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Explore helps universities seamlessly manage transfer credits from courses and certifications students have completed at other institutions. With Explore, you can establish course equivalencies by institution, manage articulation rules, and streamline the workflow for reviewing and approving student-submitted transcripts.
To implement Explore, you need to first implement Stellic with your institution's data. This includes the following:
Student Information System (SIS) - Integration with existing student records
Course Catalog - Real-time access to current course offerings and requirements
Stellic can perform an initial import of equivalency rules and institution definitions using feed files. Important: This is a one-time import process, not an ongoing sync. The import is designed exclusively for initial onboarding and will delete all existing rules each time a file is reloaded.
After the initial setup is complete, partners must use the Stellic interface for all ongoing maintenance and updates. Partners can also choose to skip the initial import entirely and build their equivalency rules directly through the interface.
See the Explore Integration Guide to get started.
After integrating your data with Stellic, you can add transfer institutions, create equivalencies, and establish transfer policies. You can also set up user access controls and permission structures. This creates a streamlined workflow for advisors to review incoming transfer course submissions, determine if they match existing equivalencies for credit approval, or identify when new equivalency rules or institutions need to be added to your catalog.
Manage Policies
Stellic's transfer credit management operates through a hierarchical policy system that ensures consistency while allowing for institutional flexibility. At the foundation level, you can establish institution-wide defaults that automatically apply to all transfer evaluations. These baseline policies can then be refined with source institution-specific overrides when needed. This layered approach streamlines the evaluation process while accommodating the unique requirements of different academic institutions and credit systems.
Institution-wide policies
These foundational settings create consistent baselines across all transfer evaluations and can be overridden by source institution-specific rules when needed.
Maximum Transfer Credits This policy sets the upper limit for how many transfer credits a student can bring into the institution. When students exceed this threshold, the system generates warnings for both academic staff and students, but doesn't automatically reject credits. Instead, staff members must manually review and decide which specific courses to eliminate, ensuring human oversight for these critical decisions that could impact degree completion.
Default Grade Mapping This handles the conversion of letter grades from transfer institutions to your institution's grading scale. While it easily manages standard A-F conversions, it becomes particularly valuable for handling unusual grades like incompletes, withdrawals, or non-standard markings that often require institution-specific interpretation rules. This ensures consistent grade translation across all transfer evaluations.
Split Credit Policies One of the most complex aspects of transfer evaluation occurs when credit values don't align between institutions. This policy defines how to handle these mismatches in three scenarios:
When the source course has fewer credits than your target course, you can choose to award credits based on either the source amount or your target amount
When the source course has more credits than needed, you can drop the excess credits, route them to a designated catch-all course (like "General Elective 999"), or use department-specific mapping rules
These policies are critical for maintaining accurate degree audits and ensuring students receive appropriate credit recognition
Source Institution-Specific Policies
These targeted overrides address the unique characteristics of individual transfer institutions and take precedence over your institutional defaults.
Credit Multiplier The most critical setting in the entire system, this converts credits between different academic calendar systems. Quarter-to-semester conversions typically use a 0.66667 multiplier, while semester-to-quarter conversions use 1.33333. This multiplier affects every credit calculation for that institution, making accuracy essential. Importantly, changing this setting after implementation invalidates all existing equivalency rules for that institution, requiring a complete review of established transfer pathways.
Grade Mappings Institution-specific grade conversions that override your default mappings. This accommodates schools with unique grading systems, such as those using A+ grades, numeric scales (like 0-100), or specialized pass/fail systems. These mappings ensure accurate GPA calculations and transcript representation regardless of the source institution's grading approach.
Recency Requirements This policy defines how far back in time transfer credits remain valid for degree application. Some institutions may accept credits from decades ago, while others require courses to be completed within the last 5-10 years. This setting helps maintain academic currency while respecting different institutional philosophies about knowledge retention and field evolution.
Update Policies
Navigate to your institution's Stellic login page and sign in with your credentials.
From the left navigation panel, click Transfer
From the Transfer page, select the Policies tab
Click Edit Policies
From the edit view, you can update the following:
Maximum transfer credits allowed - this is a single numeral
Default grade range: update the minimum and the maximum
Default credit range: update the minimum and the maximum
Default grade mapping: add as many grade mapping rules you require
Split credit policy: manage credit transfer differences
To add more transfer subjects, click Add more subjects
From the new field box, select your target subject
Enter the matching course code
Click Submit to update all policy changes
Creating a New Institution
Follow these steps to add a new source institution for students transferring from this school.
Basic Institution Information
Navigate to your institution's Stellic login page and sign in with your credentials.
From the left navigation panel, click Transfer
From the Transfer page, select the Institutions tab
Click Create new
Enter the institution name in the Institution Name field, use the official name as it appears on transcripts
Add the institution alias in the Alias field
Enter the IPEDS code in the IPEDS field
Add the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) code in the CEEB field
Enter the External ID (optional) - this can be any internal tracking number your system uses
Add the institution website in the Website field. Include the full URL to the institution's homepage
Add campus locations by clicking + Add another campus
Include all relevant campus locations for this institution
Enter additional notes in the Notes (optional) field
Credit Configuration
Credit Multiplier
Set the credit multiplier
Select how credits from this institution convert (e.g., Credits, Units, etc.)
Choose the appropriate multiplier value
Institution Version Dates
Configure version dates
Set the Begins in the past date to establish when this institution configuration starts
Set Deadlines in the future date to specify when this configuration expires
Course Duration
Set course duration limits
Enter the maximum number of years courses from this institution remain valid for transfer
Grade Mapping
Configure grade mapping
Select or create the appropriate grade mapping system for this institution
Credit Ranges
Set default grade range
Choose the minimum and maximum grade values
Select the appropriate grade scale (e.g., Select min grade and Select max grade)
Set default credit range
Choose the minimum and maximum credit values
Select the appropriate credit units (e.g., Select min units and Select max units)
Default Tags
Configure default student tags
Click Enter student tags to add tags automatically applied to students from this institution
Configure default enrollment tags
Click Enter enrollment tags to add tags for enrollment tracking
Configure default course attributes
Click Enter course attributes to add default attributes for courses from this institution
Save the institution by clicking Create in the top right of the screen
Review all information before saving
The new institution will be available for transfer credit processing