Student Systems eVision FAQs

Where a staff member has a different affiliation permissions for the college are marked in red and/or an exclamation mark.

The user can check their own permission status in eVision or you can check it as the IC. The permission may not immediately be visible to the user because the permission requires secondary sign-off or training needs to be completed. The user will receive an invitation to training where appropriate or available courses can be checked on the Training Courses page.

You have chosen a responsibility that requires ‘secondary sign-off’ and also requires a reason for the access being requested (e.g. ‘disability info- read only’ access). You should enter a justification for why the person requires this access which should expedite the sign-off process. 

GSO forms are moving online, and Hilary term 2020 will see the launch of the first ten On-Course Applications in eVision.  Students will access the forms via Student Self Service, with links also provided from the GSO forms website. The online applications will replace paper-based Graduate (GSO) forms and will use a new digitised approval / workflow process. 

The new process will be more user-friendly and students will be able to submit their applications and check on progress via Student Self Service, from any location with internet access.  It will also provide a more secure way for academic staff to record decisions and for administrative staff to track the progress of all on-course applications relevant to them, because all applications will be stored in one place.  
These changes should mean that fewer applications will need to be referred back to the student because the system will:

• Pre-populate some data (e.g. student name, number and college) 
• Validate data entered by the student, where possible
• Ensure that information is added to mandatory fields before the application is submitted 

• Student begins the application
• Supervisor reviews the application (except the of GSO.29 Notification of Withdrawal) and if applicable the student’s other supervisors will have read access to their application. In certain Divisions, where a student is co-supervised, a Lead Supervisor will be identified by the student’s department to review the application, in others, the student will select the relevant supervisor from a dropdown list
• College team reviews the application, except for GSO.3 / GSO.27, Appointment of Examiners (the college will be alerted when the student submits this application so any medical information can be communicated to the examiners via the Proctors, and a notification will be sent when a decision is reached on the application) and GSO.3c, Dispensation from Consultation of Thesis
• A Departmental Reviewer reviews the application, and makes a decision based on all feedback
• Graduate Administrators can action applications as authorised by the Departmental Reviewer and reassign applications for review (e.g. when a supervisor is on leave)
• Super Users [GSAs] have the same access as the Graduate Administrator but in addition will: 
  • Manage items that require Education Committee or Proctors approval (a process that will continue to take place outside of eVision)
  • Update eVision with the decision where relevant
  • Send emails advising the student of the outcome
  • In the case of Medical Sciences, assign applications to a Divisional Board member for review 
• A small number of academic staff in Medical Sciences only will have access to a Board Approval tab.

Details of the features that each role will have access to within eVision or Student Self Service can be found on the On Course Applications Notification Workflow document.

The first On-Course Applications will be launched at the start of the Hilary Term 2020.

A number of applications will be available at launch, which are below:

• GSO.2b: Defer Transfer of Status
• GSO.3: Appointment of examiners
• GSO.3c: Dispensation from consultation of the thesis
• GSO.4: Change of mode of study
• GSO.6: Change of title
• GSO.8: Dispensation from residence
• GSO.14b: Defer Confirmation of Status
• GSO.15: Extension of time
• GSO.27: Appointment of examiners - Law 
• GSO.29: Withdrawal

Why aren’t all applications being launched at the same time?

These applications provide an opportunity to trial the online process to ensure that it works well and meets the needs of end-users, whilst also providing useful insight into what can be improved and enhanced. Feedback will be sought from students and staff before plans are finalised and additional forms moved online. A number of policy changes are planned, and once approved by the Education Committee, more informed decisions can be made. Also further funding will need to be sought so the remaining forms can be moved across to on-course applications.

Students, academics and administrative staff will access on-course applications using an updated web link on the Graduate (GSO) forms webpage, or in the My Student Record section of Student Self Service for students, or in the Student Record section of eVision for staff.

The relevant academic and administrative staff will be updated by email in advance of the changes, and students will also receive information. Automated email notifications and reminders will point students and staff to Student Self Service / eVision.

Details of the Project Board and Working Group membership are available on the project governance webpage, and numerous user groups - involving representatives from departments, divisions and colleges, have taken place.

Yes. Records are University records not departmental records.

They will have to make a paper-based application. A paper-based version of the relevant form will remain available on the GSO forms website, for example, form GSO3c Dispensation from consultation of the thesis, for leavers who no longer have single sign-on access.

Yes and it will be pre-populated in all applications .

The notification emails sent as part of the OCA workflow are no-reply emails. After replying to a notification email, the student will be notified that the email was not delivered.

The dispensation from statutory residence form should be used by full-time students only. This form is not applicable to part-time students.

Emails might go into a student’s spam folder. Students should check their Junk Inbox and add the 'no-reply' address to the 'safe list'. If you continue to experience problems, please contact the IT Service Desk.

Email notifications will be sent to all the people have been set up as reviewers.

The graduate administrator/super user can override the lead supervisor (if specified). The student dashboard also shows contact details for those people the student can contact for help.

Only one supervisor can formally review an application, but co-supervisors will have read-only access and should discuss applications with the supervisory team offline.

A supervisor with read-only access to an application is not part of the review process but they will be able to view the application when submitted. They will receive an automated notification containing a link to eVision. If a read-only supervisor has something to contribute to the application, they should contact the supervisory team outside the system.

Yes, along with a Departmental Reviewer or super user.

Yes, additional information can be uploaded by the student, and those with access will be:

a) Each of the student’s current supervisors

b) College reviewers (typically the Senior Tutor, Tutor for Graduates and college administrators)

c) Department Reviewers (typically the DGS or equivalent)

d) Graduate Administrators

e) For Medical Sciences only, appropriate Board members

f) If applicable, Education Policy Support or the Proctors’ Office

It will be possible to submit the application in the term following the relevant milestone deadline. If a later application is required the student should contact their graduate administrator in the first instance.

Where students have moved from full-time to part-time study, or vice versa, deadlines for milestones and maximum submission may need to be updated manually by a super user, as the system will not be able to calculate the correct pro rata dates. 

The Department Reviewer – as the final approver - makes the final decision, and will need to consider input from various people in the review process as the application continues through the whole review process.

• For requests falling outside the regulations – and so needing dispensation (see the regulations for details) - the arbiter is the Education Committee
  • For restriction of access at viva, the arbiter is the Proctors, though this is a sub-application of the main Appointment of Examiners application
• For MSD, in all other cases, the arbiter is the MSD Board.
• For the other divisions, in all other cases, the arbiter is the Department Reviewer.

The ‘Withdrawal’ date actually refers to the student’s last day of attendance.

Yes, a printable PDF will be available which includes actions taken within the workflow to that point.

When a Super User or System Administrator is in the Email Preview, there is a ‘Download application’ link at the top so they can view or check the application details without having to close the email preview.  

Department Reviewers can amend examiner details before approving an Application for Appointment of Examiners – however, if they do not support an application for a time-specific viva or a restricted access viva, they should refer the application back to the student with reasons, rather than rejecting the application. 

If a department Graduate Administrator or Super User is receiving too many automated emails they should ask their system administrator to turn off their e-mail notifications. 

Department Reviewer rankings are primarily set-up at the specialism level or departmental levels, although a small number will be set up at the individual student level, these are predominantly in the Medical Sciences Division. 
System administrators have the functionality to update Department Reviewers and it is possible to assign a Department Reviewer at the student, specialism, programme or departmental level.
In terms of prioritisation, the system will work on a hierarchical scheme based on both the level of granularity (i.e. student – department) and ranking (i.e. 1-3) and as shown in the following table:

When updating a Department Reviewer, it is important to check the existing reviewers to ensure the new reviewer has the correct prioritisation. For example, if a new DGS is appointed who is responsible for the whole department, whilst it will be quickest to enter them at Department level rank 1, any reviewer at the level of student, specialism or programme would still have a higher priority, and for the DGS to be prioritised they must be set up at the same level with a higher rank.  

Example:

Dr Smith is the DGS for Polar Studies, Dr Pond is Head of Department, and Dr Jones and Prof Ali are the Course Directors.

Following the initial set-up the prioritisation would be:
MSc Arctic Studies: Dr Smith Specialism 1, Dr Jones Specialism 2, Dr Pond Specialism 3
MSc Antarctic Studies: Dr Smith Specialism 1, Prof Ali Specialism 2, Dr Pond Specialism 3

If the DGS changes from Dr Smith to Prof Begg, the quickest way to enter this would be to delete Dr Smith for each specialism (at which point the system will give the option to re-rank the other reviewers at the specialism level) and then set Prof Begg as Department rank 1. 

However, this would yield the following prioritisation:
MSc Arctic Studies: Dr Jones Specialism 1, Dr Pond Specialism 2, Prof Begg Dept 1
MSc Antarctic Studies: Prof Ali Specialism 1, Dr Pond Specialism 2, Prof Begg Dept 1

For the prioritisation to work therefore, the reviewers must be ordered first by level of granularity and second by ranking. It is not possible therefore to set up an individual with Dept level access to have first priority, if one of the other two reviewers will be set up at lower granularity i.e. you cannot set a DGS at department level if you want to have Course Directors as second or third priority where their relationship is with the programme or specialism. 

It would be possible however to use the department level if all three reviewers are using that level of access. 

Student level access will always be first priority, over any other relationship, and will supersede specialism, programme and department relationships.