RFP_Appendix_B_-_OSCAR_FRD_2014.pdf

Functional Description and Technical Requirements

Online System for Clerkship Application and Review (OSCAR)

August 4, 2014

Prepared by:

Administrative Office of the United States Courts Department of Administrative Services

Human Resources Office, Policy and Strategic Initiatives

NOTE: Legacy System FRD for use in LOE estimation only.

This document is NOT the FRD for the NextGen OSCAR System.

OSCAR Functional Requirements August 2014

Summary of Changes

Date Version Description Author(s)

11/11/2013 2 Addition of changes from Version 1.0 through 7.5 Ty Manuel

12/4/2013 3 Approved Functional Requirements Laura Simon

04/24/2014 4 Updated for 2L access, staff changes Ty Manuel

8/4/2014 5 Updated to include Version 7.6 key requirements Laura Simon

Table of Contents

1 Functional Description

1.1 Overview

1.2 Background

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

1.4 Project Contacts

1.5 References

2 System Details

2.1 Hardware and Software

2.2 User Characteristics

2.3 Hiring Profiles

Judge Hiring Profile ........................................................................................ 10 2.3.1

Staff Attorney Office Hiring Profile ............................................................... 12 2.3.2

2.4 Position Tracking

Judges, Chambers Staff, and CUA Position Posting Fields ........................... 13 2.4.1

SAO Position Posting Fields ........................................................................... 14 2.4.2

2.5 Application Package

Application Information Form ........................................................................ 16 2.5.1

Résumés, Cover Letters, and Writing Samples .............................................. 17 2.5.2

Grade Sheets ................................................................................................... 18 2.5.3

Letters of Recommendation ............................................................................ 18 2.5.4

List of References ........................................................................................... 19 2.5.5

2.6 Online Text Editor

Merge Codes ................................................................................................... 20 2.6.1

2.7 Class Rank

2.8 OSCAR Home Page

2.9 Online Help System

Online Help System’s Online Editor .............................................................. 29 2.9.1

2.10 Integrated Content Management System (CMS)

3 Technical Requirements

3.1 System Requirements

3.2 Electronic Records and Inputs

3.3 Outputs and Reports

PDF Files ........................................................................................................ 32 3.3.1

Generated Application Packets ....................................................................... 33 3.3.2

Printable Web Pages ....................................................................................... 34 3.3.3

Microsoft Office Excel Spreadsheets .............................................................. 34 3.3.4

Reports ............................................................................................................ 36 3.3.5

3.4 Archiving

3.5 Interfaces

Applicants ....................................................................................................... 41 3.5.1

Recommenders ................................................................................................ 46 3.5.2

Law School Administrators (LSAs) ................................................................ 47 3.5.3

Judges .............................................................................................................. 55 3.5.4

Staff Attorney Office (SAO) ........................................................................... 60 3.5.5

Court Unit Administrators (CUAs) ................................................................. 64 3.5.6

OSCAR System Administrators ..................................................................... 66 3.5.7

3.6 Security and Privacy

User Access Levels ......................................................................................... 71 3.6.1

3.7 Unsubscribe Capability

3.8 Availability Requirements

3.9 Data Quality

3.10 Support and Maintenance Requirements

Index of Tables/Figures

Table 1: Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Table 2: Project Contacts

Table 3: References

Table 4: List of Cover Letter Merge Codes

Table 5: List of Recommendation Letter Merge Codes

Table 6: List of LSA Email Merge Codes

Table 7: List of Judge Email Merge Codes

Table 8: List of SAO Email Merge Codes

Table 9: List of CUA Email Merge Codes

Table 10: List of System Administrator Email Merge Codes

Table 11. List of LSA User Rights and Definitions

Table 12. List of Chambers Staff User Rights and Definitions

Table 13. List of SAO Staff User Rights and Definitions

1 Functional Description

1.1 Overview

The Online System for Clerkship Application and Review (OSCAR) is the judiciary’s information and application management system for law clerk and staff attorney recruitment.

The system provides notice of available position postings, hiring profiles, application information, and employment information. OSCAR provides the listing of all federal judges to include judges who participate in OSCAR and judges who do not, and the system complies with policies set by the OSCAR Working Group. The OSCAR system includes an integrated content management system (CMS) for program staff to manage online resources and post content in real-time.

1.2 Background

OSCAR is a secure Internet-based system that provides the following capabilities:

Judges and chamber staff maintain hiring profiles, list position postings and their application methods/requirements, manage chambers accounts, accept electronic applications, communicate with the applicant pool and law schools, perform searches on the applicant pool and manage applications using the folder management system, enter electronic notes on applicants and save the notes to Excel, print applicant lists, save applicant lists to Excel, download and print applications and applicant data as needed, and access online resources specific to judges and recommenders. Judges who also serve as recommenders in OSCAR can perform recommender functions directly from their judge account.

Staff attorney offices (SAOs) maintain hiring profiles, list position postings and their application methods/requirements, manage staff attorney office accounts, accept electronic applications, communicate with the applicant pool and law schools, perform searches on the applicant pool and manage applications using the folders management system, enter electronic notes on applicants and save the notes to Excel, print applicant lists, save applicant lists to Excel, download and print applications and applicant data as needed, and access online resources specific to staff attorney offices.

Court unit administrators (CUAs), typically court HR staff, manage all of the judges, chambers staff, and SAO accounts on behalf of their court, maintain hiring profiles, list position postings and their application methods/requirements, log in as the judges/SAO staff and perform their functions, run reports, and access resources for court unit administrators and judges.

Applicants maintain an applicant profile, search OSCAR for clerkship and staff attorney positions, review judges and staff attorney offices hiring profiles to determine hiring practices, upload application documents, identify recommenders and generate requests for letters of recommendation, manage positions in folders, submit electronic applications, and access online resources specific to applicants and recommenders.

Recommenders review pending requests for letters of recommendation, confidentially submit letters of recommendations to law clerk and staff attorney positions, maintain recommendation letter templates, choose to have a letter to automatically append to new recommendation requests associated with an applicant, view completed recommendation letters, and access resources specific to recommenders.

Law schools manage their applicant and recommender accounts; create accounts on behalf of their law school staff; maintain the law school profile; upload faculty recommender lists; save recommender lists to Excel, communicate with their applicants and recommenders; download the judge mailing list; generate reports; log in as their applicants and recommenders; save lists of judges and/or applications to Excel, search for clerkships and staff attorney positions, and access resources for law schools, applicants, and recommenders.

OSCAR system administrators (federal government) manage and access all user accounts; update program content through the CMS; run reports and push reports out to law school and court unit administrators, communicate via email to all user groups;

post system announcements, user documentation, and video tutorials; manage online help; monitor and post blog entries; maintain program pick lists; manage system settings and system-generated emails; and download usage statistics.

The system shall be fully functional and accessible to applicants, law school administrators (LSAs), recommenders, judges and chambers staff, CUAs, SAOs, and OSCAR system administrators at all times, except upon notice to the government for scheduled maintenance.

Unregistered OSCAR users shall have limited access to program information/documentation, system announcements, other website links, and blogs.

As a website of the United States Government, the system shall comply with Section 508 guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Table 1: Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Term Definition

ABA American Bar Association

ADA American Disabilities Act

AO Administrative Office of the United States Courts (federal government)

BAP Bankruptcy Appellate Panel

CMS Content Management System

COOP Continuity of Operations Plan

CUA Court Unit Administrator

FAQs Frequently Asked Questions

FLCIS

Number

The FLCIS number is the unique identification number for each federal judge.

GPA Grade Point Average

ISA Information System Architecture

Login As Certain site administrators can login as any user and act directly as that user in the system. This function shall not require the administrator to have access to or be aware of user passwords.

LSA Law School Administrator

MAPI Message Application Programming Interface

ODBC Open Database Connectivity

OSCAR Online System for Clerkship Application and Review

OSCAR

System Administrator

OSCAR system administrator accounts are issued to government staffs who manage the OSCAR system on behalf of the federal judiciary and its use with the public.

OSCAR

Working Group

The AO Director’s working group comprised of judges (voting members) and law school representatives (non-voting members) who identify current process and system issues, develop recommendations for new requirements or enhancements, represent the users in setting priorities and assessing system implications associated with policy issues and decisions, and recommend hiring practices policy to the AO Director.

SAO Staff Attorney Office

Term Definition

1L First-year law school student

2L Second-year law school student

3L Third-year law school student

Rising 2L A law student currently between the first year and second year of law school

1.4 Project Contacts

Table 2: Project Contacts

Name Position Organization Phone Email

Laura Simon Program Manager

DAS-HR-PSI 202-502-1923 laura_simon@ao.uscourts.gov

Tyrus Manuel

IT

Specialist

DAS-HR-PSI 202-502-3164 tyrus_manuel@ao.uscourts.gov

1.5 References

Table 3: References

Title Date/Version Organization

System Design Overview February 2013 DAS-HR-PSI

Database Design Document February 2013 DAS-HR-PSI

OSCAR Working Group Charter December 2013 DAS-HR-PSI/JCS

NIST 800-64 requirements and federal information security controls addressed in FIPS 200 and NIS 800-53 and any updates

The Guide to Judiciary Policy, Volume 12 (Human Resources)

Human Resources Manual

2 System Details

2.1 Hardware and Software

The hardware and software supporting OSCAR shall conform to the requirements listed in the System Design Overview and Database Design documents. See Section 3 of this document for more detail of the hardware and software requirements.

2.2 User Characteristics

The system shall support the following volume of users:

Up to 1,300 federal judges and 14 staff attorney offices maintaining a hiring profile, posting positions, and accepting online applications;

Unlimited number of federal judges who only use OSCAR to maintain a judge hiring profile and post positions to accept applications via paper, email, and/or fax;

Unlimited number of federal judges who only use OSCAR to maintain a judge hiring profile;

and

Unlimited applicants, recommenders, law school administrators, and court unit administrators engaged in law clerk and staff attorney recruitment.

The system shall be scalable to accommodate a growth in judge participation in posting positions and accepting online applications.

2.3 Hiring Profiles

The system shall provide a profile for judges and staff attorney offices to provide information to applicants and law schools on chambers/office information and hiring practices. Applicants and law schools shall be able to search on these fields when performing research on law clerk and staff attorney hiring.

Judge Hiring Profile 2.3.1

The judge profile shall be organized into the following sections and fields:

2.3.1.1 General Information

First name

Middle name

Last name

Generation

Chamber phone number

Website

Address lines 1through 4, city, state/territory, and zip code

Court (i.e., U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Court of International Trade, and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims)

Judge type (i.e., circuit, district, bankruptcy, magistrate, and special master)

Date of appointment

Law school

Undergraduate school

Status (i.e., active, senior)

Circuit code (i.e., 1-11, DC, Fed, C, I, and TE)

District code

2.3.1.2 Email Information

Primary email address Assistant email address Receive email frequency for new applications and withdrawn applications (i.e., daily, weekly, and never)

2.3.1.3 Hiring Preferences

Hiring practices text box with character counter

Methods of application (i.e., online, paper, email, fax)

Application email address (only required if the email method of application is selected)

Application fax number (only required if the fax method of application is selected)

Recommendation and reference requirements with check boxes for individual recommendation letters and reference contact information

2.3.1.4 Chambers Information

Chambers profile with check boxes for Do Not Contact Chambers and Has Only Permanent Clerks

Small text boxes for career clerks, term clerks, temporary clerks, and judicial assistants Additional chambers information text box with character counter Select home page (i.e., default home page, applicant list)

Staff Attorney Office Hiring Profile 2.3.2

The staff attorney office profile shall have the following fields:

Circuit name Court (i.e., Court of Appeals) Circuit code (i.e., 1-11, DC, Fed) Email address Assistant email address Receive email frequency for new applications, withdrawn applications, and packet generation

(i.e., daily, weekly, and never) Methods of application with check boxes for online, paper, email, and fax Reference requirements with check boxes for individual recommendation letters and reference contact information Application email address (only required if the email method of application is selected) Application Fax number (only required if the fax method of application is selected) Office Profile with check boxes for Do Not Contact Staff Attorney Office and Has Only

Permanent Staff Attorneys Additional Office Information text box Staff attorney office phone number Website Address

2.4 Position Tracking

The system shall track categories of positions to include position types and terms. The position types for judges include the following:

Term law clerk-chambers

Career law clerk-chambers

Temporary law clerk-chambers

Pro se law clerk

Death penalty law clerk

Bankruptcy appellate panel (BAP) law clerk

The position type for appellate staff attorney offices is staff attorney. The terms of the law clerk and staff attorney positions can include one year, two years, three years, four years, and permanent as determined by position type. The system shall allow the user to post multiple positions if the term is different, if the term start and/or end date is different, or if specific qualifications in the description box are different. The system shall track openings for multiple hiring cycles into the future and provide information on archived positions. If a close date is not posted by the user, the system shall automatically set a date six months from the time the position is created. Based upon the opening and closing of positions, the system shall display a status of “Available” for open positions, “Filled” for positions closed by the user, or “Expired” for positions closed automatically by the system setting when the close date has passed. Once the position is posted, the user shall not be able to modify the year field for the open date, close date, term start date, or term end date. The OSCAR system administrators shall be able to modify the year field for the close date, term start date, or term end date upon the request of users. Positions shall become visible to applicants and LSAs when the open date is reached.

Judges, Chambers Staff, and CUA Position Posting Fields 2.4.1

Judges/chambers staff and CUAs have access to the following fields in posting positions:

Copy previous position

Status (i.e., Available/Filled)

Clerkship type (i.e., term law clerk-chambers, temporary law clerk-chambers, career law clerk-chambers, pro se law clerk, death penalty law clerk, and bankruptcy appellate panel law clerk)

Clerkship term (i.e., one year, two years, three years, four years, and permanent)

Open date (first date position is viewable to applicants and law schools) for accepting applications

Close date for accepting applications

Term start date

Term end date

Interview dates text box with character counter

Interview method preferences to include in person, telephone, video conference via local court, internet video, and no preference

Description text box with character counter

Attachment for uploading a PDF document (up to 300 KB in file size) as part of the job posting

Term renewable (i.e., yes, no)

Primary work location (i.e., city and state)

Required application documents (i.e., cover letter, resume, writing sample, law grade sheet, undergraduate grade sheet, and other grade sheet)

Number of writing samples required (based on selection for writing samples)

Number of recommendations required and/or number of references required (based on selection from hiring profile)

Minimum number of semesters of law school grades required with selections of one through six, and no preference

Law review/journal preferred (i.e., yes, no)

Other journal preferred (i.e., yes, no)

Moot court participation preferred (i.e., yes, no)

Bar membership preferred (i.e, yes, no). Yes answer provides a drop down selection list of states and the term Other. The selection of Other displays a text box to type in the name of the bar membership.

Prior judicial clerkship experience preferred (i.e., required, preferred)

Specialized work experience preferred (i.e., yes, no). Yes answer provides a drop-down selection list of appellate, bankruptcy, death penalty, habeas, immigration, patent, prison litigation, pro se, and social security)

Legal work experience-post law school (i.e., required, preferred)

Class standing preferred (i.e., no preference, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30, 33%, 50%, below 50% )

SAO Position Posting Fields 2.4.2

For SAOs, the system shall track the following in posting staff attorney positions:

Copy previous position

Job title text box

Status (i.e., available/filled)

Term (i.e., one year, two years, three years, four years, permanent, and temporary)

Number of positions text box

Term renewable (i.e., yes, no, possible)

Open date for accepting applications

Close date for accepting applications

Term start date (optional field for SAOs)

Term end date (optional field for SAOs)

Interview dates text box with character counter

Interview method preferences to include in person, telephone, video conference via local court, internet video, and no preference

Position overview text box with character counter

Qualification requirements text box

Attachment for uploading a PDF document (up to 300 KB in file size) as part of the job posting

Salary text box

Primary work location (i.e., city and state)

Required application documents (i.e., cover letter, resume, writing sample, law grade sheet, undergraduate grade sheet, and other grade sheet)

Number of writing samples required (based on selection for writing samples)

Number of recommendations required and/or number of references required (based on selection from hiring profile)

Minimum number of law school grades required with a selection of one through six, and no preference

Law review/journal membership preferred (i.e., yes, no)

Moot court participation preferred (i.e., yes, no)

Bar membership preferred (i.e, yes or no). Yes answer provides a drop-down selection list of states and the term Other.

Prior judicial clerkship experience preferred (i.e., required, preferred)

Specialized work experience preferred (i.e., yes, no). Yes answer provides a drop-down selection list of appellate, bankruptcy, death penalty, habeas, immigration, patent, prison litigation, pro se, and social security.

Legal work experience-post law school (i.e., required, preferred)

Class standing preferred (i.e., no preference, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30, 33%, 50%, below 50% )

2.5 Application Package

Upon initiation of the application process, the applicant must register to obtain a username and password. The system shall then generate an applicant unique identifier that identifies the user to the system and allows the user to create an application package (rising 2Ls shall be granted access to building online application packets and judges’ application method information (e.g., mailing addresses for judges who designate their application method as paper) on August 1 preceding their second year).

All documents uploaded to the system shall be in PDF format and must be 300 KB or less. The only exceptions to this are cover letters created in the online editor. The system shall provide an online editor for the applicant to create a cover letter(s) with merge codes to personalize the letters to judges and SAOs (see Section 2.6). The system shall also provide an online editor for the recommenders to create a recommendation letter, save the letter as a template, and use available merge codes to personalize the recommendation letters based on the type of letter selected (i.e., judge or SAO) (see Section 2.6). The system shall provide grade sheet forms based on the type of school (i.e., law school grade sheet, undergraduate grade sheet, and other grade sheet). Applicants shall create grade sheets using the online form(s) in lieu of uploading a scanned transcript in PDF format. Grade sheet forms shall be flexible to accommodate various grading systems (see Section 2.5.3).

An application package can include the following:

Application information form (i.e., applicant profile and contact information, list of references if required by the judge or SAO, and recommenders’ names and contact information)

Cover letter

Résumé

Law school grade sheet(s), undergraduate grade sheet(s), and/or other grade sheet(s)

Writing sample(s)

Letter(s) of recommendation

The applicant shall be able to customize the application packet based on judges’ and SAOs’ application requirements. At a minimum, the resume shall be required to create an application packet. The system shall generate PDF documents of cover letters and recommendation letters entered into the system by users through the online editor, as well as grade sheets entered into the online grade sheet form. The system shall automatically generate a PDF document of the complete application.

Application Information Form 2.5.1

The application information form shall include basic identifying information captured from the applicant profile and shall be the first document of the application package. The applicant profile, which applicants must complete upon registering to obtain a username and password, shall have pull-down menus wherever possible to facilitate uniform searching and sorting.

Certain fields shall be mandatory; the system shall not allow an applicant to register for an account without completing all mandatory fields and verifying that the data is accurate. The following information shall be required for both judge and SAO applications:

Name (first name, last name, and middle initial)

Citizenship status

E-mail address

Mailing address

Primary telephone number

Other phone number

Undergraduate school and year of graduation

Law school and year of graduation

LLM school and year of graduation

Class rank

Does the law school have a law review/journal?

Law review/journal (i.e., yes, no) o Journal names

Moot court participation (i.e., yes, no) o Moot court names

Bar membership o Bar organizations

Judicial internships/externships (i.e., yes, no)

Post-graduate judicial law clerk (i.e., yes, no)

Legal work experience post-law school

Specialized work experience (i.e., yes, no) o Specialized work experience types (i.e., appellate, bankruptcy, death penalty, habeas, immigration, patent, prison litigation, pro se, and social security)

Professional organizations

Listing of recommenders and references to include names, email addresses, and telephone numbers that are identified as part of the application

Verification of data where the applicant certifies all data and application materials—When applicants register for an account, edit the profile, or update documents on a finalized application, OSCAR shall require the applicant to verify the data each time by clicking Yes or No to accept the following “By choosing Yes, I hereby confirm that all data entered in this profile including my law school graduation date and any application documents are true and correct. Your verification of the data will be displayed in your application packet(s). Any misrepresentation in OSCAR may result in your profile and application(s) being purged from

OSCAR.”

(Note: Applicants shall only have access to class rank selections that are based on the law school’s class rank certification in OSCAR.) The application information form shall be scalable.

Résumés, Cover Letters, and Writing Samples 2.5.2

The system shall provide a document section that serves as a repository for applicants to upload documents to be used for applications. The system shall allow applicants to upload resumes, cover letters, and writing samples. All documents uploaded to the system shall be in PDF format and must be 300 KB or less. The only exceptions to this are cover letters created in the online text editor (see Section 2.6). Applicants shall be able to upload up to 3 résumés, 3 writing samples, and 25 cover letters addressed to individual judges and 25 cover letters addressed to SAOs in PDF format at a time. Applicants shall be able to control the ordering of the writing samples in the application. These documents can be attached directly to an application by the applicant and/or by the LSA on behalf of the applicant. Applicants can upload their application documents into a central documents section for future use. In addition, applicants can upload an application document while building an online application, and OSCAR shall save that document to the documents section.

Grade Sheets 2.5.3

The system shall have the provision for applicants to create online grade sheets of their school transcripts using the online grade sheet form. (Note: The system does not allow the user to upload scanned transcripts in PDF format to the system.) The applicant can maintain a total of two law school grade sheets, three undergraduate grade sheets, and three other grade sheets (e.g., graduate or other advanced degree). These documents can be attached directly to an application by the applicant and/or by the LSA on behalf of the applicant.

The online grade sheet forms shall include the following characteristics:

The forms shall be flexible and able to accommodate non-traditional grading systems.

Applicants shall be able to edit and/or update grade sheet forms after their initial creation.

By default, grade sheets shall pull the law school’s name from the applicant’s information form (see Section 2.5.1); however, applicants shall be able to modify the school name.

o Law grade sheets shall allow access to a pick list of ABA-accredited law schools o Other grade sheets and undergraduate grade sheets shall display an editable text field.

Applicants shall be able to enter a description of their school’s grading system in the form.

Applicants shall be able to enter a cumulative GPA.

Applicants shall be able to enter the following information for each class: course name, professor name, grade, credits, and comments. (Note: Applicants shall be able to enter multiple characters for their grades to accommodate alternate grading methods.)

Applicants shall be able to control the ordering of semesters/quarters within a grade sheet.

Applicants shall be able to control the ordering of their grade sheets by grade sheet type within application packets.

The system shall generate PDF documents of grade sheet forms when they are saved to the system.

Letters of Recommendation 2.5.4

Letters of recommendation shall be uploaded to an application package by either recommenders or LSAs. The system shall allow recommenders to upload an individual recommendation letter and/or create letters online in the system using a fully-featured text editor (see Section 2.6).

Letters of recommendation uploaded to the system shall be in PDF format and must be 300 KB or less.

A letter shall be accessible to the writer, its intended recipient (i.e., judge, SAO, or CUA), the applicant’s LSA, and OSCAR system administrators. Letters are confidential, and applicants shall not be able to view letters of recommendation uploaded to their applications. Once posted, letters can be edited and/or deleted by recommenders and LSAs on finalized applications to available positions (not expired or filled positions).

Recommenders and/or LSAs shall be able to set letters of recommendation to automatically append to additional applications for a specific applicant until a specified date or forever.

Recommenders, LSAs, and OSCAR system administrators shall be able to edit the automatically append settings by either logging in as the recommender or by administrating the recommender’s account.

List of References 2.5.5

If a judge or SAO requires a list of references as part of the application, the system shall allow the applicant to type in a list of reference names and contact information as part of the online build an application function. The system shall only allow applicants to list their references if the judge or SAO requires it as part of the application requirements. Reference names and contact information shall be listed on the Applicant Information Form.

2.6 Online Text Editor

The system shall include a fully-featured online text editor with the following characteristics for the use of cover letters and letters of recommendation:

Identify the recipient type (i.e., judge or SAO) of the letter.

Allow the user to save the letter entered into the online editor as a template for future use. In addition, the system shall allow the user to create and save a recommendation letter template without an active recommendation request.

Allow the user to edit and delete letters created in the online editor.

Allow copying and pasting from a word processor document (e.g., Word, Word Perfect).

Include mail merge capabilities that will allow a user to create one letter that is automatically personalized to each recipient judge or SAO (see Section 2.6.1).

Provide the following formatting options:

o Font: Bold, italics, underline, font type, font size, and font color.

o Formatting: Left justified, centered, right justified, block margins, bulleted list, increase indent, decrease indent, insert horizontal line, and clear formatting.

o Tools: Undo, redo, cut, copy, paste plain text, search, search and replace, spell check, and view HTML.

Shall not allow the user to insert graphics.

Generate PDF documents of letters entered through the online editor when the letter is selected for an application.

Merge Codes 2.6.1

Users shall be able to use mail merge codes when creating cover letters and recommendation letters in the online editor to allow one letter to be personalized to each recipient judge or SAO.

In addition, users shall be able to use merge codes when creating emails within OSCAR. Mail merge codes shall be replaced with information from the system the moment a letter is attached to an application.

The merge codes available shall be based on the recipient type (i.e., judge or SAO).

Recommenders shall also have access to merge codes regarding the applicant.

All available merge codes shall be displayed in a clickable list, which will automatically insert the selected code at the chosen location in the letter body of the online editor.

The system shall automatically insert the date, an address block, and salutation of merge codes based on the selected recipient type. Users shall be able to edit or delete the date, address block, and salutation.

The system shall embed the following merge codes in a letter for a clerkship position.

Merge Codes Clerkship Position Sample

[date]

[honorable_judgename] [formatted_address]

Dear Judge [judge_lname]:

August 1, 2014

The Honorable John E. Smith, Jr.

E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Room 1234 Washington, DC 20001

Dear Judge Smith:

The system shall display the following merge codes in a letter for a staff attorney position.

Merge Codes Staff Attorney Position Sample

[date]

[sao_name] [formatted_address]

Dear Senior Staff Attorney:

August 1, 2014

DC Circuit E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Room 5678 Washington, DC 20001

Dear Senior Staff Attorney:

2.6.1.1 Cover Letter Merge Codes

Table 4 provides a listing of the system merge codes available to applicants for creating cover letters in the online editor.

Table 4: List of Cover Letter Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date the letter is attached to an application

[honorable_judgename] Displays the judge name as it is written in the system with The Honorable [ex. Honorable John Doe]

[formatted_judgename] Displays the judge name as it is written in the system

[judge_fname] Displays the judge first name

[judge_lname] Displays the judge last name

[sao_name] Displays the SAO name as it is written in the system [ex. DC Circuit Staff Attorney Office]

[formatted_address] Displays the recipient judge or SAO mailing address as it is written in the system

2.6.1.2 Recommendation Letter Merge Codes

Table 5 provides a listing of the system merge codes available to recommenders for creating letters of recommendation in the online editor.

Table 5: List of Recommendation Letter Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date the letter is attached to an application

[honorable_judgename] Displays the judge name as it is written in the system with The Honorable [ex. Honorable John Doe]

[formatted_judgename] Displays the judge name as it is written in the system

[judge_fname] Displays the judge first name

[judge_lname] Displays the judge last name

[sao_name] Displays the SAO name as it is written in the system [ex. DC Circuit Staff Attorney Office]

[formatted_address] Displays the recipient judge or SAO address

[fname] Displays the applicant first name

[lname] Displays the applicant last name

[email] Displays the applicant email address

[law_school] Displays the applicant law school

[undergraduate_school] Displays the applicant undergraduate school

2.6.1.3 LSA Merge Codes

Table 6 provides a listing of the system merge codes available to LSAs for creating and sending emails to their applicants and recommenders.

Table 6: List of LSA Email Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date email is sent

[tab] Inserts an indentation

[username] Displays the recipient username

[password] Resets the recipient password and sends a temporary password for password resets.

Merge Codes for Applicant Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the recipient first and last name

[fname] Displays the recipient first name

[mi] Displays the recipient middle initial

[lname] Displays the recipient last name

[law_school] Displays the applicant law school

[street] Displays the applicant street from their mailing address

[city] Displays the applicant city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the applicant state from their mailing address

[zip] Displays the applicant zip code from their mailing address

[phone] Displays the applicant phone number

[email] Displays the applicant email address

Merge Codes for Recommender Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the recipient first and last name

[fname] Displays the recipient first name

[lname] Displays the recipient last name

2.6.1.4 Judge Merge Codes

Table 7 provides a listing of the system merge codes available to judges for creating and sending emails to their applicants and LSAs.

Table 7: List of Judge Email Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date email is sent

[tab] Inserts an indentation

Merge Codes for Applicant Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the applicant first and last name

[fname] Displays the applicant first name

[mi] Displays the applicant middle initial

[lname] Displays the applicant last name

[law_school] Displays the applicant law school name

[street] Displays the applicant street from their mailing address

[city] Displays the applicant city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the applicant state from their mailing address

[zip] Displays the applicant zip code from their mailing address

[phone] Displays the applicant contact phone number

[email] Displays the applicant email address

Merge Codes for Law School Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[school] Displays the law school name

[name] Displays the law school career services office name

[poc] Displays the law school designated point of contact name

[website] Displays the law school website

[city] Displays the law school city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the law school state from their mailing address

2.6.1.5 SAO Merge Codes

Table 8 provides the list of system merge codes available to SAO staff for creating and sending emails to applicants and LSAs.

Table 8: List of SAO Email Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date email is sent

[tab] Inserts an indentation

Merge Codes for Applicant Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the applicant first and last name

[fname] Displays the applicant first name

[mi] Displays the applicant middle initial

[lname] Displays the applicant last name

[law_school] Displays the applicant law school name

[street] Displays the applicant street from their mailing address

[city] Displays the applicant city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the applicant state from their mailing address

[zip] Displays the applicant zip code from their mailing address

[phone] Displays the applicant contact phone number

[email] Displays the applicant email address

Merge Codes for Law School Email Template

Merge Code Definition

[school] Displays the law school name

[name] Displays the law school career services office name

[poc] Displays the law school designated point of contact name

[website] Displays the law school website

[city] Displays the law school city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the law school state from their mailing address

2.6.1.6 CUA Merge Codes

Table 9 provides the list of system merge codes available to CUAs for creating emails and sending emails to judges and SAO staff.

Table 9: List of CUA Email Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date email is sent

[tab] Inserts an indentation

[username] Displays the recipient username

[password] Resets the recipient password and sends a temporary password for password resets

[system_url] Displays the system’s external web address

Merge Codes for Judge Email

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the judge first and last name

[fname] Displays the judge first name

[mi] Displays the judge middle initial

[lname] Displays the judge last name

[location] Displays the judge city and state

[court] Displays the judge court

[email] Displays the judge primary email address

[law_school] Displays the applicant law school name

Merge Codes for SAO Staff Email

Merge Code Definition

[fname] Displays the SAO staff first name

[lname] Displays the SAO staff last name

[office] Displays the name of the SAO staff office

[email] Displays the SAO staff email address

2.6.1.7 System Administrator Merge Codes

Table 10 provides a listing of the system merge codes available to OSCAR system administrators for creating and sending emails to the various user groups.

Table 10: List of System Administrator Email Merge Codes

Merge Code Definition

[date] Displays the date email is sent

[tab] Inserts an indentation

[username] Displays the recipient username

[password] Resets the recipient password and sends a temporary password for password resets.

[system_url] Displays the system’s external web address.

Merge Codes for Recipient Email

Merge Code Definition

[fullname] Displays the recipient first and last name

[fname] Displays the recipient first name

[mi] Displays the recipient middle initial

[lname] Displays the recipient last name

[law_school] Displays the recipient law school name

[street] Displays the recipient street from their mailing address

[city] Displays the recipient city from their mailing address

[state] Displays the recipient state from their mailing address

[zip] Displays the recipient zip code from their mailing address

[phone] Displays the recipient primary contact phone number

[email] Displays the recipient primary email address

2.7 Class Rank

The system shall accommodate the following class rank criteria for law schools to certify their class ranking system and applicants to identify as part of their account registration and profile:

Does Not Rank: If a school does not rank its students, the LSA shall select “Does Not Rank” for the class rank certification. For applicants who select a law school that does not rank, the system shall only display the option of “School Does Not Rank” as part of the applicant profile under the class rank field. To ensure equitable treatment of applicants from schools that do not rank, OSCAR shall be configured so that a judge’s applicant search on any percentage class ranking shall also include all applicants from those schools that do not rank.

The system shall identify those applicants in a search result listing “School does not rank” in the class rank column of the applicant list.

Rank: If a school ranks it students, the LSA shall select "Ranks” for the class rank certification. For applicants from a school that ranks, OSCAR shall require those applicants to select their class rank from a drop-down menu that includes the selections for 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 33%, 50%, Below 50%," and “I am not ranked option. They will not have the option to select "School does not rank." OSCAR shall be configured so that a judge’s applicant search on any of the class rank percentage selections shall return all applicants that meet that class ranking percentage or less. For example, when a judge searches on 10%, the system shall return all applicants that identified their class rank as 10%, 5%, and Does Not Rank and list their ranking in the class rank column.

Partial Rank: If a school has a partial ranking system (e.g., school only provides rankings to the top one third of its students), LSAs shall select "Partial Rank” for the class rank certification. Applicants from schools that partially rank will have the option of selecting their class rank percentage (e.g., 5% through Below 50%) or "I am Not Ranked." Ranked applicants from schools that partially rank will be returned with a search on a percentage ranking; unranked students will not (although they will show in other searches, e.g., by law school). Unranked students from those schools will be identified in a search result by the words "Student is not ranked" in the class rank column.

For applicants who identified their law school as “Other,” these applicants shall have access to all the ranking options in OSCAR.

2.8 OSCAR Home Page

The system shall have a home page that is available to any visitor to the website without a login/password. This page shall serve as a login portal and a general informational resource for the OSCAR program. The home page shall include the following:

A prominent and intuitive login feature.

An automatic means to generate a new password for users who have forgotten their information. This feature shall require the user to enter their username and answer the three security questions completed during initial registration. The user shall then be allowed to enter a new password for their account.

An automatic means to recover the username of an account holder upon supplying the email address used to register with the system.

An automatic and easily accessible registration method for applicants. The applicant registration method shall capture basic information (see Section 2.5.1) and shall be designed to facilitate uniform searching and sorting (e.g., pull-down menus). This information shall be used in generation of an applicant profile viewable by judges and staff attorneys. Applicants shall be required to verify the data entered.

An easily accessibly registration method for judges using an online form to capture name, email address, type of OSCAR user, subject (e.g., Judge Account Request), and additional information. Judge registration shall not be an automatic function. It shall require the government to verify judge information and manually create an account.

Access to OSCAR-related informational resources created and curated by the government to include, but not be limited to, the following:

o General information about clerkship and staff attorney employment, frequently asked questions (FAQs), a privacy statement, and online help.

o Relevant news and blog postings for the general OSCAR audience.

o Access to an Unsubscribe page that allows users to elect to stop receiving OSCAR email notifications.

An easily accessible method to unsubscribe from OSCAR email notifications regarding new clerkships and staff attorney positions (see Section 3.7).

2.9 Online Help System

The system shall provide an online help system that can be customized by the OSCAR system administrators.

The system shall provide a means of managing help contents for all user interfaces from a single location. Help topics shall be presented in a sortable list, and the OSCAR system administrator shall have the ability to view help topics by user interface and by sub-section.

The OSCAR system administrator shall be able to create/delete help contents. For this purpose, the system shall have a fully-featured text editor for the online help system (see Section 2.9.1).

The online help system shall allow the OSCAR system administrator to organize online help content by user interface, navigational areas (tabs), and sub-navigation areas (sub-tabs).

The online help system shall allow the OSCAR system administrator to control the order in which help entries are displayed.

The online help system should provide a means to quickly link to other topics within the help system and shall allow linking to specific help entries from outside the online help module.

Online help shall be accessible from all screens on all user interfaces.

Users shall be able to search online help entries by topic, index, and performing keyword searches.

Users shall be able to easily print and/or save online help entries for future reference.

Online Help System’s Online Editor 2.9.1

The OSCAR system administrator shall have a fully-featured text editor for the online help system with the following characteristics:

Allow copying and pasting from a word processor document (e.g., Word, Word Perfect).

Provide the following formatting options:

o Font: Bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, font style, font family, font size, font color, and select background color.

o Formatting: Left justified, centered, right justified, block margins, bulleted list, numbered list, increase indent, decrease indent, insert horizontal line, and clear formatting.

o Tools: Undo, redo, cut, copy, paste plain text, search, search and replace, spell check, insert/edit link, unlink, insert/edit anchor, insert/edit image, view HTML, and insert table. (Note: When a table is inserted, the following tools become available: table row properties, table cell properties, insert row before, insert row after, delete row, insert column before, insert column after, delete column, split merged tables, and merge table cells.)

The online help system shall support the inclusion of graphics in online help entries and shall allow the execution of JavaScript to create dynamic content.

2.10 Integrated Content Management System (CMS)

The system shall provide an integrated CMS that allows the following functionality:

Access and control of web content throughout the OSCAR website.

Ability to promote new content on OSCAR home pages (to include the welcome page and each of the user interface’s home pages).

Full navigation/menu control and editing.

Posting of individual blogs that can be designated per user interface including an RSS feed for each individual blog and maintenance of a moderated comments section.

Video posting and display/playback capability that is HTML5 compatible and is iOS-friendly.

Fine-grained visibility control for all online content.

Control of components such as news feeds, alerts, blogs, etc.

Quick and easy updating (and front-end display) of PDFs, Word, and WordPerfect format documents.

A best of breed WYSIWYG editor, such as FCKEditor, shall be…