2023 TES Enhancements

The following information pertains to changes made to TES® in 2023. Thirty-five enhancements and/or fixes have been made to TES within the year.

• See the yearly Release Notes pages within the TES Support Center for details regarding prior enhancements.

Public View Email Now Used as Response Address to Public View Communications

On 12/14/2023, changes were made to the TES® Public View to prevent communications from potentially being flagged as spam. The sender email address field can no longer be populated; all emails are sent from tes@collegesource.com. Replies to these correspondences will be sent to tes@collegesource.com unless the TES Administrator populates the Public View Email field and checks the Display on public view? checkbox within Public View Management.

How It Works

Within Public View Management, TES Administrators can supply an email address in the Public View Email field. When the Display on public view? checkbox is marked, that email address will appear at the bottom of the institution's Public View page as a hyperlinked address to which visitors can send questions. When visitors to the institution's Public View email equivalencies from the user's MY LIST page or Group Reports from the EQUIVALENCY GROUP REPORT page, tes@collegesource.com is auto-populated as the sender. To ensure email responses reach the college or university, the address within the Public View Email field will auto-populate into the To field of response emails, assuming the Display on public view? checkbox is marked. If it is not, all responses will be directed to tes@collegesource.com. CollegeSource highly recommends that TES Administrators configure and display the Public View Email, as emails to the CollegeSource inbox will not be forwarded.

For more information, see Using the Public View.

Equivalencies Emailed from the Equivalency Manager Will Now Display in a Side-By-Side Horizontal Layout

When emailing equivalency details from the Equivalency Manager, course equivalencies will now be reported in a side-by-side horizontal layout instead of a top-down vertical format.

How It Works

Individuals with the CREATE EQ user right can select the Email button to communicate equivalency information to a student or other stakeholders. Within the SEND EMAIL pop-up, users can choose between embedding the evaluation decision as HTML in the email or sending it as an attached PDF. Additional information and context could be supplied in the body of the email.

The course equivalencies within the HTML in the email and the PDF audit were previously displayed in a top-to-bottom vertical format. They will now display in a side-by-side horizontal layout for better readability and to accord with the TES® user interface and how students are used to seeing equivalencies in Transferology® and other systems.

Language and Icon Changes within EQ Dedupe

Page titles within the EQ Dedupe feature in the Equivalency Manager have been renamed to clarify to users that the equivalencies identified are potential duplicates and are not necessarily duplicate copies. The View course equivalency public note icon will additionally display when a Public Note exists within the equivalency.

How It Works

Individuals with the CREATE EQ user right can use the EQ Dedupe feature within the Equivalency Manager to locate equivalencies that TES® identifies as potential duplicates. Two equivalencies are potential duplicates if the same transfer course(s) and home course(s) are defined within. Differences in Begin Dates, End Dates, Public View statuses, Public Notes, and Private Notes do not make equivalencies unique. The user can review the list of potential duplicates and, if desired, edit or delete one or more equivalencies.

The Equivalency List Duplicates page will now be called Potential Duplicate Equivalencies to emphasize that TES has identified the equivalencies noted as potential duplicates. It is up to the institution to review the data to determine which equivalencies are duplicates of each other and what resolution may be needed from there.

The Equivalency Duplicates Detail page will now be called Potential Duplicate Equivalencies Detail to convey the same message. When reviewing potential duplicates, users will see the View course equivalency private note icon when there is a Private Note attached to the equivalency. Previously, when a Public Note was attached, the View course equivalency public note icon did not display. Users will now see the Public Note icon when such a note pertains to the equivalency. Both icons will appear when an equivalency contains a Public and Private Note.

For more information, see De-Dupe.

Send From Email Field Now Prepopulated in Public View

Users can no longer enter the sender's email address when sending communications through the TES Public View. All emails will be sent from tes@collegesource.com to prevent communications from inadvertently being flagged as spam.

How It Works

The TES Public View allows institutions to share transfer evaluation decisions, articulation agreements, and transfer guides with the public. A Public View can help colleges and universities better reach prospective students and families, transfer counselors at partner institutions, and high school guidance counselors at institutions that offer dual enrollment credit. Visitors to an institution's Public View can email equivalencies from the user's MY LIST page, and Group Reports from the EQUIVALENCY GROUP REPORT page. Within the Your Email field, the user could previously enter the email the individual wished to appear as the sender. This field - relabelled From - will now be auto-populated with tes@collegesource.com as the sender. This change helps ensure that emails will be delivered to the intended recipients.

For more information, see Using the Public View.

Bug Fix: Invalid HTML Prevented Export of Course List Reports

Users will no longer experience a server application error when attempting to export Course List Reports that contain invalid HTML in the course title and description.

How It Works

Course Lists Reports are groupings or collections of courses from an institution. Amongst their uses are advising students and planning articulation agreements. Users could not export Course Lists Reports to PDF when the course title or description contained invalid HTML (such as an unclosed bracket). A fix now allows Course Lists Reports with invalid HTML syntax in these areas to be exported.

For more information, see Course List Reports.

New: View, Copy, and Paste Functionality in Password Fields

Updates allow users to view the entry of characters into password fields and copy/paste text into these fields when creating and resetting passwords.

How It Works

When logging into TES®, users will see a new button to the right of the Password field. The characters entered into the Password field are hidden by default; users can select Show to display and help verify the entered password. To rehide the password, users would select Hide.

When creating and resetting passwords, users can also show and hide the password entered and copy and paste text into password fields for easier management. Individuals who use password management systems to store credentials will find this particularly helpful.

For more information, see Creating a New User Account in TES, Request a Password Reset, and User Preferences: Change Password and Set Home Page.

Faster Ability to Create User Added Courses within the Same Department

After creating a User Added Course, individuals no longer have to go through the process of selecting the +Add Course button and then the Department to create an additional course(s) in the same subject area. A new button called +Add Another will allow users to bypass these steps.

How It Works

Individuals with the CREATE EQ user right can create and manage User Added Courses in TES®. After creating a User Added Home or Transfer Course, users can select the +Add Another button to create an additional User Added Course(s) within the same Department, cutting down the time it takes to input courses. To add a course to a different Department, users will still be required to go through the steps of selecting the Department; the Department field cannot be adjusted on the ADD COURSE screen once +Add Another is selected.

For more information, see User Added Courses.

New: Sequence Eval Mode for Creating Evaluation Tasks

New functionality has been added to help institutions more quickly and efficiently initiate evaluation tasks with proposed equivalencies for a series of courses.

How It Works

When creating evaluation tasks, users can send an evaluator one course - or a grouping of courses - as a single evaluation task using Single Eval Mode. Additionally, users can select multiple courses and generate a single evaluation task for each course using Batch Eval Mode. A third option is now available. Sequence Eval Mode allows users to select a series or sequence of courses to send to an evaluator as individual evaluation tasks, each with a proposed equivalency.

Users would start by selecting the sequences of transfer courses to be evaluated. Within Add Evaluation Task 1, the user would then select Sequence Eval Mode and proceed to add an equivalent course for each transfer course in the sequence.

The equivalent course must appear on the same line as the transfer course. Users can select up to ten transfer courses and ten equivalent courses but are limited to one equivalent course for each transfer course. An equal number of transfer and equivalent courses must be selected. Once the evaluator is assigned and Create Evaluation Task is selected, an evaluation task will be created for each transfer course with its corresponding equivalent course.

For more information, see Create Evaluation Tasks: Single Eval Mode, Batch Eval Mode, and Sequence Eval Mode.

Link to Institution Profile Added to Additional Pages within the Equivalency Manager

Users can now access a college, university, or organization's Institution Profile page through the EQUIVALENCY LIST and EQUIVALENCY DETAILS pages within Equivalency Manager.

How It Works

In the Equivalency Manager, individuals with the CREATE EQ user right can create, edit, and delete equivalencies. If users also have the CREATE EVAL user right, these individuals can additionally create evaluation tasks from within this area. Previously, within the Equivalency Manager, users could only access an institution profile on the COURSE SELECTION page, which appears when users go to create an equivalency (or create an evaluation task). Now, users can access the institution profile via the View institution profile (+) button when viewing a college, university, or organization's equivalencies with the EQUIVALENCY LIST and EQUIVALENCY DETAILS pages.

Increase in Support File Size Limits

The size limit for support files attached to evaluation tasks has increased from less than 4 MB per file for a total of 8 MB to less than 10 MB per file for a total of 20 MB.

How It Works

When assigning an evaluation task, users can upload up to two PDF(s) of the course content to help facilitate its review. Previously, each file had to be less than 4 MB in size and could not exceed the combined 8 MB limit. Now, each support file must be less than 10 MB in size and cannot exceed the combined 20 MB limit.

Support files can also be attached after the evaluation task has been initiated via the My Evaluations and All Open Evaluations queues. Users can upload as many PDFs as needed, two at a time, up to the size limits noted above.

For further information, see Completing an Evaluation.

Revision to 10/05/2023 Group and Group Reports Enhancement

Hidden Equivalencies Will Once Again Appear in Groups and Group Reports

Due to customer feedback, equivalencies hidden from the Public View will continue to be displayed within Groups and Group Reports.

How It Works

While hidden equivalencies have not appeared within an institution’s EQUIVALENCY LIST in the Public View, they have historically been displayed within the Groups and Group Reports in the Public View. Within the Equivalency Finder, they have appeared in the institution’s EQUIVALENCY LIST only to individuals with the ACCESS EQ user right. However, this path allowed TES users to view hidden equivalencies within Groups and Group Reports.

Changes were made on 10/05/2023 to prevent hidden equivalencies from displaying within Groups and Group Reports in the TES Public View and Equivalency Finder. These changes have been reversed, and viewers will continue to be able to see hidden equivalencies in the Group and Group Reports in these areas. Hidden equivalencies will also continue to display within previews of Groups and Group Reports within the Equivalency Manager.

Within the 10/05/2023 enhancement, new functionality was added to help institutions identify hidden equivalencies when creating Groups. This functionality will remain in place. When finding and adding an equivalency to a group, a checkmark will appear under the newly added HIDE? column next to any equivalency that has been hidden from the Public View. When viewing or deleting an equivalency from a Group, users can also reference this same column. While the equivalencies will still be visible within Group and Group Reports, this indicator will help provide an awareness of which equivalencies are hidden from the EQUIVALENCY LIST in the Public View and appear in the EQUIVALENCY LIST in the Equivalency Finder only to those with ACCESS EQ user rights.

For more information, see Groups and Group Reports.

The GROUP ABBR Field Now Comes Before the GROUP NAME Field in ADD COURSE TAGS Pop-Up

When selecting a course tag within the ADD COURSE TAGS pop-up, the group abbreviation (GROUP ABBR) field will now appear to the left of the GROUP NAME field to help users more easily locate the course tag to be selected.

How It Works

Institutions typically use Course Tags to communicate that courses at the college or university meet core or general education requirements shared by a state or system. Where present, these course tags help communicate to the institution evaluating the course that if that institution is also part of the same state or system, the transfer course should fulfill the same requirements at that school upon transfer.

The list of course tags must be added to TES® by CollegeSource. Once added, the institution's TES Administrator applies the tags to courses within a data set. Once a course is selected, the Administrator will select the + Add Course Tag(s) button to load the ADD COURSE TAGS pop-up, where the user selects the tag or tags to apply. Within this pop-up, the group abbreviation field (GROUP ABBR), which contains the course tag itself, will now appear before the GROUP NAME field so the user can more clearly identify the course tag(s) being selected.

For more information, see Course Tags and Outlines and Course Tags.

Hidden Equivalencies No Longer Appear in Groups and Group Reports

Equivalencies hidden from the Public View will no longer be displayed within Groups and Group Reports.

How It Works

Groups and Group Reports are means by which institutions can display collections of courses, articulation agreements, and transfer guides to stakeholders using data from TES®. When a Group or Group Report is created or edited, if the Public View Display? checkbox is marked, the Group or Group Report will display within the TES-subscribing institution’s Public View (assuming it is turned on) and within the Equivalency Finder in TES.

While hidden equivalencies have not appeared within an institution’s EQUIVALENCY LIST in the Public View, they have been displayed within the Groups and Group Reports in the Public View. Within the Equivalency Finder, they have appeared in the institution’s EQUIVALENCY LIST only to individuals with the ACCESS EQ user right. However, this path allowed TES users to view hidden equivalencies within Groups and Group Reports.

Users can no longer view hidden equivalencies within Groups and Group Reports in the TES Public View or the Equivalency Finder. Hidden equivalencies will continue to display within the EQUIVALENCY LIST within the Equivalency Finder for individuals with the ACCESS EQ user right. However, no TES users will be able to see hidden equivalencies within Groups and Group Reports in this area.

Additionally, new functionality has been added to help institutions identify hidden equivalencies when creating Groups. When finding and adding an equivalency to a group, a checkmark will appear under the newly added HIDE? column next to any equivalency that has been hidden from the Public View. When viewing or deleting an equivalency from a group, users can also reference this same column.

Hidden equivalencies will not display within previews of Groups and Groups Reports within the Equivalency Manager. The hidden equivalency will not appear on the VIEW GROUP DETAIL screen when the user selects the View Group button, nor on the VIEW GROUP REPORT DETAIL page when the View Group Report has been selected.

Institutions displaying Group Reports through Transferology® as Pathways should be aware that hidden equivalencies will no longer appear in these reports.

For more information, see Groups and Group Reports.

Request more information Button No Longer Displays Under User Added Institutions

Within Course Finder 2, users will instead see a message indicating that catalog data can be added through User Added Courses.

How It Works

The Catalog Status Tracking functionality in TES® enables institutions to view and watch the status of a catalog's movement through the production process and request catalogs be added to TES. Within Course Finder 2, if at least one data set or catalog is available for an institution whose data is supplied from CollegeSource, a hyperlinked message will display indicating that if information is not available, the user can check a catalog’s status, manage a watchlist, or request the catalog be added. Once selected, the user is taken to the Status Tracking page from which these actions can be performed.

When new catalogs are not actively being pursued for an institution, a message will display at the bottom of Course Finder 2, noting that catalog data is not currently available. Users can select the Request more information hyperlink to be taken to a form to contact CollegeSource. This same message was appearing within Course Finder 2 for User Added Institutions. Since User Added Data Sets and Courses are managed by the TES-subscribing institution and not CollegeSource, this message has been removed and replaced with one explaining that catalog data for the institution can be added through User Added Courses. Individuals with the CREATE EQ user right can select the underlined hyperlink to be taken to the User Added home screen from which this transfer data can be managed.

For more information, see Catalog Status Tracking: Check the Status of and Request a School's Catalog and User Added Transfer Courses.

Enhancements to Send Email Functionality in the Evaluation Tracker Workflow

When sending an email of an evaluation decision from the Evaluation Tracker workflow:

1. The sender can now include the Evaluation Task Creator as an email recipient.
2. The email addresses of all recipients will be reported on the To line of sent emails and in the EVALUATION LOG .
3. Course equivalencies will be reported in a side-by-side horizontal layout.
4. The information entered in the From, To, Subject, and Body fields of the SEND EMAIL pop-up - as well as additional email addresses reported in the To field in sent emails - will now be included in the PDF attachment. The report timestamp has also been added.

How It Works

Before closing or creating an equivalency from an evaluation within the My Evaluations or All Closed Evaluations queues, users with the SERVICE EVAL and (MANAGE EVAL or CREATE EQ) user rights can select the Send Email action to communicate the evaluation decision to a student or other stakeholders. Within the SEND EMAIL pop-up, users can choose between embedding the evaluation decision as HTML in the email or sending it as an attached PDF. Additional information and context could be supplied in the body of the email.

The Email me checkbox (previously named Send me a copy) is marked by default when sending an email. Users now have the option to also send a copy of the email to the individual who created the evaluation task by selecting the Email Evaluation Task Creator checkbox. If either of these checkboxes is marked, users will not be required to enter an email address into the To field to initiate the email. Additionally, the email addresses of all individuals receiving the email will appear on the To line of the sent email and within the EVALUATION LOG. Previously, the recipient of a copy was blind carbon-copied. This change increases transparency by ensuring all email recipients - and those viewing the EVALUATION LOG - are aware of whom the information has been communicated to.

The course equivalencies within the HTML in the email and the PDF audit were previously displayed in a top-to-bottom vertical format. They will now display in a side-by-side horizontal layout for better readability and to accord with the TES® user interface and how students are used to seeing equivalencies in Transferology® and other systems.

Within the PDF attachment, the information entered in the contents of the From, To, Subject, and Body fields of the SEND EMAIL pop-up - as well as additional email addresses reported in the To field in sent emails - will now be included in the PDF attachment.

The report timestamp will also now appear within the PDF attachment if sending an evaluation decision this way. This timestamp notes:

• The username of the individual who sent the report;
• That the report was generated via TES at http://www.tes.collegesource.com; and
• The date and time the report was generated.
  • Format: MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS AM/PM PT.

For more information, see Send Emails to Communicate Decisions to Students and Stakeholders.

Email Evaluation Decisions from the Evaluation Tracker Workflow

Functionality has been added to the Evaluation Tracker workflow to give staff within Registrar and Admissions offices the ability to email students and other stakeholders of evaluation decisions.

How It Works

A new action type of "Send Email" has been added to the Evaluation Tracker workflow. This action will be available within the My Evaluations queue to users with the SERVICE EVAL and (MANAGE EVAL or CREATE EQ) user rights and available within All Open Evaluations to users with the SERVICE EVAL and MANAGE EVAL user rights.

Within the SEND EMAIL pop-up, users can choose between embedding the evaluation decision as HTML in the email or sending it as an attached PDF. Additional information and context can be supplied in the body of the email.

For more information, see Send Emails to Communicate Evaluation Decisions to Students and Stakeholders.

Users with ACCESS EQ Can View Peer Equivalencies

Individuals with the ACCESS EQ user right can now view peer equivalencies within the Course Finder.

How It Works

The Peer Sharing functionality in TES® allows users to compare how peer institutions award credit for college-level transfer courses and non-traditional items like military courses and advanced placement tests. When viewing course descriptions through the Course Finder, users at participating institutions were previously required to have either the CREATE EVAL or CREATE EQ TES user right to see the Peer EQ button and access this feature. Individuals with the ACCESS EQ user right can now also view peer equivalencies.

For more information, see Peer Sharing: Overview and Management and Peer Sharing: View Peer Equivalencies.

Changes to User Added Admin Notes

Three changes have been made to the User Added Admin Note functionality within the Institution Profile page:

1. The Edit Note button has been renamed Add/Edit Note.
2. Previously created notes can now be edited.
3. In the USER ADDED ADMIN NOTE pop-up, notes can be sorted by field name.

How It Works

TES Administrators can create User Added Admin Notes to supplement the information provided within an institution profile. Here, notes can be added to record and convey information that can be used in the evaluation process, such as institution name changes, points of contact, etc. These notes are internal to the college or university and can be viewed by all active TES users at the school anywhere the institution profile displays.

Previously, TES Administrators could add or delete User Added Admin Notes but could not edit existing ones. Now, these users can edit and update existing notes and view the date a note was last edited.

Additionally, when adding, editing, or deleting a note, TES Administrators can sort notes by field names. This temporary sorting does not influence the order of notes on the institution profile. Notes will still appear on the profile in the order of newest to oldest.

For more information, see Create and Manage Institution Profile Notes.

Updates to the Equivalency Export

Two changes have been made to the Equivalency Export:

• TES Administrators can now choose the delimiter type used to separate fields; and
• Course Tags can now be optionally included in export results.

How It Works

Delimiter Types

Before this enhancement, data was exported in a tab-delimited format. When utilizing the Equivalency Export, TES Administrators can now select either a <tab> or pipe ( | ) character as the delimiter used to separate identifiers and associated data.

Course Tags

Per request, home institution Course Tags can now be included within the results of an equivalency export. If included, since users can make a single equivalency to up to ten courses, ten Course Tag fields will appear in the export. A comma will separate multiple Course Tags pertaining to a single course.

See Export Equivalencies from TES for further information.

New: TES Site Map

To increase product accessibility, a site map has been added to TES®.

How It Works

A link to a site map has been added to the footer in TES. This footer appears on every page in TES, but the link is only visible when users are logged in to the application.

The TES site map plots out the organization of the main pages in TES and provides a hyperlink to each. As User Rights control the visibility of and access to pages within TES, only those pages that the user has permission to access will display to the individual.

See How to Navigate through TES for further details about site organization.

Character Counter Added to Groups and Group Reports

Character limitations for text fields within Groups and Group Reports are now visible in TES®.

How It Works

Within the Equivalency Manager, an institution can create Groups and Group Reports to display groupings of courses, articulation agreements, and transfer guides to visitors of the institution's Public View. These reports can also be featured on the college or university's school profile in Transferology as a Transfer Pathway.

There are character limits for the text elements in Groups and Groups Reports. When adding/editing Groups and Group Reports, users will now see a character counter to the right of the following field names, indicating both the number of characters used and the maximum number of characters permitted within that field:

• Public Note (1024 characters maximum)
• Private Note (1024 characters maximum)
• SubHeader Text (2048 characters maximum)

For more information, see Groups and Group Reports.

Catalog Status Tracking: Changes to Watchlist Management

Two enhancements have been made to the Catalog Status Tracking functionality in TES®:

1. An institution's Catalog Status Tracking watchlist can now be viewed and managed within/from the TES Dashboard; and
2. A TES Administrator can now remove any catalog title from the institution's watchlist.

How It Works

Within Course Finder, users have the ability to view and track the availability of other institutions' catalogs and course data sets in TES®. From there, the user can:

1. Add the catalog to the institution's watchlist to track it through the production cycle; or
2. In instances where no information is available about the catalog and it has not already been requested from CollegeSource, request it be added to TES.

Prior to this enhancement, a watch list could only be accessed through the Course Finder. This meant that to view and/or manage a list, the user would have to repeat the steps required in order to check a catalog's status. Now, the watchlist can quickly and easily be accessed via the TES Dashboard.

Previously, only the user who added a catalog title to the institution's watchlist could remove it from said list. Under this business rule, TES Administrators would have no way of removing catalogs from institution watchlists in the instance where the individuals who added the catalogs no longer have access to TES or have since left the institution. Now, a TES Administrator can remove catalogs that any user at the college or university has added to the institution's watchlist. This can be done either through the STATUS TRACKING page within the Course Finder or within the TES Dashbord.

For more information, see Catalog Status Tracking: Check the Status of and Request a School's Catalog.

Priority Departments: Fix to Page Index Navigation

A bug has been fixed that prevented users, when assigning Priority Departments, from navigating past the first page of a Department list within a data set.

How It Works

Within User Management, TES® Administrators can select the Departments whose courses an individual faculty member is approved to or frequently make equivalencies to from the institution's course data sets. When reviewing an evaluation task and selecting an equivalent course from the ADD/EDIT COURSE page, if the evaluator has one Priority Department assigned, the courses from that Department will automatically appear from within the latest institution course data set. If the evaluator has multiple Priority Departments assigned, the department whose full name appears first alphabetically will be automatically selected.

If an institution has more than 200 Department names within a data set, a page index appears to enable quicker navigation. Users reported the page index was unresponsive when selected. Adjustments have been made to enable navigation between pages.

For more information, see Priority Departments: Overview and Management. 

New Feature: Peer Sharing

New functionality has been added to TES® that allows users to compare how peer institutions are awarding credit for college-level transfer courses and non-traditional items like military courses and advanced placement tests. This information can be used as a reference point when evaluating credit or advocating for practice and/or policy changes. System and statewide collaborative groups can also use this feature to work with one another on aligning transfer-of-credit decisions.

How It Works

A new page called Peer Management has been added to the Manage menu in TES®. Here, an institution's TES Administrator can opt to participate in Peer Sharing on behalf of the college or university; once participating, the Administrator can select up to six peer institutions for comparison/review. Institutions with TES Public View usage of greater than 100 log entries between April 18 and May 18, 2023, will automatically be opted-in to Peer Sharing; all others institutions will need to turn this feature on.

When viewing course descriptions through the Course Finder at participating institutions, users with either the CREATE EVAL or CREATE EQ TES user right will see a new button called Peer EQ. Once selected, the user will be taken to the Peer Equivalency page, where the user will see a list of the college or university’s chosen peer institutions and how each institution has evaluated the selected course. Only active equivalencies that are not hidden from the TES Public View will display. On the EQUIVALENCY DETAIL page, the user can further view a side-by-side comparison of the transfer and home institution course descriptions, the equivalency BEGIN DATE and END DATE, and the PUBLIC NOTE (if applicable). The PRIVATE NOTE (if applicable), CREATOR, EQUIVALENCY LOG, and EVALUATION LOG field details will not display.

For more information, see Peer Sharing: Overview and Management and Peer Sharing: View Peer Equivalencies.

New Feature: Institution Profile Notes

New functionality has been added to TES® that allows Administrators to create user added notes within the TES Institution Profile of United States schools (including User Added Transfer Institutions). Colleges and universities can use these notes to record information about the institution for use in the credit evaluation process; for example, institution name changes, points of contact, etc. These notes are internal to the college or university that created them and can be viewed by all active TES users at the school.

How It Works

When viewing an institution profile via the Course Finder, the TES Administrator can select the Edit Note button to create user added notes for that college or university's TES® users to see. Within the USER ADDED ADMIN NOTE pop-up, multiple notes up to 255-characters each may be added. Notes can additionally be deleted from this area if no longer applicable or if revisions are needed.

Users at the institution can view the user added note when reviewing an institution profile anywhere it is available in TES. If more than three notes exist, the user can select the View More button to see the comprehensive list of notes.

For more information, see Create and Manage Institution Profile Notes.

New Feature: Catalog Status Tracking

New functionality has been added to TES® that allows institutions to view and track the availability of other institution's catalogs and course data sets in TES. From there, the user can:

1. Add the catalog to the institution's watchlist to track it through the production cycle; or
2. In instances where no information is available about the catalog and it has not already been requested from CollegeSource, request it be added to TES.

How It Works

Within Course Finder 2, if a user is unable to find a catalog and/or data set from an institution that has at least one catalog or data set available, the following hyperlinked message will appear:

If information is not available: check a catalog's status, manage a watchlist, or request a catalog be added to TES.

Once a user selects the hyperlink, the individual will be taken to the Status Tracking page. Within this page, there will be a pre-populated drop-down of previous catalog titles from that institution along with a drop-down with the ten most recent academic calendar years (including the upcoming academic year, once available) displayed in 1-year ranges. After selecting the appropriate criteria, the user can select Check Status to review catalog availability. Catalog status will be reported as one of the following and will change if/when files are received and processed:

• No information available
• File Received
• In Progress
• Quality Control
• Completed

Where no information is available about a catalog or a catalog file has, at a minimum, been received (but not completed), the user can add the catalog to the institution's watchlist. Where no information is available and the catalog has not yet been requested from CollegeSource, the user can also request the catalog be added to TES®.

Within Status Tracking, the user can also manage the institution's catalog watchlist. Since the watchlist is institution-wide and not user-specific, any changes to the watchlist will span across the institution's TES account.

For more information, see Catalog Status Tracking: Check the Status of and Request a School's Catalog.

Public View INSTITUTION SEARCH Box Focus Removed

TES® Public View pages no longer automatically scroll to the INSTITUTION SEARCH box when loading.

How It Works

Institutions reported that Public View pages were loading below the Read Me Text field, causing students to miss the information at the top of the page. It was determined that this was caused by a "focus" within the INSTITUTION SEARCH box; when the page was loading, it would scroll to this area automatically. This "focus" has been removed. Public View will now load from the top instead of scrolling directly to the search.

For more information, see Using the Public View and Public View Management and Customization.

New Feature: Priority Departments

New functionality has been added to TES® to make the selection of equivalencies faster for evaluators, cutting down on the length of time required to complete an evaluation task within the TES Evaluation Tracker workflow. 

How It Works

A new button has been added to User Management called Set Priority Depts. The TES® Administrator selects the Departments whose courses an individual faculty member is approved to or frequently make equivalencies to from the institution's course data sets. When reviewing an evaluation task and selecting an equivalent course from the ADD/EDIT COURSE page, if the evaluator has one Priority Department assigned, the courses from that Department will automatically appear from within the latest institution course data set. The evaluator will not have to use the drop-down menu to locate that Department to begin selecting an equivalent course. If the evaluator has multiple Priority Departments assigned, the Department whose full name appears first alphabetically will be automatically selected. If the evaluator were to select the Department drop-down, all assigned Priority Departments would appear in a list at the top.

For more information, see Priority Departments: Overview and Management. 

Updates to Evaluation Tracker Usage Statistics

The fields, labels, and definitions within the Evaluation Tracker Use report (within Usage Statistics) have been updated for better reporting, statistical accuracy, and useability.

How It Works

Multiple enhancements were made to the Evaluation Tracker Use report:

1. Six new fields have been added to help institutions better understand evaluation turnaround time:
   1. APPR/DENY MIN reports the shortest timeframe (in days) between when an evaluation was created and then approved or denied. 
   2. APPR/DENY MAX reports the longest timeframe (in days) between when an evaluation was created and then approved or denied.
   3. APPR/DENY AVG reports the mean (average) number of days between when evaluations were created and then approved or denied.
   4. APPR/DENY MEDIAN reports the median number of days between when evaluations were created and then approved or denied.
   5. CLOSED MIN reports the shortest timeframe (in days) between when an evaluation was created and closed.
   6. CLOSED MAX reports the longest timeframe (in days) between when an evaluation was created and closed.
2. Three existing field names have been updated:
   1. REASSIGNED NOT BY CREATOR is now called REASSIGNED BY OTHER.
   2. AVERAGE is now called CLOSED AVG.
      • This label change helps better convey that this field reports the mean (average) number of days between when evaluations were created and closed.
   3. MEDIAN is now called CLOSED MEDIAN
      • This label change helps better convey that this field reports the median number of days between when evaluations were created and closed.
3. The EVALUATION STATISTICS SUMMARY (formerly called EVALUATION ACTIVITY SUMMARY) has been split into two sections to reflect the type of information being reported. Statistics are additionally arranged in a more chronological order in accordance with the "lifecycle" of an evaluation task. 
   • Section names:
     • Evaluation Actions
     • Evaluation Turnaround Time in Days
4. EVALUATION STATISTICS PER USER (formerly called EVALUATION ACTIONS PER USER) has also been separated into two sections to reflect the type of information being reported. Statistics are additionally arranged in a more chronological order in accordance with the "lifecycle" of an evaluation task. 
   • Section names:
     • Evaluations Actions Per User
     • Evaluation Turnaround Time in Days Per User
5. Label definitions have been revised to provide better clarity regarding the statistic being captured. 

For more information, see Usage Statistics and Evaluation Tracker Use.

Change to State Field Requirement: User Added Courses

Users are no longer required to select a state from the State drop-down menu (if available) when creating international transfer institutions within User Added Courses.

How It Works

Prior to this update, when creating a user-added institution for an institution outside of the United States, if state information were available within TES®, users were prompted to select the state the country was within from a drop-down menu. If state locations were not available, the State field and drop-down would not appear. 

As not all countries have states, and CollegeSource does not actively collect state data for all international holdings, changes have been made to the ADD INSTITUTION screen so that:

1. If state locations are not available (or do not exist) for a particular non-US country, a message will display next to the State field noting "State is currently unavailable."
2. If state locations are available for a particular non-US country, users will be prompted to select a state from the drop-down menu but are not required to do so.

State continues to be a required input field when creating transfer institutions within the United States within User Added Courses.

For more information, see User-Added Transfer Courses.

State Field Added to Equivalency Grids in Dashboard

The Schools with which we have equivalencies. and New catalogs for schools to which we have equivalents. grids have been updated to display the state locations of the institutions being reported.

How It Works

Within Dashboard, institutions can see a map of how equivalencies are distributed across the United States, as well as a listing of schools with which equivalencies have been established. Within this listing, the number of equivalencies is reported. With this change, institutions will additionally be able to see the state that each institution in the grid view list is located in. 

Institutions also have the ability to view 10 institutions to which equivalents have been established that have new catalogs in TES®. The institution name is reported, along with the number of equivalencies established at the institution. With this change, institutions will additionally be able to see the state that each institution in the grid view list is located in. 

For more information, see Dashboard. 

Bug Fix: Private Notes Over 1,024 Characters No Longer Truncated When Editing Equivalencies

A bug fix will ensure that when editing an equivalency, existing Privates Notes are no longer shortened to 1,024 characters.

How It Works

When creating an equivalency, institutions can opt to add a Private Note to document the evaluation process or the rationale behind an evaluation. These notes have a limit of 2,048 characters. When editing an equivalency within the Equivalency Manager or the Equivalency Batch Editor, it was found that a bug was causing existing Private Notes to be truncated if they were over 1,024 characters. This bug has been addressed and resolved. When creating and/or editing equivalencies, the 2,048 character limit will be observed.

For more information, see Creating an Equivalency from an Evaluation Task, Create new equivalencies using the Equivalency Manager, Edit or Delete Equivalency, and The Equivalency Batch Editor.

Updates to Instructions: Requesting Schools' Catalogs 

The language that instructs users how to request other schools' catalogs and course data sets be added to TES® (or request information about missing catalogs) has been updated for clarity.

How It Works

When catalogs and/or course data sets are unavailable in TES®, users will see a bolded hyperlink at the bottom of the Course Finder with one of two options:

1. Request a catalog be added to TES.
2. Request more information. 

Following these prompts will lead to the Data Request screen, wherein users select or fill in the details of the request.

For more information, see Request a School's Catalog.

Expanded Access to Private Notes

Individuals assigned the CREATE EQ user right can now view Private Notes within equivalencies displayed in the Course Finder and the Equivalency Finder.

How It Works

While staff with the CREATE EQ user right could view equivalencies' Private Notes within the Equivalency Manager, individuals were previously required to have the ACCESS EQ user right to view these notes when accessing equivalencies via the Course Finder and Equivalency Finder.  

Now, when viewing equivalency histories within the Course Finder, if the individual has the CREATE EQ user right, Private Notes will display within the EQUIVALENCY DETAIL. Similarly, when viewing an equivalency from the EQUIVALENCY LIST in Equivalency Finder, those with the CREATE EQ user right will also be able to see Private Notes within the EQUIVALENCY DETAIL screen.

For more information, see Using Course Finder and Equivalency Finder.

Change to Ability to Add/Remove TRANSFER COURSES within an Evaluation Task

When completing an evaluation task, the MANAGE EVAL user right is now required to add or remove TRANSFER COURSES within the ADD/EDIT COURSE page. 

How It Works

When a user without the MANAGE EVAL user right selects the action of Add/Edit Course within an evaluation task, when the ADD/EDIT COURSE page loads, the buttons that enable adding (+) and removing (x) of TRANSFER COURSES will be grayed out. The user can add and remove courses from the home institution but not those from the transfer institution.

For more information, see Completing an Evaluation and User Rights and Permissions.