Universes are the framework you create to house your various scholarship cycles. Active universes appear on the Apply page for applicants where they can start a request within a specific universe.
Universes are built and managed on the Process Manager page.
Universe Preparation
While the first universe in your site will likely be created from scratch, it is typically recommended that each additional universe be created by copying an existing universe. Several updates may need to occur when preparing a universe for a new cycle. When and how those updates need to take place is important to consider.
Toggle a Universe or Opportunity On or Off
Toggling a universe or opportunity on or off decides what appears on the applicant's Apply page. Toggling a universe on makes it available for applicants to start a new request. Similarly, toggling an opportunity on makes it available for applicants to apply if they qualify. When a universe is toggled on, all opportunities are toggled on by default. Opportunities may be toggled off as needed.
Opportunities
Opportunities are the individual scholarships within a universe that applicants need to be eligible to apply for after completing the common application. Opportunities that the applicant qualifies for will be available on their dashboard. The applicant will then be able to apply to any opportunity they choose. Opportunities can be configured to only allow applicants with specific criteria to apply.
After applicants have started a request, opportunities can be added to the universe. In this scenario, it is recommended that existing requests be tested against the eligibility rules for the specific opportunity to verify if any applicants qualify.
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Universal Application
The application stage of the universe is where all questions that the applicants may or may not answer are housed. Question groups may be built and questions can be added and configured to be common questions or opportunity-specific questions.
Common questions appear on the form that applicants first fill out after they click Apply on the Apply page. Common questions are tied to eligibility rules to determine the opportunities to which they may apply. Opportunity-specific questions will only appear on the opportunities that were selected when building or editing the question. Opportunity-specific questions can be used on more than one opportunity.
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Eligibility Rules
Eligibility rules are configured around common questions on the application form. These rules determine applicants' eligibility for opportunities in a universe. Eligibility rules may be changed and tested once built to ensure they function as desired.
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Evaluations
Several main options when setting up and using the evaluations stage of a universe are available. Opportunities can be evaluated by a general committee, its own committee, or a hybrid of both. Within the evaluations stage, there is an option to enable the auto assign feature per opportunity. The auto assign functionality automatically assigns all committee members to evaluate a request once the application is marked complete.
Auto Configure Feature
Within the decisions stage of a universe, installments can be auto configured. The Auto Configure feature allows you to set the install installment date, the number of installments to add, and the number of months between each installment. Once a request is approved, the installments will be automatically configured according to your settings. The Auto Configure feature can save time when approving multiple requests.
Follow Ups
Follow up forms can be built from scratch, existing follow up forms can be copied and modified, or another instance of an existing follow up form can be added. Each follow up form can be configured as either common or opportunity-specific. When a common follow up form is assigned, the form will be associated with all scholarships an applicant has been awarded. When an opportunity-specific follow up form is assigned, the form will be associated with only the opportunities specified.
Confirmation Page Options
When applicants see the Confirmation page, by default it lists all the opportunities for which an applicant is eligible to apply. Two customizations can be made on the Confirmation page: customizing the failure message for applicants who do not qualify for any opportunities, and choosing whether or not to show opportunities on the Confirmation page that do not contain supplemental questions. These customizations can be made within the universe in the Elgibigility tab or the Applicant Opportunities tab.