Teresa Charlton, Alice Gould

1. Teresa Charlton, Alice Gould Online Deferred Examination Requests

2. Introductions Teresa Charlton Manager, Student Administration Alice Gould Business Analyst - Student Functional Group

3. Agenda • Background • Issues addressed through online form functionality • Changes to business processes • Amendments to Rules, Policies and Procedures • Mid-Semester vs End of Semester Processes • Demonstration of the online student process for applying for a Deferred Examination Request • Demonstration of the staff process for processing Deferred Examination Requests

4. Background • Online Forms Overview: • Approved by the Student Systems Reference Group June 2013 • Currently there are a significant number of hard copy forms requiring lodgment by students and manual processing by staff (50+ different forms in the Student Centre). • The Deferred Examination Request has been selected as the initial form to be developed online.

5. New myRequests tab in mySI-net: • As part of the strategic direction we are taking with Online forms we identified a need to create a centralised location for forms. • A new Tab called myRequests has been built and delivered to students and is currently in use. Several existing requests were moved to this location. These are: • Program Change Request • Undergraduate Diploma Request • Supplementary Request • And now Deferred Examinations Request.

6. Issues addressed through online form functionality –deferred examinations • The current Deferred Examination Application and approval process is highly manual. • 4,000+ end of semester requests and no data available on the volume of Mid-Semester requests. • The internal process of recording of decisions for examinations held during the semester may vary between Schools. Approvals of mid-semester examinations are also not recorded in SI-net. • For late applications for end of semester examinations, emails are manually sent to students to advise the application cannot be considered due to it being late. • The development of this project will reduce the amount of manual processing performed across the university.

7. Changes to Business Processes • No hard copy applications from start of semester 2 2014 • Non-original supporting documentation accepted • Verification of original documentation – random selection of approved requests (verification centrally administered) • Email communication to students once request actioned (ie approved or denied) • Request Status and Decision viewable in mySI-net (no separate email to student when application denied) • For approved end of semester deferred examinations, SP and transcript note entered on students’ records (no separate manual entry process)

8. Amendments to Rules, Policy and Procedures • GAR 1A.14 – Deferred Examinations • PPL 3.10.11 Examinations – Procedures • - Amendments to Section 6.2 Applications • - submission via mySI-net • - authorisations on behalf of Executive • Dean or Head of School • - Amendments to Section 6.3 Awarding Deferred examinations • - scanned or copied image acceptable • - retain original supporting documents • for period of (6) months for verification • if requested • myAdvisor- Deferred examinations and how to • apply http://www.uq.edu.au/myadvisor/index.html?page=2995

9. Mid-Semester vs End of Semester Requests • Two separate forms – mid-semester and end of semester • different approving authorities • slight variances in design and functionality • Mid-semester applies to school-based examinations held during teaching weeks. They can be in-class or held on Saturdays, and may be for written exams, orals, labs, etc • End of semester applies to any examinations held during the University’s end of semester exam period, and includes both central and school-based exams.

10. Future Development- Worklists • Essentially Worklistis a page from which you can see the Items/Requests that are assigned to you or your team. • Items to action will be assigned based on your designated access. This also means that if you move roles/schools within the University this access will need to be updated. • Once implemented we will distribute instructions for its use. It will allow Examinations Section to redirect certain requests to faculty and alert staff when there is a new item to be assessed.

11. Online Deferred Examination Requests in Action • Demo • Understand the student process for applying. • Use the Deferred Examinations Requests search page. • Understand the Deferred Examinations Requests staff approval page (including automated features). • Approve and deny requests. • Check the student’s activity log.

12. Points to note • Requests ‘saved’ but not submitted will NOT be considered • Requests must be ‘submitted’ within the specified timeframe for it to be considered. • All requests ‘submitted’ must be actioned, ie approved or denied. • Mid-semester requests OPEN at start of semester. • End of semester requests OPEN around finalisation and publication of the examinations timetable. • Academic Registrar decides whether a LATE application may be considered (outside of SI-net). • Exception reports will identify changes in student exam attendance, eg. where student attends original examination following approval for deferral (managed centrally).

13. QUESTIONS ?