process.

Things to consider customizing include:

• The workflow’s tabs

• The Reader portal dashboard

• The workflow’s views

• Reader permissions

📖 Further reading: Workflows

Customize and activate bin movement rules

Your database includes workflow bin movement rules to move applications through the bins in the pre-configured application review workflow.

▶️ Action item: Customize bin movement rules

If you made any changes to the application review workflow, make sure they’re reflected in the associated bin movement rules.

Activate the rules when you’re ready to test the workflow.

📖 Further reading: Bin & Queue Automations

Customize, create new Reader review forms

In Forms → Folders → Reader → Reader Review Forms, you’ll find a pre-configured Reader review form that you can further configure as needed.

📖 Further reading: Reader review forms

Create additional workflows as necessary

Workflows are powerful tools for moving records (read: not necessarily a person) through a semi-manual, semi-automated review process. Some tasks that schools have had success automating with workflows include:

• Ticketing systems

• Scholarship review

• I-20 documents review

📖 Further reading: Explore the workflow possibilities afforded by custom datasets.

Step 6: Decisions

We strongly recommend releasing decisions within Slate using its tested and effective decision release tools.

🔔 Important! Do not send Decisions via email.

The Slate decision process consists of three stages: preparation, automation, and release. Following the application review process, applicants are notified of a status update through a secure portal, where they view decision information in a controlled, password-protected environment.

📖 Further Reading: Decision Release Overview

Customize decision codes

Your database includes a number of commonly used decision codes, which you can customize as needed in Database → Decision Codes.

▶️ Action item

Edit or create new decision codes based on your process.

(Optional) Create decision reasons

Decision reasons give you a chance to add detail to decision codes. For example, you can add a decision reason of Dean Admit to your Admit code. These reasons can be useful for reporting.

📖 Further reading: Decision Reasons

Customize letter templates

Your database includes three decision letter templates that applicants can receive upon release of decisions: Admit, Deny, and Waitlist.

Access decision letters in Database → Decision Letters.

▶️ Action item

Update existing decision letters with your institution’s branding and content, or create new ones from scratch.

Customize decision reply form

Your database comes with a Reply to Offer of Admission form that applicants can use to signify their intent to accept or decline an offer of admission.

Access this form in Forms → Folders → Applications → Decision Management.

▶️ Action item

Customize the reply form as needed. We will return to this form later to configure its automations.

Customize the decision notification system email

Among your database’s system emails is the decision notification status update email. This particular system email isn’t active until you configure its contents.

▶️ Action item

Follow the steps in Decision Notification Status Update Email.

Configure decision release automation

With the elements of your decision process built out, you just need to create the automations that move them where they need to go.

📖 Further reading: Decision automations

▶️ Action item: Configure, activate decision reply form rules

On the decision reply form we customized earlier, there are three pre-configured rules that need to be configured and activated.

On the decision reply form’s overview page, select Edit Form → Edit Rules. Three rules appear:

Add Enrollment Deposit Payment Due

If your institution requires enrollment deposits, this rule adds a Payment due activity to the records of form respondents who accept your offer of admission. The rule defaults to a $250 deposit, which you should update to your institution’s amount, if applicable.

Activate the rule when you’ve finished configuring it; if you don’t require payments, leave this rule inactive.

Add Accepted Offer Decision / Add Declined Offer Decision

These two rules add the form respondent’s decision activity to their record, whether Accept or Decline. Both rules default to Inactive and must be activated.

▶️ Action items: Configure, activate decision rules

Add Decision Reply Form to Checklist

Adds a required checklist item to the admitted applicants’ status portals that they must complete the Reply to Offer of Admission form. Defaults to Inactive; activate the rule once you’ve configured it.

📖 Further reading: Add Decision Reply Form to Applicant Status Page

(4 Year and K-12 Models) Add Enroll Decision Code

Adds a decision code of Enrolled to admitted applicants who have paid the application fee. Defaults to Inactive; activate the rule once you’ve configured it.

Add financial aid letters and decisions

Along with admission decision letters, the Slate decision release tool can also send out your financial aid decisions.

▶️ Action item

To incorporate financial aid decisions into your Slate database, you must:

1. Add financial aid decision codes to your database.

2. Add the financial aid letter source format to your database.

3. Import financial aid letters.

4. Release financial aid decisions.

Follow steps in this article for details on the above steps.

Test your decision release process

With your decision release process completed, test it thoroughly. This requires testing from the applicant’s point of view as well as from the administrator’s.

📖 Further Reading: Testing Your Decision Release Process

Next up: Integrations

With new applications ready for intake and a review process in place, it’s time to integrate Slate with the remainder of your campus systems.

➡️ Next: Step 5: Integrations