Slate-Hosted application users may notice that some items are added automatically to the applicant checklist for which no template appears to exist in Checklists. These are auto-generated checklist items.

The auto-generated checklist items also have corresponding system material fulfillments, which cannot be replaced or adjusted. These system items include:

• Recommendations

• School reports

• Transcripts

• Test scores

Their behaviors are described under their corresponding headings in this article.

This article also describes the steps to disable auto-generation for each module.

🔔 Important!

• Don’t modify the keys of any material whose key begins with sys:.

• Creating new materials that begin with this sys: key part won’t function in the same ways that the pre-loaded system materials do.

Recommendations

On the custom reference page of a Slate-hosted application, applicants can use a reference widget to list their recommenders. This creates recommender-specific checklist items on their application record.

• Auto-generated checklist items allow Slate users to collect recommender-specific feedback on applicants, as well as corresponding materials (if applicable), via a recommendation page within the Slate application.

• The information collected uses reference-scoped fields and materials and is a function specific only to Slate-hosted applications.

• References, and the corresponding Recommendation checklist items, can only be created through the reference module access through a Slate-Hosted application.

• If you do not use a Slate-Hosted application, it is likely not necessary to disable the behavior, nor is it possible to combine this behavior with any imported reference.

Example

In this example, Alanis and Joyce, both of whom work at the University of Learning, are listed as recommenders by an applicant on their Slate-hosted application:

When a Slate user selects one of these recommenders from the applicant record, additional details appear about the status and timeline of the recommendation (in this case, Alanis’s).

Limitations

It is not possible to import to reference-scoped fields and prompts. For imported applications, recommendation PDFs brought in via import should be associated with custom materials that fulfill custom checklist items.

📝 Note

Data contained in PDFs cannot be queried on.

What if a recommendation process calls for a more generalized approach?

It is possible to generalize the way a recommendation is added to the checklist for Slate applicants by creating checklist items of your own.

If recommendations are primarily received through a third party, like the Common Application, and it's not necessary for Slate to send and collect the reference information, then creating generic recommendation checklist items should be fine.

In most cases, auto-generated references do not need to be disabled as they can only be created through use of the reference widget on Slate-Hosted application.

Disabling auto-generated recommendations

To create this checklist item:

1. From the main navigation, select Database.

2. In the Records and Datasets section, select Checklists.

3. Click Insert.

4. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: Inactive

   • Scope: Person/Application

   • Group: Enter an optional group name.

   • Section: Reference (special use only)

   • Subject: Add a descriptive subject, such as "Disables automatically generated references."

5. Click Save.

📖 Further reading

Custom reference page

School Reports

School reports are a material in every Slate database with a key of sys:school_report_stream.

School report functionality is only available to applicants applying via a Slate-hosted application when a custom school report widget is in use.

So, if your institution doesn’t use a Slate-Hosted application or a custom school report widget, you might not need to disable auto-generation.

If the Slate-hosted application is in use, a school report widget is added, and the applicant has provided at least one course in a course widget, then the applicant is given the ability to add one school report and official per school listed on their application. Each school report will then be added to the checklist automatically.

Example

Examples in the format “School Report for <School Name> (<School Official Name>)” can be seen in the following image as they would display on the checklist of a custom status portal:

In the example, two different schools and school officials have been provided.

📝 Note

• Any materials collected via a school report form will be report-scoped in Slate and can only be added to the reader as one document.

• Individual sections of a school report cannot be split out.

Disabling auto-generated school reports

To disable the automatic generation of school report checklist items:

1. From the main navigation, select Database.

2. In the Records and Datasets section, select Checklists.

3. Click Insert.

4. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: Inactive

   • Group: Do not configure a group.

   • Section: School Report (special use only)

   • Subject: Add a descriptive subject, such as "Disables automatically generated school reports."

Transcripts

Once upon a time, Slate would generate a transcript requirement for each school entered on an applicant's person record with a level of study.

✨ Tip

If your database was provisioned after 2019, auto-generated transcripts are likely disabled by default.

Unlike auto-generated recommendations and school reports, the addition of a school to the record through any means results in the generation of a checklist item, so long as a level of study included.

For this reason, it recommended to disable auto-generated transcripts and add school-scoped checklist items that reflect your institution’s transcript needs.

You might choose to turn off the creation of standard checklist items if, for example:

• You direct applicants to provide one transcript (for example, Final Transcript, Graduate Transcript, or Undergraduate Transcript)

• You wish to fully customize the transcript process. In this case, you'll turn off the automatically generated, school-specific functionality, which generates a checklist item for each school with a level of study on an applicant's record.

📖 Further reading

For a complete list of the steps necessary to replace auto-generated transcripts with rule-generated school-scoped transcripts, please see Migrating from Auto-Generated Transcripts to Rule-Generated-Transcripts.

Test Scores

By default, when a test is added to the tests section from the Slate Template Library in the Database, the Add to Checklist setting is set to No.

When changed to Yes, a test score report checklist item is automatically generated for each self-reported test score. This process works for partners that require a one-to-one relationship between the score being collected and the checklist item that will be displayed on the status page.

Once a test score has been verified administratively, it automatically fulfills the auto-generated checklist item.

Disabling auto-generated test scores

1. From the main navigation, select Database.

2. In the section Records and Datasets, select Tests.

3. Select the appropriate test to edit. Only tests added from the Slate Template Library appear.

4. On the setting Add to Checklist, select No.

5. Repeat for each test that should no longer auto-generate a score report on an applicant's checklist.

What if a test score process calls for a more generalized approach?

It is also possible to generalize the way test score requirements are added to a checklist. This can be useful when multiple tests are accepted, but only one is required.

If only one test is required, and the test score that is provided does not matter, then creating a checklist item similar to the one below is a good strategy. Giving the item Test Fulfillments would allow it to be fulfilled by either an SAT or ACT score.