you’ve got mail! putting transcripts online without …...insert uw transcript key, which is a...

Presented by: Lane Buchanan, University of Wyoming

Wednesday, April 4, 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Session ID 402

You’ve Got Mail! Putting Transcripts Online Without a Vendor

AACRAO Philadelphia 2012 Session ID: 402

Session Rules of Etiquette Please turn off your cell phone/pager

If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible

Please avoid side conversation during the session

Thank you for your cooperation!


Goal –To provide electronic transcripts via email for our students without using a third-party vendor

This meant going into uncharted territory


University of Wyoming Located in Laramie, WY 13,000 students, including outreach students Office of the Registrar transcript/enrollment verification staff = 2

(i.e. if one of those goes on vacation, we are down to half of our transcript processing staff)

In 2010, over 23,000 transcript requests processed, almost 39,000 transcripts printed 72% of the requests were by the students through their UW internet

portal


UW offered students several methods to receive or have transcripts delivered US Postal Service mail (83% of all requests) Pickup from our office (10%) Faxed from our office (3%) $10 cost to student

Express delivery using FedEx (4%) $15 cost to student

Other than fax or express delivery – official transcripts are free for students (current or former)


quandary dilemmaPROBLEM predicament

Students often asked for email delivery of transcripts, but we couldn’t do it in a secure fashion

Vendors are available and provide some very good options, however- At a cost to the student Student might be able to request through internet, but would

still need to fax in signature


Tools to work with

UW uses Banner as its student information system

UW also uses FormFusion to format the transcript information output from Banner into the style we want for our printed transcripts FormFusion has the capability to convert that output into a PDF

document Using FormDeveloper, that PDF document can be sent to an

email address


3/30/2012

We investigated ways to secure the PDF so students could not manipulate the transcript information

Adobe Acrobat Pro allows you to “Certify with Visible Signature”

Vendors exist (e.g. GlobalSign) which provide digital signatures to protect the PDF from changes and prove who signed the document


We then used FormFusion to format the transcript information for PDF

Same layout as our printed transcript

Each page of the PDF transcript includes Header indicating from UW Black/white UW seal in upper right corner Footer – “This is an electronic copy of an official transcript” Scanned version of ink signature of UW registrar


After transcript has been submitted for processing in Banner and formatted into PDF, it is password-protected and then emailed to our transcript staff

One of the staff will open the document with Adobe Acrobat Pro Delete the blank page which FormFusion produces at the end of

each set of transcripts submitted through a Banner job If necessary, insert PDF version of student’s hard record card

(imaging system allows for export as PDF) Insert UW transcript key, which is a PDF file


Finally, the staff person will digitally sign the document using the “Certify with Visible Signature” feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro

The digital signature is on a USB flash drive which must be inserted in an appropriate drive on the staff person’s computer The flash drive is stored every night in the locked store room

where our hard record cards are stored


Digitally-signed PDF transcript is emailed to the student-specified recipient Text in the email explains what the email contains

Second email is sent to the same recipient with the password required to open the PDF document

Text for both emails are saved as signatures in Outlook, so the staff person doesn’t have to copy/paste


Went live with PDF transcripts on late afternoon of March 9, 2011. First student request through portal at 7:54 am March 10, 2011.

In approx. 10 months in 2011, approximately 2200 PDF transcript requests processed. (decreased paper copies by almost 4000 - 2011 total compared to 2010 total)

Since inception, no longer offer fax or express delivery option. Turned off the options cold-turkey. Given that we now have PDF option, have had very few complaints. (Free vs $10/$15 probably helps)


Issues/problems Due to how Banner/portal interaction works, students have

to enter a city, state, and ZIP when submitting a request for a PDF transcript through portal.

Banner/portal allows long email address to be entered, but the PDF transcript culls down to only 30 characters (same for hard copy addresses)

Original digital signature from a company which in hindsight was horrible. Had difficulty in getting the “blue ribbon seal of approval” to show up on digitally-signed transcript.

Firewall issues on recipient’s end


Great WONDERFULSpecutular Stupendous Speed time to process an email transcript is about the same, or less, as

for a printed transcript Compared to fax or express delivery, sending out a transcript

via email saves about 3-5 minutes per request.

Cost savings Since FedEx charges often exceeded $15, especially when

sending overseas, savings were realized simply by eliminating this service

Within 3-4 months, have paid for the digital signature from savings


Transcript staff have come to love PDF transcript – don’t have to fill out FedEx forms and babysit fax machine

We have realized considerable savings from not sending out FedEx transcripts

We have reduced the amount of security paper purchased by approximately half


Thank You!

Lane BuchananAssociate Registrar

University of Wyoming307-766-5727

[email protected]

Please complete the class evaluation formSession ID 402

http://aacrao.surveydig.com

you’ve got mail! putting transcripts online without …...insert uw transcript key, which is a...

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