Admissions Plus Pro –Writing Letters in APP

Monday, April 18th

11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Agenda

• Data Import from Excel, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm• Lunch Break, 12:30 to 1:00 pm• Updates/Refreshers/Questions, 1:00 to 1:30 pm• Writing Letters in APP, 1:30 to 3:00 pm

Random Things You Should Know• Printing Forms – How to … • Media Release Form – Your thoughts … • Campus Specific Processes – Talk it out … • Email Feature – Still under construction … • Filtering – Makes or breaks … Refreshing … • Proof of Residency – Man(ual) Power …• Registration – Flyer happy … • Duplicates (online and paper) – Help!• Technology – Scary stuff … • Communication Logs & Portfolios

Communication Logs• Each student has a Communication Log.• Access by green “phone” button to right of page.• Records dates and all communication with family; and

format. Note: In setting up letters and reports a lot of letters generated that never sent … especially for Juan Arbaca (first name).

• Can Add communication by selecting the “Add” button on bottom of log, including noting phone calls (see drop down).

• Notes column is where you can type in description if not a letter.

• Great way to keep track of phone calls and other conversations with families.

Portfolio• Enter from Student Screen – (Blue “Portfolio” button)

• Can designate letters to store in Portfolio; To access stored letters hit “Open.– Went a little crazy with first letters … – Stored whether printed or by email

• Switch to different students – use “Lookup”• Scan and Store feature – hit “Add,” then gray

box (may be able to connect to scanning device)

What Questions Do You Have?I probably can’t answer them now but it helps me to get a list of the questions you have, problems you

are encountering, and areas of confusion with APP so I can design

further group trainings; or do individual follow-up.

Writing Letters in APP - Overview• Letters are stored but “live,” meaning they read

current date/school year, etc. based on info. in the system. (Don’t have to reinvent …)

• Filterable to run just for those who need to receive (set filters before running letter)– Eventually can filter to run based on primary language!

• Reads from data fields (i.e. son/daughter; he/she based on gender field)

• Email feature (only have to print the letters for families we don’t have email addresses for, eventually … )

• Stores letters in student portfolio • Keeps a record of letters in the communication log

Reading Between the (Squiggly) Lines

The letter writing feature works by using codes set between the ~ symbol in the body of your letter. This symbol (~) is called a tilda.• The ~ is found by hitting the shift key and the key next

to the #1 on any keyboard.• All codes can be found within system, but you start to

learn ‘em with practice. – Fields we created are in the DROP DOWN MENU to top

right.– Fields preset by system and special “power” codes that

derive info. based on other data fields found via LOOKUP button on bottom (i.e. ~his~ prints “his” if gender = M, “her” if gender field = F)

Examples of CODES Code What it Publishes~FN~ Student First Name~GR~ Grade Applying To~Sex~ “Son” if gender field is “M,” and “daughter” if gender field is

“F”~167~ Campus Name~170~ Principal Name~PendingReq~ Lists pending requirements (those not met) from all steps~CompletedReq~ Lists completed requirements from all steps~Completedreq:cur~ Completed requirements within current step (i.e. Online Forms)~printpendingreq~ Prints pending requirements in a table format

~FN~ is awesome =Susan is awesome

FN is awesome =FN is awesome

Remember, ~Tilda~ is the STAR!

A few limitations…

• Online data entry … – If family types name as joe smith, that is what is

imported, and the letter will be addressed to joe smith, not Joe Smith. (Trying to fix it … but may have to do some data scrubbing!)

• Does not translate …– If you use a code in the Spanish version of the letter,

it will print in English … i.e. it won’t put in hijo/hija for son/daughter when you use ~sex~ code.

A few things I’ve learned … • Letterhead – inserted as a picture, needs to be uploaded once (I will

send you the jpg and formula for placement; I just cut and paste every time I use. If desperate for space I shrink …

• Date – To have the date of the letter print in the format Month, Day Year (as is typical of most letters, you need to use a special formula (I will send):~DATEFORMAT=17~ ~REM~(June 12, 2004): All dates between this code and another DATEFORMAT code will print in this format.

~DATE~

• ~Endpage~ - All letters need to start with this code (I include it in my letterhead formula) or else it will start the next letter at the bottom of the page, continuous. Putting this has it skip to new page for each prospect.

And a few more … • ~Wrapon~/~Wrapoff~: These codes turn text wrapping on and off; most

of times you have it in “wrapon” mode so wraps like a paragraph (even if you don’t hit return). If you want to list things, you use “wrapoff” and it takes the format directly from what is in the letter creator.

Example:

Address in Wrapoff Mode Address in Wrapon ModeSusan Flora123 Main StreetWashington, DC 20003

Susan Flora1234 Main StreetWashington, DC 20003

• The program can also be a bit FEISTY (kicking you out!) about CUT and PASTE. Use the ICONS, not the ctrl + letter key.

Still going … • Italics, underline, color and bold: Making text stand out requires a

special layout in letter writer --- if you bold one thing in a sentence then the whole section becomes bold unless you do a hard return.

• Whenever you do a MANUAL return in wrapon mode, you have to worry about spacing, too.

EXAMPLE:To publish: I am so in need of a VACATION now!

You should enter: Or else you get: I am so in need of a VACATION now !

I amsoinneedof aVACATIONnow!

Ready to SEE how it Works?

• Writing Your Letter (You can use Word!)• Putting It in the Report Center• Checking Your Progress• Going to Press!

Now, it’s YOUR TURN!

• Log into a temporary h drive set up for training:– USERNAME: sf.training– PASSWORD: temp11

• Log into the hosted server at host1.rediker.com.

• Log into APP.

Getting Started

• FILTER your APP to the two training schools.• Open the REPORT CENTER.• Select CUSTOM REPORT• Select “View/Edit Letters/Reports” (last choice)

• Select an “Unused” space and hit “Select”• Start writing (don’t worry about letterhead or date since I

will send to you for cutting and pasting …)

Elements of Your Letter

• Write a Letter to a Parent/Guardian. This letter should contain the following:– Date in Month, Day Year format (i.e. April 18, 2011)– Address info.– Student first name within letter– Student grade level– Use of son/daughter or he/she at least once– Campus name and phone number– Principal name

Checking Your Progress

The QUICK VIEW feature allows you to see how your letter is looking as you write it, and is great for trouble shooting formatting issues.

Select “Individual Prospect” so it does not run the letter for all in the current filter (now you know why Juan Arbaca’s communication log was soooooooooo long …)

It may tell you that it will be saved as the current report – that’s OK.

Adding it to the Communication Log

• Close the Quick View when you are satisfied with your letter.

• Click the Communication Log checkbox at the top of the page.

– Note: This is also how you enable emails but since we don’t have that functionality just yet I will wait to give you instructions on that (it’s pretty easy, too)

Time to Publish• Exit REPORT CENTER If you have not already done so you

will need to give your letter a name (Name it by your first name …)

• Check your FILTERS! (You don’t want to send an acceptance letter to a student who is overage!)– Filters should be set to the two training schools.

• Open the REPORT CENTER again, select custom.• Look at the top of the box to see what the “Active” letter

is. – If it is your letter, select “Currently Filtered Prospects.”– If it is not your letter, select “Change Active Report,” hit “Next,”

select your letter, hit “Select,” and then hit “Currently Filtered Prospects.”

Almost There!• The letter should be generating. If you have a lot of letters

it will take longer.– Once your letters are done, it’s helpful to check the total number

of pages vs. the number of folks in your filter to make sure some did not go over a page.

• Hit “Convert to PDF,” a box should pop up – select “Save to File,” select file path to the ho training drive (sf.training).

• Name your file as firstname.training (i.e. cheryl.training)

• If an important letter, you can opt to save it to the Portfolio by checking the box.

• Hit “Done” and wait for it to finish (portfolio adds a step).• Hit close and close out of the “Report Center” ... Lots of exit

and quits

Existing Letters

• There are a number of pre-set reports. You can access them from the generate report list, and some appear on the custom reports (in 3rd column). I’ve not had much time to look at these but have typically found that they don’t quite work (but can be edited).

Letter Sharing• Everyone sees all the same letters. This means we are SHARING resources

(without even knowing it!). As a result:– We should aim to write “generic” letters that pull information based on codes

and information in database (the idea is NOT to write a new letter every time but to set up letters correctly and in a cross-campus manner, whenever possible)• Have the system pull the campus name (~167) and the Principal’s name (~170~)as

opposed to just having your campus named typed in and hardcoded.– If you are having difficulty with a letter you can save it and email me the letter

number/name (and the problem) and I can try to fix.• If you have letters that are campus specific and there is no way around it,

please be sure to save with campus initials. (Other campuses can still use by using the “Copy” feature and saving in another space, changing name).

• We only have a limited number of letters as a system (120?) so depending on how it is being used I may have to purge letters – I will send out notice and ask if there are any that you do not want to be deleted.

Questions???