Best Practices for Creating and
Managing E-Forms for Student and
Scholar Services
Micah Cooper – University of Georgia
Jeevan Devassy – Georgia Tech
Stephanie Roberts – Emory University
Outline
1. Organizing E-forms – Macro/Micro Level
2. Case Study #1: E-groups at University of
Georgia Athens
3. Case Study #2: Emory University Scholar
Request Process
Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level
1.
Developing an E-form Inventory
Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level
2.
Organizing e-forms in E-form Management (E-form Archive vs. Live E-forms)
Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level
3. Creating a “Cheat Sheet” for e-forms creation
Organizing E-forms at the Macro-Level
4. E-form Manager
• staff member involved in centralizing the e-form process
• ensures a consistency of design and structure
• duties would include assisting in e-form creation, placement, deletion, naming
• update inventory spread sheet
Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level
Structuring your individual E-forms
SECTION I: Text Section- introduction (for who, what, why)
SECTION II: Question Section (identifying type of student)
SECTION III: Consent Section
SECTION I: Text
SECTION II: Questions
SECTION III: Consent
Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level
Readable and Visually appealing
Not a paper form:
1. Use of conditionals (streamlined, less clunky)
2. Use of 2nd Approver function
3. Tailor Approval/Deny/Follow-up e-mails
Organizing E-forms at the Micro-Level
What not to do
Overview at UGA
• UGA is transitioning from formsite.com, which
has a user friendly interface and an extensive tool
set, for processing requests.
– Its disadvantage is its disconnect from our in-house
systems. Data still needs to be manually re-entered.
• Sunapsis e-form options are not as great but the
centralization of information will save a
significant amount of staff time.
• We went live with 3.0 in May and are just now
rolling out our first e-forms and e-groups starting
with our I-20 request.
Tips Organizing the E-Forms
• Make sure the order of e-forms make sense
– The progression should not be erratic. You can closely
follow existing processes.
• For each e-form, be sure to give information
about the form before launching into questions
• Who needs to see the form? Utilize extension
filters when you can.
– Filters can be used for J1, F1, H visa types or new
admits etc…
UGA Example
I-20 Request E-Group
• I-20 Request for Admitted Students
– What information do we need to collect?
•
•
•
•
•
Biographical Information
Academic Program and Related Expenses
Dependents
Currently in US?
Transferring?
• UGA broke up the previous process from one long
online form into smaller individual e-forms.
• Limited to new admits only.
UGA Example
A Simple Student E-Group
Second approver
email sent to the
current advisor
Submission creates an alert
UGA Example
Instructions on Each E-Form
General Instructions
Notification of uploads
Example
I-20 Funding Information
We have 14 different
program expense
tables. These are
conditionally displayed
based on academic
level.
Second Approvers and Alerts
• We have an external second approver to
confirm the transfers are indeed transferring.
• Once the last keystone e-form has been
submitted, an alert is generated at the
guarded level.
• A template email will be sent to the applicant
once the e-group has been approved.
Setup Templates and Extract
E-Form Data
• Based on the academic and funding
information e-from, we utilize one of 30
unique templates to pull and customize I-20
financial and program information. This
information is maintained by one advisor.
• We have one template for the dependents
e-form and this could be easily automated.
Overview
• All scholar requests at Emory are done
electronically through ISSS Link (Sunapsis)
– Current requests include H-1B, J-1, and TN scholars
– O-1, E-3, and Permanent Resident will be added
• Paperless process
• Require input from department admin,
scholar, supervisor, chair, and dean (some
schools)
Previous Process
• Scholar requests done through a bolt-on
custom module in PeopleSoft HR
• All information submitted by department
administrators
• Nearly non-existent case management tools
• Compliance certification and all supporting
documentation were submitted in paper form.
Sunapsis Process
• Requests submitted through multiple e-form
groups in Sunapsis
• Information input by both admins and scholars;
compliance form(s) signed by supervisor, etc.
• Documentation submitted electronically
• Compliance process now fully electronic in 3.0
Planning for More Complex
E-Form Groups
• Map out your ideal workflow
– Flow charts may be beneficial
– Be prepared to make adjustments based on system
functionality
• Use a top-down approach
– What information do you need?
• Keep it general – no need to define individual fields yet
– Who should it come from?
– At what point in the process should it be submitted?
• Do this before you start developing e-forms!
H-1B Request – Department Process
• General flow chart here
Designing the E-Forms
• Use your planning notes to define data
elements, then review to logically divide them
into e-forms.
– Remember to consider the required source of each
piece of information
• Don’t be afraid to use multiple forms
– Easier for individuals to complete multiple shorter
forms than one long form
– Consider the “client as second approver” extension
Client as Second Approver
• This is a major component of Emory’s process
• Used to allow scholars to submit information in
multiple forms
• Scholars don’t have to locate the form in the
web app; they receive the direct link via email
• Drawback: admins can’t see what the scholar
has submitted
Client (Scholar) View
Client Second Approver Setup
E-Form Groups in 3.0
• Lots of new features!
• Multiple keystone e-forms
– Can require forms to be completed in a specific order
– Used at Emory for multiple approvers
• Group View
– Displays all e-forms from a group together
– Includes associated documents, notes, emails,
templates, etc.
– One of the best parts of 3.0 
E-Form Chaining
H-1B Department Process - Detail
H-1B Request – ISSS Office
Emory’s Process
• Details with forms, etc.
Templates
• For complex groups, keep a list of templates
and their fields
• Ease of update/re-creation later
– Learned this the hard way!
Related Documents
• Department user training
• Scholar guides
• Internal manuals