What do you do when you have enrolment applications on paper but want to move online?
We find that most schools already have a number of applications for enrolment that have arrived through the post. These come from parents who have enquired earlier and filled out a paper form. A lot of these forms have credit card details scribbled on the payment section and the finance team has already processed the payment. Once supplied, these application forms get filed away ready to be pulled out again years later.
At some point, as a school, you have to draw a line in the sand and say - “this is the date we’re moving to an Online Enrolment System. Every application received going forward must be through EnrolHQ”. But what do you do about the existing paper applications? How can you expect an enrolments registrar to work with half an entry cohort on paper forms, and the other half on an online system?
Luckily, most registrars have an admin assistant who can data enter paper enrolment forms and upload documents that have already been received.
Did you know that on average, it takes less than 1 week to get an upcoming cohort uploaded into Enrol HQ?
From here onwards, the power of EnrolHQ takes over. The school can now use the system to bulk email all the parents who have already submitted a paper application and ask them to re-confirm their details online. This is helpful if your paper-based data is not very current.
How does it work?
To enter students directly into EnrolHQ from the admin dashboard, you simply click ‘Add New Contact’. By providing some simple details like Students name, DOB, Grade of Entry, Calendar Year of Entry and some parent details it will create a brand new student profile in the system - or look to merge with an exisiting profile. This will then allow you to work through the tabs like Student Details, Parent 1, Parent 2, Medical, Religion, Siblings and enter in as much data as you have.
Once the student is entered, you simply contact the parents via email through EnrolHQ and explain that their paper application has been entered into your Online Enrolment System and that they need to login to re-confirm the details are correct.
For these parents, we’ve implemented identity validation by mobile phone. This is because we can’t simply email parents and say ‘here’s your temporary password’ in case the email address was mistyped and the email reaches the wrong person.
Each parent must go through a 2-step process whereby they first receive an email which tells them to re-confirm their child's enrolment details. They click the unique link and are taken to an enrolment page where they enter their email address (shown above). They will then be sent a code to their mobile phone which they need to enter to validate their identity - very similar to how your login to MyGov works. Once validated, the parent can set their password via a link we email them and continue with the process to check that their pre-entered details are correct.
EnrolHQ solves 2 major issues - 1. the security of personal data and 2. the accuracy of contact information supplied. Security in that we’ve added mobile phone authentication (which is progressively being rolled out to all the parent/staff logins as an opt-in option). Accuracy of contact details because we’re asking parents to confirm their enrolment by clicking a link from their email address and then entering a code received on their mobile phone number to make sure there’s a complete match.
Now that all the applications sit in EnrolHQ, you are free to review, prioritise, interview, offer a place and take acceptance and payment of place. EnrolHQ can take your enrolments process from paper-based to fully online!
Published: 08 Jul 2019
