Checklist Reminder Notifications and Due Dates (Rolling Admissions)

Nancy Rey
Nancy Rey
Third Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™

We were hoping to use reminder notification to remind applicant parents when they have checklist items due. But the reminders tie only to the checklist step due date, not to the due date entered on a particular student's checklist step. (We use individual due dates for each student as we are on a rolling admissions process). Has anyone found a clever work around??

Comments

  • Jess Moxsky
    Jess Moxsky
    Kudos 5 Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant

    Hi Nancy,

    Are you entering a due date on the step itself and then updating that due date when assigning the checklist to candidates? I have not had this issue in the past but I have encountered some confusion when checklist due dates were entered and then later modified for candidates.

  • Nancy Rey
    Nancy Rey
    Third Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Hi Jess - that is exactly what I need to do...I want the reminders to go out with the student's individual due date. The reminders can't be activated without a Step "itself" or "general" Due Date. So I tried one in the far future, and even one in the past in order to get the system to allow me to even activate reminders. Then I update the student's checklist step with their actual due date. In the case of putting a far future "general" due date, it was clear the reminder did not go out with the student's specific due date, but is waiting for that future overall Step "itself" due date. With the case where I put a fake past date, and overrode it in the student checklist with a correct new future due date, it sent the message immediately since it detected that it was "past" the step's overall due date.


    This sadly seems to mean the notifications are useless to us since with rolling admissions items are due for each student at different times as they begin the admissions process. I was hoping someone would have a work around!
  • Linda Seese
    Linda Seese
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi, Nancy. I just came across your post and want to say I feel your pain. We are new to Blackbaud K-12 for the 2021-2022 School Year, and it wasn't until yesterday that I learned the limitations of the reminder functionality. We also have rolling admissions. I thought I was sending a reminder to one family for whom we were awaiting an enrollment decision, and it went to ALL families with the same Admissions Checklist, including families who never even completed an application. The reminder was triggered when I changed the due date on one candidate's Admissions Checklist. I was shocked to learn there isn't any logic built in to prevent this from happening. I would not expect candidates who did not submit an application to receive a reminder about submitting their enrollment decision! In a chat with Blackbaud support, I asked if erroneous reminders could be prevented by hiding all steps on an Admissions checklist until the preceding step is completed. The support person said no, but then I found Knowledge base article 195091 that states: If a reminder is to be sent to a parent and the checklist step is hidden (regardless of whether it is published to parents), then we would NOT expect a reminder notification to be sent.

    I'm wondering if you (or anyone reading this) have tried the “hidden checklist step” approach to solve the automated reminder issues.

  • Lauren Marcus Eisenberg
    Lauren Marcus Eisenberg
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant

    Following this closely!

  • Eleanor Rizzo
    Eleanor Rizzo
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    I'm sorry to say I don't have a clever workaround, but I am very much interested in the solution. It sounds like currently the default date overrides the student-specific override date, which sounds like a bug to me!

  • Bill Ushler
    Bill Ushler
    Ninth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    Unfortunately, this has been an issue for a couple of years and is a limitation. Wish I had more insight but I've been in the boat where a reminder went out to people who applied 5 years ago due to using the same checklist, even though their due date was 5 years ago.

  • Linda Seese
    Linda Seese
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    Thank you all for your replies! At least now I know it's a software shortcoming and not my incompetence!

  • Eleanor Rizzo
    Eleanor Rizzo
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    @Sarah Bienvenue Is addressing this issue on the radar for Enrollment Management?

  • Sarah Bienvenue
    Sarah Bienvenue
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    @Eleanor Rizzo yes! We're working hard to get event registration out to everyone, but this is on the list!

  • Sondra Berry
    Sondra Berry
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Sarah Bienvenue Hi Sarah, I know it has been a while since this discussion thread was created, but we are running into the same issue and I hope you have an update for us.

    We are setting up new checklists. We had hoped to automate many of our current emails from our admission staff by adding automated notifications to checklist steps. We have rolling admissions so there are no set due dates. It seems the only way to use notifications is to enter a due date for all associated with that checklist/step items. Is there a way around this? Something similar to school forms where you can send a notification to a candidate when activated/checked. Otherwise, the ability to have notifications for rolling admission schools is useless. How do you send an automated notification to an individual when they complete a checklist step?

    The Decisions module has never worked properly for us. Is it because we are rolling? No one seems to see our decisions.

    HELP!


  • Brian LeBlanc
    Brian LeBlanc
    Kudos 5 Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant

    @Sondra Berry Hi! We are in the same boat as you: we also have rolling admissions and so we aren't able to use due dates and reminders. There's one exception: we have a priority deadline (essentially, if you finish your checklist by a certain date, you will get an interview and a decision regardless of availability) and we have a different checklist for those students that does include due dates and reminders.

    The rest of the year, we usually get around the problem by using candidates lists and official notes. It's clunky and time-consuming, but it works.

    The Decisions thing is strange though. We use it all the time for rolling admissions and it works fine for us. Shoot me an email and let's see if we can't figure it out: brian dot leblanc at thalesacademy.org.

  • Sondra Berry
    Sondra Berry
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Brian LeBlanc thank you for the offer to help with decisions and for confirmation regarding rolling applications and your experience with due dates/notifications. I have passed along your contact information and willingness to help with Decisions to our admissions director. She was the one who told me our applicants generally don't see/notice our online decisions. Her name is Kim and she may reach out to you. Thanks again.

Categories