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Creating Attractive Banner Financial Aid Emails

Barb Casey

Systems Analyst, Office of Financial Aid

November 17th, 2016

barb.casey@wichita.edu

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Wichita State University

• Located in Wichita, Kansas• Student population ~ 15,000 students• Between 65-67% of our students receive

financial aid• Home of the Shockers

• Fun Fact: Our mascot, WuShock, is a lean, mean, muscle-bound bundle of wheat!

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www.Wichita.edu/shockercity

www.Wichita.edu/shockerselect

Shocker Select Tuition DiscountEligible Wichita State University students from Oklahoma or Texas no longer have to pay out-of-state tuition to attend WSU.

Shocker City Partnership Tuition Discount

The Shocker City Partnership grants resident tuition rates to students from the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas, making the cost of attending Wichita State significantly less than out-of-state tuition.

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Introduction

• Goal of email communications: • To inform and to call the recipient to some sort of action

• 2015-2016: Overhaul of email content• Enabled bulleted items and listed numbered steps for

call-to-action emails

• 2016-2017: Transition to HTML to improve the look and feel• Enabled bold text and headings• Enabled addition of graphics for headers and footers• Enabled clickable hyperlinks and social media links

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Examples(Before/After)

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Planning

Questions before you begin to edit• Are there University standards for communication?

o Specific coloring or designated fonts?

• What are the types of emails we are sending?o Group together same office, same look/feel?

• Can printed letters transition to emails?o Saving money and time

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Planning

• Gather all current email and review text• Hyperlinks (websites, email

addresses)• Bullet lists• Font, Color changes• Bold, Italicize• Paragraph, Spacing• Images (headers, pictures)

• (can’t embed images)• Standard signature

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Setup

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Setup – Banner Forms Used

GTVLETR - Letter Code ValidationRORELTR - E-Mail Letter RulesRORELTF - E-Mail Letter Format RulesROVFAID* - Banner Defined VariablesROREMAL - Financial Aid Email ProcessRUAMAIL - Applicant Mail

* Validation table

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Setup - GTVLETR

• Add E-Mail code• (we just edited

current letters)

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Setup - RORELTR

• Add E-Mail Code

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Original Setup- RORELTF (FY16)

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Edit Email in WORD

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HTML for Beginnershttps://html-cleaner.com/

Basic HTML is all you need to know and this tool can assist youhttps://html-cleaner.com/

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HTML - Continued

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Before you beginedit in word, save HTML code in Notepad

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Save HTML code to notepad as a .htmlThis will allow you to also view it in a browser

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RORELTF

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Setup – RORELTF (Adding a Variable)

• Add a variable by clicking the variable drop down

• Points to ROVFAID, which is baseline• Only has ID, Name, Aid Year

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Setup – RORELTF (HTML Review)

• Only to review email

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Processing

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ROREMAL - Parameters

• Ensure you have a Mail Host and Port set up

• Ensure your content type has the HTML value

• Can send in Update or Audit mode

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ROREMAL – The Process

• Updates to the job are made each year to accommodate aidspecific parameters, changes, etc.

• Best way to test is to build in Banner TEST instance and copy over.

• Setup a manual Pop cell with specific ID’s then test the letters with that pop cell to ensure it looks acceptable.

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RUAMAIL

• ROREMAL writes a record to GURMAIL (Form RUAMAIL), the same as letter generation

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Process Review

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Process Review

• Ensure you use the HTML parm in job submission in Banner Draft emails with the idea that no other information besides ID, Name, and Aid Year can be used

• If you need details, like dates, use aid year specific email codes

• Only way to test is to send to yourself• Test Using different Email Browsers• Test on an individual Student ID, ensuring your test

email address is associated with that ID on GOAEMAL• TEST, TEST, TEST, TEST• Be sure to update your P&P or desk manual for the

changed procedures

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Resources

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Resources

• View Source of a web page within a internet browser

• Subscribe/Install an HTML builder application, like Dreamweaver by Adobe

• Plenty of FREE available online