Decision Codes

Updated 17 Jun 2024
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Often interactions, activities, statuses, decisions reasons, and actual decisions are combined into decision codes. This is an opportunity to consolidate and organize decision codes to be more sustainable by adopting the Slate standard decision names and codes. Adopting these standards from the start will make the rest of the decision process cleaner and easier to understand.

⭐ Best Practice
Develop a list of decision codes that is manageable for long-term sustainability. Rather than deviate from standard decision codes, use decision reasons to address business needs.

Standard Decision Codes

We recommend using the following decision codes in Slate:

Decision Name	Prerequisite	Code
Admit	not applicable	AT
Deposit Pending (if requiring an enrollment deposit)	AT	DP
Deposit Paid (Enroll) or Admit/Matric	AT	AM
Admit/Decline	AT	AD
Deny	not applicable	DN
Defer	not applicable	DF
Waitlist	not applicable	WL
Waitlist/Accept	WL	WA
Waitlist/Decline	WL	WD
Withdraw	not applicable	WT

Decisions that need a prerequisite

Some decisions should not be released to a student unless another decision already exists on their record. For example, an Admit/Matric decision should not be assigned to a student who has not been admitted (that is, a student who does not have an Admit decision). Therefore, Slate uses prerequisites to ensure that only compatible batch-released decisions can be released.

While decisions can be manually assigned at any time to an applicant, the post-decision rules and the Decision Release module will honor any prerequisite settings.

Decision Code Settings

Setting	Description
Active	Inactivate decision codes that are no longer used. This preserves the decision history on the record, but inactive decisions cannot be accidentally assigned to applications administratively.
Folder	Designate or assign the decision code to a folder for organization purposes.
Name	Give the decision a descriptive name. This name is visible administratively only.
Code	Each decision must be assigned a unique code. It is typically helpful to use short alpha codes, such as AT for admit codes. This simply makes reading SQL easier to understand, as numeric codes like 42 do not typically hold meaning. If your SIS is looking for a numeric code, consider entering this code as the Export Value.
Export Value	Configure up to 3 export values for a decision code. Export values can be used in exports to external systems, including your SIS.
Public Label (optional)	Optionally add a decision label that will appear for applicants when viewing decision letters online. This is often helpful for applicants who have multiple released decisions with letters, as they are able to more easily view a specific decision letter again.
Priority (optional)	If you release multiple decisions at exactly the same time, you may set a priority order in which the decision will appear. Decisions that are not released at exactly the same time will display in order of the release date.
Automatic Assignment	This setting allows you to prevent certain decision codes from being batch released if a prerequisite decision has not yet been released for that application. For example, an Admit/Decline decision should not be released if the application does not have a released Admit decision yet. By selecting the "Require prerequisite for assignment visa rules" option, up to three prerequisite decisions for a particular decision can be configured. If more than one prerequisite is specified, this decision can be batch released if an application has at least one of the prerequisite released decisions.
Opt Out	This setting will automatically set the Opt Out tag when the decision is released. This is typically used for Deny decisions, where institutions want to prevent denied applicants from continuing to receive marketing communications.
Type	Most decisions should have the type of Decision. Decision codes that are used for other types of items, such as Financial Aid or Scholarship letters, should typically be set to Correspondence/Letter. Correspondence/Letter decisions are not ranked, so it will prevent these decisions from being considered the most recent or first decision for an application, which will prevent their inclusion in decision exports that rely on the decision rank or filters that are specific to the most recent decision or first decision.
Admitted Student SSO	Enable this setting if you are using Slate as a CAS provider to authenticate users into another on-campus system and would like to require certain decisions for access. This setting can also be used to enable access to an admitted student portal.
Printable	This setting is used for Decision Letter exports, including the Query Output option Decision Letter Export to Word. Only printable decisions will be included in the file.
Hide Checklist	Hide checklist when released will hide material and financial aid checklist items on the status page. The Forms checklist items will still appear (see the Hide Forms option below). Once an applicant has a released decision that is configured to hide the checklist when released, these checklist items will not appear on the status page, even if a new decision is released that is not configured to hide the checklist. This setting is used in conjunction with the standard status portal. If using a custom status portal, conditional logic should be added on the checklist widget to hide the checklist items.
Hide Forms	Hide forms if not yet viewed will hide just the forms section of the checklist until the applicant has viewed the decision letter online. This setting is particularly useful for Admit decisions, where you do not want the applicant to see the form Reply to Offer of Admission on the checklist before reading the decision letter that tells them that they have been admitted.

Adding a Decision Code

Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Decision Codes.
Select Insert.
Enter the following User configurations in the dialog box:
Status: Set to Active.
Name: Name the decision code. We recommend using Slate standard decision names described above.
Code: Provide a code. We recommend using Slate standard codes described above.
Export Key: Provide an export key for codes that will need to be used in data exports to other systems.
Export Key 2: Provide additional export codes when multiple systems are using different codes.
Export 3: Provide additional export codes when multiple systems are using different codes.
Public Label (optional): We recommend leaving this setting blank for now. This setting is typically used for financial aid decisions, which is discussed later in the documentation.
Priority (optional): If multiple decisions are being released at exactly the same time (for example, an Admit decision and a Financial Aid decision), organize the order in which those decisions will appear to the student. Priority 1 will appear first, priority two will be next, and so on.
Automatic Assignment: Choose Require prerequisite for assignment via rules to prevent certain decision codes from being batch released if a prerequisite decision has not yet been released for that application.
Prerequisite #1: Some decisions should only be available for release if another decision has been previously added (for example, Deposit Pending). Provide a prerequisite code when applicable.
Prerequisite #2: Set additional prerequisite decisions if needed. Important: Slate treats these prerequisite settings as logical ORs, not ANDs.
Prerequisite #3: Set additional prerequisite decisions if needed. Important: Slate treats these prerequisite settings as logical ORs, not ANDs.
Opt Out: Configure a Deny decision to set the Opt Out tag automatically. Setting this will ensure that those students no longer receive marketing communications.
Type: Leave this at Decision.
Admitted Student SSO: Leave this at Do not enable.
Printable: This allows the Query module to export a letter associated with the decision as a Word document to be used for mail merge.
Hide Checklist: Choose Hide checklist when released to no longer display the checklist on the applicant status page for a person once the decision has been released.
Hide Forms: Choose Hide forms if not yet viewed to hide just the forms section of the checklist until the applicant has viewed the decision letter online.
For example, the applicant status page might normally appear like this:
But when this decision is released, the applicant status page could look like this:
🔔 Important:
This setting also hides the financial aid checklist. It does not hide the forms section of the checklist.
Hide Forms - Rules will be created to add required items to the applicant status page for applicants with certain decisions. For example, the reply to offer of admission form may appear as a required form for applicants who have been admitted.

The Hide forms if not yet viewed setting would prevent a required form from appearing on the applicant status page until the applicant has viewed the letter associated with the decision.
For example, the applicant status page may look like this when a decision has been released:
After the applicant has viewed the letter, the applicant status page will appear like this:
Click the Slate Scholar Lightbulb in the top left corner for a complete listing of all setting descriptions.

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What's Next

Decision Reasons

Table of contents

Standard Decision Codes
Decision Code Settings
Adding a Decision Code

For example, the applicant status page might normally appear like this:
But when this decision is released, the applicant status page could look like this:

For example, the applicant status page may look like this when a decision has been released:
After the applicant has viewed the letter, the applicant status page will appear like this: