Admissions Connect Release Announcements

Can you believe it? It's time for the AC 232.1 Release Announcement!

We will push Admissions Connect 1.14 to sandboxes on July 21, 2021. The push to production is scheduled to begin July 27, 2021. Here’s what this release includes.

Fixes and Enhancements

• We updated the message that shows in the Manage Application Reviews window when no reviewers are assigned. 
• We fixed an issue that prevented a Queue from being assigned Application Reviews when the Queue was already assigned its maximum number of Application Reviews for another Application. Now, a Queue can be assigned its maximum number per Application. 
• We fixed an issue that prevented files from showing in the Applicant Application Viewer component in a portal when the Experience Cloud site includes a prefix in its URL. This issue impacted all file types except .pdf files. 
• A loading status indicator now shows in the Reviewer Application Reader on initial page load for ad hoc items. 

Actions for Existing Customers to Maintain Parity

This release we updated all of our unmanaged permission sets. To keep your org current, update all of your unmanaged permission sets accordingly. Use Admissions Connect Permission Set Details for reference.

• Admissions Connect - Submit Applications permission set: Enable access to the CommunityUtils and NamespaceUtility Apex classes. 
• Admissions Connect - Verify Applications permission set: Remove all field-level access and tab access for the Application Review object.
• All unmanaged permission sets: Give Read and Create access to the Admissions Connect - Refresh Records object.

We will push Admissions Connect 1.12 to sandboxes on May 26, 2021. The push to production is scheduled to begin June 1, 2021. Here’s what this release includes.

Fixes and Enhancements

• We updated our recommended sharing settings for Document Checklist Items to Public Read/Write for internal and external users. If this access seems too broad, don’t worry. After updating your external access, Document Checklist Items are still only accessible to users with access to the parent Application record.

Actions for Existing Customers to Maintain Parity

• Update the sharing settings for Document Checklist Items to Public Read/Write for internal and external users. 

Admissions Connect Chatbot

We made these minor changes. 

• We updated the dialog message that shows when an applicant wants information about application deadlines. 
• We fixed an issue that prevented the chatbot from accepting a typed “yes” (with a lowercase y) when responding to the chatbot. 

If you’ve previously installed the chatbot and made customizations, we recommend that you don’t reinstall the product to pick up these changes. However, if you’ve previously installed the chatbot but have made no customizations, you can reinstall the product to pick up these changes.

Let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Click the Ideas tab on the top bar of the Hub and be sure to select Admissions Connect when logging your idea!

We’re releasing version 1.1 of the Admissions Connect Chatbot product on May 4, 2021. 

Important: For this release, we are only updating the Admissions Connect Chatbot. The Admissions Connect package remains on 1.11. 

Here’s what we updated in the chatbot.

Admissions Connect Chatbot

• We renamed the product-provided flows to all start with “Admissions Connect Bot” instead of “R&A Bot.”
• We updated the Get Document Checklist Items and Get Application Tasks elements of the Admissions Connect Bot - Application Status flow to align with the quick start sample Action Plan Template Items provided in the Admissions Connect package. 

If you installed version 1.0 of the chatbot, don’t reinstall the product. We also recommend that you don’t rename the flows. You can update the R&A Bot: Application Status flow in your org to match what’s described in Understand and Customize Application Status Reporting.  https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Bot-App-Status

For general information about the chatbot, including installation instructions, see Meet Mascot—Your Admissions Chatbot. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Bot

Let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Click the Ideas tab on the top bar and be sure to select Admissions Connect when logging your idea!

 We will push Admissions Connect 1.11 to sandboxes on April 14, 2021. The push to production is scheduled to begin April 20, 2021. Here’s what this emerging release includes.

Admissions Connect Chatbot

Transcripts, recommendations, test scores, and essays—there are so many requirements for applicants to keep straight. Now you can give your prospects a personalized helping hand with Mascot, the Admissions Connect chatbot. Deploy Mascot to an Experience Cloud site, your institution's website, SMS, or other digital engagement channels to answer common admissions questions.

For more information, including installation instructions, see Meet Mascot—Your Admissions Chatbot. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Bot

Fixes and Enhancements

We fixed a number of accessibility issues. 

• In the Application Checklist component, we made these improvements.
  • Tables are navigable with directional arrow keys
  • User input instructions are clearer
  • Assistive technologies are informed of search results
  • Visual indicators for fields that match search input are more visible 
• In the Application Material Types JSON Configuration component, we made these improvements.
  • User input instructions are clearer
  • Assistive technologies are informed of error messages 
  • States selected/unselected checkboxes and expanded/collapsed sections are more communicative 

We also fixed an issue that caused checkbox fields used in the Application Review Feedback component to always behave as if they were required, even if they weren't marked as such. Now, the settings for a checkbox field are respected. 

Let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Click the Ideas tab on the top bar and be sure to select Admissions Connect when logging your idea!

We will push Admissions Connect 1.9 to sandboxes on March 17, 2021. The push to production is scheduled to begin on March 23, 2021. Here’s what this release includes.

Critical Changes

We deprecated the Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission and removed it from the Admissions Connect Verifier permission set. This custom permission in addition to object permissions was used to control the visibility of the Reject and Accept buttons for verifying Document Checklist Items. Now, the visibility of these buttons is solely controlled by object and field permissions. For full details about the required permissions, see Review Set Up Quick Document Verification. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Review-Doc-Verification To help you keep things straight, we updated the name of the custom permission to Deprecated - Admissions Connect Document Verification. Don't use this permission set. If you're an existing customer, review the Actions for Existing Customers to Maintain Parity section below. 

Fixes and Enhancements

Review-Related Changes

• We enhanced the navigation in the Application Materials Reader component to help you stay oriented in the application. By default, we expand the first Action Plan section. As you scroll through the requirements, we expand additional Action Plan sections. 
• When setting up custom review feedback questions for the Application Review Feedback component, required fields are enforced upon submission. For example, if you specify a field as required in a field set or if it's universally required, reviewers must fill out the field in order to submit their recommendation. 

Ad Hoc Document and Task Changes

• We updated the Sample: Other Materials Action Plan Template to allow users to add ad hoc Action Plan Items to ensure Action Plans created from this template will allow users to create ad hoc Action Plan Items. 
• We updated the Basic Task Details field set used to show ad hoc Task details in the Admissions Connect components. We made all the standard Task fields, which are available to standard Salesforce users, available to the field set. This update means you can now add any standard Task field. Previously, you couldn't add additional standard Task fields. 
• We fixed an issue that prevented the Admissions Connect components from showing some types of Task fields for ad hoc Action Plan Items. Previously, the Encrypted, Number, Percent, Phone, Text Area, Date/Time, Time, and URL field data types for Task weren't supported or had formatting issues. These field data types are now supported. 

Permissions-Related Changes

• We updated the Admissions Connect Community Reviewer permission set. We removed the View All permission on the Application Material Type and Application Material Mapping objects. To share these records, use sharing rules or modify the external org-wide default to Public Read. For detailed information, see Configure Sharing Settings. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Security-Sharing
• To help you manage permissions for Apex classes, we added two managed permissions sets that grant Apex class access for the Admissions Connect components. Previously, you had to create a permission set for Apex classes manually. Assign the Admissions Connect - Access Apex Classes for Applications permission set to users who work with Applications and Application Reviews. Assign the Admissions Connect - Access Apex Classes for Document Verification permission set only to users who verify application documents. For detailed information, see Assign Permissions Sets. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Security-Perm-Sets

Actions for Existing Customers to Maintain Parity

• Edit the Admissions Connect Community Reviewer permission set to remove the View All permission on the Application Material Type and Application Material Mapping objects. If you don't make these changes, you'll get an error when you assign this permission set to a user with a community-based license.
• If you haven't published the Sample: Other Materials Action Plan Template, edit it and select Let users add items to action plans to ensure Action Plans created from this template will allow users to create ad hoc Action Plan Items. 
• Remove the Deprecated - Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission from the Admissions Connect Verifier permission set. We also recommend that you check all your profiles and remove the custom permission if it's been assigned. However, because this deprecated custom permission doesn’t control anything, it won’t cause problems if it remains assigned. Then ensure you've followed all the required setup tasks, which have changed since the last release. For full details, see Review Set Up Quick Document Verification. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Review-Doc-Verification

Let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Click the IdeaExchange tab and be sure to select Admissions Connect when logging your idea!

EDA Release 1.111 , our Spring ‘21 Major Release, is scheduled to begin pushing to sandboxes tonight, (February 25, 2021). Look for the update in your instance over the next couple of days. Because this is a major release, we are giving you more time in the sandbox environment. The push to production is scheduled to begin Tuesday evening, March 9, 2021.

With this release we are excited to to deliver the following:

Settings Health Check

Routine checkups are essential for everyone, including EDA orgs. Now you have a trusty new tool for maintaining a healthy org. We're excited to announce the availability of Settings Health Check, which identifies configuration inconsistencies and errors with settings related to Accounts, Affiliation Mappings, Reciprocal Settings, and Course Connections. Run Settings Health Check to see the passed and failed validations, along with recommended fixes for errors. For example, in Affiliation mappings, if more than one mapping specifies the same Account record type, that validation fails. Or if a mapping involves an Account record type that isn't marked active in Setup or doesn't exist, that validation fails.

Settings Health Check is included starting with EDA 1.111 if you're starting with the trial version. If you started with an earlier version or you're starting with EDA 1.111 via the installer rather than the trial, add the Lightning Component Tab. See Settings Health Check. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Settings-Health-Check EDA feature telemetry now collects data about when Settings Health Check was last run.

Check out the recording of Education Cloud Release Readiness Live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rv9GcNE3VU to see more about this new tool! Jump to EDA’s specific section of the video here. https://youtu.be/6rv9GcNE3VU?t=931

Enable Apex Class Access for Settings Health Check

To access the new Settings Health Check, users must have access to these EDA Apex classes: HealthCheckController and HealthCheckGroupController. If you're starting with this version of EDA via the trial version, access for the System Administrator profile is enabled automatically. If you started with an earlier version, or you're starting with EDA 1.111 via the installer, or you need to grant access to other profiles or for permission sets, see Enable EDA Apex Class Access. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Enable-Apex-Class-Access

Reciprocal Settings Updates

We've updated the reciprocal relationship settings for Husband and Wife to use the existing picklist value, Partner, instead of Spouse. We've also added a new reciprocal setting for Partner. If you're starting with this version of EDA, these changes are included automatically. If you started with an earlier version, and you use the List Setting method for reciprocal Relationships, make these updates in EDA Settings | Relationships | Reciprocal Settings.

Also, for the Relationship object's Type field, make sure that its picklist values reflect relevant updates from all earlier versions. Otherwise, the new Settings Health Check feature now reports any missing values as errors, which could be meaningful if you use the List Setting method for reciprocal Relationships. See Keep Up with Relationship Updates. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Relationship

Read About Leads in EDA

We've got new documentation resources available for those of you who are tracking suspect and prospect data in EDA. For recommendations on how to configure and use Leads, check out the Lead and Model Suspects and Prospects articles. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Model-Suspects Also review the import considerations we provide for Leads in Recommended Data Import Sequence for EDA. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Data-Import-Sequence

Please let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Head over to the Education Data Architecture category on the Trailblazer Community Ideas Exchange https://trailblazer.salesforce.com/ideaSearch?filter=Education+%3E+Education+Data+Architecture

Spring ’21 is here and we've been busy! We will push Admissions Connect 1.8 to sandboxes on February 25, 2021. The push to production is scheduled to begin on March 9, 2021. Here’s what this major release includes.

Critical Changes

This release includes a new feature for document verification. Existing customers must complete additional setup tasks to use this feature. See the Verify Documents More Easily section for details. 

Changes:

Verify Documents More Easily

The Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission lets verifiers and other members of your admissions staff verify application documents directly from the Admissions Connect components. When users are assigned this custom permission, they see Accept and Reject buttons when viewing application documents in the Application Checklist and Application Materials Reader components. When rejecting a document, staff members can even leave rejection comments. Previously, to accept or reject a document users had to edit the Status field on the Document Checklist Item record.

To make setup easy, we added the Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission to the Admissions Connect Verifier permission set. We also updated all the role-based permission sets with Read and/or Edit access to the Rejection Comment and Rejection Reason fields on the Document Checklist Item object. To give other admissions staff this functionality, update their permission set or profile with the Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission. Also make sure they have Read and Edit permission on Document Checklist Items.

If you're an existing customer and want to use this functionality, complete these tasks.

• Edit the Application Review Lightning record page to remove the existing Application Materials Reader component; we deprecated this version of the component. Then add the newer version of the component to the page. 
• If you set up a reviewer portal, edit the Application Review page in Experience Builder to remove the existing Application Materials Reader component, then add it to the page again.
• Add the Rejection Reason and Rejection Comments fields to the Document Checklist Item page layout. (New customers also need to do this step.)
• Update the Admissions Connect Verifier permission set to include Read and Edit access on the Document Checklist Item object. Then, add the Admissions Connect Document Verification custom permission.
• Update the other Admissions Connect role-based permissions sets to include Read and/or Edit access on the Rejection Comment and Rejection Reason fields for the Document Checklist Item object. To see detailed information for all the unmanaged permission sets, see Admissions Connect Permission Set Details. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Perm-Sets-Ref

Learn More: Verify Applications https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Staff-Verify-Applications in Admissions Connect Documentation

Add Ad Hoc Documents or Tasks to an Application

Give your admissions staff more flexibility working with application requirements. Configure your Action Plan Templates to support adding ad hoc documents and tasks. Then let your admissions staff know that they can add new Tasks and Document Checklist Items, like PDFs and images, to an applicant's assigned Action Plan. Ad hoc items show up in the Application Checklist and Application Materials Reader just like other requirements. 

To make sure ad hoc Tasks show up in the Admissions Connect components, we added the Basic Task Details field set on the Task object. If you want to display additional Task details, update this field set.

Learn More: Set Up Staff to Assign Action Plans and Action Plan Items in Admissions Connect Documentation https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Requirements-Assign#ariaid-title3

Get Customized Review Feedback

Customize the Application Review Feedback component with your own questions, such as a generic rubric or department-specific questions. Create a fieldset for your questions and then specify it in the Application Review Feedback component's properties in Lightning App Builder. You can also use the component's visibility settings to control which fieldset users see. This functionally also works in reviewer portals.

Learn More: Set Up Application Review Feedback Questions in Admissions Connect Documentation https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Review-Questions

Read About Leads in Admissions Connect

We've got new documentation resources available for those of you who are tracking suspect and prospect data in Admissions Connect. For recommendations on how to configure and use Leads in EDA, check out the Lead https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Lead and Model Suspects and Prospects https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Model-Suspects articles in the EDA documentation. Also review the import considerations we provide for Leads in Recommended Data Import Sequence for EDA. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/EDA-Data-Import-Sequence

Import Common App Data and Documents

If you're a Common App member school looking to import applicant data into Salesforce, you can use the Education Cloud Integration with Common App package to help expedite your integration. Use the package tools alongside an ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) tool to map and move data into EDA. The package provides batch scripts, built-in error logging, and basic duplication prevention for Contacts, Address, Contact Language, Education History, and Applications.

After the import into EDA is complete, you can configure Admissions Connect to show Common App data and documents for applicants. That way your admissions staff can see all application requirements in one place. 

Learn More: Education Cloud Integration with Common App https://sfdo-docs.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Integrate_Common_App_with_EDA.pdf (PDF) and Work with Applicant Data and Documents Imported from Common App in Admissions Connect Documentation. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Common-App

Fixes and Enhancements

• We updated the Sequence field to support decimal values, which lets you create new Application Material Mapping records that fit within your existing Sequence scheme. We also updated the Application Material Mapping trigger logic to prevent negative sequence values. You can also find a new default list view called All for Application Material Mapping and Application Material Type records.
• We added a new compact layout for Action Plans. This layout includes a lookup to the Target Record. Now when admissions staff look at an Action Plan record, they can see what Application record it belongs to.
• We added a default Document Checklist Item Lightning record page. This page includes the Files related list to make it easier to upload application documents.
• We updated the search behavior in the Application Response Details component. Now when you search, only sections with a matching field are expanded. In addition, the search now looks at JSON field names and fields in tables for child records.
• We updated the text in the Application Review How To - Admissions Staff prompt to mention that all review feedback fields are saved automatically. If you're an existing customer, consider updating this prompt. For details, see Admissions Connect Default Page Configurations in Admissions Connect Documentation. https://powerofus.force.com/s/article/AC-Page-Ref

Let us know if you have any questions about this release. Do you have suggestions for future enhancements? Click the Ideas tab on the top bar of the Hub and be sure to select Admissions Connect when logging your idea!