NursingCAS Dispatch

Stay Connected & Informed

February 2021

The NursingCAS Dispatch is a monthly newsletter intended to keep you up to date with current happenings at NursingCAS. The newsletter will feature:

NursingCAS Know-How, an in-depth examination of a NursingCAS feature.
NursingCAS by the Numbers, a metric to showcase application statistics and other relevant data.
User Updates to keep you in the loop, so you can keep your team and applicants in the loop.
Social Beat, which will feature nursing and admissions news from around the web.

NURSINGCAS KNOW-HOW

Analytics by Liaison
Analytics by Liaison is a tool that presents year-over-year application data and trends via a suite of interactive dashboards and visual representations. Four dashboards are available, including Volume, Demographic, Residency, and Academic History. This is a new tool provided at no cost by AACN to schools who use NursingCAS as their exclusive application. “Exclusivity” means that NursingCAS is the only method of collecting initial applications for all programs at the school. Exclusivity does allow for secondary/ supplemental school applications. Eligible NursingCAS users received an email with login information and an invitation to attend a webinar hosted by the Analytics Team in August 2020. A recording of the webinar is available for viewing on-demand. Users who did not receive the original email and/or have questions on obtaining access to Analytics by Liaison, please contact Dan Hyman, the NursingCAS Recruitment Manager. For general questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team using the links below.

Tips for Using Demographic Dashboards in Analytics
Demographic Dashboards provide insight into demographic-related information such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Schools can use these dashboards to look for trends in their demographic data for a specific application cycle or across multiple application cycles. The dashboards reflect the information applicants self-report in their application. For additional information, view the Analytics flyer. To learn how to use Demographic Dashboards in different scenarios, review Liaison’s resource in the Help Center.

Please see below sample images of the Demographic Dashboards. View additional images of year-over-year data available in Analytics by Liaison on Age Group, Race and Ethnicity and Legal Sex, Ethnicity and Citizenship Status with Cohort in the Help Center. Please note: the reported data is not based on a real school and/or program.

For general questions, the Analytics by Liaison Client Support Specialist Team is available Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST. The Team can be reached at 617-402-5506 or analyticssupport@liaisonedu.com. Review the Analytics by Liaison Help Center for guidance.

BY THE NUMBERS

USER UPDATES

This section provides monthly updates on new features and enhancements available within the Applicant Portal, Configuration Portal, and WebAdMIT, as well as information on upcoming training events and opportunities.

WebAdMIT Enhancements

Upcoming update to Shared Lookup Tables for Spring 2021
Please review the Shared Lookup Table Updates for Spring 2021 page, and if you’re exporting data into a campus system work with your IT team to determine if updates need to be made. If a “crosswalk” was created from WebAdMIT data to local data in your campus system’s SIS/CRM, it may need to be updated for the newly added options.

Many fields within the NursingCAS application have predefined answer values that applicants can select from; for example, the Country and County fields both have predefined answer values. These values are housed in shared “lookup tables,” which are viewable in the NursingCAS Customer Export Layout (CEL). Please review the timeline and additional information on the Spring 2021 Shared Lookup Table Updates page for guidance on optimal implementation. The new predefined answer values that applicants can select from will be updated on April 4, 2021. If these fields are imported directly from WebAdMIT to another system, these new options will begin appearing in the export files as applicants select them.

Update to Transfer Settings Feature
With this enhancement, only users marked as an institution manager and are in the WebAdMIT Administrators Work Group can now use the Transfer Settings feature. This feature initiates a transfer of templates from a previous cycle to the new WebAdMIT cycle. Previously, any user with the Configure Software permission set in their Work Group could initiate the Transfer Settings feature. This enhancement ensures that the main user at an institution who typically has access to most, if not all, is the user transferring templates forward. For more information about the Transfer Settings feature, including best practices, review the Transfer Settings Guide.

Applicant Portal Enhancements

Update to the Prelaunch Environment
The Prelaunch Environment is a “staging” environment that allows users to configure and test programs for the new cycle without impacting the current cycle. A yellow banner stating that it is a “testing environment” has now been added at the top of all prelaunch scenarios of the application.

CAS API Enhancements

Please review the CAS API changes below, and if your school is exporting data into a campus system, work with your IT team to determine if updates need to be made.

Update to Social Security Number (SSN) Encryption Keys
Schools that collect social security numbers (SSNs) from applicants on the Applicant Portal can configure a PGP key (Pretty Good Privacy software) to receive an encrypted file that contains the applicant’s CAS ID and SSN. The PGP software is used to decrypt the SSN Documents file from WebAdMIT. Once it is installed, schools must generate a public key so that Liaison can properly encrypt the SSN Documents file for the school. The CAS API now supports multiple SSN encryption keys per organization. Previously, only one encryption key was supported. Review the Social Security Number (SSN) Documents Reference Guide for more information.

Update to CAS API Data Request Properties
CAS API is used to integrate the applicant data coming from the applications with the institution’s SIS/ERP system. Users are now able to use a new dataHold request property to suppress data delivery for one or more application statuses (e.g., In Progress, Received, or Verified, etc.) at a time. This update will allow users to pull data only for the application statuses needed.

New Documentation

Master’s Degree Code List
Download this file for a complete list of all degrees and their codes. This document is useful when extracting college degree data through the Export Manager and Report Manager.

Working With Prerequisite GPAs
In WebAdMIT, the course credits are listed as semester credit values. If an applicant took a course on a different term system (e.g., quarter, trimester, etc.), the credit values will be converted to semester credits. Review this resource and the Applicant Details Help Center Page for common conversions and best practices for non-semester-based courses.

Training Opportunities

Sign Up to Access WebAdMIT Webinars
Liaison Academy offers WebAdMIT training webinars. Each one-hour webinar focuses on a specific WebAdMIT feature and offers best practices and tips.

Virtual Training: Enrollment Marketing for a Competitive Advantage (Mar 9-18)
Join virtually over a 2-week period to learn how to increase yield rates using WebAdMIT and convert more inquiries into applicants, how to incorporate a strategic communications plan into WebAdMIT or your CRM, and evaluate key metrics.

SOCIAL BEAT

‘Alarm Bells’ on First-Generation, Low-Income Applicants
“Newly released data about the Common App show that what has been reported anecdotally in admissions is actually occurring in large numbers. The larger and more competitive colleges and universities are having a good year and getting lots of applications. But smaller and less competitive colleges are not. And first-generation students and those who lack the money to pay for an application are not applying at the same rates they used to.”

A ‘Fauci Effect’?
“In the aftermath of Sept. 11, higher education saw a burst of interest in Middle Eastern studies, Arabic, and homeland security. Today, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, data and anecdotal evidence now suggest we may be seeing a similar rise in demand for health and medical education.”

Nurses Ranked Most Trusted Profession 19 Years in a Row
“In an impressive 19 year running streak, Americans have rated nurses as the #1 most ethical and honest profession, according to the most recent Gallup poll. The 2020 poll revealed that 89% of Americans rated nurses’ honesty and ethical standards as “high” or “very high,” coming in even higher than last year’s record setting number.”

If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Wurth, AACN’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, at swurth@aacnnursing.org.