AT&EPS Admission / Documentation

Product Requirement Document

The Applicant Tracking and Enrollment Processing System (AT&EPS) helps admissions teams manage applications, communicate with applicants, and move students through the enrollment journey.

1. Overview

AT&EPS is a web-based admissions platform designed for colleges and universities that need clear visibility into applicants, application status, and enrollment readiness. The system combines a public-facing application flow with a staff dashboard and a student portal so the admissions team and applicants work from the same source of truth.

Product type

Responsive admissions workflow and student tracking portal.

Primary users

Prospective students, admissions staff, and returning applicants.

Platform

PHP 8+, MySQL, XAMPP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and secure session management.

Deployment

Local campus deployment or small hosted environment with HTTPS and database protection.

2. Goals and outcomes

The system should simplify admissions operations while making the applicant journey transparent and easy to follow. It should reduce manual tracking, improve communication, and support a clean student experience from application submission to enrollment confirmation.

  • Reduce manual paperwork and duplicate status tracking.
  • Enable applicants to track their application progress privately.
  • Give staff a queue of applications with status updates and notes.
  • Support a structured admissions pipeline from Submitted to Enrolled.
  • Protect sensitive data with role-based access and secure authentication.

3. Users and roles

Prospective applicant

Completes an application, receives a reference code, and later logs in to track progress, review notifications, and monitor required documents or enrollment steps.

Admissions staff

Reviews submissions, updates statuses, adds notes, and manages the admissions queue and student communications.

Student portal user

Uses a secure dashboard to review their application status, enrollment status, notifications, and checklist items after account setup.

System administrator

Creates the first staff account, configures environment settings, and manages secure deployment parameters.

4. Functional requirements

Applicant experience

  • Applicants can submit a complete admission application with personal details and a personal statement.
  • Each application receives a unique reference number and application record.
  • Applicants can check the status of their application using a reference number and email address.
  • Applicants can create or claim a student dashboard password tied to their application record.
  • Applicants can review notifications, required documents, and enrollment steps in the student portal.

Staff experience

  • Staff can sign in to a protected admin workspace.
  • Staff can search and filter the full applicant queue.
  • Staff can view detailed applicant records, track status, and record internal notes.
  • Staff can move applicants through a defined admissions lifecycle.
  • Staff can confirm document review and enrollment checklist completion.

System behavior

  • Passwords must use PHP password hashing and verification.
  • Database interactions must use PDO prepared statements to reduce injection risk.
  • CSRF tokens are required on sensitive forms.
  • Sessions must be regenerated after authentication and protected with secure cookie settings.
  • All user-facing content should be escaped before being rendered.

5. Key user journeys

Applicant application flow

  1. Applicant opens the application form from the public portal.
  2. Applicant enters identity, academic, and personal statement information.
  3. Applicant sets a secure student dashboard password and submits the form.
  4. The system stores the application and redirects the applicant to the secure student dashboard.
  5. The student can review status and required steps as admissions progresses.

Admissions workflow

  1. Staff signs in to the internal dashboard.
  2. Staff reviews applicants and searches the queue.
  3. Staff updates application status and adds a note for the applicant.
  4. The system records the change and shows it in the student portal through notifications and status updates.
  5. Staff reviews supporting documents and confirms enrollment actions.

6. Non-functional requirements

Security

All sensitive flows should be protected against SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, session fixation, and brute-force access attempts.

Performance

The application should respond quickly for queue searches, application submission, and basic dashboard views for moderate admissions volumes.

Usability

The interface should be clear, mobile-friendly, and consistent for public applicants and staff administrators.

Reliability

The platform should handle validation errors gracefully, retain records safely, and provide consistent status updates.

7. Scope and constraints

  • Included: application intake, status tracking, notes, queue management, student dashboard, and enrollment checklist management.
  • Included: secure student sign-in, existing application access claim, and password recovery support for staff administrators.
  • Not included: document upload processing, payment systems, complex multi-role permissions, or full outreach automation.
  • Current implementation stores status and notification records in the database and surfaces them in the portal rather than sending external communications.

8. Success metrics

  • 1 Applicants can submit an application and clearly understand its status without contacting staff.
  • 2 Admissions staff can review the queue and make decisions with less manual coordination.
  • 3 Students can confidently access their dashboard and view current progress and notifications.
  • 4 Security controls prevent unauthorized access and protect sensitive admissions data.