CAS Testing

Prelaunch

Programs configure their questions for the next cycle in the Liaison prelaunch environment. Once the general CAS questions (that is, the items in sections 1-3) have been certified/approved/whatever they do by the relevant professional association, it is possible to create test application and submit it. These are detailed notes with screenshots about the process to do that; the example is in Vet, but the process is similar across all CASes.

Upon login to the prelaunch environment (WebAdMIT > Login), enter the CAS Configuration Portal

This opens in a new window:

Click through to the proper year

And into Tufts

Where we need to create a test version of the application and use that to apply

 Detailed instructions for copying the current program into a TEST version and having it approved

https://help.liaisonedu.com/Integration/Getting_Started_with_Data_Integration/Collecting_Applicant_Data/Data_Collection_Resources_for_CAS_Users Within this page, select CAS Configuration Portal Help Center

and Preview Your Programs, which contains instructions for submitting a test application through a test program:

Make sure to toggle the “preview” on, and then click the Preview Program(s) button

The link for the environment will be formatted like https://~CAS~2025playground.prelaunch.liaisoncas.com/applicant-ux/#/login

So, for Vet: https://vmcas2025playground.prelaunch.liaisoncas.com/applicant-ux/#/login

Once the application has been started and the TEST version of the program has been selected, application data can be retrieved via Postman.

 Instructions for retrieving the data

• GET applications list endpoint to find the application ID

• use that in the GET individual application end point

• export to text

• use Get Data in Excel to convert to .csv

Postlaunch

There are several different options for testing the data mapping and confirming that data is being imported correctly once the feeds have been turned on. The immediate check is the test file from the CAS; if that arrives in Slate, that is a good sign. It will not actually be imported, but will show an Error. Once real application files start flowing, it is good to check occasionally that everything is flowing as expected.

In Slate, there is a group of queries that return data from imported files, which can be compared to the same data in VMCAS.

In Progress files

The options for exporting data from WebAdmit about In Progress Applicants is limited.

Pulling this list gets a list of everyone who is currently In Progress; this means that anyone who has submitted is not included. There is no control over what fields are exported, so for Vet at least this means there is a great deal of address information that has not been imported yet.

The number of individuals in the “In Progress” pile in WebAdmit fluctuates as individuals submit their applications, and as they change their mind about applying to Tufts and ‘undesignate’ the school. When students previously designated Tufts, the In Progress file was sent; there is no way to pull back that data, so over the course of the cycle there will be several hundred people who ‘disappear’ from WebAdmit, but exist as prospects in Slate.

(1) Confirm there is no one in WebAdmit who does not have a record in Slate

(2) Spot check- data is matching appropriately. (~10 records).

Process (1) identified three students who were in Slate but did not have VMCAS Id’s. None are currently designated for Tufts, but figuring out the issue All three of them have Slate accounts that they matched with, and have open applications for the 2024 cycle.

Rose Tuft and Ashley Bloomfield are the other two students.

Open question: are there any other students with applications in 2024 that were not affected? Note that it wouldn't be VMCAS re-apps, since they already have their ID on the field.

There are 136 people who applied in 2024 in the 2025 DVM pool; of that group there are 19 who have never applied to a DVM program before, and 16 of them have their Person/CAS ID’s.