⭐ Best Practice

Start by testing the entire decision release process for an Admit decision. This decision code has many important post-decision rules that must work properly before official decisions are released.

To test the applicant experience:

1. Open an incognito window in your browser and use the credentials you established for your test account to access the applicant status page. The applicant status page displays the Status Update message. This box appears when a new decision has been released. 

2. Select the View Update link to view the decision letter .

3. Confirm that the correct letter appears as expected for the test record. 

4. Confirm that a link to the reply form appears on the status page. The Reply Form rule adds this item to the applicant status page for applicants who have been admitted. Ensure that the link appears only after you view the letter if the Admit decision code is configured to hide this form link initially. ( Remember that once a decision is confirmed, the rules must run first to add the Reply Form to the person's checklist. In a testing scenario, when applications are confirmed, released, and viewed in one session, you may want to force-execute the rules for the reply form to show on the status page).

5. Select the Reply to Offer of Admission form link, fill out the form, and submit your reply.

   If the reply form is configured to be effective several days after the decision was released (or on a static date), the form link on the applicant status page will not appear until the specified date. To continue with testing, you can override the effective date for your test record and provide an effective date in the past.  

   Effective dates and expiration dates are reflected in the administrative checklist view. Select the Edit link for the checklist item to confirm these settings or to override the effective date.

6. Confirm that the Enrollment Deposit payment due activity is added to the status page. The Enrollment Deposit rule adds this payment item to the status page for applicants who accept your offer of admission through the reply form. (If the Submit Payment link does not appear next to the Enrollment Deposit activity, you may need to revisit your rule configuration settings.)

7. Select the New Activity link on the person's application tab to add a new Payment Received or Waived activity to the Activities table. Provide payment details:

   • User (optional): Select a user associated with the payment activity.

   • Code: Select Payment.

   • Payment Type: Select Payment Received or Payment Waived.

   • Payment Amount: Provide the amount of your enrollment deposit.

   • Payment Account: Select the Enrollment Deposit account.

   Matriculating students will use the link on their applicant status page to pay the enrollment deposit through your payment gateway. Adding a "payment received" activity on the person record administratively is an effective way to test your post-enrollment decision rules without needing to make an actual payment. 

8. Test each combination of decisions and responses before you release your decisions. It is helpful to test the decision release process for each decision combination using the same test record. 

9. When finished with testing the process for one decision combination, delete that application from your test record. Select the Edit Application Details link on the application tab, and in the dialog, select Delete to delete this application for the test record. 

10. When you have finished testing all decision combinations and decision rules, remove the Test Record filter from your post-decision checklist and reply form rules. Do this before releasing decisions so that real applicants will receive these checklist items. 

⭐ Best Practice: Don’t ruin the surprise! 🥳

Don't ruin the surprise! Remember that you can hide the link to the reply form before an applicant has viewed their admission letter by updating the Decision Code to Hide Forms - Hide forms if not yet viewed.

Additionally, you may want to hide the main checklist for applicants with a particular released decision (such as Deny).

To update these settings, configure the decision codes in the Database tool. 

✨ Tip

Make a list or spreadsheet of each decision combination you must test to mark them as complete when you are satisfied with your testing results.