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Sandbox Environment Reference Guide

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Overview

Liaison's products, including the CAS Applicant Portal, CAS Configuration Portal, 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 sandbox environment.

Environment Definitions

Environment

What is it?

When do I use this environment?

Who can use this environment?

Where does the data come from?

Production

https://current.webadmit.org/

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

https://prelaunch.webadmit.org/

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 templates, such as lists, exports, email templates, etc., aren't moved into production. Review the Prelaunch Environment Reference Guide 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

https://uat.webadmit.org/

Sandbox is a copy of the WebAdMIT 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.

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.

Deployment Window and Refresh Process

Because sandbox is a copy of the production environment, the data in it needs to be refreshed regularly to ensure you're working with current data and features. To achieve this, the data that exists in production is copied to sandbox on the Thursday before a release; you can view the schedule in the release notes.

Note the following:

  • The refresh process typically takes a day, and may take longer. During this refresh and deployment window, sandbox will be unavailable.
  • Because sandbox is a copy of production, any bugs or related issues in production may also affect sandbox. Release enhancements and bug fixes that are deployed in production will also be deployed in sandbox.
  • Anything that only exists in sandbox and not in production will be overwritten (i.e., deleted) after a refresh. For example, if you built a scoring model in sandbox that is not in production, that scoring model will be deleted once the refresh occurs. Conversely, if you built a scoring model in production after the last refresh, that model will appear in sandbox following the next refresh.
  • All sensitive data in sandbox is obfuscated.

Accessing WebAdMIT Sandbox

To access sandbox, visit https://uat.webadmit.org and use your existing WebAdMIT credentials to log in. Note the following:

  • Your sandbox credentials will default to whatever your WebAdMIT production credentials were at the time of the last refresh.
    • For example, if the sandbox refresh last occurred on December 1 and you changed your password on December 2, you'll need to use the previous password (from December 1) to log in to sandbox. 
  • Production and sandbox are two separate systems; if you change your password in one environment, be sure to change your password in the other (if you choose to keep these passwords in sync). 
  • The CAS Configuration Portal accessed from the WebAdMIT sandbox is also a sandbox environment and allows you to safely make changes to your programs and preview them in the CAS Applicant Portal sandbox, detailed below, without impacting your production configurations.

Security Protocols

The WebAdMIT sandbox often receives security patches for testing earlier than the production environment. If you are encountering any difficulty connecting to the WebAdMIT sandbox, especially via the API, but have no difficulty connecting with production, a security patch may be the issue. Contact the Client Support Specialist team at webadmitsupport@liaisonedu.com if you are unable to resolve your issue.

Safe-listing IP Addresses

If your institution requires you to identify IP addresses as safe, add the following IP addresses to your safe-list: https://ip-ranges.amazonaws.com/ip-ranges.json. Be sure to also review the Technical Requirements page for additional IP addresses to safe-list.

    WebAdMIT Sandbox Functionality

    The following functionality is fully enabled in the WebAdMIT sandbox, and you can perform actions as you normally would in production: 

    Applicants panel:

    • Perform Search functions
      • Search for applicants 
      • Search Assignments
      • Search Interviews
      • Search Correspondence
    • Add applicants to the Clipboard 

    Applicant Lists panel:

    • Use the List Manager to generate Field and Composite Lists

    Reports & Exports panel:

    • Run Reports and Exports

    Management panel:

    • Manage Work Groups and Admissions Users
    • Create, manage, and use Local Statuses, Custom Fields, Requirements, Assignments, Interviews, and Scoring Models
    • Create and manage Email Templates and Email Addresses
    • Modify the Applicant Header
    • Use the Configuration Portal
    • Use the WebAdMIT API and CAS API (the root of API calls must be changed to uat.webadmit.org instead of api.webadmit.org)

    The following functionality is disabled in the WebAdMIT sandbox: 

    • Document Downloads & PDF Generation, except for documents that are part of sandbox test applications that you created via the Applicant Portal sandbox (described below)
    • Use the Destination Manager and Schedule Manager
    • Liaison Transcript Scanning & Processing
    • Sending Emails
    • SSN Downloads

    CAS Applicant Portal Sandbox

    In addition to the WebAdMIT sandbox, each Centralized Application Service (CAS) also has an Applicant Portal sandbox that you can use to test the application's functionality. To access a CAS sandbox, add "uat" to the CAS URL as follows:

    https://CASname.uat.cas.myliaison.com/

    Similar to the WebAdMIT sandbox, the CAS sandbox environments are periodically refreshed with obfuscated production data and program configurations. If you recently activated some of your programs to be live in production for applicants to apply to, those activations may not be reflected in the CAS Applicant Portal sandbox until the next refresh. However, you can activate or request activation of specific programs in the WebAdMIT and CAS Configuration Portal sandbox environments to test new configurations. Contact webadmitsupport@liaisonedu.com if you need help with this. 

    Submitting Test Applications

    You can submit test applications in your CAS’s sandbox environment. Once an application is ready for submission, use the following test credit card information to mock a payment and submit the application:

    • Name on Card: test test
    • Card Type: Visa
    • Card Number: 4111 1111 1111 1111
    • Expiration Date: 06/2027 (any future date should work)
    • CVV: 111

    The application will appear in your WebAdMIT sandbox shortly after submission, just as it does in the live WebAdMIT environment.

     

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