Hi all,

There are a number of different ideas in this thread. Since the main point of it was the "recommendation letter" functionality - which we released in GLM 4.0.0 in November 2013 - I'm going to mark this item as "Implemented."

However, I did take the time to create 2 more Idea Lab items for the other main ideas I picked up here:
- Admin replacing applicant document after form submitted
- Restricting evaluator access to uploaded documents and reporting fields

Please feel free to continue the conversation under those items for the additional functionality that was discussed.

Thanks again for the great feedback,
-chris

Hi Daren,

The Pedrozzi Scholarship Foundation could save a lot of time with reference letters that we receive from all of the emails we have to generate to request them for the applicant if you provided a feature like Don described. The only MAJOR problem that we would have is that we would do not allow our reviewers to see the reference letters as our process is anonymous and our reviewers ONLY evaluate the applicant essays, activities etc. So as much as this feature would be awesome for myself as the administrator, it would not be a benefit if our reviewers had access to uploaded documents.

We could really use two features. One feature where we could select if uploaded documents could be seen by reviewers and another feature that would allow our reporting fields to be limited to our administrator. It has been a real challenge to work around the fact that we don't allow our reviewers to know who the applicants are and the fact that they can see uploaded documents or reporting fields that can give away other information about the applicant has been tough.

Please let me know if you understand our dilemma.

Thank you!

Felicia

posted September 19, 2012 by Felicia Roeser, Pedrozzi Scholarship Foundation

I see your point Chris. Would a solution to the admin overwrite be an approval by applicant before changes could take place?

I am thinking of cases were applicants have submitted and they get an updated transcript from the registrar the following day. They send me the updated transcript and I have to attach it as a supplemental doc.

What would be nice is if I could overwrite there old transcript for them and a message would be sent to them asking if they approved the change to their application. I don't know if this would get to convoluted or not, but it would be very nice for application reviewers not see a transcript in the application and another in supplemental documents and have to figure out which is the latest.

This happens with some frequency in our Fellowship application where we require uploads of transcripts, resumes, essays etc.. For me this is a completely different issue from the recommendation upload by a third party.

Cheers,

Don

posted September 17, 2012 by Don Brackett, Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

Hi Don and Bob,

Regarding the 2nd part of this thread ... internally, we've discussed allowing administrators to overwrite an applicant's document (and other responses - text area, etc.) several times. The big concern is that an administrator could do something to unfairly hurt or help a particular applicant by modifying information. In smaller foundations where there's only one or 2 administrators, this is probably less of an issue, but in community foundations or other larger foundations, it could be more of a concern.

From my perspective, we'd want to have some pretty broad user input before we made a change like this.

Thanks,

-chris

posted September 14, 2012 by Chris Dahl, Foundant Technologies

I agree that it would be nice if administration level users could overwrite (replace) previous versions of uploaded documents at least up to the point where the application has begun to be evaluated. I could see this causing problems if an application changed after the evaluation process began.

I wouldn't want applicants replacing documents after a deadline without having to go through an administrative "gate keeper". My 2 cents.

posted September 13, 2012 by Don Brackett, Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

I would like to be able to replace an upload document that has been submitted with an application, and the solution may not be too different than what might work for Don. Often times our program staff will require an updated program budget, financial statement, or the applicant will submit last year's audit report with a comment that a more current report will be available in a few weeks (after our due date). In each of these cases, it would be nice to replace the old document altogether without having to back the applicaton back to a Draft Status, especially since that will change the Submitted Date. I know the system allows for attachement of an external document to the application, but it would not be in the same location as evaluators and staff would typically find this information in other applications. The other option would be to create an "internal use" upload feature that allows staff to upload additional documents directly into a submitted form.

posted September 12, 2012 by Bob Coakley, Thomas J. Long Foundation

Absolutely perfect, Don! This will greatly help us as we investigate options. Feedback from the rest of our community would also be appreciated.

-Daren

posted July 19, 2012 by Daren Nordhagen, Foundant Technologies

Hi Daren,

Here is how I see the Recommendation letter upload working.

The Applicant:

would complete contact information for each recommender including their emailwould click submit request once the contact field was completedan email request for a recommendation letter would automatically be sent to the recommender.when the recommendation letter is uploaded it would trigger an automatic email to the applicant noting that “recommender’s name” had uploaded a letter to their application.

The Recommender:

would receive a recommendation letter request that includes a link that would allow the recommender to upload/attach a letter to the applicationupon uploading a letter would receive a confirmation that the letter was attached to “applicants name” application.the recommendation letter would only be viewable by staff and reviewers

Staff / Reviewers

would be able to read the recommendation letters attached to the applicationrecommendation letters would print as part of the application print packetstaff could upload letters for recommenders if problems aroseposted July 18, 2012 by Don Brackett, Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

Hi Don,

You may not believe it but we have been listening as you've brought this up several times over the past few years! We understand how painful this process must be given your high volume of applications and we've heard similar requests from other clients. It's actually on my list to write a specification for this enhancement so I'm hoping you can help me out. I'd appreciate it if you could respond with a brief, bulletted list of how you would see this feature working for Applicants, Reviewers and Administrators. With a bit more specific input on the user interface, our developers will have a much better idea how to approach the issue.

-Daren

posted July 17, 2012 by Daren Nordhagen, Foundant Technologies