Prelaunch Environment Reference Guide
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Overview
Liaison's products, including the CAS Applicant Portal, CAS Configuration Portal, Liaison Outcomes, and WebAdMIT, have several environments available to you, depending on your needs.
- The production (i.e., live) environment is where you'll spend most of your time; you'll receive and manage your applicants here.
- The prelaunch environment is where you'll configure your programs in the CAS Configuration Portal for launch in the CAS Applicant Portal.
- The sandbox environment is where you can test new workflows before building them in your production environment.
This document is specific to the prelaunch environment and configuring programs for the CAS Applicant Portal.
Environment Definitions
|
Environment |
What is it? |
When do I use this environment? |
Who can use this environment? |
Where does the data come from? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Production WebAdMIT URL: https://current.webadmit.org/ Liaison Outcomes URL: your custom domain (e.g., https://login.outcomescrm.com) |
The "live environment" is where you perform your applicant review processes. |
Daily or as required – this is the environment you use to perform your admissions review processes. |
All users |
Because this is the live environment, the data comes directly from your applicants via the information they enter into their application. |
|
Prelaunch WebAdMIT URL: https://prelaunch.webadmit.org/ Liaison Outcomes URL: your custom domain with "uat" (e.g., https://login.uat.outcomescrm.com) |
Prelaunch is a "staging" environment that allows you to configure programs for the new cycle without impacting the current cycle. |
Prior to "going live" with your cycle – this is the environment you use to "stage" your program in the Configuration Portal for the new cycle before it goes live. Once you’re ready to launch the cycle, these programs are "promoted" to production. Note that only your programs built in the CAS Configuration Portal are promoted to the live environment. User accounts and WebAdMIT/Liaison Outcomes templates, such as lists/segments, exports, email templates, etc., aren't moved into production. Review the Prelaunch Environment Reference Guide in Liaison Outcomes and WebAdMIT for more information. |
Schools that are configuring their programs during the CAS's standard configuration period. Additionally, first-time schools that don't have programs in production. |
Any data that appears in prelaunch is data that is generated in prelaunch. Since it's isolated from production, prelaunch is useful for testing and training purposes; any actions performed in prelaunch will have no effect on the live data in production. This provides users with a safe, "near-production" environment for testing or training purposes. For example, you can submit test applications and run sample exports. |
|
Sandbox WebAdMIT URL: https://uat.webadmit.org/ Liaison Outcomes URL: your custom domain with "uat" (e.g., https://login.uat.outcomescrm.com) |
Sandbox is a copy of the WebAdMIT/Liaison Outcomes production environment with obfuscated sensitive applicant data (e.g., surnames, email addresses, etc.). |
As needed – you can use sandbox to test new workflow configurations, etc. Sandbox is useful for current CAS schools that are live and accepting applications; prospective CAS schools that are not live or accepting applications may find that there is limited value in using sandbox due to a lack of applicant data. Review the Sandbox Environment Reference Guide in Liaison Outcomes (coming soon!) and WebAdMIT for more information. |
Schools with programs in the production environment. |
The data that appears in sandbox is copied from the data in production. Sensitive information such as surnames is obfuscated. Since it's isolated from production, sandbox is useful for testing and training purposes; any actions performed in sandbox will have no effect on the live data in production. This provides users with a safe, "near-production" environment for testing or training purposes. For example, you can submit test applications and run sample exports. |
Accessing CAS Configuration Portal Prelaunch
When preparing for a cycle rollover, you configure programs in the CAS Configuration Portal prelaunch environment ("prelaunch"). You can access prelaunch after your CAS opens the Configuration Portal. This timeframe is generally determined and communicated by your CAS's association and/or a member of your account team.
To access the CAS Configuration Portal through WebAdMIT:
- Visit https://prelaunch.webadmit.org and use your existing WebAdMIT credentials to log in.
- If you forgot your password, you can click Forgot username or password? to have a password reset email sent to you.
- From the Dashboard, click CAS Configuration Portal under the Management (or Administration) panel.
To access the CAS Configuration Portal through Liaison Outcomes (for select CASs only):
- Visit your custom domain with "uat" (e.g., https://login.uat.outcomescrm.com) and use your existing Liaison Outcomes credentials to log in.
- From the navigation bar, click My Tools (multi-color icon) and click Config Portal.
Configuring Programs in CAS Configuration Portal Prelaunch
Review the CAS Configuration Portal Quick Start Guide for more information on configuring your programs in prelaunch.
Note that all program pages from the current cycle will be automatically rolled over to the new cycle. The academic year for these rolled-over programs will be set to the new cycle and the program will be set to draft status for you to edit. When reviewing the CAS Configuration Portal guide, you can jump to the Edit Program Data, Deadlines, and Details section for information on editing the rolled-over pages; however, we recommend reviewing the entire guide to help you determine what edits to make.
Previewing Programs in CAS Configuration Portal Prelaunch
There are several ways to preview how your program page will appear to applicants in the application. Review the Preview Your Programs page for more information.
Moving Programs from CAS Configuration Portal Prelaunch to Production
The CAS account team will regularly promote your programs from the CAS Configuration Portal prelaunch environment to production immediately before and during the application cycle. Any programs that include the "TEST –" prefix in the Program Short Name field (e.g., "TEST – Fall Program") will not be pushed to production. Conversely, any programs that exclude this prefix will be pushed to production and will become available to applicants.
Deployment Window
Prelaunch is deployed between 8 and 11 AM ET every Monday; if Monday is a US or Canadian holiday, deployment is the next business day. During this time, you can access prelaunch but may experience slow performance or brief service interruptions. This deployment includes all system changes from the preceding release.