ASSISTance: February 2019

General Updates

• New ASSIST Public Site Update - The new ASSIST public site development is well under way as we prepare for the May 2019 release. In partnership with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the new ASSIST public site will launch with branded materials to match the redesigned site. In addition, new ASSIST public site release related documents and tools will be available on the ASSIST Resource Center to support campuses. 
  • New ASSIST Public Site Tutorial  - Anyone will be able to access a new tutorial with an overview of the new ASSIST public site, coming soon to the ASSIST Resource Center.
  • New ASSIST Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - This living document will provide a quick and easy way to access answers to questions likely to be asked about the new ASSIST public site.
  • New ASSIST Public Site PowerPoint - This general informational PowerPoint regarding the new public site can be downloaded and customized by campuses for use in educating others.
  • New ASSIST Student Outreach Toolkit - Sample emails, social media, and text message communications for campuses will be available to spread the word of the release and help inform students. 

• Upcoming ASSIST Office Closure - the ASSIST office will be closed on Friday, March 29, 2019, in observance of Cesar Chavez Day.
• ASSISTing at Conferences - ASSIST will be presenting at both the California Intersegmental Articulation Council (CIAC) annual conference this coming April and the Ensuring Transfer Success (ETS) conferences in May. If you are in attendance at either of these events, please feel free to stop by and say "Hello" or ask any questions you may have.
• ASSIST Articulation Officer Workgroup Update - The AO Workgroup began meeting in December 2018. The meeting discussions have included issues related to data consistency in ASSIST, system feature behavior, and new public site functionality and help menus.  We very much appreciate the input from this group. To access more information about this group and its members, please visit the ASSIST Resource Center About Us page. 
• ASSIST Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Update - The PAC held its first meeting in February. This committee brings a rich diversity of experience to policy discussions.  The February meeting focused primarily on the purpose of the group, a discussion on data management in ASSIST, and a system demonstration. To access more information about this group and its members, please visit the ASSIST Resource Center About Us page.  

For Articulation Officers and Data Managing ASSIST Users

• Reactivations and Cross-listing Functions - The reactivation and cross-listing functions continue to be administrator-only (temporarily). Please continue to send reactivation and cross-listing requests to your assigned ASSIST Articulation Specialist.
• Curriculum Data Corrections - In the event you've made a curriculum error, please contact ASSIST staff to resolve it. While users have the ability to self-correct some of these errors, others require administrator intervention. To ensure an error is resolved correctly, mitigating the potential impact on other system areas, users are welcome to e-mail ASSIST staff with requests for curriculum corrections.
• New Tutorials - Additional tutorials are now available on the ASSIST Resource Center Tutorials page. The articulation tutorials will be particularly useful in combination with the upcoming articulation bug fixes. (For the best viewing experience, make sure to click “HD” at the bottom of the YouTube window) 
  • Course History Screen - how to read and use the Course History screen.
  • Locating Course Submission Decision Information - where to find Workflow proposal decision information
  • Generating and Publishing Agreements - how to generate and publish articulation agreements
  • Managing Articulation Templates - navigating the building and management of articulation templates.
• Development Work - The Fairway development team has been progressing on logged tickets related to major-specific articulation, course series functionality, agreement previews and publication.
• CSU/UC Articulation Officer Webinar Series - With the ongoing improvements to the articulation area of the system, ASSIST will begin providing weekly mini-training webinars to provide focused guidance on the various features 4 year AOs will need to use to complete preparing articulation agreements. We hope users find the additional demonstrations and access to ASSIST staff helpful.
• Articulation Menu Label Clarification - There has been some confusion regarding why the Build Articulation menu displays either “End Articulation” or “Delete Articulation” when attempting to remove a sending course (also in Templates, the menu displays either “End Requirement” or “Delete Requirement” when removing a receiving course). If the articulation or course within a template existed in a prior academic year, the “end” option will display, as you are ending an established relationship; if the articulation or course within a template was established within the same year, the delete option will display, as you are completely removing it from the origin point. An e-mail to 4 year articulation officers was sent with additional information and examples.