At one time, Slate’s default functionality was to generate a transcript requirement for each school entered on an applicant's record with a level of study.

These items can be distinguished from their rule-generated counterparts on the applicant checklist primarily because the auto-generated checklist item “Transcript (<School Name>)” appears hyperlinked when the cursor hovers over it.

If dates attended exist, clicking on the item will cause it to expand and for the dates to appear beneath the school name.

Auto-generated transcript checklist item, when clicked on:

If your checklist assignment requires any customization whatsoever beyond one-item-per school for all applicants, assigning transcripts via rules is more scalable and manageable for many reasons:

• School-scoped checklist items can be assigned based on any applicant criteria, and can be limited to appear only for certain schools on the applicant record. Auto-generated transcript behavior is all-or-nothing--it is impossible to modify the appearance and timing of these items, as they are assigned by a script which is inaccessible to Slate users.

• School-scoped checklist items assigned by rules can account for multiple different types of transcripts. Auto-generated transcript items can only be fulfilled by two system materials, and never by a custom school-scoped material (a Final Transcript, Mid-Year transcript or international Transcript of Evaluation), nor by a school report.

To determine whether your database is reliant (or partially reliant) on these transcripts, you can observe the checklist items on individual records and see if they appear hyperlinked. Also confirm whether a checklist item in the section of "Transcript (special use only)" exists in the Checklists database tool (regardless of active or inactive status). Step 4 details the configuration of this item. The existence of a checklist item in the "Transcript (special use only)" section is effectively an off switch for auto-generation. If you observe that no such item exists in your database, follow the steps below to replace the functionality for setting it up.

1. Create checklist items to reflect your transcript needs

We recommend building this item initially in production environments and keeping it inactive. You can also built them in test environments with the intention of rebuilding in production.

To most faithfully mirror auto-generated Transcript functionality, a single checklist item with the Subject of Transcript is sufficient.

The following settings are important for mirroring auto-generated items:

Scope

School-scoped checklist items should only be fulfilled by school-scoped materials, with one exception: they can also be fulfilled by a school report, as school reports must be associated with a school on the record. The scope of the checklist item is what allows multiple items (one per qualifying school) to be assigned to a single record. Do NOT change the scope of a Checklist item once it has been activated.

Material Fulfillment

This checklist item should have a material fulfillment of both sys:transcript_copy and sys:transcript items.

It is not necessary to create new materials unless you are seeking to add an additional type of transcript.

🔔 Important!

• Never use the sys: prefix on a new material you create.

• Do not change the key of the system materials.

Type

You can make your newly created Transcript Checklist item "Private" in its initial configuration. This means that, though it will not display to applicants when initially added, it will still factor into application completion. After the auto-generated items have been removed, you can flip the setting of the Transcript checklist item to "Public."

Required for Reading

Ensure that the new "Transcript" checklist item is required for reading.

2. Create rules to assign school-scoped transcripts

It is our recommendation to build these rules in production environments and keep them inactive. However, you can also built them in test environments with the intention of rebuilding.

Rule filters for school-scoped checklist items are built from the application base. The filter criteria determines, as with all rules, which applicants qualify for this particular checklist item.

This is the place where you determine which types of applicants qualify for the Transcript checklist item in question.

To recreate the auto-generated transcript functionality, which assigns transcripts to every applicant, no filters are necessary.

Rule actions, once a school-scoped checklist item is selected, will expand to account for the one-to-many relationship between and applicant and the schools they have attended. The actions can be configured to determine which schools on a record should have a Transcript item associated with them.

One rule, like the one above, may be all that is necessary to assign transcripts in a way that mirrors auto-generated transcript behavior. However, to achieve the nuance that is possible with rule-generated transcripts, multiple rules can be employed.

3. Refresh your test environment if you have been building in production

To refresh your test environment, follow steps in this article.

4.Turn off auto-generated transcript functionality in test

You’ll do this by adding a checklist item with a specific configuration. This item has no material fulfillment and should stay inactive. Don't think of it as a real Checklist item: its existence is just an "off" switch. All other settings should be blank or left as-is.

Follow steps to configure this checklist item in Auto-Generated Checklist Items & System Materials.

5. Activate and test your rules and Transcript checklist item in test

If you did not make your new checklist item "Private," there will be a time when duplicate transcript items will be visible on the student checklist.

6. Run a retroactive refresh on all records in test

If you have not already done so in the testing process. Checklist rules only run on applications in Active Periods, so ensure that the records you view are current.

To perform a retroactive refresh, follow these steps.

7. Run a script to remove existing auto-generated transcript checklist items in test

Because the auto-generated transcript items were not added by rules, they cannot be removed by rules either. You will need to run a one-time script in your test environment to remove them from all checklists.

📖 Required reading

Database Cleanup Tools

This script is only accessible to those with Administrator (All Access) permission.

1. From the main navigation,select Database.

2. Select Cleanup / Scrub Address Records.

3. Select Configuration Cleanup. Read the instructions on the Configuration Cleanup page carefully before proceeding.

4. Select Checklist: Remove Auto-Generated Transcripts.

If the Transcript (special use only) section Checklist item has not been added properly, the script will not run.

Report timeouts or unexpected errors in the Community.

8. Confirm auto-generated transcripts have gone away in test

Confirm on a couple of records that the auto-generated transcripts have gone away in test, leaving only those generated by your new rules.

If you had set your new "Transcript" checklist item to private, make it public.

You are now ready to repeat steps 4 through 8 in production (restated below for clarity).

9. Add the "Transcript (special use only)" checklist item in production

See step 4.

10. Activate rules and the new "Transcript "checklist item in production

See step 5.

11. Run a retroactive refresh on your records in production

See step 6.

12. Run the script in production

See step 7.

Set the your new Transcript checklist item to Public so that applicants can see it once again.

13. Confirm that your application records appear as desired in production

See step 8. You're done! All transcripts in your instance can now be managed via the rules editor.