Overview of Reader and the Review Workflow
The Coordinator / Program Review Workflow, depicted above, is where and how your applications are organized when being reviewed by members of your program. The Review Workflow is made up of five columns of "bins" (those gray boxes with the number "0" in the bottom right corner, depicted above) where applications are stored as they move step-by-step through your review process.
When a prospective student starts an application and picks your program, the application will show up in the Awaiting Submission bin, which is the top bin in the Awaiting Materials column (far upper left). As applications move through your program's individual review process, they will travel from bin to bin (generally from left to right) until they end up in the right-most Decisions column, when the applicants will then be transferred to the Graduate School's Workflow to be processed as admitted, denied, or withdrawn from the Graduate School. (Note: the vast majority of your applications will not go through each of the bins!)
Tour of Reader
Navigating to the Review Workflow in the Reader
The Review Workflow lives in the Reader, which can be accessed in the top menu by clicking the third icon from the left that looks like a laptop, highlighted in the screenshot below.
Home Tab
When you click on the Reader icon, you will land at the Home tab (shown in the screenshot below). There is some important information available on this page (despite the blank space in the middle).
- Slate Reader directions: In the panel on the right side of your screen, you'll see some tips on how to navigate the Reader using the mouse or using actions on your keyboard. Learning the keyboard shortcuts over time may be useful.
- Left-hand navigation menu: In the panel on the left side of your screen you have navigation menu of different tabs; we'll go through some of these tabs below.
Browse Tab
Selecting the Browse tab will lead you to the Coordinator / Program Review Workflow, similar to the screenshot at the top of this KB document. If you were to click a bin, you would be brought to a list of applications currently residing in that bin.
In the accordion sections below, we describe the Review Workflow column-by-column, bin-by-bin, starting with the left-most column, as well as the incredibly important Current View (6) feature.
(1) Awaiting Materials
This column's bins contain applications that are not totally complete.
- Awaiting Submission bin: Contains applications that have not yet been submitted by the applicant. Applications will remain in this bin until the applicant submits the application.
- Awaiting Recommendations bin: Contains applications that have been submitted, but the required number of recommendations (set by your program) have not yet been received. The application will remain in this bin until the required recommendations have been received, or the program manually moves the application to another bin.
- Awaiting Other Materials bin: Contains applications the program has decided are not yet complete. Applications do not automatically flow to this bin; someone from the program will need to manually move an application to this bin (e.g., the applicant provided expired TOEFL results in the application, so the program has requested the applicant to provide updated scores before the program will review).
(2) Grad Coord Review
This column's bins contain applications that are complete and are ready for review by the program.
- (G00) Grad Coordinator Review bin: Contains completed applications from new applicants to your program.
- (G08) Reentry Request bin: Contains completed reentry applications from previously enrolled students who are requesting to be reinstated in the graduate program.
(3) Faculty/Committee Review
Unlike the other columns in the Coordinator / Program Review Workflow, the bins in these columns are viewable by your faculty. The screenshot below shows what faculty see in their version of the workflow. This column's bins do not have a predetermined, designated purpose; think of them as open filing cabinets that your program can use as you see fit as part of your review process.
(4) Coordinator Processing
- Grad Coord Final Processing bin: Contains applications that are sent to this bin — likely by faculty or another of your program's users — likely in preparation to move the applicant to the appropriate recommend or deny bin in the final Decision column.
- (G10) GS Approval Request: Contains recommended applications that the Graduate School has reviewed and determined do not meet the Graduate School's minimum Requirements for Admission, and now the program needs to fill out a Graduate School Approval Request (GSAR). Programs can also preemptively send applications to this bin to fill out a GSAR before sending the application to the Graduate School for final review. Documentation for the full GSAR process is explained in the KnowledgeBase GSAR document.
(5) Decision
This column's bins are how the program sends applications to the Graduate School for final review and admissions processing.
- (G60) Recommend Admission: Sends the application to be reviewed for admission by the Graduate School.
- (G61) Recommend on Probation: Sends the application to be reviewed for admission by the Graduate School, and marks the student as recommended on probation in SIS with the G61 code.
- GS Approval Request Submitted: Sends the application and accompanying GSAR form to be reviewed by the Graduate School. For a detailed explanation of the GSAR process, please review the KnowledgeBase GSAR document.
- Reentry Approved: Sends a reentry application to be reviewed for admission by the Graduate School.
- (G50) Applicant Withdrawal: Withdraws an applicant that has informed the program they are no longer interested in being considered.
- (G58) Department Withdrawal: Withdraws an applicant that the department has admitted to a different program (e.g., if an applicant applied to both the MS and PHD program and was admitted to one, the program can assign a G58 to the other instead of denying the applicant).
- Deny (Department, G90): Denies the student admission to the program.
(6) Current View
In the top right-hand part of the Browse screen is listed your Current View.
The Default- See All view will display all of the applications for all of your programs in the Review Workflow bins. You can adjust your Current View to display applications for just one of your programs in the Review Workflow by clicking on the Current View name, which will reveal a drop down of your other views.
For example, if you manage both the MS and PHD programs for your department, your default will show all of your MS and PHD applications in your Review Workflow bins. You could then change the Current View by selecting MS in the drop down, which will show only your MS applications in the Review Workflow bins.
Because you have the ability to change your Current View, you will want to keep a close eye on it so you understand which program you are currently browsing. Always pay attention to which view you are in, because it can sometimes change when navigating from tab to tab in the Reader.
There are also options to create your own views or reset your current view if you've edited it. Creating customized views is a bit complicated, so you will want to reach out to the Graduate School Slate team for guidance.
Search Tab
The Search tab is the best place within the Reader to search for an individual application within your Review Workflow. Below we note six important features of this tab.
- Refresh button: Selecting this button will refresh the list of applications. Clicking this button periodically is useful if you know multiple people in your program are working in the Reader at the same time.
- +5 and -5 buttons: The +5 button will randomly select five applications; -5 button will deselect 5 random applicants. This function can be useful if you want to randomly add applications to your queue for review.
- Add to Queue button: If an application is selected from the list, you will then be able to add it to your queue by clicking this button. The number of selected applications will show up in the parenthetical (e.g., in the screenshot above, no applications are selected so the number is 0; clicking that button would do nothing).
- Search bar: Can search for an applicant by name, phone number, email address, Campus ID or Slate applicant number.
- Select Bin drop down: Can filter the list of applications by bin.
- Current View: Displays the current view being used in this search. Clicking on the Current View name will open a drop down of your other views you can select. This is also another reminder to continually keep an eye on this information as you move from tab to tab.
Queue Tab
Selecting the Queue tab will lead you to a list of applicants that have been added to your Queue. This view may contain applications from various bins, and filters may be added to isolate particular applications within the queue, just like in the search tab. You can click on an application to read and review it.
- Remove from Queue button: If an application is selected from the list, you will then be able to remove the application from your queue by clicking this button. The number of selected applications will show up in the parenthetical (e.g., in the screenshot above, no applications are selected so the number is 0; clicking that button would do nothing).
- Current View: Displays the current view being used in this search. Clicking on the Current View name will open a dropdown of your other views you can select. Yet another reminder to always keep an eye on this information when moving from tab to tab in the Reader!
What about those other tabs?
- Share: This is a Slate feature that allows the leader of a committee to broadcast their screen to other viewers in a meeting. We currently don't see many programs using this feature since it is easy enough to share a screen in other ways, so we won't spend time exploring it.
- Classify: This tab allows you to move applications in batches from one bin to another. You can learn more about how to use the features in this tab in the Recommend Applicant(s) for Admission (G60) KB Document
- Help: Leads to some Slate-created help documentation on how to build Review Workflows that is more useful for Slate administrators than Graduate Coordinators. Feel free to take a peek if you'd like!
- Exit: Selecting this tab will ask if you want to leave the Reader; if you select Yes you'll be taken back to the Slate home screen.