apas news
Milestones
The total number of applications submitted through ApplyAlberta has grown to 463,000; more than 605,000 transcripts have been transferred through the system.
TOPSustainability Strategy
Under the leadership of the CIO Sub-Committee, work on the development of a sustainability strategy for the ApplyAlberta system has recently been completed. The Steering Committee will be recommending the plan to the Board of Directors for adoption. The strategy and accompanying roadmap will be disseminated to member institutions shortly thereafter.
PESC Standards Update Project
The Working Group has completed its review of the changes to PESC standards used by the ApplyAlberta system, and the initial report has been circulated to member institutions for review and discussion. Additional work is required on the changes to high school transcripts necessitated by Alberta Education's retirement of its mainframe. Once all information and feedback has been received, planning for the technical requirements and timeframe to implement the changes will begin.
Focus On: ASN Management
A number of initiatives related to Alberta Student Numbers (ASNs) have been undertaken to improve the overall accuracy of ASNs. Revision of the enrolment workflows was recently completed to simplify the process and reduce the number of multiple ASNs being created. Other efforts include:
ASN Management Service
Enterprise & Advanced Education has developed an ASN Management Service to assist post-secondary institutions with identifying and correcting ASN issues during the application and admission processes. This service is available through DCaR.
ASN Awareness Training
Understanding what ASN values are used for and the benefits of having accurate ASN reporting are essential to supporting and managing the process. In an effort to increase awareness of what ASN values are used for, how to help manage them, and some common concerns, additional ASN Awareness Training sessions were offered recently. Reference materials for these programs are available upon request. Please contact Rob Acker (rob.acker@gov.ab.ca) if these materials are of interest.
ASN Processing Reports
The ASN management process is quite resource intensive. To assist, two reports have been developed to summarize the issues encountered during the ASN Matching process. This summary report is sent out to stakeholders at the completion of the ASN review process. These reports highlight the ASN records that needed additional follow up; grouping the instances based on similar issues. These reports are provided for information purposes so that stakeholders can review possible systemic reporting issues for future submissions. While these reports are at the summary level, detailed record level reports can be made available upon request.
Reporting Standards
A tremendous amount of work has gone into reviewing and developing standards in the ASN process to improve consistency and efficiency. One example is standardization of how to deal with single name values in the system.
Deleted / Retired ASN Report
To address the issues related to individuals with multiple ASN values, a file is being regularly distributed to all APAS member institutions containing all deleted or retired ASNs. This file also indicates what the new/current ASN values are, and when the changes became effective. This report allows stakeholders to review their current systems, and to identify what values should be updated so that future submissions will encounter fewer issues. By reviewing this file and updating ASNs that have been retired or deleted, the number of duplicate or retired ASN values used across the system will be significantly reduced resulting in quicker turnaround through the ASN matching process and quicker response to requests for transcripts.
Stay tuned, the review of ASN Management is an ongoing process that will see more changes and updates as we strive to streamline and improve the overall process.
Susan Stein,
Operations Director
From the desk of Susan Stein
In this edition of APAS News, we provide updates on current activities such as the development of a Sustainability Strategy for the ApplyAlberta system and the PESC Standards Update Project, milestones on the numbers of applicants using the ApplyAlberta system, and continue our regular feature focusing on topics of interest to the APAS community.
Board of Directors
Welcome to new Directors: Martin Ferguson-Pell (University of Alberta), and Gerry Turcotte (St. Mary's University College).
The Board would also like to extend its thanks to Harry Fernhout for his dedication and efforts to bring the province's Independent Academic Institutions into the APAS community.
Steering Committee Updates
Recent changes to the membership of the Steering Committee include the addition of Lisa Collins (University of Alberta), Peter Kehler (SAIT Polytechnic), and Len Vandervaart (Medicine Hat College).
The Committee would like to express its appreciation to Gerry Kendal for his commitment and contributions during his time with APAS.
The CIO Sub-Committee has also undergone changes recently, with the appointment of Peter Kehler as Chair and the addition of Bill Pearce.
Inside APAS
As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have been working on changes within both the administrative and operational functions of APAS. On the administrative side, streamlining of the governance structure and meeting frequency have already taken effect. Policies for the APAS organization have been and continue to be established, and a records management system has been implemented.
On the operational side, changes include: the application of more rigorous planning and operational procedures; cross-training of staff providing support for the ApplyAlberta system and member post-secondary institutions; migration to updated and more robust hardware and software; and enhanced system backups and monitoring. Long-range plans are also being developed to provide member institutions with a clear picture of upcoming changes and the effects they will have. The goal of these plans is to ensure continued service to Alberta's learners while allowing institutions to manage the changes required to their own systems.