NOTE: this document is for historical reference only.

It has since been superceded by BOSA Plugin.

Introduction

The Birmingham online (Web) admissions process can be broken down into five stages; Register or sign in, applicant information, pupil details, school preference and submit application. The process is designed to collect information from the parent or Guardian and carry this information across each stage until a full application is ready to submit.

This document provides an overview of the web-based Birmingham Online Schools Admission application, and forms the basis of designing an analogous application for the Looking Local service on interactive TV and mobile platforms. This document can be downloaded as a single PDF file here

Web-based application

The application is hosted at http://secondary-adm.bgfl.org:81/admissions/prefs.php

Workflow overview

Original Visio document is Functional Test workflow.vsd

Sign In

Registration

The registration process culminates in an email being generated and sent to the user reminding them of their password. As this process is not available on TV it could be possible to send the reminder via SMS (which would require the user to leave a mobile number) or the registration  email notification can be turned off completely for the plugin and replaced with a simple validation process that prevents duplicate usernames being used. The SMS text facility is run by Service Birmingham, it has a web service and can be called on from the CACI codebase.

Applicant summary

If an applicant has already registered on the system and created some personal information, a snap shot of the data is shown as an Applicant Summary page (above). This also includes details of any pupils already created and the ability to create another pupil not previously added.

If the Applicant has not created any personal details prior to logging in the system automatically displays the Applicant Details screen. (see next page)

If the Applicant has created some personal information but chooses to edit the stored data, the Applicant Details Screen (next page) is also displayed but with the pre entered fields already populated.

The applicant also has the option to save and exit at this point - returning him to the Sign In screen.

Applicant details

The form displayed above shows the result of a applicant who has previously entered data and clicked 'edit applicant' from the previous page. If the applicant has logged on for the first time this page would show first.

It should be noted that some of the fields that are not marked as mandatory become mandatory based on choice of dropdown fields. i.e. If Preferred Communication Method is set to 'email' the Email Address field becomes mandatory. Likewise on Title, if set to 'other' the Other Title box becomes mandatory. There is an option on this page to save and exit.

Pupil details

The form displayed above is the top half of the pupil details page. This page can be reached from the Applicant Information page if data has already been entered, or preceding the Applicant Details page if the applicant has logged on for the first time and no date has been entered.

The form displayed above is the bottom half of the pupil details page. This page can be reached form the Applicant Information page if data has already been entered, or preceding the Applicant Details page if the applicant has logged on for the first time and no date has been entered.

The Name of Current School dropdown is pre-populated with 466 schools.

The Relationship to Pupil dropdown box conatins the following list: Mother, Father, Step Parent, Foster Parent, Other Family Member, Other Relative, Social Worker and Other Contact.

If the "Is this pupil looked after by a Local Authority?" radio button is selected 'yes' the Local Authority dropdown box becomes mandatory and is pre-populated with 157 Local Authorities. Additionally the name of Social Worker box becomes mandatory as well.

If the "Does the pupil have a Statement of Special Educational Need?" radio button is selected 'yes' the response on submission is "We are not able to process applications for statemented children online." The page cannot then continue unless the radio button is set to no.

There is an option on this page to save and exit.

School Preference

The form displayed above is the School Preference page. This can be re-submitted up to 6 times per pupil by clicking the "Next Preference" button.

The order of preference can also be changed on this page if a selection of schools have already been chosen.

The Name of Preference School contains 163 options.

The reasons for preference can be attributed to either a sibling claim or a faith claim. The reason can be chosen by a checkbox with an 'onclick event'. The options are: no reason, sibling, faith or sibling and faith.

If the reason for preference 'sibling' checkbox is selected the on click event loads the details of sibling form fields.

If the address of the sibling is the same as the pupil and the 'yes' radio button is selected the address details are filled in based on the information supplied in the Pupil Details section.

If the reason for preference 'faith' checkbox is selected, the on click event loads the details of the faith form fields.

The page also contains a link to save and exit

Admissions Transfer Application Summary

This is the top half of the final page which provides an overview of all the data entered in the earlier pages. It can show up to six different school preferences and their associated reasons for preferences. There is a disclaimer checkbox and an option to save to return to later.

The bottom half of the page (see next screen) contains a customer satisfaction survey and a checkbox that grants permission for the authorities to contact the applicant for further feedback about the process.

The Submit Application Now button completes the process.

CACI API

Authentication model

TBC

State management

Web services required

ListClosedRounds() -> List<String>

Returns list of names of closed rounds, exactly as displayed on the registration/sign in page on the web application.

Register(UserId,Password,Mobile) -> void

Registers a set of credentials, with an optional mobile number.

LogIn(UserId,Password) -> void

Exception conditions: user id or password is invalid.

ResendCredentials(Mobile) -> void

Exception conditions: mobile number is not registered to a given applicant.

StoreApplicant(UserId,Applicant) -> void

Exception conditions: user ID not found, if mandatory fields are missing or any if data is malformed.

GetApplicant(UserId) -> Applicant

Exception conditions: user ID not found.

ListPupils(UserId) -> List<Pupil>

Returns all data for all pupils, including application submission status.

Exception conditions: user ID not found.

ListCurrentSchools(DateOfBirth) -> List<Code,Description>

ListCareAuthorities -> List<Code,Description>

StorePupilDetails(UserId,PupilDetails) -> void

ListPreferredSchools -> List<Code,Description>

ListFaiths -> List<Code,Description>

GetRound(DateOfBirth) -> <Code,Description>

StoreSchoolPreference(UserId,PupilId,SchoolPreference) -> void

UpdatePreferenceOrder(UserId, List<PreferenceId>) -> void

SubmitApplication(UserId,PupilId)

Web services (optional)

ListTitles()
ListPreferredCommMethods()
ListPupilRelationships()

Assumptions

Open Rounds

We assume that for a given pupil date of birth, there is only one open round at any one time.

End user support provided by Birmingham

We will need help text, including telephone support numbers.

Readiness of application for submit

We will present the option for submitting each (per pupil) application when all mandatory fields have values within the applicant and pupil details sections.

"Before You Start"

The data entry process on TV will be somewhat involved. For this reason, we should flag up the preconditions (e.g. SSEN restrictions, "what are my chances of getting my child into the school of my choice") before the user attempts to register or login. We suggest that this is implemented as an interstitial screen (or screens) authored in the Starter Kit CMS and presented before the plugin is entered.

Outstanding issues

CACI to supply list of values for "Preferred Communication Method", applicant title (Mr, Mrs etc), relationship to pupil.

CACI to confirm architecture for SMS of registration details.

CACI to describe password strength requirements.

Starter Kit changes required

Context-sensitive help

E-mail address field type

Future improvements currently out of scope