September27_2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
St. Cloud State University, Atwood Center
St. Cloud, MN
Present: Shawn Handwerk, Mary D’Andrea, Kelli Kenitz, Gloria Deick, Brenda Zamlen, Rita Moore, Ann Nelson, Sharleen Allen, Marla Delaney, Debbi Eull, Laurie Tralle, Joe Schider, Gina Boeckermann, Ron DeJong, Gin Forseman, Michelle Frenzel, Melanie Callister.
Minutes from the April 12 meeting were presented for approval to the User Group. Minutes are posted on the web at http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/usergroup/April12_2005.html
ITS arrangement for Technical Support is Ron DeJong - Registration, DARS & FA Supervisor.
Due to recent reorganization within ITS, Fred has been re-assigned to work on database tasks. Ron DeJong, Registration, DARS & Financial Aid Supervision, is our new technical support member. The change acknowledges ITS’s rolling of DARS into the main core of services.
Training and Presentations
Training sessions, presentations and attendance information follows:
o Encoding – July 12-14, 2005: 4 attendees from 4 schools; and Sept 20-22, 2005: eight attendees from four schools.
o TA – June 8 & 9, 2005: 14 attendees from 9 schools.
o Third Thursdays: six months (12 session days), with 51 attendees from 35 institutions.
o ‘Up North’ Open Lab – July 27, 2005: three attendees from 3 institutions
o Future ‘Up North’ Open Labs: Up North open labs will be scheduled for each term, based upon need and lab availability. The next scheduled Up North lab is Nov 30, 2005
o ‘Down South’ Open Lab. Query attendees at the forthcoming Users Conference for interest in an open lab in the SATURN region. South Central College has offered space at their facility.
o Combined CAS Advisor & Admin Training – June 28, 2005: 4 attendees from 4 institutions.
o Individual lab sessions: four attendees from two institutions.
o Laurie, Mary & Gina attended the Advanced Methods DARS User Conference at Miami on June 20-23, 2005. Due to the growing number of attendees, the annual conference will no longer be held in Miami. The next conference will be held in Colorado Springs, CO. The conference agendas will alternate each year between featuring advanced methods and user presentations.
o Joe & Marla completed Skills Encoding training with Miami Univ – Sept 13-16, 2005. This fall, Marla will attend the Advanced Methods and Joe the Transfer Articulation sessions. Miami sessions begin with a web course. Campuses are encouraged to attend these sessions also. Shawn Handwerk (Inver Hills), Sue Pelzer (Century) will be attending Advanced. Deb Beal, Pam Mattick, and Barb Lamont (MSU-Mankato) will be attending the autumn TA, and Angie Alley (Century) will be attending the spring TA, March 7-10, 2006.
o MnOnline Summer Conference Presentation – July 28, 2005
§ MnCAS 3 people attended
o Future training
§ Basic Encoding is planned for Spring Semester, if needed. Basic Encoding will be an ongoing offering.
§ Transfer Articulation is scheduled for Nov 1 & 2, 2005.
§ CAS Admin & Advisor Training is scheduled for Oct 12, 2005.
§ Interactive Audit Training is scheduled for Nov 16 & Mar 15. The half day training sessions are scheduled for the afternoon before Third Thursday.
Documentation
§ E-mailing audits: E-mailing an Audit to Novell GroupWise solution and documentation announced. Posted 9/2/05 at:http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/updates/updatesindex.html#audits.
§ #RC# and #20# bug fixes posted 7/18/05.
§ Purge and Re-run audits for CAS. Posted 7/15/05 at http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/updates/Purge_Run.pdf
§ Encoding Academic Forgiveness (removing course, count, and GPA affect) documentation. Posted 7/12/05 at http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/updates/AcademicForgiveness.pdf.
§ Changing a wrong FICE code in Joe Cool. Posted 6/3/05 at http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/updates/JoeCoolCorrection.pdf.
§ Encoding a Transfer Articulation rule when one course, of a many-to-one rule, has been taken again, and additionally, showing the second occurrence of the course as duplicate. Posted on 9/9/05 at http://www.dars.mntransfer.org/updates/Repeated_Source_Course.pdf
Reports
1. Gina reported the web hits for dars.mntransfer.org occurring since the April User meeting:
§ April - 6,700
§ May - 6,982
§ June - 4,745
§ July - 5,071
§ August - 6,105
2. Gina and Mary reported on the dars.mntransfer.org website review. Recent changes to ISRS and DARS prompted a review of the website. A style guide was written for Documentation and INCLTOP continuity. All documents show a posted or revision date. At present, 43 encoding and 11 INCLTOP documents have been revised. Eight documents have been removed. Eleven documents and 24 INCLTOP’s need revision. The final revision of INCLTOP pound items, from existing numbers to letters, will be coordinated with updating campus INCLTOP’s.
DARS Team Task List
Review DARS Team Task List
A. Completed tasks (since last User Group meeting - April 2005)
1. #RC – Advisor Access Code – change end date logic. Laurie reported that the original functionality removed the access codes once the prior term ended. Now the access codes are available through the 10th day of the term.
2. Inver Hills and Bethel FICE clean-up. Mary and Joe reported that FICE codes had successfully been changed for all campuses for Inver Hills and Bethel. Inver Hills was changed from 006935 to the accurate FICE of 009740, and Bethel was changed from 002338 to 009058. Additionally, the production DARS for Inver Hills was cloned from 006935 to 009740. The Inver Hills changes and conversion occurred on August 11, 2005.
3. Catalogs for exporting report. Since the April User meeting, 396 catalogs have been transported. Due to the labor intensiveness of building catalogs, and the apparent lack of interest in requesting state directories (only 7 schools have requested the Iowa directory), Mary suggested that we create catalogs based upon campus requests. This option will be presented at the User Conference.
4. Activated DARS catalog field for majors. After reviewing how campuses established majors through INCLTOP, Fred and Laurie reconciled the newly activated DARS Catalog in ISRS with the business practice in each campus’ DARS. For each campus, the ISRS DARS Catalog should act like the previous INCLTOP definition. If campuses wish to trump the ISRS DARS catalog, they can add #DC to their INCLTOP. We are not encouraging this, as use of the ISRS DARS Catalog is a best practice.
5. CAS server changes & DARS data being updated every two weeks. The initial CAS updates were scheduled on the 1st/ 3rd, and 2nd/4th weekends, but did not take into account 5 week months. The CAS server will update SATURN and SCTC2 on the 1st and 3rd weekends, and MNSCU1 and METE will be updated on the 2nd and 4th weekends. In the months where 5 weekends occur, no update would occur on the 5th weekend. (This was later changed to S servers on payday weekends and M servers on non payday weekends. Regardless of the weekends, the updates follow the payday weekends.)
6. Bug fix – Audits with end-dated concentrations still ran. With the fix, audits with end-dated concentrations no longer run.
7. Zoomerang Help Desk Survey. Gina reported that the survey was sent to 115 individuals. Response was at 38%, with an overall response of “very good.”
B. Follow-up task reports
1. Accounting Transfer report. Mary reported of the July 15th darsinfo announcement reminding DARS encoders to include the results of the Accounting Transfer Project into their TA tables. The Accounting Transfer Project’s Final report of June 1, 2005, is posted at http://www.mntransfer.org/facdisc/summaries.html
2. Tech prep follow-up. Mary reported that three more schools (Dakota County TC, St. Cloud TC, and Anoka Ramsey) have been encoded with Tech Prep. The process of encoding Tech Prep is posted on our web site, and is linked to the Grants Plus website.
C. Team identified tasks
1. Catalogs sent via import method – operationalize process. Catalog requests for state directories often require a lengthy period of time to process. Ron suggested an over night operation set-up to run automatically.
2. Updating # numbered items to # letter items and coordination of changes to campus DARS tables (INCLTOP). Conversion of the INCLTOP numbered pound items to letters will occur after documentation for all # items is complete, and posted on the web. Campuses using numbered pound items will have the numbers replaced with the letter pound items. The conversion will be done by OoC staff. Campuses will be notified the conversion.
3. Explore log mining as an alternative to refreshing DARS data on the CAS server. With log mining, real time CAS updates could occur, and weekend updates would cease. (Purge and Re-run will still occur.) Joe is looking into this process.
4. Bug fix – when doing an ‘e’ run in DA0001CP it will not process if using SSN instead of tech id. After discussion, the User Group decided to remove this from the task list.
5. When Expected Grad catalog is entered in ST3602UG, the DARS catalog in ST1100 – Area Study/Int tab should automatically populate with the same year/term. With the activation of the DARS catalog created a follow-up issue. How should a campus prioritize the Graduation catalog? Based on major, minor, or a declared date? Currently, ST1100UG takes precedence. We will need to survey campuses further.
6. Set up process to allow DARS team to view own audit dump. The DARS dump looks at all DARS tables through the processing of a student and their program. The dump is often called for when submitting an issue to the OWL, and could be used by the DARS team to troubleshoot. Currently, we request a DARS dump through ITS. We are requesting that the DARS dump be a report option from the DA reports screen.
7. Request Import feature in CAS. Laurie reported that IMS (a partner with Miami University) met with MnSCU and U of M to create a package to import student transcript data into CAS through a secure site. The proposal was submitted to Learning Innovations Council for financing.
8. eTranscript. Using XML technology, trading partners (U of M and MnSCU) would allow requesting, authenticating, sending, and acknowledging for student transcripts. This could eventually also be used by Minnesota high schools to send transcripts.
9. Begin work to explore the exporting of catalogs/TA rules inserting only new rules. Joe and Laurie reported that initial work has begun to insert source courses into an existing catalog. The process would insert, from dvlp catalogs, new courses into campuses TA tables. This would be the final step in the curriculum update project.
10. Ask ITS to add a mandatory MNTC Goal field in curriculum in ISRS, so that Goal information for individual courses can be tracked and captured. Mary reported that a request has been passed forward to JoAnn Simser (8-19-05) to add a field in ISRS curriculum (or other?) files to include MNTC goal areas. User Group members cautioned against replacing the Gen Ed codes with MnTC goals, as some campuses are using the Gen Ed codes. Additional discussion encouraged a system definition of Goal 2, favoring Goal 2 infused in all MNTC courses.
11. Plan for change in email type options in ISRS. Currently, INCLTOP looks to the Personal email. Expansion of the email addresses in ISRS will require a hierarchy based on campus business practices. Laurie recommended that this request be put on hold until ISRS rolls out their e-mail options. Additionally, we need to review the initial intent of the task.
12. Operationalize curriculum pulling
a) For curriculum comparison project
b) For annual CAS course bank load (& other times when course bank needs to be re-loaded to CAS.
Both the curriculum comparison project and the annual CAS course bank load are made by OoC request. Ron recommends that the processes be automated.
D. Enhancement requests/tasks needing User Group input
1. Review #PR to check logic. Logic needs to account for new Status code and Program Result Code fields in the ST1001 or ST1100UG - Cohorts/Program tab. Laurie needs to test DVLP to see if there is a problem table.
2. Coordinate the roll-out of ISRS DARS catalog minor (was not part of the original Admissions, or July roll-out)
Ø Bemidji and St Cloud’s policy is that minor and major are normally declared at the same time, and use a valid term date. We agreed that we need more information (from state universities) before we can know how to apply the ISRS minor.
3. Add advisor contact information (phone #, email address, office) to #06 Advisor (#AV)
Ø User Group recommends the INCLTOP item to display faculty phone number (optional), email address (optional), and office number (optional). If blank, then no printing.
4. If the FICE code for the institution being exported already exists in the Education tab, AND the YrTr Accepted field is blank, the export process will either overwrite information or populate just blank information – survey results – Lake Superior
Ø User Group recommends “no overwriting” of data.
5. Enhancement to #PT#. Add the display of the dates of attendance from Education Tab of ST1000UG as an option – MSU Mankato
Ø User Group recommends that we add dates as optional. This is not a high priority.
6. Enhancement to #DD, which was designed to show their own previously completed degrees. User wants #DD to display where the degree was completed (Tscpt Inst Name from the Student Degree Maintenance screen ST1131UG) – Mankato
Ø User Group recommends that previously completed degrees from other intuitions be printed. This should be optional.
E. Currently prioritized enhancement requests/ bug fixes
1. #TS Test Score – date range enhancement
Need to display, optionally, test dates, PRAXIS date of license.
2. #TP & #20– add display of test date - Laurie
3. Populate Form ID field of DA0001CP automatically – since we can’t choose only one - HP16p or HP16l, instead have this field remain populated once user fills it in once. Same with printer queue. (like CT1001CB??)
Ø Ron indicated that this is a simple task and will change this soon.
4. Run to clean up Joe Cool to get rid of students not admitted in ISRS
Ø Process to include user (campus) to set begin and end dates. Process itself will be based on user demand.
5. Reduce paper output of report generated by export process. Turn on the suppress header page box
Ø Recommend turning on the “suppress header” field.
6. Add an INCLTOP/Fulldemo item to display the degree, major & concentration code from ST1100UG (#DA#) – Pat Carmody
Ø For major if different than declared.
7. Add an INCLTOP item (#EX#) to list all exceptions made on that student, including Ctl Code and Dprog fields, with an option to also print the memo and note fields. – Mankato
Ø Request INCLTOP #EX# call for Exception Control Code, Program, Note, and Memo. The Note and Memo should be optional.
8. Add an INCLTOP item (#AT) Active Term, to only print an audit when the DARS catalog yr/term is set to the identified term. – Dakota Co
Ø User Group requests that this task be put on hold. Comment: “Do we want campus specific queries within DARS?”
9. Reports from Joe Cool
a. RI@ (To show FICE, Report InstID and Institutional name)
Ø Additionally, include a sort feature for FICE, Report InstID, and Institutional Name.
b. EX@ (lists students with their exceptions –Tech ID, Name, Ctl Code, Dprog & Note fields)
Ø Additionally, include a sort feature by Tech ID, DProg, and possibly, by Control Code.
c. CC@ (list condition codes used in audit)
Ø User Group thinks this would be a very useful report.
10. Other report:
Explore a report identifying program credits (financial aid)
Ø Agree that this is a good idea. Should we standardize this via Access reports?
11. Increase the limit on the number of requirements possible in the audit from 80 to 99
Ø Agreement to make this one change to driver before Java version is available.
12. Rule report fixes
Ø Email problem is ok. Alternates do not, but should, show in process monitor.
- Update on Interactive Audit
Joe and Marla will have a presentation on Interactive Audit Overview and do a demonstration at the DARS Users Conference at Grandview Lodge in October 2005. Two dates have been scheduled for Interactive Audit Training for campuses - Wednesday, November 16, 2005 and Wednesday, March 15, 2006.
- CAS Update
o CAS Pocket Guide will be re-ordered for campuses and high school counselors.
o Posters will be ordered. Explore idea of a pocket on the poster for pocket guides.
o MSCA Conference in May
Gina and Laurie will be attending the MSCA Conference in May. The emphasis will be on high school use of CAS.
o Server has been put on hold.
o Transition from MnTransfer tables to CAS
All MnSCU schools have transitioned to displaying transfer information in CAS instead of updating the work documents on mntransfer.org.
- Third annual DARS User Conference (Oct 3-5, 2005)
The forthcoming DARS User Conference was discussed. User Group was asked to make recommendations to the proposed agenda, and roundtable topics. Suggested an opportunity for campuses to identify ”points you want your CAO or CSAO to hear.”
Forward these points to fall CAO/CSAO meeting.
o Grandview Lodge – Nisswa MN
o Proposed agenda
o Guest speaker Tues evening
o Schedule
o Theme/Goals/Outcomes
- Other compelling issues
Consortium credits must be resolved.
FICE code confusion in ISRS for 005541 Institution name should be fixed (drop the city from the name!).
Next User Group meeting in February or March.
