1. Terri Tommasone & Diana Abinader
Pre-Evaluation of Transfer Credit Continuous Improvement to Create Scalability and Consistency while Maximizing Transfer Options for Students
Terri Tommasone & Diana Abinader

2. Agenda Background and History New Pre-Evaluation Process
The Office of Admissions and Evaluation
What is a Pre-evaluation?
History of the Pre-evaluation Process
Reasons for the Transition
Our Transition Goals
Transition Process
New Pre-Evaluation Process
Workflow
IT Development
Communication
Staffing

3. Background and History

4. The Office of Admissions and Evaluation
Provost
Office of Admissions & Evaluation
Official admissions decisions and transfer credit evaluations
Operations
Enrollment Services
Recruitment and onboarding of potential students
The Office of Admissions and Evaluation is responsible for the execution of official admissions decision and transfer credit evaluations
Enrollment is responsible for the onboarding and acquisition of interested applicants
Process is separated for scalability and consistency to mirror official transfer credit decisions and program academic progression requirements
Responsibilities are separated for scalability, consistency, and quality.
In the pre-evaluation process, this allows us to consider program policy and academic progression requirements, and mirror official transfer credit decisions

5. What is a Pre-evaluation?
A pre-evaluation is an unofficial review of potential transfer credits an applicant may be able to apply towards a University of Phoenix degree program.
The pre-evaluation process allows our Enrollment Representative to obtain unofficial documentation from previous post-secondary institutions from the potential student and submits a request for a pre-evaluation prior to the student completing admissions paperwork.

6. History of Pre-evaluation Process
Pre-Evaluations processed by Student Services as needed, upon request from Enrollment
University growth and program complexity presented need for process improvement
Pre-Evaluation process centralized within Admissions & Evaluation
Streamlined process using SharePoint
Increased quality and consistency
Improved timeliness of pre-evaluation process
Better, more consistent results for students
May
2015
Pre-evaluations were processed through our Student Services group based on their close relationship with Enrollment through Graduation Team alignments
Many students previously did not chose to obtain pre-evaluations because the standard evaluation process could take place in ~28 days or less (including transcript acquisition on the student’s behalf)
As the University grew and transfer credit evaluations became more complex with mixtures of traditional, PLA, and alternative credit it became important to streamline this process for efficiency purposes
In May 4, 2015 the process transitioned to Office of Admissions and Evaluation where a focused group of evaluators could perform the same work in a more timely and higher quality fashion based on their role to officially evaluate incoming credit
This also helped to ensure results appeared consistent between the student pre-evaluation and the student’s final evaluation conducted by the Office of Admissions and Evaluation

7. Reasons for the Transition
Additional transfer credit expertise
Additional transfer credit resources
Increase accuracy
Create standardization
Improve accountability
Growth opportunities
Improve output for students

8. Our Transition Goals
Transition the pre-evaluation process from one group to another
Find process improvement solutions using resources available, without any IT development
Maximize the expertise of our staff to improve a process
Continuous improvement of the pre-evaluation process

9. Transitioning Pre-evaluations to Office of Admissions & Evaluation
Cross-functional meetings between Student Service and Office of Admissions and Evaluation to set expectations
Creation of a sample process flow and identification of process improvements
Process change had the challenge of using existing resources and tools without requiring IT development
Identification of tools to be used to improve process (Sharepoint, queue, new worksheets, reporting)
Communication plan
Staffing models

10. New Pre-Evaluation Process

11. Pre-evaluation Process workflow

12. IT development Before After Email requests Email requests forwarded
Handwritten pre-evaluation results sent via
Academic Advisors often times had to complete a Pre-Evaluation over again to respond to a question
Completed pre-evaluations could not be located by any other Enrollment Representative
Process was not trackable
Unable to track duplicate requests
* Demonstration slide to follow
After
Use internal systems and resources
Sharepoint queue for submission form for pre-evaluation requests *
Pre-evaluations completed electronically and saved in pdf format *
Evaluators enter all coursework and use excel enhancements to correlate with Pre- Evaluation result page
Search function created to allow Enrollment Representative to locate previously completed pre-evaluations*
Auto generated status updates
Duplicate checks

13. IT Development- Submission Form

14. IT Development- SharePoint Queue

15. IT Development - Search Function

16. IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form
Pre-evaluation forms are organized by sections for better understanding of the results.
Demographics
Required Course of Study
General Education Requirements
Elective Requirements
Transfer Credit
Program Credits Summary
Notes

17. IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form

18. IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form

19. Communication Before After
Enrollment Representatives would reach out to an Academic Advisor with questions
Status communications were not standard
*Demonstration slide to follow
After
Dedicated pre-evaluation inbox solely for pre-evaluation questions
Status update s from creation to completion *
Announcement banner *
Evaluator Comments box
Enrollment Representative comments box
FAQ
Customer survey

20. Communication- Status Update Emails
Submission
Communication- Status Update s

21. Communication- Announcement Banner

22. Staffing
Before
100’s of Academic Advisors completing pre-evaluation *
Limited credit evaluation experience
Insufficient credit evaluation resources
Other focused priorities
*Demonstration slide to follow
After
Team of 10 Evaluators *
Experience in official credit evaluation
Familiar with all credit evaluation resources available
Key performance indicator goal and priority for the team
Quality Control program
Experienced with program requirements and regulatory policies
Experienced with program requirements and regulatory policies
Up to date with University policy updates and changes
Cross trained to traditional and non-traditional credit evaluation (NTP, Military, etc)

23. Staffing- Process Flow
After
Before

24. Feedback Customer survey Quality Control Run regular reports
Pre-evaluation inbox

25. Summary of Continuous Improvement Initiatives
Implemented
How it Improved Process
Centralized Work Distribution
2015 Q3
Work items are sent to an electronic queue and worked on first in/first out basis
Customer FAQ
Provides most frequently asked questions and responses
Updated frequently to stay current
Added Comment Field in Request
2015 Q4
Allows the Evaluator and Enrollment Representative to communicate better

26. Summary of Continuous Improvement Initiatives - Continued
Implemented
How it Improved Process
Official Quality Control Process
2016 Q2
Coaching opportunities
Increase quality
Customer Survey
2016 Q4
Provides customer feedback for continuous improvement
Resources & Trainings
2017 Q2
Updated resources and conducted refresher trainings for Evaluators

27. Questions

28. Contact Information
Diana Abinader
Manager, Admissions & Evaluation
University of Phoenix
Terri Tommasone
Director, Admissions & Evaluation