advisement technologies steering committee … technologies steering committee and working committee...

Appendix A

Advisement Technologies Steering Committee and Working Committee AT Steering Committee Lucinda Zoe, University Dean, Central OAA Annamarie Bianco, University Registrar Olga Vega, CIS/Degree Works Project Manager Erec Koch, University Fellow Deborah Hairston, CIS/Central Degree Works Coordinator Sumaya Villanueva, Director of Advisement, John Jay Jimmy Anastatio, IT/CIS (Advisory) AT Implementation Team Advisement Working Group

Zuleika Clarke, Co-Chair, Advisement Council, Director of Advisement, KBCC Octavio Melindez, Director of Advisement, BCC Laura Silverman, Director of Advisement Queens College Maureen Sullivan, Director of Advisement, Hunter College

Scribers & Registrars Working Group Takiyah Ali, Deputy Registrar, Lehman Terrence Brown, Deputy Registrar, Hostos Gale Cunningham, DGW Master Scriber, York Lisa Freeland, Associate Registrar, Queensborough Denise Lucena-Jerez, Senior Master Scriber, Hunter College Thomas Sabia, DGW Master Scriber, City College

A small group of OAA staff was assembled to assist the Working Committee and to collect student impressions of Degree Works:

Andrea Baker, Executive Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost Erin Croke, Director of Undergraduate Educational Policy Karen Kapp, Director of Administration and Grants Cheryl Littman, University Dean of the Performance Management Process Ken Norz, University Academic Affairs Manager

Degree Works Student Focus Groups Report – Spring 2014 1

Appendix B

Report to CUNY Office of Academic Affairs: Themes from Degree Works Student Focus Groups

Prepared by Sarah B. From, Independent Consultant Submitted June 2, 2014

INTRODUCTION Context CUNY’s Office of Academic Affairs is committed to improving access to and the quality of academic advising across the university system. A component of this effort is increasing utilization of Degree Works, the online degree audit system used by students, advisors and faculty. The Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) sought to gather and analyze student impressions and experiences of the Degree Works system. To this end, OAA engaged Sarah From to facilitate student focus groups across CUNY. Methodology Sarah From was engaged as a consultant to conduct the focus groups and analyze the data for key themes. CUNY OAA managed recruitment and logistics for the focus groups. The question guide for the focus groups was developed by CUNY OAA and reviewed by Sarah From. Sarah From conducted four focus groups, and an additional focus group was conducted by OAA staff. In total, 28 students participated in the focus groups across the five campuses. College A

• Conducted March 26, 2014 by OAA staff • 6 participants

College B

• Conducted April 30, 2014 by Sarah From • 2 participants

College C

• Conducted May 1, 2014 by Sarah From • 7 participants

College D

• Conducted May 2, 2014 by Sarah From • 6 Participants


College E

• Conducted May 2, 2014 by Sarah From • 7 participants Students were informed that participation in focus groups was voluntary. In return for their participation, participants were given a MetroCard and lunch. Focus group participants were informed that they would not be identified in this report to the CUNY, and that their participation would have no impact upon their academic or professional lives at CUNY. Audio was recorded at each focus group and a professional transcription service hired by CUNY was utilized to produce transcripts for review and analysis. Sarah From reviewed the approximately 200 pages of transcripts and coded them to track key themes. Quotes illustrating key themes were selected for inclusion in this report. Finally, the transcripts were reviewed again to cull ideas and suggestions students offered for the improvement of Degree Works.

OVERVIEW OF CENTRAL FINDINGS AND KEY THEMES Central Findings:

• The central finding of this process is that Degree Works is experienced by students as a valuable and user-friendly resource for navigating their academic careers. Degree Works empowers students by providing them with vital information about their degree progress and options.

• A College C focus group participant described the usefulness of Degree Works:

“Basically it puts everything in one place – your general picture of what you have to take in order to complete your degree. So it's something you could log into from CUNY portal anytime you want as a student, and basically it's there for you to look at any time as a picture of where you are progress-wise—how far you've come to completing your degree, your general requirements, and what's left. Obviously there are certain things you want to confirm with your academic advisor as to when you're… going to graduate to make sure you're all complete; but it's basically a guide that helps you to track your progress.”

• However, exposure to and utilization of Degree Works varies widely between and within

the Colleges and could be improved. A focus on educating students about Degree Works and its functionality is needed.


• Furthermore, students who use Degree Works encounter challenges due to slow updates to the system. These issues need to be addressed to bolster student confidence in the accuracy of Degree Works.

Key Themes:

1. EXPOSURE AND UNDERSTANDING: Degree Works is not uniformly used or understood across colleges. Exposure to Degree Works reflects the diversity and quality of advisement and orientation structures and practices at the different colleges.

2. REASON FOR USE: Students primarily use Degree Works to track degree progress and view their GPAs; other features are less widely understood and used.

3. INACCURACIES: Inaccuracies in Degree Works, when experienced, most commonly

relate to transfer credits and the speed at which changes are reflected in the system.

4. WHERE USED: Students use Degree Works on a wide range of devices in a variety of settings.

5. INTEGRATION WITH OTHER PLATFORMS: Some students argue that Degree Works

would be more useful to them if it were better integrated with CUNY First and the course registration process.

6. USER EXPERIENCE: Students largely find the site to be user friendly, but some believe

the site could be streamlined to improve user experience. KEY THEMES IN DETAIL 1. Degree Works is not uniformly used or understood across colleges. Exposure to Degree

Works reflects the diversity and quality of advisement and orientation structures and practices at the different colleges.

• At College C, 5 out of 7 students were unfamiliar with DegreeWorks. Upon further

discussion, it emerged that some students had seen advisors use it, but were unaware that Degree Works was the program that the advisor was using at the time. When shown Degree Works at the focus group, some participants recognized it as the program their advisor used – and all participants felt that it would have been useful to them


throughout their college careers if they had known about it. I think it should be more out there because if it's this valuable of a resource, then it's surprising how many of the don't know. - College C Student

I would definitely like to use [Degree Works], and I wish that I would have known about it sooner. I think that maybe this is something especially for incoming first semester students that it should be, you know, promoted to more so that they know that they have this resource.

- College C Student I would like to possibly see like consistent training site workshops about it so that students would be able to attend them and to get to know the system and see how it should be used and stuff. - College C Student

Maybe putting it in Financial Aid 'cause everybody visits financial aid at least once a year. - College C Student

• At College E, students were universally familiar with Degree Works. The group contained several Peer Ambassadors who work in Academic Advising with fellow students. The Peer Ambassadors reported making regular use of Degree Works in their consultations with students. At the same time, because of inaccuracies in Degree Works, the peer advisors do not rely on Degree Works alone for information, and are referring students to Academic Advisement for additional help. A Peer Ambassador said, Because we are trained on the material I know how to go on the College E website and see what requirements and things like that, but 99% of the time I use refer them to Academic Advisement, because they, themselves, know what classes can transfer to some classes that would fulfill the requirements here. So 99% of the time I just refer them there. I don't want to give them misinformation. - College E student Students face challenges trying to get information from Academic Advisement as well, and thus must be resourceful in getting what they need:


When I try to go to Academic Advisement they usually tell me that they can't because--they can help me but they usually help mostly the freshmen and sophomores. So what I am dealt with is pretty much going back to my degree audit trying to fix it from there and then I go back to bursars, just taking care of myself. - a Junior at College E

• At College B, the two students were familiar with Degree Works, but one was unclear

about its usefulness, and if it was even intended for students:

“I haven’t really fully understood what purpose it serves. Because as a checklist, it doesn’t seem to be very useful. I actually looked at it, and though it was more something that the school used than the students. I thought it was just an opportunity for me to view how the school is seeing my degree progress, but I didn’t realize that — or at least it wasn’t apparent to me — that this was a tool that I could use as a student.” - College B student

• At College A, students with experience of Degree Works spoke of how helpful it is, and

proposed the idea that its use be mandatory, not merely encouraged: A friend of mine told me why don’t I apply for Degree Works. He said Degree Works is a one page and you can find all your information over there so easily. So when I applied for Degree Works and I picked up my GPA and the courses I took and every semester what classes I am taking and my progress I can see everything so easy… everything is on one page. And Degree Works, it was very, very helpful for me.

- College A Student

I think it’s encouraged, but I think it also should be mandatory, like setting up a College A email is mandatory as a student. I think knowing how to go into Degree Works should be mandatory too, because there are a lot of students who don’t know about their curriculum and what classes they’ll have to take, and a lot of students try to change their major without knowing how it will affect their current degree progress. They think everything will just transfer over. And I think if they had access to Degree Works it will help them know more about what they’re doing in college. - College A Student

• At College D, students’ familiarity with Degree Works depended on the faculty who

advised them. Several students reported that it was only because they changed majors


(and therefore faculty advisors) that they were receiving advising that included Degree Works.

I think the only way the information gets out depends on the department and then depends on who’s advising you. And it shows whether the person that’s advising you is taking that extra step to make sure to lead you in the right direction. I was nursing and I transferred to aging and health. And if I wouldn’t have transferred to aging and health, I probably would have been taking a lot of classes that I didn’t need to take. - College D student

Other themes around exposure and understanding of Degree Works:

• In some cases, advisors are using Degree Works in the presence of students, but not sharing that fact with the student. As a result, the student may not know that Degree Works is something that she can use on her own (a College C student attested to this).

• In other cases, the advisor is coaching the student in how to use Degree Works during the advisement session: [A] good thing… is that [my advisor] had our audit up on her computer, so she had it herself. But she wanted us to actually go into the audit to see what it’s about. - College D Student

When I first came out the advisor that I met with she showed me how to use the Degree Works, and when I got advised last week, it only took me about five minutes to get advice with the advisor, because Degree Works helped me. - College A Student

• Students report using additional resources instead of or as a supplement to Degree Works to get the information they need about their degree progress (most commonly, meetings with advisors and department checklists). There is not a sense that Degree Works is “one stop shopping,” but rather that students will need to verify and supplement the information they find there.

Even though you could see what you may need [on DegreeWorks], you need to be advised, because basically not every student uses DegreeWorks and even some who do misread the information. - College A Student

• Some students report having learned about Degree Works in freshman orientation;

others who had an introduction to it during orientation do not remember hearing about it. Several students pointed out the need for repetition in conveying information about


Degree Works due to the enormous amount of information students receive. 2. Students primarily use Degree Works to track degree progress and view their GPAs; other

features are less widely understood and used.

• Students’ primary uses of Degree Works are to track progress against degree requirements and to check their GPAs.

• Most students are logging on twice a semester: at the beginning and end of each semester to track their degree progress and get information they need to select their courses for the next semester.

• A smaller minority of students report being frequent users of Degree Works (checking

upwards of 10 times per semester) to watch for updates to their degree audit and to check their GPAs. (Interestingly, two such frequent users at two different colleges chose the word “paranoid” to explain their frequent checking of Degree Works, indicating that checking it helped to manage their anxiety about their academic performance.)

• Students were less likely to use the other features available to them, such as the GPA

Calculator, What If, and Planner. As one College E student said:

I never found out about the GPA calc, the What-If, all those other features on the site of the page until… the beginning of my sophomore year. When we first log into Degree Works the degree progress report is the first thing that pops up, it looks nice, so I immediately log on to that. But I never took the time to really go and see what other features Degree Works has to offer and no one else actually told me, so I had to go and click on it. I didn't know if I should click this, should I click this? Does it have any, like, negative implications if I did? - College E Student

3. Inaccuracies in Degree Works, when experienced, most commonly relate to transfer

credits and the speed at which changes are reflected in the system.

• Among students who used Degree Works, the majority of students reported that they found few or no inaccuracies in their use of the program (with the exception of the College E students, as described below).

• Students who had experienced inaccuracies attributed them to the speed at which


updates were made to the system. In these students’ experiences, Degree Works lagged behind changes made in courses and majors:

If it's a new major or recently made minor on campus… sometimes there is some of the information is missing. - College C student College D student 1: It just updates slowly. College D student 2: If you check it, I mean, that’s why I check every five minutes, but I think it’s like, I’m not sure, there’s like a window period when it updates and you - - two weeks, I’m not sure, but to me it just updated slowly. College D student 3: The same thing she’s saying. It’s just pretty much the slow update, but I think that that goes with the department, I guess, because the same issue with her also. Whereas the major, the change of major, it took about a whole semester for my major to actually change on the audit to say this is right major.

• College E students offered many more reports of inaccuracies in Degree Works than their peers in the other focus groups. This may be because the College E group included Peer Ambassadors, who in the course of their work as peer advisors encounter many students who approach them with problems using Degree Works.

If it were more reliable, more updated, more consistent, I think a lot more people would, you know, tell you to look at your degree audit a lot more. And I don’t think that we need people to help us as much because it is pretty self-explanatory, it is easily accessible.” - College E student

• The main sources of discrepancies and inaccuracies reported were:

o Transfer credits showing up with a delay: Me being a transfer student, I can attest that there are quite a bit of issues concerning transferring credits from one college to another. And that’s from one CUNY to another. You can only imagine [when] someone who is not from CUNY comes here.


- College E Student A lot of our students are transfer students so the degree audit is not adaptable to that status of students. It is just strictly the old general requirements. It just sticks to that and it isn’t adaptable according to the status of the student. - College E student

o Courses listed in DegreeWorks are not necessarily being offered at the

College:

Often some of the classes that students like me want to take aren't there, it would be sort of nice to see some sort of schematic that would let the Degree Audit show the classes of either this semester or next semester are not available. For example, I remember this happening to me, I wanted to a class called Utopian Thought, which would be Philosophy 340 and the Degree Audit on to it stated you can take 340 if you want to complete this requirement. I said cool. I clicked it, it gave me a description it gave me a supposed time that the class would be there, but when I actually signed up for the class it was not there. And when I asked the professor they said they don't know what I am talking about.

- College E student

o General Education requirements, in particular credits for AP and Regents, not showing up properly:

In terms of the general education requirements part, there are some little discrepancies there. For example, such as the life and sciences, I think, the ones that require a lab, it says that I still need to take it, but according to Academic Advisement, since I have taken about five scientific Regents… I do not have to take that requirement. But Degree Works still says I have to. And even when College E finally made the transition from E-SIMS to CUNY First, I would think that the general education requirements would reflect that. - College E student

o Minors and certificate requirements are not shown.

Well, for starters, I would want it to be more, as we had mentioned before, more accurate. And I want to include things like my minor, after a degree I want. And also I don't know if they can, I am also taking a certificate program. I'm a part of a certificate program. That being said I


would want the requirements for that as well within the audit. - College E Student

One thing that I noticed is that our audit doesn't show us the requirements we have to take for a minor and that's something I really wish we had because if I am going to declare a minor aside from my major I also want to know what are the classes that I have to take or that I still need to take for my minor. - College E Student

o Degree Works is delayed in showing changes to major requirements.

And it also isn’t adaptable to any changes. Just as [another participant] said, to the major itself. Like if the major has any updates regarding requirements that they added courses that may fulfill requirements. It is not updated with that. So those are some issues [that students come to peer mentors with]. But personally, I haven’t had an issues. I came in as a freshman and my major didn’t change. - College E Student

4. Students use Degree Works on a wide range of devices in a variety of settings.

• Students are accessing Degree Works in many different settings: o At home o At work o With their advisors o At school (alone and with friends)

• Students are accessing Degree Works on a range of devices: o Smartphones o I-pads/tablets o Laptops o Desktop computers

• Reflecting the sentiment expressed by many students, a College B participant said: [I use Degree Works] wherever I happen to be at the moment that I’m interested in looking at it. I could be on my laptop here in the school, within the school network, or at the library, or from home. Wherever I happen to be with my technology, whether it’s my laptop, my iPad.”

- College B student 5. Some students argue that Degree Works would be more useful to them if it were better

integrated with CUNY First and the course registration process.


• A College B student explained the issue as she see it, narrating her navigation of the site:

So under World Cultures and Issues, you have a list of different courses that, I’m assuming, would meet the requirement for that. Okay? So here I am, I’m thinking, okay, I still have to meet that requirement, which one of these do I want to take? And I go to click on it, and it doesn’t tell you what it is, so now I have to go to open up a new tab, go to CUNY First, go to their catalog. It’s several steps just to find out what this [course] is… it’s so tedious and time-consuming. And you know, maybe ‘cause I’m older and I don’t have a lot of patience, but kids today who, everything is instant gratification, how in heaven’s name is this possibly useful? They’re going to be like, pfft. You lost them, you know? If you could click on that [course] and a little window would show up to tell you what that is, then you could decide, okay, yes I want to take it, no I don’t want to take it. It would be so much more useful.

Later, the same student added: I see a huge potential for Degree Works if [it] could be integrated a little bit better with the CUNY First registration process and the course catalog — ways to make it more efficient so that you’re not, you know, taking all these different steps. - College B student

• A College A student also argued for integration of CUNY First, Degree Works, and the

CUNY Portal:

[It would be] easier instead of having three different log-ins to do so many different things that kind of in the end intertwine into one. If everything was just put together in one thing I think it would be so much easier. - College A student

6. Students largely find the site to be user-friendly, but some believe the interface could be

streamlined.

• The vast majority of students find Degree Works to be easy to navigate for its core functions (but as reported above, they may not be using its additional functions).

• Those who do critique its usability find it to be cluttered, as in this exchange:

College D student:


It’s easy for me to navigate through, I understand. But I just think when the actual worksheet comes up it’s kind of like jammed pack, like it’s not, you understand it, but you don’t at the same time. Like it’s clear, but it’s not clear. Like it’s, like they have the blocks set up. It’s just all – sometimes it’s like really all over the place. When you look at it. I mean, it has sections, but then it’s still like, that’s when you open it and you could see the how it’s… to me it’s just like “Okay, hold on. Let me focus.” Moderator: It’s cluttered? College D student: Yes, it’s cluttered basically.

• One student described her vision of how the site could be streamlined: I think if you complete the requirement, it should either say completed, or it should just be crossed--like, there should be a line through it, like a checklist, or it should disappear, and then only, you know, where you could view the whole list and what's done and what's not, or you know, if you wanted to see what do you still have to do. Why are the ones that are checked there viewable? It's like, it's just too much information for your brain to process all right. - College B student

STUDENT IDEAS FOR IMPROVING DEGREE WORKS Degree Works Core Functions:

• Enable students to be able to register for courses through Degree Works (College A, College B)

• Enable students to be able to apply for graduation through Degree Works (College A) • Put clear information on the site about who to contact if you have a problem

(College E) • Fix the confusing structure of “What If” (College E) • Send alerts through Degree Works, for example if you are not taking the right classes

for your major (College D) or if you get a grade of “C” or below, an alert that you can retake the class (College E)

• Enable Degree Works to show requirements for minors and certificate programs (College E)

• Fix problems with AP, Regents and College Now credits not showing up (College E) Training in Use of Degree Works:

• Train faculty advisors to tell students how to use Degree Works (College A, College B)

• Hold trainings for students in how to use Degree Works (College D)


• Create an online tutorial to instruct students in how to use Degree Works (College B, College D)

Marketing of Degree Works

• Feature Degree Works prominently on my college’s homepage (College C, College D) • Introduce Degree Works to Freshmen as part of the advising process (College D) • Offer incentives to sign onto Degree Works – as is done for students who fill out

financial aid forms early (College D) • Change the name of Degree Works to something more descriptive and appealing to

students: Degree Checklist; Degree Now; Degree Check; Degree Progress (College C) • Feature Degree Works information in the Financial Aid office, and in the cafeteria

(College C) User Experience and Design of Degree Works

• Create one universal login for Degree Works, CUNY first and CUNY Portal (College A, College B)

• Create a quick summary view so that students can see an overview without all the detail (College D)

• Put core courses in a different color so they stand out (College B) • Display both course acronyms and full course names (College C) • Be able to hide completed courses to de-clutter the view (College B, College C) • Make course names clickable to reveal course descriptions (College B) • Make the interface more user friendly for mobile devices (College B) • Enable the downloading and printing of PDFs from Degree Works (College E)

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Computing Information Services Project Management Office

Appendix C

Summary of DGW Coordinators’ Response to Survey

Date: January 28, 2014

1. Describe your experiences at the roll-out stage of DegreeWorks include how the application was received by the campus

College *Implementation Year Summary – Campus Initial Reaction to DegreeWorks

Baruch 2006 - 2007 Before Pathways: It was positive. The Center of Advisement had made it a policy that students had to print out their DegreeWorks audits before they could see an advisor. The Graduation Application from the Registrar’s Office referred the students to DGW to do a final check before applying for graduation. It is used by the graduation auditors and the TAP Course Compliance unit.

After Pathways: The advisors are not happy with the audit and the Pathways logic. They have not been using it. The student population has not been using it yet.

Note: Baruch released DGW Instance supported on the Central server as of November to advisors and staff, and released it to students as of January 15, 2014.

Brooklyn 1998 - 1999 DGW hosted locally for many years and with the migration of CUNYfirst required being hosted centrally which resulted in changes to the campus business practices. Users adjusting to this change.

City 2007 – 2008 (Scribing started with the 2005-2007 bulletin)

DGW rolled out in a phased approach first with the School of Engineering and then the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. Sophie Davis embraced the use of DGW.

Most academic programs do not use the audit significantly and insist it’s not accurate. These programs generally do not report issues on a regular basis.

CSI 2008 - 2009 DGW when first released required rebranding. After several marketing campaigns it’s now used with

incoming freshman and continuing students during advisement by the advisement center and academic departments.

Hunter 2007 - 2008 Students were receptive to using DGW from the onset. Several campus events were offered to market and train users and their response was positive.

Academic Advisement and Degree Audit areas were receptive and have always used the system.

Faculty were reluctant at first but are using it and providing feedback.

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John Jay 2005 - 2006 Initially when implemented DGW was viewed as positive but within several semesters the system was not updated due to limited resources causing advisors and staff to consider it unreliable and inaccurate.

Lehman 2009 - 2010 From my understanding the implementation was not received well. Academic Advisement staff perceived the tool as being potentially good but not one that would necessarily work at the Lehman campus b/c of varying Transfer Policy Rules. The transfer rules were never accurately scribed and since Lehman receives roughly (~60%) transfer students it was imperative that the transfer audits were accurate for campus buy-in and usage. Ultimately, my understanding is that there was very little: Use of the Advisement tool Training for campus staff Reporting of issues by the Administrative or Academic

departments to the Office of the Registrar.

Scribe Marathon session was needed to assist with Scribe updates due to losing the Scriber and also for CF-readiness (Go-Live).

Medgar 2006 -2007 Implementation of DGW was smooth. We held a DGW fair and had giveaways for students.

DGW was not received well by faculty and administrators as many felt that the tool was not needed and had erroneous information.

NYCCT 2005 - 2006 Staff (no longer at the college) reported implementing DGW was difficult due to limited staff resources.

There was resistance from some areas to using the application as the official advisement/degree audit tool.

SPS 2012 - 2013 Once staffing access was set-up, roll out was very smooth. Students use it to ensure courses meet degree requirements. Staff uses it to quickly process degree applications.

Queens 2006 - 2007 N/A – Did not answer the question. York 2007 - 2008 DGW was supported by the Acting Provost, Registrar and

staff. Registrar’s staff assisted with the initial testing but since then, the sole responsibility for maintaining the system is the DGW Coordinator.

Students responded positively and continue to use it.

BMCC 2006 - 2007 During initial rollout, advisors continued to rely on their legacy electronic advisement system which produced paper advisement forms.

Transition to CUNYfirst along with implementing Pathways resulted in a myriad of systemic issues – DGW crashed several times due to high demand of users causing system to timeout.

Some students were not term activated, data not loaded into DGW; an audit was not generated in DGW and FACTS.

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BMCC (cont.) Test scores didn’t get loaded into DGW from SKAT; audit didn’t display any or correct skills requirements. Note: Significant issue when released for community and comprehensive colleges.

Bronx CC 2005 -2006 Adoption was limited at the beginning; campus used a home-grown system. Usage has increased as users realized DGW was an improvement over the curriculum pattern sheets.

GCC 2013 - 2014 Recently released and usage has been sporadic; advisors beginning to use it.

Used consistently by the Registrar for degree audit. Hostos CC 2005 - 2006 Users were not receptive to using DGW; continued to rely on

academic advisement worksheets until the worksheets were deemed a non-acceptance advisement tool by the academic depts. DGW was proclaimed the system of record for academic advisement by the Office of Academic Affairs and this has contributed to an increase in usage.

KCC 2002 - 2003 Originally hosted their own instance; with migration to CF and the Central server, users concerned with the accuracy and integrity of the audit.

LaGuardia CC 2004 - 2005 DGW was supported by the community because the College transition from an automated home-grown system to an updated application hosted on its own server.

The biggest issue was the transition to CF; data conversion impacted the accuracy of the audit. The campus has been slowly recovering from this transition as issues get resolved.

QBCC 2008 - 2009 Advisors did not use the previous degree audit system which had issues. It was assumed DGW would be identical. They used DGW and the Educational Planner which they considered valuable but after losing data twice due to two upgrades, they’ve lost confidence and usage dropped.

No advisors required to use two other systems-CF and Starfish (request info.) and find using a third too cumbersome and time consuming.

*Note: Some colleges coded prior years catalog after their release date.

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2. What method or process does your campus use to report DGW problems, other than using the CF CRM or CIS Helpdesk?

College

Process Used to Report Issues

Baruch Students open up a Helpdesk ticket via a web process; phone call; email or in-person visit to the IT center.

The Helpdesk assesses what the issue is – access (refer to IT); incorrect audit (Registrar); do not understand it (Advisement Office).

Staff can submit a Helpdesk ticket via a web process; phone call; email or in-person visit to the IT center.

They can also call or email the Registrar. Brooklyn E-mail.

Campus helpdesk. City E-mail.

Phone calls to DGW Coordinator. CSI E-mail.

Website and Web to All. Hunter Web Audit has a ticketing system for users, which is connected to

software called “Footprints.” These tickets are reviewed by HC ICIT and Central CIS. The Helpdesk assigns tickets to Advising reviewed by eAdvisor. Scribing or data errors sent to Registrar for resolution by the

Coordinator or Scriber. Advisement Tracking System using “Googledocs Excel Spreadsheet”

implemented for advisors to provide feedback. Similar strategy planned for Degree Auditors.

John Jay E-mail sent to Coordinator. Campus interested in using a tracking ticketing system but has not

selected one. Lehman DGW + FACTS Support Center

(Simple ticketing system, reporting NOT available). Walk-ins to > Graduation, Support, Deputy Offices

(SH, rm. 105, 108, 175). Dedicated support telephone line:

(718) 960.1111 (x4). Two (2) Dedicated email addresses:

[email protected] [email protected].

Emails sent to Coordinator/Master Scriber [email protected].

Email/Telephone to Lehman Campus Helpdesk. E-SRP, enhanced ticketing system w/reporting.

(Student Referral System, pilot to begin Spring 14). Note: CF CRM and CIS Helpdesk are not used to report problems

from within the campus to Coordinator/Master Scriber. Medgar E-mail.

CUNY- CRM Ticket (thru email correspondence). NYCCT

E-mail sent to myself or the scriber.

mailto:[email protected]



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College Process Used to Report Issues

Queens Campus helpdesk (for internal college-wide issues). E-mail. Phone calls to DGW staff. Walk-ins.

SPS Campus CRM. SharePoint Doc. E-mail to local campus helpdesk.

York E-mail link on the Helpful Link Tab on the DGW Audit header. Walk-ins.

BMCC E-mail to local helpdesk on inquiries and report issues. Campus CRM tickets.

Bronx CC In-person, phone & e-mail to various individuals and/or departments which is then escalated to the DGW Coordinator.

GCC E-mail or phone calls to the Registrar. Hostos CC In-person visit.

Telephone calls. Campus e-mail. Campus helpdesk ticket. Campus CRM tickets.

KCC Log-in issues reported to Campus helpdesk. Audit issues reported to Registrar’s front desk. Degree audit issues reported from Advisement, Financial Aid and

other offices reported via e-mail to the Registrar’s Audit team. LaGuardia CC Campus e-mail via the helpdesk/Student Information Center. QBCC E-mail sent to Coordinator.

Phone calls to Scriber or Grad. Audit staff.

6

3. What are the three most pressing issues that impede the usage of DegreeWorks on your campus?

College

Three Key Issues Impeding Usage of DGW Interventions or Recommendations

Baruch Pathways: the DGW system has not been released with Pathways information to students.

Staff dependency on a different advising system. Departments are only familiar with their

requirements or they do not see students.

Brooklyn Scribe blocks were not maintained which contributed to the perception “DGW is wrong & not correct.”

There are constant changes in requirements. Departmental advising recommends courses

prior to being approved.

Updating undergraduate programs requirements (almost complete) been a major priority to ensure audits are accurate.

City Most academic programs do not report issues or make any effort to use the system.

Extensive staff resources are required to

maintain the system. Lack of clarity regarding academic requirements

for various degrees. There are often 4 versions of a single curriculum, the bulletin, web, academic program worksheets and departmental brochures.

There must be a Campus-wide commitment to making DGW “work.”

Additional full-time staff is

required to maintain DGW for all of the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Academic program requirements must be accurate and consistent.

Data must be consistent on all student information systems.

CSI Faculty buy–in. Educating the campus. Difficulties in programming complex degree

requirements. Audit consistently displaying data inaccurately

(especially with the conversion to CF data).

Require i951 to get modified to correctly display requirements especially for internal transfers from AA to BA programs. Note: Updated program schedule for release in December.

Hunter

Delay Resolving Issues: Issues reported to Central that require changes

to i951 this process take a long time to get resolved.

Campus not able to post message on Portal alerting users issues getting addressed.

Students don’t always report issues and give up. DGW Coding of Complex Requirements: Users need to understand the structure of the

DGW audit and its limitation in coding HC complex requirements.

Central needs to resolve issues

on a more timely basis. Campus needs the ability to post

messages on the Portal alerting users of issues and getting them resolved.

Continue to train faculty/staff on

the complexities of the audit.

7

Hunter (cont.)

Using an advisement tool for multiple purposes- degree audit, advising and financial aid eligibility increases its complexity.

Challenges Increasing DGW Usage: DGW inaccuracy with CF data and changes for

Pathways contributed to the negative perception “DIG doesn’t work.”

John Jay Lack of dedicated resources assigned full-time to maintain the system.

Require a campaign to change the negative perception “DGW is inaccurate.”

Need a dedicated trainer to work with the various users and develop marketing materials.

Lehman

Scribe blocks were NOT maintained from (implementation year - 2012). Required many immediate and on-going updates to General Education and Major blocks in order to “get ready” for CF Go-Live (MAR 2012) which also included the implementation of 3rd system known as FACTS (for TAP eligible courses). Contributed to perceptions that DGW is “wrong” or “does not work”.

Academic Advisement insists on using paper “Advisement Sheets” which are not used in conjunction with the audit tool. The paper sheet is therefore not translated in the same manner on the audit and often confuses the student and staff attempting to review and resolve issues.

Transfer Evaluations are not completed in a

timely fashion. Furthermore, the Transfer Evaluation process needs to be modified in order for courses to appear correctly on the audit and enable DGW to be a good advisement tool.

At least three (3) additional full-time staff required to re-scribe and maintain DGW Scribe Blocks for all of the UGRD, GRAD, and other special programs (i.e. – CUNY BA, etc.).

Directive from Campus Leaders on both Admin and Academic sides that DGW is a CUNY issued software that must be used (as is the case w/CF).

Explanation to end-users of any

limitations of the tool and enhancements needed.

Continue to train faculty/staff on the complexities of the audit in its current state.

Reconsider recommendations

proposed during our go-live year (2012-2013). However, they were met with heavy resistance from the Admin Offices. This may be due to lack of resources. Several communications and request for resolutions have occurred b/t Project Management, Admissions, Registrar and Central Offices on this matter.

8

Lehman (cont.)

SIMS conversion data not always reflected in CF

and therefore may be missing altogether from the Audit (i.e. – transfer credit, transfer course articulation, testing data, prior degree data, etc.)

Very small percent of academic departments

report issues or make efforts to use the system. Audit consistently displaying data inaccurately

(especially with the conversion to CF data). Lack of dedicated resources assigned full-time to

update and maintain the system.

Faster response time on decisions

from Central office for resolutions requested (i.e. – Prior Degree CEMLI) which is only now being recognized in a C5 being put forth by the TAP Council.

Increase trainings for Academic

depts. (due to outreach + training sessions % has increased on depts. Reporting issues).

All Deans, Associate Deans,

Chairpersons, Academic Advisors, Departmental Advisors should request that all degree program requirements must be accurate in the online bulletin and data consistent regardless of the medium used.

Medgar Complaints –Faculty and staff mix old curriculum with Pathways requirements.

Discrepancy between degree audits and various published curriculum worksheets.

Inaccurate information on the part of support staff. Some have stated DGW is confusing and they don’t understand how to read it.

Lack of Buy-in from faculty and administrators they do not fully embrace DGW.

NYCCT Advisors are wary of using DegreeWorks because they fear the curriculum is not correct.

Currently, do not have the resources to dedicate to a complete overhaul of the scribe that needs to take place because of the implementation of Pathways.

Discovered the interfaces between CUNYfirst, DegreeWorks and FACTS are not always easy to understand and prevent us from having confidence that the system is working properly.

Hire full-time DGW Coordinator with high-level responsibilities within the dept. responsible for updating DGW & CF tables, testing upgrades/fixes, communicating with Central on reporting/ resolving issues.

Master Scriber responsible for updating scribe blocks, providing training.

An additional part-time staff who reports to DGW Coord. to assist with non-complex scribing and other duties.

9

College Three Key Issues Impeding Usage of DGW Interventions or Recommendations

Queens Some depts. do not believe in the accuracy of the system.

Overall low usage among students and advisors Coding issues – the ECA formula which impacts

FACTS (some students granted more or less elective credits than they should if they get waivers and transfer credits).

SPS Time to code new programs. Keeping existing majors current. Coding minors.

York Audit inaccuracy. Explaining to users DGW data issues does not

mean the audit is incorrect but the source data is inaccurate (data converted or coded incorrectly in CF).

Informal comments from users “Audit is incorrect.”

BMCC DGW & CF Compatibility: Same browser can’t be used to access each

system, users get logged out. Many faculty advisors refused to use the system

for advisement or remove service indicators on CF to allow students to register.

Confusion Accessing DegreeWorks: Link on Portal titled “Student Advisement /

Degree Audit” is different from the name used in the campus materials-DegreeWorks often overlooked.

If they click on the link, the main page of DGW displays CF in the top left corner.

Savings Data in the Educational Planner: Advisors reported courses not saved in plans

because course number or credits entered incorrectly.

Message the plans been saved no longer displays.

Promote the use IE browser for

one system and Fire Fox for the other.

Change the name on the Portal to

DegreeWorks. Change CF link to read “DGW.” Remove “CF Note” in the top left

corner of DGW page; there would be less confusion and increased usage.

Ellucian should add ability to display an error message.

Display confirmation message

plan saved. Bronx CC College community lacks confidence in DGW.

Inconvenience of logging into three systems – BCC E-Advisement form, DGW and CF.

DGW marketing campaign has not been strong enough.

GCC As a new college there is no advisement center or protocol.

College lacks advisement staff. Some folks are apprehensive on the benefits of

the audit.

10

College Three Key Issues Impeding Usage of DGW Interventions or Recommendations

Hostos CC

Advisors not understanding DGW coding with CF data: Coding of repeated courses posted with zero

credits; courses with minimum grade point average not applied in the major block. Note: this is the way the audit works.

Use of Allowable Elective formula required for FACTS.

Test scores and student group used to determine placement (placement not used in CF only test scores).

Implementation of Pathways: Required restructuring the audit’s format. Delays in timely updates of DGW: No Master Scriber to update/resolve systemic

issues. Scriber assigned to other duties. DGW tables not updated with CF values.

KCC Advisement Area: Advisors need to understand the audit is coded

correctly according to the catalog year requirements. At times there’s confusion on which catalog year requirements to follow.

Limitation of the Degree Audit: Users need to understand how to use the audit

for second degree students, and the “shelf life” of particular courses.

Lack of Positive Publicity: College needs to mount a public campaign to

market DGW and its benefits.

LaGuardia CC Some advisors do not use the system. CF data been incorrect in a lot of cases as a result

of data conversion.

QBCC Resistance by various constituencies who say “It doesn’t work,” sometimes without ever having seen it.

DegreeWorks problems and limitations Audit splits credits but not consistently Range of credits rule only allows the minimum number to get applied even when higher credit range is required. (See list of issues submitted Dec. 2012- issues to get reviewed with QBCC Coordinator).

11

4. Share with us your DegreeWorks “Best Practices.” What has made DegreeWorks successful at your institution?

College

Best Practices Implementing DGW Strategies Increase Success

Baruch Before Pathways: When the audit was clean and clear – the

advisors and everyone used it. The Center of Advisement required students had

to first print out their audit before seeing an advisor.

After Pathways: DGW only being used by the graduation auditors

and the TAP Course Compliance unit. Advisors are not using it.

Brooklyn Users who received training displayed greater satisfaction using the system after their training session.

Continue to offer training on a regular basis.

City At the implementation stage extensive outreach was conducted to promote DGW.

Frequent training was provided to all campus users.

Feedback was requested on any concerns or problems.

College needs a vision of a truly integrated academic advisement and degree audit system.

DGW should be used to its full potential by enhancing the advisement experience and increasing the speed to graduation, thereby impacting graduation rates.

President’s and Provost’s Councils should be made aware of the complexities of maintaining the software and the issues inherent with this kind of software.

CSI Using usage data to market DGW and provide training to the various depts.

Collaborating with the Office of Academic

Advisement.

Created a tutorial available on the College’s website.

DGW incorporated into the New

Student Orientation Program for incoming freshman and transfer students.

Hunter Student usage increased when other features are used such as Notes. They’re instructed to log on to get information from this feature.

Increase collaboration between Degree Audit and Advising helped to keep DGW up-to-date and improved their respective processes.

Creation of a newsletter for advisors informing them on updates and use of DGW contributed to staff usage and improved dialogue.

John Jay Working with dept. chairs and the campus

curriculum committee to ensure data is coded correctly.

Obtaining support from the Office of Academic Affairs and Academic Advisement.

12

College


Lehman Creation of a Support Center (Hub for questions and resolutions).

Coordinator/Master Scriber created Training Materials – “How To” for DGW.

Coordinator/Master Scriber created Tri-fold brochures for DGW and FACTS Applications for use at Student Orientations, Workshops, and Support Center.

Coordinator/Master Scriber has trained part-time staff (high turn-over) on how to read audits and troubleshoot a few simple CF data issues (i.e. – prior degree info or testing info missing, etc.) in order to better assist students who visit our Support Center.

Coordinator/Master Scriber has trained one part-timer to be able to assist w/giving Workshops for students or staff.

Invitation to interested academic departments to pilot features of the tool not currently being used.

Special training session invited to dept. (such as Adult Degree) where program and degree requirements are significantly different from the general student population.

Feedback requested from Academic Advisement staff on Gen. Ed requirement issues.

Survey all campuses on processes and procedures for Transfer Policies and Transfer Evaluations. Based on survey attempt to standardize the process for all campuses since we are all mandated to use DGW and FACTS.

Program and Degree requirements reported in the Chancellor’s Report need to also have an implementation term attached for clarity.

Reduction in the frequency of changes that occur in Program and Degree requirements.

Communication Bulletins for end-users informing them of updates, limitations, and request for ideas for improvement.

Require campus staff to use the tool, report issues, and maintain a positive outlook as reported issues are resolved whether in-house or at Central.

Develop professional marketing plan and materials that can be used by all colleges.

Dedicate staff required for campus training programs.

Medgar Offer DGW training sessions for Advisors, Chairs and Administrators.

Offer DGW fair - introduce and encourage students to use DGW.

Curriculum Worksheets are no longer distributed to students and faculty. Exceptions (substitutions, waivers, etc.) are added on an almost daily basis so audits reflect as accurate as possible.

Use FACTS Lite to flag students for state aid which increased the usage of DegreeWorks.

Remove all curriculum and

advisement work sheets and force students to use DegreeWorks.

NYCCT Responsive to the end users and resolve problems.

Offer as much training as possible and constantly advise the college community on the benefits of DegreeWorks.

13

College


Queens Good communications/relationship between DGW staff, and the academic and administrative offices.

Knowledgeable staff (campus wide) on academic policies.

SPS Academic advisors interface with students to review their DGW. This aids in identifying errors either on the audit or in SIMS.

Audit explains the requirements in a student friendly way.

York Scribe requirements as soon as CR is published Respond to all inquiries immediately; inform folks

if correction will take time. Encourage walk-ins and meet individually to

respond to issues. Host periodic workshops for entering freshman. Offer training workshops to new faculty each

semester.

BMCC Train faculty/staff and students. DGW now maintained by the Advisement

Center staff which reflects advisors view (data layout) rather than the Registrar’s.

Close collaboration between Testing, Registrar’s

and Bursar to correct issues.

Faculty/staff training offered prior to start of advisement/ registration periods.

Adv. Center offers “Advisement

Labs” students invited to learn about their majors, and use of DGW.

Hands-on session students complete exercises on navigating DGW, understanding their curriculum, create academic plans and keep a graduation checklist.

Bronx CC Incoming students provided with DGW training through either an I.T. workshop or their freshman OCD/first year experience class.

The I.T. Helpdesk trained on assisting users on

accessing DGW as well as recognizing DGW issues and escalating them to the DGW Coordinator.

GCC As of date, have not established best practices methods.

14

College Best Practices Implementing DGW Strategies Increase Success

Hostos CC On-campus collaboration and communication among Registrar’s Office and Office of Academic Advisement.

Define roles and responsibilities on DGW maintenance: Registrar responsible for coding degree requirements, configuring DGW and CF tables. Academic Advisement responsible for training users, marketing, detecting issues, and sending/ responding to students’ communications.

KCC

Registrar’s DGW Team offered workshops to individual academic depts. Demo the audit to faculty/staff reviewed its features, discussed issues and resolution strategies.

Recently implemented “Ideas Sharing” Group, a

weekly meeting sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs includes representatives from Registrar, Office of Academic Advisement, Financial Aid, Academic Scheduling and Transfer Office. Discuss interpretation of policies, new policies, changes required in DGW and Pathways updates.

LaGuardia CC Respond and resolve issues as quickly as possible by updating the scribe rules or correcting data in CF.

Work closely with College Curriculum Committee on pending changes to identify any potential issues before the new requirements are approved.

Collaborate with the various academic depts. and advisors.

QBCC Talking to every student who walks into Grad Audit about viewing DGW.

Being open to hearing about problems and encouraging advisors/staff to report issues.

Offering group demonstrations on new changes – Pathways.

15

5. Indicate what’s needed to strengthen the DegreeWorks project. Example: enhancements from Ellucian, greater integration with CUNYfirst, be specific.

College

Request for Future Enhancements

Baruch More use of the Curriculum Planner – never used before. The ability for the Ellucian logic to do certain things. i.e. Instead of being

waived out of the Required Core and the Flexible Core – it allow the courses to flow in and still waive the block but show the courses and what they fulfilled. There is real resistance from Advisors because the audit cannot do that. Currently, courses fall to the bottom of the audit.

To be able to update a course that can be counted as a Liberal Arts class for a student or a block even though the course itself is a Non-Liberal Arts courses.

In CF - If students could use the Pre-registration function and have it feed into DGW to determine seats and sections – Administrators would be interested in that data for planning purposes.

Brooklyn CIS should increase the number of historical audits advisors and registrar access recommend a minimum of 10.

City CIS should have a full-time scriber at Central to assist the colleges with complex scribing issues.

Ability to print bulk audits. Ability to “partition” DegreeWorks so specific DGW managers may work

only on certain blocks within the system. CSI Each college needs a team of DGW Specialists (similar to a One-Stop Shop

model) dedicated to solely handing DGW, CF and FACTS issues. The director of this area would have input on decision-making related to

these applications and processes. Hunter Need a way to communicate DGW issues to users or send reminders.

CIS needs a better way to direct users to change their Profile when they’re “active” at multiple institutions.

FACTS application needs to get modified to allow for different types of overrides when courses are deemed eligible but can’t get processed as exceptions in DGW.

Contract Ellucian to enhance ECA algorithm to use range of credits to determine accurately the total number of allowable credits.

John Jay Consult with Ellucian to create a dynamic integration with CF data to have students’ view their registration on the audit.

Obtain professional services to train new staff members on system updates and scribing.

Lehman

Better communication from CIS when issues occur at Central which affects campus instances of DGW.

FACTS application needs to get modified to allow for different types of overrides when courses are deemed eligible but can’t get processed as exceptions in DGW.

ECA Formula to allow credit ranges as Program requirements are not always a set #.

Real-time course data update from CF > DGW > FACTS. Increase # of Historical Audits (if not able consider storage of past audits).

16

Lehman (cont.)

On-campus Training Teams (3 dedicated groups for each College). CIS Master Scriber needed who works with campus Coordinators and

Ellucian on product issues and/or enhancements. Petitions implementation. Better GPA Calculators. Reports on Usage. More specific Reporting options (not just the canned reports). Joint Meetings needed before critical points on semester-base. Provide training on other features in DGW, i.e., how to implement Pre-req

blocks and how it impacts ECA formula for allowable electives for TAP. Medgar Enhancement for Ellucian—update petition component so that it can be

used more effectively. Campus administrator should be able to add new records and delete

duplicate records on DGW. The process of sending emails when a student cannot access their audit is

time consuming. A faster turnaround by Ellucian when tickets are posted. System should not be unavailable during registration.

NYCCT Encourage greater communication between the Central Office CUNYfirst and DegreeWorks teams, because often times a change to CUNYfirst will change the way DegreeWorks behaves and it’s not always anticipated.

Queens College access to DGW Production instance. More communications between CIS and colleges regarding changes to

scribe blocks. Quicker resolutions from CIS.

SPS N/A- Did not answer the question. York Consider a joint meeting each semester with the Registrar’s Council,

DGW Council and Academic Advisement to review University wide issues and strategies.

CIS should allow DGW Coordinator to submit tickets directly to the Ellucian Helpdesk.

BMCC Colleges migrating to CF need to confirm skills data loaded into SKAT and bridged to DGW.

Bronx CC More accessibility to DGW data such as a mechanism to schedule Crystal Reports to export data to various formats through FTP to Tumbleweed.

Greater integration with CF with real-time data. GCC Consideration should be given to implementing the CF Academic

Advisement system to increase data integration and not depend on data feed from a different system.

17

College Request for Future Enhancements

Hostos CC Contract Ellucian to customize the ECA formula: Display the total number of credits allowed prior to enrollment in major

requirements. Allow greater flexibility in the calculation of elective credits and sharing

these credits with other blocks. Display a check off box in the Elective Credits Allowed Area to inform users

when their credits are complete. Ellucian should code pre/co requisites checking feature in the audit. Modification to the i951 Interface Program: Bridge additional data values to the web header of the audit for community

colleges. Campus strategies: Assign dedicated staff to resolve DGW issues on a timelier manner. Review DGW advisors’ usage and continue to train them.

KCC

Link to Campus Course Catalog & Schedule: Change the link to access campus course catalog & schedule of classes

information directly rather than having to link to CF Course Search and then search for your institution info.

Contract Ellucian to: To assist with integrating into DGW pre/co requisite course data and real

time update to the audit. Modify the i951 Interface Program: CIS should allow unique data values – data required for senior vs.

community colleges to display on the web header similar to prior to migration to CF.

CIS should be flexible and accommodate individual college’s request to

bridge unique data values to DGW.

LaGuardia CC

Contract Ellucian to: Provide greater integration with CF data. Students expect to see their data

instantly updated in DGW. Obtain training to mine the database and create reports on courses needed

for the upcoming terms and more accurate usage data.

QBCC Contract Ellucian to update the DGW Algorithm to provide greater flexibility in coding specific requirements (see list of scribe issues).

18

College Request for Future Enhancements Other Enhancements discussed at DGW Council meetings

Contract Ellucian to: For the general education block, when these requirements are met based

on a prior degree, have the block completed (check off) and at the same time transfer courses would get applied as course equivalencies and the total credit value for the block would get adjusted and recalculated. The extra credits would get assigned to the elective block. Currently, the block can’t do this. The current option is: have the block rule complete and courses fall to the elective block. Advisors and students find this confusing. It would be best, if transfer credits get applied in this block, and if an area is not met because there isn’t a course equivalency, the credits get moved to the elective block. This can only be done through a course to course manual update. If customized this feature would be optional.

Modify the Petition and Exception feature to allow for a workflow process

where multiple folks can submit petitions and different user-types can process exceptions.

New Workflow: Advisors submit petition for exception. Request sent to Dept. Chair. Dept. Chair approves course substitution(s). Final approval sent to Registrar’s staff to process exceptions and/or have

multiple folk’s process exceptions. Process exceptions and/or pseudo courses in batch mode. Reviews the format of the audit consider modifying the advisement audit

format to make it student friendly. Consider having an audit view for advisors vs. current student’s view. DGW Link on Student’s Self-Service Page directly to the audit (by-pass the

Portal).

19

6. How many employees do you believe are necessary to support DegreeWorks efforts in order to maintain updates, review issues, train users and market the application?

All campuses recommend full-time staff assigned 100% of their time to the DegreeWorks Project. 7. Explain what you envision their roles to be and how the organizational structure would be arranged.

The majority of staff support the current model implemented at the majority of colleges- continue reporting to the Registrar’s Office. Summary of Coordinators’ responses:

Roles Functions - Responsibilities Number of Resources

Institution Type

DGW Coordinators Senior Managers Coordinate, train and supervise staff. Senior Scriber- knowledgeable on

academic policies and curricula, code complex requirements.

Design training materials. Provide training to faculty/ advisors/

staff. Implement Tracking system for

issues/resolutions. Oversee issues & resolution

strategies. Liaison to CIS & Ellucian on reporting

issues and request updates. Collaborate with other Campus

Enrollment Management Areas. Collaborate with Campus Publications

or Communication Areas responsible for developing marketing materials.

Campus Lead with support from Provost Office on strategic marketing campaign to promote a positive outlook and benefits of DGW and expand usage of other DGW features.

2

1

Senior or Community Colleges with enrollment 15,000 or more Community Colleges with less than 15,000 enrollees

DGW Scribers

Scribe undergraduate programs for all active catalog years (as of implementation).

Analyze & resolve issues. Assist with training.

4

2

Senior or Community Colleges with enrollment 15,000 or more Community Colleges

Scribe graduate programs for all active programs.

Analyze & resolve issues.

2 Senior Colleges

Support Staff

Verify updates. Review tracking issues and resolve

them. Provide support services to

DGW/FACTS issues.

3

2

Senior Colleges /CC (15,000) Community Colleges

20

DGW Scriber & Support Staff

Skills Requirements

Knowledgeable on campus curriculum, academic policies, developmental skills and graduation requirements.

Need to be cross-trained on various enrollment management services.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Detail oriented.

DEGREE WORKS (DW) TRAINING PLAN BY COLLEGE/PROGRAMTarget Training Population Training Materials Training TimelineStudents Faculty Staff Handouts Powerpoint Video Fall Spring Summer Advisement Registrar IT/Tech DW team

BMCC

*CUNY Baccalaureate forUnique &

Interdisciplinary StudiesCUNY School of

Professional Studies

John Jay Collegeof Criminal JusticeKingsborough

Community College

Laguardia Community College

Lehman College

NYC College of Technology

Queens CollegeQueensborough

Community CollegeStella & Charles Guttman

Community College

York College

Medgar Evers College

Trainers

Baruch College

Bronx Community College

Brooklyn College

Macaulay Honors College

The City College of New York

College of Staten Island

Hostos Community College

Hunter College

* CUNY BA will not be using Degree Works. Information provided for Banner System.

Appendix E

Proposed Organizational Structure for DegreeWorks and FACTS

FACTS is a web based application that tracks student’s financial aid eligibility and certification as they progress through their academic career.

Generate a financial aid audit and evaluate student’s eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), Aid for Part-Time Study (APTS) and selected HESC scholarships.

Audit evaluate student’s eligibility for each semester. FACTS is used as an advisory tool in determining eligibility. Audit displays eligibility indicators that are easy to understand, such as a green checkmark. FACTS uses DegreeWorks data to determine course eligibility for aid. Transcript indicates courses eligible for aid and indicates repeatable courses for aid. Tracks course eligibility for aid as student’s academic program changes. Tracks financial policies that differ from academic policies. Eligibility indicator is sent to CUNYfirst and determine if an award should get posted to a student’s bill

DegreeWorks Coordinator/Master Scriber

Support Staff

Scriber Graduate Programs

DegreeWorks Application

DegreeWorks Senior Manager/ Curriculum Analyst

Registrar

APTS Coordinator TAP Certifying Officer

Support Staff Support Staff

FACTS Application

FACTS Coordinator Senior TAP Certifying Officer

Scriber Undergraduate Programs

Support Staff

CUNYfirst

Users’ log-on to CUNY Portal to access • DegreeWorks • FACTS – TAP Audit • CUNYfirst

1 1

2

8 5

4 3

7

6

Step 1 – Student registers in CUNYfirst

Step 2 – Student data is extracted from CUNYfirst thru the i951 process loaded into DegreeWorks

Step 3 – Student data is loaded into FACTS database from DegreeWorks

Step 4 – Student financial aid data is loaded into FACTS from i951 all other FA data loaded HESC payment roster

Step 5 - DegreeWorks college options requirement designation (i1089) loaded to CUNYfirst

Step 6 – DegreeWorks and FACTS database files are loaded into FACTS

Step 7 – Eligibility indicator sent to CUNYfirst

Step 8 – TAP award posted on student’s account

FACTS Financial Aid Eligibility & Certification

Tracking System

Bill

Financial Aid eligibility status

i951 (DGW Interface Prog. Loads CF data into DGW &

FACTS) CUNY FIRST DegreeWorks Academic

Advisement System i1089

FORMAT FOR A NEW COURSE Section AIV: New Courses AIV.1 CUNYfirst Course ID Department(s) Career [ ] Undergraduate [] Graduate Academic Level [ ] Regular [ ] Compensatory [ ] Developmental [ ] Remedial Subject Area Course Prefix Course Number Course Title Catalogue Description

Pre/ Co Requisites Credits Contact Hours Liberal Arts [ ] Yes [ ] No Course Attribute (e.g. Writing Intensive, Honors, etc)

Course Applicability

____ Major ____ Gen Ed Required ___ Gen Ed - Flexible ___ Gen Ed - College Option

____ English Composition _ ___ World Cultures ____ Mathematics ____ US Experience in its Diversity College Option Detail ______________________________ ____ Science ____ Creative Expression ____Individual and Society ____Scientific World

Effective Term

Rationale: The graduate theatre program is lacking in coursework in American theatre. This course will help fill that void. NOTE: At least one Title and IRP code of a program to which the new course is applicable, as per SED regulation.

AV: 1 Changes to be offered in the XXX Department CUNYFirst Course ID FROM TO Departments

Course Course Pre or co requisite Prerequisite Hours Hours Credits Credits Description Description

Requirement Designation

Requirement Designation

Liberal Arts [ ] Yes [ ] No Liberal Arts [ ] Yes [ ] No Course Attribute (e.g. Writing Intensive, Honors, etc)

Course Attribute (e.g. Writing Intensive, Honors, etc)

Course Applicability ____ Major ____ Gen Ed Required

____ English Composition ____ Mathematics ____ Science

___Gen Ed Flexible

___ World Cultures ___ US Experience in its Diversity ___ Creative Expression

Course Applicability

____ Major ____Gen Ed Required

____ English Composition ____ Mathematics ____ Science

___ Gen Ed Flexible

___ World Cultures ___ US Experience in its Diversity ___ Creative Expression ___ Individual and Society

___ Individual and Society ___ Scientific World

_____Gen Ed – College Option College Option Detail

___ Scientific World

EffectiveTerm Rationale:

OFF ICE OF THE REGIST RAR @ LEHMAN COLLEGE | CUNY

DGW + FACTS Support Center Escalation Protocol

250 Bedford Park Boulevard West

Shuster Hall • Room 108

Bronx, New York

Phone: 718.960.8526, 718.960.1111 (option 3)

[email protected]

[email protected]



2

Introduction

The DegreeWorks and FACTS Support Center was established in the beginning months of 2012 right before Lehman’s CUNYfirst Go-Live (APR 2012). Staff members are currently comprised of the following:

TAP Coordinator (1) College Assistants (3)

There is daily assistance with the Escalation Protocol from the following who are not permanently situated in the Center:

Deputy Registrar/Master Scriber + Coordinator (1) TAP Certifying Officer (1)

AIM

To find efficient solutions for problems brought to our attention by (students, faculty, staff). To make sure that all members are familiar with their responsibility for efficient

troubleshooting.

KEY Principles

Share information appropriately and often. Seek to resolve issues quickly. Liaise with other administrative and academic offices at the earliest opportunity. Become familiar with the escalation routes for escalation and resolution.

Ensure tickets are resolved with notes on key decisions in relation to the resolution process.

ISSUES

1. Unable to Access DegreeWorks CUNY Portal information may need to be updated to reflect correct Primary College

(Herbert H. Lehman) and Role (Student).

2. Flagged Courses in DegreeWorks/FACTS ECA (elective-credits-allowed) calculation in the degree audit tool (takes into

consideration scribed GenEd/Major/Minor requirements) will determine whether or not a course(s) is eligible towards the degree being sought given the scribed requirements. This is independent from whether or not a student receives a TAP award. *also resolve for advisement purposes.

3. TAP not appearing on CUNYfirst For cases where flagged course(s) causes a student’s total number of credits towards

the degree to fall below 12cr. a TAP award will not be issued.

For cases where the TAP Process (runbook) may not have completed running, etc.

4. Refund Check Not Yet Received For cases where the TAP Process (runbook) may not have completed running, etc.

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Escalation Procedure

First level of analysis is performed by the front desk support > College Assistants. CAs have been trained by the Deputy Registrar, TAP Certifying Officer, and/or TAP Coordinator on how to determine exactly what a student’s issue may be and how to log and resolve all walk-in and phone requests for assistance.

The training includes but is not limited to the understanding and use of CUNYfirst, DegreeWorks, FACTS, and HESC data, Creating and Logging Tickets. This allows our CAs to be able to move an issue along to the appropriate person(s) for resolution.

College Assistants (CA) -

1. Performs root cause analysis (decide whether issue is DGW or FACTS based). 2. Logs ticket with all pertinent student information available. 3. Attempts to troubleshoot issue based on all training provided.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is resolved by CA action then escalation procedure is closed

by documenting the solution on ticket with relevant comments and notifying student of the outcome.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is not resolved by CA action then escalate to second level

and notify student of escalation.

Second level of analysis is performed by the Assistant Scriber (position not filled) and/or TAP Coordinator.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is resolved by Assistant Scriber (or) TAP Coordinator action

then escalation procedure is closed by documenting the solution with relevant comments and notifying the CA to contact the student to relay the outcome.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is not resolved as a result of Assistant Scriber (or) TAP Coordinator action then that person will be responsible for updating the student on response time until a resolution can be achieved, document any efforts made or additional information, and escalate to third level.

Third level of analysis is performed by Master Scriber and/or TAP Certification Officer.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is resolved by Master Scriber (or) TAP Certification Officer action then escalation procedure is closed by documenting the solution with relevant comments and notifying the CA to contact the student to relay the outcome.

If DGW (or) FACTS issue is not resolved as a result of Master Scriber (or) TAP Certification Officer action then that person will be responsible for updating the student on response time until a resolution can be achieved, document any efforts made or additional information, and escalate to fourth level.

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Fourth level of analysis is performed by CUNY CIS (Olga Vega, Alicia Colon, Deborah Hairston).

DGW (or) FACTS issue is reported to CUNY CIS staff via CRM Ticket. If CIS staff

resolves the issue the CRM ticket will be documented with the solution, ticket will be closed, and notification will be sent to the Master Scriber and or TAP Certifying Officer. Notification will then be given to CA to contact student with outcome. Escalation procedure ends here.

If CIS staff is not able to resolve DGW issue then escalate to fifth level.

The fifth level of analysis is performed by ELLUCIAN Helpdesk.

The DGW issue will be escalated to the Ellucian Helpdesk by CIS staff for final analysis. DGW issue is resolved as a result of Vendor action. CIS will notify Master Scriber. Notification will then be given to CA to contact student with outcome. Escalation procedure ends here.

Contact Information:

Takiyah A. Ali Deputy Registrar

DGW Coordinator + Master Scriber

Shuster Hall, Room 175 [P] 718.960.5105 [F] 718.960.7336

[E] [email protected]

e-SRP (electronic student referral system)

(DRAFT)Training Guide for Support Center

Lehman College, CUNY | Prepared By: Takiyah A. Ali

1. Log in to CUNYfirst and HESC accounts (Internet Explorer Browser, 2 tabs)

2. Log in to CUNY Portal and e-SRP accounts (Firefox browser, 2 tabs)

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3. College Assistant will conduct intake dialogue, review student record in all systems as indicated above, log student info into e-SRP Referral system.

4. Begin by entering student EMPLID. Options include entering information manually (or) allowing system to populate a drop-down selection of up to ten (10) student names directly related to the order of the first few typed digits.

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5. Fields preceded by an asterisk (*) will be automatically populated when the desired student name is selected.

6. Verification check of student information is done by system and represented by green checkmarks. A dialog box will appear, click “Continue”.

“Referred To”: select office area where student issue will most likely be resolved.

“Add Reason”: a populated drop-down of reasons for why a student issue would need to be referred to the selected office area.

“Referral Notes”: allows for free text entry in cases where pre-populated statements do not represent the student issue fully. More information must be communicated to selected office area.

CLICK SUBMIT

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7. Student Referral notification (e-ticket) is then sent via @Lehman.cuny.edu to identified Review Group.

8. Review Group members receive email notification where reader is able to quickly identify if they are the responsible party to “Claim Case” based on the “referral notes” on e-ticket.

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9. Review Group member claims the case in order to select a “disposition” and add “comments”.

Two (2) Dispositions Two (2) Actions Case Review On-going (PAUSE)

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Case Review On-going (Re-ASSIGNMENT)

Case Closed

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Case Information

Process Map

Messages History

Upload Documents

If you have not created a Portal account Click on “Register Now” to create a Username and Password Click on “Student”; then enter your Last Name, Social Security

Number and Date of Birth. Click on “Next”; then you will be given a Username and asked

to create your own personalized Password.

Getting Started Access BCC Degree audit through the CUNY Portal

at http://www.cuny.edu Click on the Log‐in link on the lower left side

You will now be on the CUNY Portal Log‐in page

If you have already created a Portal account Enter your Username and Password to Log‐in Once you are logged into the Portal, you will be brought to “My

Page” Click on the link “CUNYfirst Student Advisement Degree Audit” You will now be on the main navigation page for the BCC Degree

audit application

Once you begin a Degree Audit session, you will see the following tabs listing the various tools DegreeWorks offer:

Audit Click the View Audit tab to see your degree audit.

The audit report divides information into blocks: General information: name, overall GPA, major, catalog year, placement, stops

Summary of general requirements for the degree: GPA, remedials, CPE, OCD, major

CUNY Skills requirements Major requirements Courses taken but not counted towards your degree

Courses without a passing grade Courses in progress

A legend at the bottom of the audit screen provides explanation for the symbols used by DegreeWorks

The Degree Audit tells you the courses you still need to take

The Degree Audit gives you a description of course content and co/prerequisites

What If Click the What If tab: Select the desired degree,

catalog year, and major from the drop‐down menu

Click Process Audit to see how the courses you have completed meet the new major requirements

If you decide to change from your currently declared plan, please download a Change of Plan (major) form and return it to the Registrar’s Office, Colston Hall, 513

GPA Calc From the drop‐down menu select the appropriate GPA Calculator andclick on “Load”

The Graduation Calculator determines the GPA average you will need to maintain to graduate

The Term Calculator may be used to determine how the expected grades for the current semester will affect your overall GPA

The Advice Calculator determines how many credits of a specific grade average you need to reach your desired GPA

Logging Out Click on the Log Out icon in the top right corner Do not forget to log out of the CUNY Portal

separately

For assistance with accessing CUNY Portal or DegreeWorks contact the Information Technology Helpdesk located in Colston Hall, Room 806. Phone: (718) 289‐5970 eMail: Helpdesk @bcc.cuny.edu

The Audit function maps your transcript onto your declared curriculum and catalog year

The GPA Calc offers three types of GPA calculators

The Planner function displays an academic planner that can be used to plan student’s courses and schedules

The What If function maps your transcript onto any curriculum at BCC

Appendix J

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) Allana D. Burke (Senior Academic Advisor) & Kristina Borowski (Senior Academic Advisor)

May 7, 2014 DegreeWorks Training Plan

Goals for DegreeWorks (DW) Training

1. Educate the entire college community about DegreeWorks (DW) How to access and read the worksheet How to utilize the “what-if” feature for students who want to change their major How to utilize the Planner, GPA calculator, etc.

2. Promote the usage of DegreeWorks as a tool not just for advisement degree auditing,

i.e. (Admissions, Financial Aid & Bursars Office functions)

3. Discrepancies/ Incorrect information in DegreeWorks How to spot them Who to contact

• DW scribers are housed in the Academic Advisement and Transfer Center. This allows errors to be quickly identified & corrected

Fall 2014 & Spring 2015 Training Plan by Population Students Early academic advisement begins on March 20 in the spring semester and on October 20 in the fall semester. All students advised in the AATC are prompted to log-in to their DW at the conclusion of their advisement session.

A DegreeWorks (Student Advisement Degree Audit) flyer was created and will be available to students in the Academic Advisement office, the BMCC information desk, in the academic departments, in student services offices and on the AATC website. This flyer details to students how to log-in and highlights features of DegreeWorks. Detailed instruction on modifying the student profile was also created to assist students in accessing their portal accounts.

In the fall 2012 semester, the AATC created advisement labs. These labs allow students to receive hands on training on their curriculum and the DegreeWorks system. As in the past, the advisement labs will occur throughout the academic year.

All entering freshman and transfer students, for the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters, who attend our Getting Prepared to Start (GPS) orientation program will be trained on the DegreeWorks system and its functionality.

Staff

o Academic Advisement Staff (includes advisors in AATC, ASAP, Freshman Learning Academy- FLA and College Discovery- CD) All academic advisement staff will continue to utilize DW on a daily basis. As in the past, refreshers will be provided at least two weeks prior to the start of early advisement in each semester as well as one week prior to regular registration in the summer and winter. These refreshers include: Basic overview of all DW features Reminders about incorrect information in DW

• Conflicting catalog years • No testing scores • Student groups

Updates to the system Curricular changes

DegreeWorks should not be viewed as just an advisement tool. Administrative offices are able to utilize DW in order to assist them in various daily activities. We have begun training the following offices on DW and hope to have refreshers in the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters:

o Admissions Office Overview of DW Learning the curricula (Pathways & Pre-Pathways) in order to assist in the

evaluation of transcripts & determining transfer credits Look ahead for transfer credit evaluation

o Financial Aid Office Overview of DW Utilizing the Notes feature especially in regards to Title IV appeals Viewing Title IV appeal plans

o Testing Office Overview of DW How testing information is displayed in DW Utilizing the Notes feature General overview of the check-in process for Regular Registration

o Registrar’s Office Overview of DW modifications Utilizing DW for graduation audits Creating Exceptions

Faculty

The Academic Advisement and Transfer Center is solely responsible for training faculty on DW. Faculty are responsible for advising students in their major department during early advisement.

o As in the past, refreshers will be provided at least two weeks prior to the start of early advisement in each semester as well as one week prior to regular registration in the summer and winter. These refreshers include: Basic overview of all DW features Reminders about incorrect information in DW

• Conflicting catalog years • No testing scores • Student groups

Updates to the system Curricular changes

o Supplemental guides are available on the AATC website. We are in the process of creating additional “how- to” videos and modules for faculty & staff to reference during advisement

Revised May 27, 2014 User doc. file

Appendix K

CUNYfirst and Degree Works Curriculum Change Workflow Process

Registrar

Catalog Coordinator

Provost Office/ Academic

Advisement

TIPPS Coordinator

Academic Affairs informs _________to implement

approved Curricula Changes

Campus DegreeWorks Team

College Curriculum Committee approves New

Degree/Program/Major/ Course or Curricula Changes

College Senate approves Curricula Changes

DegreeWorks Update Form – Department defines course

requirements needed to scribe (See Sample Form)

Chancellor’s Office approves Curricula

Changes

Registrar Updates CF

Tables COURSE CATALOG MAJOR/MINOR –Academic Plan CONCN – Academic Sub-Plan CHRRS – Assignment Type CRCCD – Class Notes CDEPT – Academic Organization CREPT- Info in Course Catalog DISP – Academic Subset OCRSE- Course Equivalency DegreeWorks Coordinator/Master Scriber CUNYfirst DGW Set up Pages Institution Email Catalog Year Grade Flags Table FACTS Waived Elective Credits By-pass Enrollment Grade Basis By-pass Class Component By-pass Class By-pass Zero Credit Labs Student Group Options Other Credit Type Options Test Scores Prior Degree Option

PHASE I

PHASE II PHASE III

Updates to DegreeWorks DW Test Only

Scribe Blocks -- Updating rules when a new course key approved -- Modifying rules for changes in degree requirements UCX Tables STU016 Term literals (updated regularly) STU035 Catalog (updated regularly) STU023 Major STU024 Minor AUD0 27 & 29 What-If Pick-lists CFG070 Equivalence Records STU307 Degree STU563 Concentration - After adding Codes and Description, it is necessary to refresh the picklists. To Refresh Picklist go to: 1. "Scribe" application then go to 2. "Host" and click 3. "Refresh Picklists" 4. Once the job finishes 5. Verify codes that were added or modified are incorporated into their respective Picklist.

Updates to DegreeWorks Production

Once DegreeWorks is updated in test, DGW Coordinators must submit a CRM Ticket with the following requests to CIS to update production:

-- Copy UCX Tables -- Copy Scribe Blocks CRM tickets are also submitted for:

-- Updates to DGW Course Master -- Issues with CF and/or DGW data -- Create & Run Reports

SED

June 2012

Queens College

Chancellor’s University Report – Part A: Academic Matters

PART A: ACADEMIC MATTERS June 25, 2012

AI.2. Committee Resolutions, approved Academic Senate 5/3/12

a. The following time table was approved to clarify how changes to general education, majors, minors and courses will appear in the bulletin, DegreeWorks and CUNYFirst and be official requirements for students.

Implementation Policies and Timetable

For any academic year Fall 20XX- Spring 20YY (YY = XX+1)

Changes to Bulletin/DegreeWorks

FA 20XX – SP 20YY

Academic Year

Effective for Students entering

Activated in CUNYFirst

General Education

Changes approved by BoT up to June 20XX

Fall 20XX

New Majors/Minors


Fall 20XX Fall 20XX

Changes to Majors/Minors*


Fall 20XX

New courses All new courses approved by BoT up to June 20XX

Whenever they can be scheduled.

Changes approved by BoT up to Sept 20XX; may be scheduled for Spring 20YY

Changes to Courses


Fall 20XX Fall 20XX

* Students always have the option to follow newer requirements in their entirety when a major is changed. It is incumbent on the department to explain that academic requirements as stated in DegreeWorks and CUNYFirst will vary.

b. Grade Replacement

The grade replacement policy applies to courses that are an exact match. A writing-intensive course is no different from a non-writing-intensive course for the purposes of grade replacement. Appeals may be handled by the USSC.

c. P/NC for Minors.

Courses used to complete the requirements for a minor may not be taken P/NC.

The Academic Advising Center Kiely Hall 217 | 718.997.5599 | advising.qc.cuny.edu

Change of Requirement Designation Form

Student Name (Last, First) ________________________________________ CUNY ID ____________________

QC Email Address _______________________________ @ QC.CUNY.EDU Phone # ____________________

QC Matriculation Term Fall Spring Year ________________________________________________

Request to Elect Secondary Requirement Designation (RD) for Core Courses at Queens College Term Course (Dept. & Nbr.) CF Class Nbr. Primary RD Secondary RD Elected __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________

__________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ Request to Modify Requirement Designation (RD) for Coursework Transferred to Queens College (Note: This is completed to properly reflect RDs in CF and DGW. RD assigned by the sending CUNY institution may not be changed unless approval is granted by the Office of General Education; if GE substitution/waiver is warranted, it is handled by the Office of General Education.) School Incoming Course QC Equivalency RD Assigned Notes __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ __________ __________________ __________________ ____________ ___________________ Name of Advisor _______________________ Advisor’s Signature ________________________________ Date _________________________________ Student’s Signature _______________________________

Rev 2/2014 ADV/ISL

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Appendix M: CIS/IT Recommendations for Process Improvement of Advisement Technologies & Services

1. Upgrade DegreeWorks to latest Version 4.1.3

DegreeWorks needs to get upgraded to its latest version which offers greater functionality to existing features, new functions and correction to system defects. Ellucian will not invest in updating the current version (4.09) even though they’ve continued to assist CUNY with resolving issues.

Key Features of Version 4.1.3

A. Enhanced Educational Planner: • Offers a Template Management module whereby model degree plans can get created and assigned to

student individually, or via batch mode. This can be useful when offering learning communities or block programming and for customizing individualized audits which could be useful for CUNYBA Students.

• Create an academic program of study for each term until graduation and include GPA requirements. • Drag-and-drop functionality to add courses to the plan from the course catalog or the student’s own

degree audit. • Plan management determine who can update or just view a saved plan. • Improved display of courses listed as “place holders.” • Plan tracking which evaluate whether a planned course been completed and students’ on-track to

complete degree requirements. • Link to a degree requirement which displays course list that meets requirements. • Warning display if course is added to the plan that’s already completed. • Update Notes feature allows users to post notes in different parts of the plan. • Predictive enrollment scheduling feature provides data useful for scheduling forecasting.

B. Printing Audits

Run, freeze and print batch audits (including What-If audits). Freezing audits will complement FACTS frozen audit documenting compliance with state aid rules.

C. Enhanced Transfer Services – Generate a What-If Transfer Audit for Prospective Degree Program at

Another CUNY College • Student’s current degree requirements applied to the degree requirements at another college within

CUNY. • The What-If Transfer Audit displays courses met and list courses remaining at the other college. • Student can add courses they planned to take and courses applied to the What-If Transfer Audit. • Set-up a link to find courses required at the transfer institution that meets course equivalents at the

home college. • Set-up links to contact an Advisor at the transfer institution, transfer application page and web

resources.

D. Modification to Scribe Rules and Additional Repeat Policy

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Additional rules added to the current course key used to scribe policies and requirements.

E. Fixes to Current Audit Issues • Elective Allowable formula processed more efficiently in the upgraded version. • Correct the incorrect term that displays for repeated courses in the In-Progress block. • Correct the font size in the printed version of the audit. Currently, the printed version at times is not

readable.

F. Improved performance This updated version has improved the performance of the load and run time of the application.

2. Modifications to be implemented during DGW Upgrade to 4.1.3 Version

A. DGW Web Customization • Fix PDF Audits to display same logo as regular audit. • Add a Tab to post the “Report a Problem Web-Form.” • Post a DGW and FACTS link on the Student’s Self-Service Page in CUNYfirst (by-pass the Portal log-in). • Set-up single sign-on for DGW and CUNYfirst. • Add additional data to the web-header for community colleges.

B. Set-up Dynamic Refresh Process

After students’ register, immediately process and display in the audit enrolled courses.

C. Pilot test the Ellucian Interface Program Ellucian’s developed a PeopleSoft interface program which CUNY should test to evaluate the differences between CUNY’s requirements and how they’ve coded students’ data. Using Ellucian interface will expedite upgrades but may require customization to include all of CUNY’s requirements.

D. Promote Usage of Existing Features in DGW Implementing the following functions in DGW require modifications to the i951. Users need to commit to using these features. • Advice Jump – hyper link to course list, schedule of classes or course catalog. • Athletic Eligibility Audit. • Military Service Member’s Opportunity Audit. • Financial Aid Audit requires coding Federal Aid Rules. • Reports to identify At-Risk Students, Honors, Dean’s List, etc.

3. Modification Required in FACTS A C-5 has been submitted from the Office of Financial Aid Services requesting modification to the FACTS Application to resolve inaccuracy which negatively impact students’ eligibility.

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4. Mobile App – DegreeWorks and FACTS Consider implementing the Ellucian Mobile App System that can be customized and include access to other systems such as CUNY Portal, CUNYfirst, FACTS, TIPPS, etc.

5. Enhancements required from Ellucian and CIS Listed below are enhancements to DGW needed to correct defects and limitations as requested by DGW Coordinators from the feedback advisors and students have provided.

Enhancement from Ellucian requires Contractual Services and Budget

a. Modify the Best Fit algorithm to display in an audit the “First Fit” algorithm. This audit would apply

courses to rules and these course would not get reassigned to another requirement unless it’s the only course that meets the requirement. This option would get set through a table configuration.

b. Modify the ECA formula to use range of credits to determine accurately the total number of allowable credits.

c. Modify the general education block to apply courses waived based on prior degree or transfer credits

and have the block completed. This requires using pseudo courses if there’s no course to course equivalency and recalculating total number of credits for these pseudo courses which would get re-assigned to the Elective Credits Block.

d. Code a prerequisites and corequisites feature to use CUNYfirst prerequisite/corequisite data and display in the audit courses for which the pre/corequisite are met.

e. Provide an extract from the Educational Planner and register students in advised courses in CUNYfirst.

f. Provide a warning message when course advised are not listed in the Course Catalog or offered that semester.

g. Modify the Petition and Exception feature to allow for a workflow process where multiple folks can

submit petitions and different user-types can process exceptions. New workflow to include: • Advisors submit petition for exception-(s). • Request sent to Dept. Chair. • Dept. Chair approve course substitution-(s). • Final approval sent to Registrar’s staff to process exceptions. • Exception posted on DGW must get recorded in CUNYfirst. • Notice sent to submitter exception-(s) have been processed.

h. Provide training on the table schema for colleges to extract data and customize reports. (refer to report

list required)

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i. Modify Notes feature on the Planner to only allow the originator of the notes to modify the text while other users can view and add additional notes.

j. Provide a function to process exceptions - native courses or pseudo courses in a batch mode.

k. Offer additional formats of the audit to simplify the display of requirements especially when colleges have complicated requirements or long list of courses in blocks. Possibly create a hyper-link for long list of courses.

l. Release the “Goal Chaser” Audit where a message displays on the degree/major/minor student has completed all of the requirements and eligible to apply for graduation.

Appendix N: Degree Works Administration and Staffing Curriculum Analyst &Senior Manager

• Review Chancellor’s University Report to identify updates required in Degree Works; assign coding changes to Degree Works coordinator and master scribers. Code complex requirements.

• Maintain current knowledge of academic policies and curricula. • Analyze academic structure of the audit/worksheet and scribe blocks* to increase

readability of the audit. • Design training materials. • Coordinate, train, and supervise Degree Works staff. • Provide training to faculty, advisors, and staff. • Prepare, analyze, and distribute Degree Works reports. • Implement tracking system for issues/resolutions. • Oversee issues and resolution strategies. • Liaise with Ellucian and CUNY CIS on reporting issues and updates. • Collaborate with senate, academic departments, and other campus enrollment

management areas. • Collaborate with campus publications, etc. to develop marketing materials. • Update Degree Works website.

Degree Works Coordinator

• Analyze catalog requirements and identify requirements not currently coded; scribe these requirements.

• Review academic records for inconsistencies in coding. • Modify current scribed blocks to add new logic coded by Ellucian. • Update the Degree Works tables in CUNYfirst. • Update the Degree Works tables in the Degree Works PC Application SureCode (a set of

tables used to process data in the application). • Assist with training master scribers and offer campus-wide training. • Conduct departmental outreach to clarify program modifications. • Liaise with Registrar’s Office, scheduling officers, and others as needed regarding

coding needed in CUNYfirst to ensure accurate information in Degree Works.

Degree Works Master Scriber • Scribe undergraduate programs for all active catalog years. • Update for all catalog years’ courses that fulfill prerequisite/corequisite requirements,

courses approved as exceptions or substitutions for selected programs, minor and/or concentration requirements.

• Modify scribe blocks to include new courses applicable to all curricula. Scribe graduation requirements for all active programs.

• Review issues reported and resolutions with campus local Helpdesk. • Analyze and resolve issues.

Degree Works Support Staff

• Verify updates in Degree Works test and production versions of the audit/worksheets. • Process exceptions and substitutions. • Review tracking issues, escalate issue to Degree Works coordinators or master scribers,

and notify submitter issues been resolved. • Manage the system used to track issues resolution. • Provide support services to Degree Works/FACTS issues.