Quickly entering documents with iPads

The new system provides a valuable service to students. Staff use iPads running the FileMaker Go client and the CNS barcode app.

Previously, giant copiers were hauled into the reception area from elsewhere at CELOP—borrowed from faculty busy preparing class materials for the new semester—so that staff could copy the required immigration documents from incoming students. They stood in long lines and took several minutes each to copy all of the necessary paperwork.

For incoming students, completing the required paperwork is paramount. From Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) I-901 Form and Customs and Border Protection’s I-94 arrival and departure records to copies of passports and even bank guarantee statements, students can be responsible for up to six individual documents. Anywhere from five to eight copies of all the various documents for various agencies are required per student for entry to the university, totalling almost 4,500 pages collected, sorted and stored every semester. At the end of the flurry of paperwork, students receive a testing room number for evaluating current English skills.

The new system provides a valuable service to students. Staff use iPads running the FileMaker Go client and the CNS barcode app. They operate from several iPads at the central admissions desk or rove wirelessly through the throngs of arriving international students, scanning in images of the students’ documents. The scanned documents are tagged with the student’s university ID number, which associates them with the correct FileMaker record. Documents can be accessed immediately from Mac or Windows computers running FileMaker Pro.

20-minute audits reduced to seconds

Although students are ultimately responsible for maintaining their own documentation, Boston University CELOP must take care to keep proper records. The Department of Homeland Security can conduct impromptu audits to ensure that documents such as Visas all are in place. In the case of an audit, Boston University’s CELOP admissions team or the Designated School Official, responsible for approving documentation, can now pull up a student’s record and associated paperwork in seconds. Previously, the auditing process involved a 20-minute process of digging through individual file folders.

Improving customer satisfaction

Students of Boston University’s CELOP program appreciate the speed of processing documents. They know that because of CELOP’s comprehensive, digital document management solution, they are put straight through for baseline language testing and, ultimately, granted an I-20 Certificate of Eligibility for a F-1 visa allowing them to study full-time in the U.S. within a given timeframe. For Boston University, that translates into improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies in CELOP student enrollment at a time when international enrollment is at an all-time high for the university.