Materials Overview

Updated 07 Jan 2025
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A Slate Material is any document that needs to be stored with any record. Material types are used to categorize the various kinds of documents and store them on a record. Some example Materials may include transcripts, letters of recommendations, and essays.

From the Admissions Office perspective: In addition to providing a way to store electronic documents, Material types also make it possible to read these parts of the application in the Slate Reader. Material types establish the way documents appear to readers.
From the Applicant perspective: Applicants can see that a specific material was received on their Applicant Status page. Furthermore, Material types are needed in order to generate the specific Checklist items required for an application to be considered complete.

Materials can be uploaded to the person's record in the following ways:

Take deliberate and thoughtful steps! Materials, Checklists, and the Applicant Status page are all closely related items in Slate. As such, most Slate Partners find it helpful to do modest development in Slate when they are just getting started with the Phase II tasks. Soon enough it will become clear how all of these items are related and work together.

Pay special attention to the Best Practice features when moving through the Materials and Checklist documentation. Heeding that advice will ensure that a more manageable business process is created for long-term sustainability.

File types that can be uploaded to a custom material include: .doc, .docx, .odg, .odp, .odt, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .rtf, .xls, .xlsx, .wdp, .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, and .tiff

✨ Tip
Slate.org can be used to share information regarding applicant data between undergraduate admission offices and high school counselors, independent counselors, and community-based organizations. See this Slate Scholar article on Slate.org Application Sharing Settings for more information.

Creating a New Material

Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Materials.
Select New Material.
Enter the following configurations. See Material Settings table for all settings descriptions.
Status: Set the Status to Active.
Key: Provide a unique identifier for the material. Typically this would be similar to the name of the material. For example, Resume might be listed here as "resume."
Name: Give the material type a name.
Access: Decide if applicants should be able to upload this material through their Applicant Status page. Applicants will see an upload button and may send any document that has the proper Access setting. Otherwise, uploading ability is limited to Slate Administrators only.
Group: Leave this set to Default Group.
Select Save.

🔔 Important!
Never use the sys: prefix on a new material you create.
Do not change the key of system materials.
Do not delete sys: materials. You can inactivate them if you are confident they aren’t necessary for your process.

Materials Settings

Setting	Description
Status	Set the status to 'Active' for currently used Fields. Active materials are available for selection externally on an application or form. Inactive materials will only be available administratively. Inactivated materials will continue to store data associated with them.
Key	This is the code that Slate will use to store fields in the database. It is best practice to create this ID in all lowercase with no spaces or special characters other than an underscore. Once this ID is set, and in use, the ID should not be changed. This ID is used to store the data in the database, and it is not a value that most administrative staff will see.
Name	The name of the material will be visible administratively and externally. It is acceptable to change the name, even if data already exists for the field.
Export Value	Configure up to 5 export values for a material. Export values can be used in exports to external systems, including an SIS.
Scope	Designate the scope of the material. There are several material scopes: Person/Application, Dataset, Reference, School Report, School, and Test. Person/Application - This scope should be used if materials should be associated with either a person (Folio) or an application. Dataset - This scope should be used if a material should be associated with a particular dataset. For example, if a dataset contains Schools and each has its own Brochure/Viewbook type of material, then the material scope for this particular Brochure/Viewbook material would be Dataset. An uploaded Brochure/Viewbook material would have information specific to a particular school within that dataset, but the overall Brochure/Viewbook material template could be applicable for any school in the dataset. Reference - This scope should be used if a material should be associated with a particular reference. For example, on a recommendation form, if a Reference should be able to upload specific notes about an applicant, and those notes should be associated/assigned to the Reference uploading them, the scope to be used for this material is Reference. School Report - This scope should be used if a material should be associated with a specific School Report. Similar to the Reference scope, if a school official wanted to provide any additional supplemental documentation on a particular School Report, then you would use the School Report material scope to associate these supplemental materials with a specific School Report. School - This scope should be used to associate materials with a particular school. For example, if custom transcript materials should be assigned to a specific school, these transcript materials would use the School scope. Test - This scope should be used to associate materials with a particular Test.
Dataset	When the scope of the material is Dataset, select the dataset with which the material is associated from the dropdown menu.
Access	Set the access of the material to 'Admin only,' or allow for upload on a student self-service website.
Student Upload Label	Include a label that will appear on the Status Page for materials set to 'Available for upload through student self-service website,' if desired. This is often used to designate official documents from copies.
Student Upload Order	Set the order of the dropdown for materials available for upload on the Status Page.
Student Upload Restriction	Restrict a material upload to a specific population on the Status Page. If desired, select a Population to which the material should be restricted.
Checklist Display Label	Include a Checklist Display Label to display the Material on the Status Page Checklist with a material icon if desired. This informs that student that a material has been received, regardless of whether or not there is a rule to add it to the Checklist. Please note: if this label setting is updated, you will no longer see the green checkmark as you do for other materials in the checklist.
Group	The Group setting will default to the 'Default Group' when a new material is created. If materials are assigned to the 'Financial Aid' group and added to an applicant's record, they will display under the Materials section of the Financial Aid tab on an applicant's application.
Custom Permission	Restrict the ability to view particular materials by setting a custom permission. If left blank, those with permission to view the materials tab on the student record will be able to see the interaction; those with permission to view an application will also be able to view the materials.
Material Metadata	Associate a Material-scoped form with a Material via the Material Metadata dropdown. This allows a form to be completed when editing or uploading a material of this type via the Batch Acquire interface. The Material-scoped form can include form fields mapped to various system fields such as person, application, and material-scoped destinations.

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What's Next

Uploading Materials

Table of contents

Creating a New Material
Materials Settings