Troubleshooting the Person Record
  • 25 Apr 2024
  • 7 minute read
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Troubleshooting the Person Record

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Article summary

Frequent topics related to viewing and updating information about a person record in Slate are provided here.

Standard Tabs

Dashboard: Am I able to edit data on the Dashboard tab?

The Dashboard primarily displays read-only information from elsewhere on the student record. Edits must be made in those other areas of the record. Tags and Opt-Out groups are the only sections you can update on the Dashboard tab.

Dashboard: Can I add/display more data on the Dashboard tab?

You may create a Dashboard system query to display data in a read-only fashion. Many schools create Dashboard system queries to display very high-level, important information such as Campus ID, Entry Term, and Academic Interest.

Timeline: Did the student really open the message *that* many times?

Yes, probably. Message opening is tracked is by the number of times the email client downloads a remote image containing a unique identifier.  Some email clients may periodically "misbehave" or create multiple opens based upon the user's activity, causing them to register that an email was opened multiple times, when it was really opened just once.

Timeline: How do we access/query/report on Ping data?

Ping data is stored in your databases and is available for querying using Configurable Joins. If you are comfortable with SQL and have direct SQL access permissioned on your user account, you can build custom SQL queries to look at the data as well.

Interactions: I'm seeing an incorrect interaction / I was expecting this record to have a specific interaction code but it's missing.

Interactions are populated by:

  • Automatically generated interactions (with a code of SOURCE)

  • Custom interactions which could be added manually, or via a rule, or a data import, or form/event registration, or a query

Check those possible sources. Is the setting of the interaction configured correctly, or has it been modified?

Audit Log: Why does the audit log show that this field value was set/unset when our staff didn't touch it and the student hasn't logged in to update it?

  • Data sources (data import, form submission, event registration) - Is anything mapped to that field?

  • Automation (rules) - Did the record meet the criteria to have the field updated by a rule?

Audit Log: Why did this record's status change at that time? Why were they moved from this bin to that bin (without any Slate user associated with that movement)?

  • The record may have met the criteria to be updated by a rule. Check the Rules Editor.

  • Many of the audit log events could happen via or as a result of a manual update as well (by a Slate user, or the student themselves via an application/form). Check these areas if you’ve ruled out automated/source updates.

Application Tabs: Student's application checklists are working incorrectly.

If you have a Slate application, these checklist items were automatically generated when the following were added to the applicant's record:

  • Schools/academic history

  • References

  • School Official (for School Reports)

  • Test scores

Custom checklist items (such as "Resume," "Passport Copy," or "Personal Statement") are typically added via rules. Check the Checklists tool to see the configuration for that specific checklist item, as well as for the relevant rule in the Rules Editor, and for the material type if applicable. (Sometimes, less frequently, custom checklist items are added manually.)

Financial aid checklist items can be generated by a data import or rules. 

Profile Tab: I want the Profile tab to be displayed first all the time when I am viewing a student record, instead of having to click on the tab. Is it possible to "pin" a tab when viewing a record?

Absolutely! Select Set Default Tab at the bottom of a student record tab to pin that tab. (You can do this for any tab, not just the Profile tab.)

Profile Tab: Am I able to edit data on the Dashboard tab?

No. Similar to the Dashboard tab, the “Overview” section displays read-only information.

Profile Tab: Can I re-label/move around the standard fields that are currently available?

The display of these fields is standard across all instances of Slate and this would require a global change. You're welcome to go ahead and open a new feature request in the Feature Requests forum!

Profile Tab: Can I add new fields to the sections in the Profile tab?

In some cases, yes! You can add custom fields to the Relationships, Schools, Scores, Jobs, Courses, Interests, and Sports sections. Create these new fields the same as any other custom field, except that you need to set the scope appropriately. For example, select the "School" scope to add a new custom field to the Schools section.

Profile Tab: I am seeing values in Schools (or Jobs, Scores, or other) section that are not supposed to be there. How did that happen?

These sections store data that is typically added via a data source (such as data import, form/event registration, or application), or manually by a Slate user. Identify the specific data point in question and then proceed to check the sources for the added data. After ruling out those data sources, examine the Audit Log to see if any updates occurred that would have caused the behavior you are observing.

Materials Tab: What is the difference between adding materials to the Folio vs the Application Round?

Materials uploaded to the Folio are available to satisfy checklist items on any application that the student may submit. For example, a "Transcript" uploaded to the Folio would satisfy a "Transcript" checklist item for every application submitted by that student, now and in the future.

Materials uploaded to a specific round (such as 2016 RD) will only satisfy checklist items on that application round. A transcript uploaded to "2016 RD" would satisfy a checklist item of Transcript there. However, if the student applied again in the future (for example, for 2017 TR), the transcript from the 2016 RD round would not satisfy the checklist item in the new application round. 

It is worth noting that all materials, regardless of folio or application round location, can be set to display within the Reader. So while it may not be desirable for an "old" material to satisfy a new checklist item, that old material can still be viewed in the Reader, if the Reader Tabs/Materials have been configured appropriately.

Custom Tabs

Can I restrict who gets to view and/or edit an entire tab or specific fields?

Yes. This can be achieved by navigating to the “Tabs” tool in the Database, selecting the desired tab, and editing the Read and/or Write Permissions. Standard or custom permissions can be used to allow only users with that associated permission to view and/or edit data on the tab.

Note: If a read permission is set on a field, the field will still appear for all users with read/write access to the tab where the field is located. If a user has permission to view or edit a tab, they will see all fields present on the tab.

Tab fields are not displaying as expected.

Check the form to ensure that all the custom fields are mapped. An unmapped custom field will not display values on a Custom Tab. Otherwise, check the “Fields” database tool as well.

The data values are not displaying as expected.

Custom fields accept data from multiple sources (including data imports, form or event registrations, applications, rules, query batch management, and manual entry). Try to narrow down the source and continue investigating from there.

*If the actual values appear to be correct, but they are displaying on the record incorrectly (for example, the GUID of prompt value instead of the name of the value), check the field setup in the Fields tool.

What does "Force premature rule execution" mean?

If you see "Rule execution queued for X minutes" at the top of a record, this means that the record has recently been updated and has been queued to be evaluated by the relevant rules in the Rules Editor. Usually these rules will run within several minutes. If a large number of records were recently updated, it could take up to an hour for these rules to run. Clicking "force execute" on an individual record forces the rules to run immediately on that particular record. Since this action delays the rules that would run on other records, it should typically not be used as part of an ongoing business practice. However, force executing rules on a particular record can be a great way to aid in the troubleshooting of rules or other student record behavior to see immediate results.

Data points are displaying on custom tabs as random letters and numbers rather than prompt values.

It is possible that your fields were configured incorrectly at some point, causing the data stored in these fields to display the GUID of the prompts, rather than the prompts themselves.


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