Modified 7/26/2019

Eligibility

This service is available to faculty and students (the user) within the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). 

Purpose & History

The CAS Travel Funds System (the system) exists to carry out the purpose of the “Faculty International Travel Support Program.” The system is built within a low-code application called Knack (the vendor). The CAS Dean’s Office (the customer) commissioned the development of the system in 2019 to replace a paper-based system, which often saw the complications of an unclear process and a lack of knowledge of the status and/or details in applications throughout the process. The CAS Lead Staff group brought the issue to the attention of CAS-IT. The Associate Dean for Personnel, Budget, and Planning, Marla Reese Weber, and the Director of Business and Finance, Carrie Wieburg, provided requirements and directions to CAS-IT in the system’s development.

Service Description

The system is a web-based application that allows users to create, submit, and track their applications for funding. The system has multiple roles with varying abilities by role:

  • Faculty Applicants: create applications, view own applications
  • Student Applicants: create applications, view own applications, choose faculty sponsor
  • Department Viewers: view designated department related applications 
  • Department Approvers: view designated department related applications, add information to designated department applications
  • College Admins: view all applications, complete applications

The system has been designed to send emails in the following scenarios. 

  1. The applicant receives an email confirmation when: 
    1. an applicant saves an application (on initial creation or after each edit)
    2. an applicant submits an application
    3. a Department Approver asks for a revision of an application
    4. an applicant resubmits an application
    5. the Department Approver submits an application to the college
    6. the College-Admin completes an application
  2. Department Viewers and Department Approvers who have been added to their department’s travel fund distribution list (ex: cas-travelgrants-casit@ilstu.edu) receive an email when:
    1. an application is submitted to their department
    2. an application is resubmitted to their department
    3. an application is returned to the department by the college
  3. College Admins receive an email when:
    1. applications created by Faculty Applicants are sent to cas-travelgrants-international@ilstu.edu
      1. are submitted to college
      2. are resubmitted to college
    2. applications created by Student Applicants are sent to cas-travelgrants-student@ilstu.edu
      1. are submitted to college
      2. are resubmitted to college 

Requirements and Availability 

  • The vendor supports most popular modern browsers on Windows and Mac OS like IE, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. 
  • Other platforms like iOS or Android are not expected to be able to create or manage applications.
  • A VPN connection is not required for off-campus access.
  • An internet connection is required to connect.

This service is available 24/7/365 except during CAS-IT maintenance windows and the vendor’s maintenance schedules. It is highly recommended that all invested parties subscribe to ISU Tech Alerts. 

Service Continuity 

This service relies on the vendor’s cloud-based infrastructure where all data is stored. CAS-IT makes no backups of the data on the vendor’s infrastructure. 

Decommission of Service

Changes/degradation in technology availability or security may cause a need to decommission or transition the service. Impacted departments would be notified if necessary.

Customer Support

CAS-IT support for this service is available during normal business hours; generally, M-F 8 am to 4:30 pm except for University holidays and other closures. This service does not qualify for emergency outage support outside of normal business hours.

Responsibilities 

The User

  • Creating and maintaining applications 

The Customer 

  • Managing the lifecycle of applications
  • Exporting and managing system data for backup purposes as desired
  • Managing role assignments of Department Viewers and Department Approvers
  • Notifying CAS-IT if a user with the role of Student-Applicant needs to be changed

CAS-IT

  • Modifying email recipients on department distribution lists
  • Proactively design a positive user experience
  • Configure and/or modify access permissions
  • General development and maintenance of the system

3rd Party

The parties listed below are relied upon to deliver this service. Outages and maintenance initiated by these parties may impact delivery of CAS-IT hosted services. CAS-IT will make the best efforts to coordinate with these parties. 

  • Illinois State University Administrative Technologies 
    • Campus network backbone
    • ULID accounts 
  • Student Affairs IT
    • Knack contract 

Fees

Knack licenses funded by the Student Affairs IT. System development funded by CAS. There are no fees to users. 

Changing Standard Access

All standard access (the users) is self-assigned upon first login. No approvals are otherwise necessary.

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