Overview of Communication Management

Overview

This document describes how to process communications. Refer to the Additional Information section of this document for links to related documentation.

Business Process

Communication Management consists of the following high-level steps:

1. Identify the individual and the type of communication
2. Use M-Pathways to assign communications to an individual
3. Use M-Pathways to view communications
4. Use M-Pathways Communication Generation or Letter Generation to produce personalized communications

Communication Terminology

Terms used in Communication Management are defined in this section.

• Administrative Function – A high-level identifier used to group communications. Each Administrative Function represents a functional area that processes communications
  Example: ADMP (Admissions Program)
• Category – A six-character code that represents a high-level grouping of communications by business process or function. The first three digits are the department and the last three digits represent the communications activity.
  Example: Category UGAAIE consists of:
  • First 3 digits (Department) = UGA (Undergraduate Admissions)
  • Last 3 digits (Communication Activity) = AIE (Invite to event)
• Context – A six-character code that represents the specific instance of a communication within a Communications Category. A department may send several different letters within a Category. The Context specifies which letter.
  Example: The context COPADM consists of:
  • First 3 digits (Department) = COP (College of Pharmacy)
  • Last 3 digits (Specific Communication) = ADM (Conditional Admit)
• Method – Indicates the form the communication takes, such as letter, email, fax, personal contact, phone contact, brochure, or label.
• Direction – Indicates whether the communication is an incoming, outgoing, or in person contact communication.
• Letter Code – A three-character code assigned by Information and Technology Services (ITS) that identifies outgoing communications only. It is used by the M-Pathways Letter Generation process to extract data for mail merge.
• Communication Speed Key – An eight-character code used to speed up data entry when assigning a communication. A Comm Key automatically populates these fields:
  • Communication Category
  • Context, Method, Direction
  • Letter Code
  The Comm Key consists of the six-digit Communication Context + SP.
  Example: COPADM = Communication context + SP = COPADMSP = Communication Speed Key
• 3C Coordinator – A representative from a department who assesses and describes communication, checklists, and comments needs to ITS and assists ITS in the setup for his/her department.

Business Process Details

Additional business process/transaction details related to M-Pathways are included in this section.

Before you begin:

Navigate to the User Defaults component (Menu > Set Up SACR > User Defaults) to enable the Communication Speed Key(s) you want to use. You must enable a speed key via the User Defaults component before you can use it to assign a communication. This is a one-time setup for your ID. Refer to Enable Communication Speed Keys for more information.

To help determine the Communication Speed Keys available to your unit, run the Comm Speedkey by Category Report.

1. Identify the individual and the type of communication

Make sure to use Search/Match to verify you have selected the individual to whom a communication should be assigned. Once assigned, communications cannot be deleted, so it is important to determine the type of communication to assign.

2. Use M-Pathways to assign communications to an individual

There are two methods to navigate to the Communication Management component:

• Click Add a New Communication from certain M-Pathways pages. If you click Add a New Communication , the Function and Variable Data fields should always populate based on the page.
• Use NavBar >Navigator > Campus Community > Communications > Person Communications > Communication Management. When using this navigation path, the Variable Data field Academic Career will default if your user default for Academic Career is set.

Each Administrative Function is associated with its own set of Variable Data as shown in the table below. Variable data links a communication to a specific occurrence of a business process and determines which data is included in the CC letter generation extract file. For example, it links a specific letter to a single admissions application. Most Variable Data is required to assign a communication and save it.

3. Use M-Pathways to view communications

The Communications Summary page displays how many and what types of communications have been entered into M-Pathways.

• The General Info tab displays the Method, Letter Code, Direction, Administrative Function, Assign Date and Time, Date Completed, and Sequence.
• The Letter Details tab displays the Method, Letter Code, Letter Code Description, Enclosure, Category, and Context.

4. Use M-Pathways Communication Generation or Letter Generation to produce personalized communications

• Use M-Pathways Communication Generation to produce email or letter communications directly out of the M-Pathways system. For information about this process, refer to the CommGen User Resources page.
• Use M-Pathways Letter Generation to create an extract file. The Letter Generation process is used to generate outgoing communications and requires appropriate security access in M-Pathways.
• Use Microsoft Word Mail Merge to generate personalized communications. Refer to Letter Generation and Mail Merge Process for more information.

Additional Information

• Assign a Communication
• Update a Communication
• View the Communication Summary
• Enable Communication Speed Keys
• Communication and Checklist Reports
• Letter Generation and Mail Merge Process
• 3C - Communication, Checklist, and Comment Navigations