ApplyTexas leaders outline UX, security and testing upgrades ahead of Free Application Week

ApplyTexas staff told the advisory committee on April 9 that recent updates have improved applicant and admin experiences and that additional security and testing work is scheduled before the next application cycle.

Renee, a member of the ApplyTexas product team, said Sprint 14 added alphabetical sorting for school and major lists, refactored the high‑school drop‑down to reduce load times, improved validation for address and emergency‑contact fields, and fixed an auto‑save edge case that could create duplicate application records. She also described admin‑portal changes and new counselor reporting, including weekly application‑count automation for Texas high schools.

"We have overhauled the technical framework of the high school drop‑down," Renee said, adding that the change improves loading speeds and reduces incorrect school selections. She demonstrated a new "duplicate major" feature that clones major records (leaving the SIP code blank) to cut repetitive data entry.

On security, Renee described a manual account lock/unlock capability to immediately remove suspected fraudulent users from active sessions, pin an investigation message in the admin view, and later restore access after review. "This allows for immediate intervention when fraudulent activity or security risks are suspected," she said.

Committee members asked how suspected fraudulent applications are reported and handled. Claudette Jinks, coordinating‑board staff, said reports arrive through multiple avenues and are triaged by the help desk; the new lock feature will be integrated into that protocol. "We have created a protocol to address those that are reported to the agency," she said.

Several members asked whether the system can provide IP addresses to help institutions' IT teams investigate sources of fraudulent submissions. Jazlyn Rose, coordinating‑board staff, said the security and privacy team is actively evaluating that request but had not reached a definitive decision.

Staff also previewed a public test site and training: Jasmine Rose (staff) said the team anticipates opening the test site and providing formal training as early as May, contingent on final checks. The training will be used for end‑to‑end testing so institutions can validate imports, essays and EDI transmissions before Free College Application Week.

The committee urged timely communications. Claudette reminded members that ApplyTexas uses HubSpot and GovDelivery for notifications and recommended that institutions whitelist those senders to ensure delivery. She also noted that recent platform improvements have reduced downtime notifications because the site can remain available during scheduled maintenance.

The advisory committee agreed to prioritize May technical training sessions on end‑to‑end testing and proposed a broader June meeting to focus on Free College Application Week planning and field questions. Staff will send a survey with proposed June dates and will circulate training materials and updated user documentation when available.

Next procedural steps: staff will continue implementing sprint work, finalize the test‑site timeline, and incorporate committee feedback on fraud workflows and communications. No formal policy action was taken at the meeting.