Stage 3 development of the Candidature Management System has now commenced, with workflow automation as a key item. Automation of workflows will speed up request approval and processing times and provide candidates and advisors with a more streamlined experience. In addition to this development work will address the email notifications sent via the system as well as reminders for outstanding tasks. In future updates, feedback will be sought on items in train for development later in the stage.
Quick links
Stage 3 work underway
Milestone requests
Both the Extension of Milestone and Attainment of Milestone request are the first processes that have been chosen for automation. Both requests will follow the workflow below:
Candidate -> Principal Advisor -> Postgraduate Coordinator -> Graduate School
In instances in which the PGC is on the candidate’s advisory team, the request will be redirected to the Graduate School following the Principal Advisor’s endorsement for manual assignment to the Head of School/Director.
To ensure accuracy of the requests being submitted, the request webform is being updated to pre-populate the request with the appropriate milestone for both attainment and extension. In the case of a request for extension, if candidates have already exhausted the available extensions for their next milestone they will be informed that they will need to contact the Graduate School to discuss their options.
In addition to this, automated reminders are being scheduled to be sent to candidates six weeks prior to the milestone due date. The reminders will inform the candidate that they have a milestone due date approaching and they need to ensure they are prepared for milestone attainment or discussing their options for an extension with their Principal Advisor.
Finally, some automation of Si-net updates on approved cases will be implemented, which will speed up processing at the Graduate School.
Stage 3 preparation
Other work is on the schedule for stage 3 such as automation for other requests, with Extension of Living Stipend Scholarship being the next process to be developed. In addition to this, work will include items from our backlog of feedback such as:
- updates to notification email templates to include more detail about the request as well as links to how-to guides.
- move the remaining online PDF requests to fully online
- advanced filtering and sorting for reports
- improved request tracking for candidates and staff.
If you have any suggestions, please send these to graduateschool@uq.edu.au.
