HDR Systems Improvements Project – Update #1


Dear Colleagues and Candidates

The 2017 HDR Systems and Business Process Improvement project aims to make improvements to useability of igrad, Student Management (SM) and Studylink and to improve HDR administrative processes for academic staff, candidates and graduate research administration staff.

The project is overseen by a Project Board, chaired by Professor Clive Baldock, and has ADDR, IT, ORS, and Student Systems and Business Improvement (SSBI) team representation. The work is carried out by a Project Working Group that has GRC/supervisor, GRO/GRAO, HDR policy, Systems and Research Performance and Analysis (RPA) team representation. The project is managed by a Project Manager.

There are currently three major streams of work to the project that the team is progressing:
• Stream 1: continuous improvements to igrad, SM and studylink functionality
• Stream 2: improved EOI and application process for HDR applicants
• Stream 3: improved integration between systems for HDR reporting

We are pleased to announce the first six igrad systems improvements have been completed and will have direct positive impacts on academics, candidates and graduate research staff in their use of igrad.

Title of Improvement HDR area of improvement Group to benefit Benefit
ADDR access to candidate records Candidature management ADDR ADDRs now have igrad access to view all candidates in their Faculty/Institute. This will allow them to better track overdue igrad action items and to be able to follow-up and manage candidature matters that are brought to their attention in their role as ADDR.
List school names for HoS Candidature management HoS The list of Schools associated with an individual Head of School will now appear after clicking “View Candidates”.  Selecting a School from the list will show all current candidates enrolled in that School.
Supervisor % splits displayed on candidate records Candidature management ADDR, GRC, HoS, PVCRD, supervisors, GRO/GRAO For each candidate record in igrad, the % supervisor split is now displayed. This allows supervisors, GRCs, HoS, ADDRs, graduate research staff and the PVCRD to clearly and easily see the % allocation each supervisor is contributing to the supervision of a candidate. This will assist in determining supervisory capacity and in managing supervisor responsibilities.
Candidature Expiry Warning emails Candidature management Candidates and supervisors Towards the end of candidature and when a thesis is due (4 years for a PhD), candidates used to receive automated igrad reminders that their candidature was due to expire. These reminders were poorly worded at a stressful time for the candidate. We regularly received complaints by candidates and supervisors about the wording of these reminders. The title of the reminder has now been changed to ‘Thesis Due Date’ rather than ‘Candidature Expiry Warning’, the text has been softened (while still delivering the reminder message) and additional guidance/instructions have been provided in the text.
Corrected thesis due date Examinations Candidates, supervisors, HoS The date that thesis corrections are due in the examination process, is now visible in the candidates igrad record for the candidate, supervisors and HoS.  In addition, this date is visible in the Examination Overview, Thesis Management and the Examination Report igrad sections used by graduate research staff. This will improve timeliness of thesis corrections and final thesis approval.
Amended Due date Examinations GRO/GRAO In examinations, the graduate research staff need to enter the date the revised (corrected) thesis is due and when this was entered, it used to override the original thesis due date. This made tracking of thesis examinations difficult. This has now been amended so that the staff can enter both dates.

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