Best Practices for Creating and Managing E-Forms for Student and Scholar Services

1. Best Practices for Creating and Managing E-Forms for Student and Scholar Services Micah Cooper – University of Georgia JeevanDevassy – Georgia Tech Stephanie Roberts – Emory University

2. Outline Organizing E-forms – Macro/Micro Level Case Study #1: E-groups at University of Georgia Athens Case Study #2: Emory University Scholar Request Process

3. Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level 1. Developing an E-form Inventory

4. Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level 2. Organizing e-forms in E-form Management (E-form Archive vs. Live E-forms)

5. Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level 3. Creating a “Cheat Sheet” for e-forms creation

6. Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level 4. E-form Manager staff member involved in centralizing the e-form process ensures a consistency of design and structure duties would include assisting in e-form creation, placement, deletion, naming update inventory spread sheet

7. Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level Structuring your individual E-forms SECTION I: Text Section- introduction (for who, what, why) SECTION II: Question Section (identifying type of student) SECTION III: Consent Section

8. SECTION I: Text

9. SECTION II: Questions • SECTION III: Consent

10. Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level Readable and Visually appealing Not a paper form: Use of conditionals (streamlined, less clunky) Use of 2nd Approver function Tailor Approval/Deny/Follow-up e-mails

11. Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level

13. What not to do

14. Overview at UGA • UGA is transitioning from formsite.com, which has a user friendly interface and an extensive tool set, for processing requests. • Its disadvantage is its disconnect from our in-house systems. Data still needs to be manually re-entered. • Sunapsis e-form options are not as great but the centralization of information will save a significant amount of staff time. • We went live with 3.0 in May and are just now rolling out our first e-forms and e-groups starting with our I-20 request.

15. Tips Organizing the E-Forms • Make sure the order of e-forms make sense • The progression should not be erratic. You can closely follow existing processes. • For each e-form, be sure to give information about the form before launching into questions • Who needs to see the form? Utilize extension filters when you can. • Filters can be used for J1, F1, H visa types or new admits etc…

16. UGA ExampleI-20 Request E-Group • I-20 Request for Admitted Students • What information do we need to collect? • Biographical Information • Academic Program and Related Expenses • Dependents • Currently in US? • Transferring? • UGA broke up the previous process from one long online form into smaller individual e-forms. • Limited to new admits only.

17. UGA ExampleA Simple Student E-Group Second approver email sent to the current advisor Submission creates an alert

18. UGA ExampleInstructions on Each E-Form General Instructions Notification of uploads

19. ExampleI-20 Funding Information We have 14 different program expense tables. These are conditionally displayed based on academic level.

20. Second Approvers and Alerts • We have an external second approver to confirm the transfers are indeed transferring. • Once the last keystone e-form has been submitted, an alert is generated at the guarded level. • A template email will be sent to the applicant once the e-group has been approved.

21. Setup Templates and Extract E-Form Data • Based on the academic and funding information e-from, we utilize one of 30 unique templates to pull and customize I-20 financial and program information. This information is maintained by one advisor. • We have one template for the dependents e-form and this could be easily automated.

22. Overview • All scholar requests at Emory are done electronically through ISSS Link (Sunapsis) • Current requests include H-1B, J-1, and TN scholars • O-1, E-3, and Permanent Resident will be added • Paperless process • Require input from department admin, scholar, supervisor, chair, and dean (some schools)

23. Previous Process • Scholar requests done through a bolt-on custom module in PeopleSoft HR • All information submitted by department administrators • Nearly non-existent case management tools • Compliance certification and all supporting documentation were submitted in paper form.

24. Sunapsis Process • Requests submitted through multiple e-form groups in Sunapsis • Information input by both admins and scholars; compliance form(s) signed by supervisor, etc. • Documentation submitted electronically • Compliance process now fully electronic in 3.0

25. Planning for More Complex E-Form Groups • Map out your ideal workflow • Flow charts may be beneficial • Be prepared to make adjustments based on system functionality • Use a top-down approach • What information do you need? • Keep it general – no need to define individual fields yet • Who should it come from? • At what point in the process should it be submitted? • Do this before you start developing e-forms!

26. H-1B Request – Department Process • General flow chart here

27. Designing the E-Forms • Use your planning notes to define data elements, then review to logically divide them into e-forms. • Remember to consider the required source of each piece of information • Don’t be afraid to use multiple forms • Easier for individuals to complete multiple shorter forms than one long form • Consider the “client as second approver” extension

28. Client as Second Approver • This is a major component of Emory’s process • Used to allow scholars to submit information in multiple forms • Scholars don’t have to locate the form in the web app; they receive the direct link via email • Drawback: admins can’t see what the scholar has submitted

29. Client (Scholar) View

30. Client Second Approver Setup

31. E-Form Groups in 3.0 • Lots of new features! • Multiple keystone e-forms • Can require forms to be completed in a specific order • Used at Emory for multiple approvers • Group View • Displays all e-forms from a group together • Includes associated documents, notes, emails, templates, etc. • One of the best parts of 3.0 

33. E-Form Chaining

34. H-1B Department Process - Detail

36. H-1B Request – ISSS Office Emory’s Process • Details with forms, etc.

37. Templates • For complex groups, keep a list of templates and their fields • Ease of update/re-creation later • Learned this the hard way!

39. Related Documents • Department user training • Scholar guides • Internal manuals