Tarleton State University’s admissions processing capacity recently got a boost thanks to software that incorporates a bot to screen student transcripts much faster than in the past.
“Bob the Bot,” as it’s affectionately been dubbed, is the KTech DigiScript product that incorporates robotic process automation (RPA), optical character recognition (OCR), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies in the admissions process. Bob the Bot is able to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week on incoming high school, transfer and graduate student transcripts, freeing up staff to deliver admissions decisions.
Admissions typically receives five to seven transcripts for each high school senior and at least two for transfer and graduate students. As enrollment grows, the volume of transcripts increases exponentially.
“We have dramatically reduced the processing time for incoming transcripts from approximately three weeks to just 24 to 48 hours,” said Clint Jones, Project Coordinator for Tarleton State’s Transformation Realization Office (TRO). “This improvement has not only benefited our incoming applicants with expedited admission decisions but also increased job satisfaction within our undergraduate and graduate admissions offices.” Prior to the implementation of DigiScript, there was a backlog of three to four weeks while three employees worked on processing transcripts, which increased the time students waited to receive an admission decision. After the software went live in early June, Bob the Bot processed almost 700 transcripts in just 30 days.