#1
Class Scheduling & Academic Administration
Services on myUNSW
Online Class and Enrolment Management as a
Prototype of Web-based Services for Academic and
General Staff
UNSW Student Services Department Meeting
27 February 2006
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UNSW
Student
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Services
#2
Objectives

An Overview of a “Prototype” for Web / Services
Delivery for staff at UNSW

To introduce UNSW Student Services staff to some
of the Academic Administration focussed
development activities in NS Student and
myUNSW

To pose the questions:


What can portal technologies do for us?

What are the broader impacts on the student
experience?

What are the broader impacts on the staff
experience – on the ways we work?
What do we want our services to look like in an
online, self-service portalised world?
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#3
Several assumptions …


Web-based self-service model will prevail

“Services” used in both a technical and business
sense

Business services will include transactional and
informational services


… and probably some others that don’t yet exist
Portals will be “aggregation points” for services
Web-services will be characterised by:

Service Oriented Architecture technology
infrastructure

Single sign-on and identity management across
systems


Integration, customisation, personalisation
Workflow and rules [eg wizards]
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#4
Several assumptions …

The majority of users of core business applications
use a small number of processes / services
[90/10 rule]


Reflect this in design and delivery of services
Users of these services will have:

Multiple roles [applicant, student, lecturer,
researcher, financial manager]

Expectation that services will be available anywhere,
anytime; intuitive; easy to learn and use; relevant to
their needs; flexible

High information re-use
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What is myUNSW?
#5
Online services
for students
and staff
Web
‘Apps’
Contentmanaged
information
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What is myUNSW?
#6
Role based service tabs
Student Admin
system content
Role based
links to
related
information
and services
News &
Announcements
Common
links
Online
Handbook
integration
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#7
What is myUNSW?
Workflow
& rules
driven
process
stages
Integrated
page
level help
Detailed
explanations
Guide students
and staff
Complex processes
are supported by…
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#8
What is myUNSW?
Information & services based
on who you are: what you
are studying; your job
UNSW role
Combinations
of all of these –
Role,
Program,
Residency,
Career,
Faculty,
Campus
Student
Administration
System
elements
Academic
Career
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#9
UNSW History


2004 – myUNSW Portal - Students

Campus Solutions, Sun One portal, J2EE, XML, rules
engines, etc [ie a kind of SOA]


Online applications and acceptances
Online enrolment and ‘active’ student services
2005 – my UNSW Portal – Staff



Student: ‘Service Centre’ enquiries for staff
Student: Online Class Scheduling and Management
HR: Employee Self-service, Online Leave processing.
Paid Outside Work
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#10
Web Services Prototype 1 – Services Centre

Tab within myUNSW
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#11
Web Services Prototype 1 – Services Centre

360 degree, er, 270 degree view of one or more students
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#12
Academic Admin Services access

Staff require a myUNSW role in order to access the
Academic Admin tab. There are three myUNSW
roles:

Advisor: provides access to Academic
statements, Class Schedule (view student’s
timetable), Course/grade history (past
enrolments and grades by term), Enrolment
summary, Holds/To Do

Service Centre: provides access to students’
Current address, current email/phone, enrolment
summary, Holds/To Do

Instructor: for academic staff. Provides access to
personal teaching schedule as well as
course/class rosters for classes they teach (if
recorded as instructor against relevant classes in
Schedule of Classes)
 [Enhanced for Class Management]
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Web Services Prototype 2 – Course / Class
Management

#13
Context for changes to course and class
management at UNSW

Preparation for Centralised Timetabling [Syllabus+
Course planner]

Increasing need for completeness of processes and
data (Student self-service enrolment, University wide
timetable, WebCT-Vista requirements)

Increasing need for accuracy and forward planning
(HESA legislative course publishing requirements,
including Administrative Guidelines; Ministerial
Determinations)

Annual or sessional nature of many academic
administration processes creates operational difficulties

Course Catalogue and Class Scheduling: practices not
uniform; devolved processes [School]; complex set of
panels with high redundancy; difficult to train and
support staff [re-education annually]
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#14
myUNSW and Online Class Management
A Fundamental shift:

Previously staff interacted with the myUNSW Staff Portal
Academic Admin functions in an enquire-only mode.
The new class management service uses myUNSW as an
update facility for a core academic administration
function.

Provides better support for new staff and irregular users
– simplified and unified service.

Workflow based process logic with irrelevant fields
hidden, providing integrated page level Online Help,
better validation and including useful features such as
colour coded ‘alerts’.

myUNSW also provides easy access to online
resources such as policies, procedures, ‘publications’,
and online statistical data

Publications include: Online Handbook, Online Class
Timetable, and online Class Utilisation report
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#15
A series of myUNSW releases …

‘Class Scheduling’ release (October 2005):

Allows set up of class structures for enrolment
readiness and for publication so that students may
forward plan for enrolment.

Multiple, sequenced pages for detailed entry/update
of all fields

Single page summary of status, capacities and
enrolments for all classes in a course, with the ability
to change status and capacities for any or all. Enables
efficient monitoring of demand in real time, and
management of quotas.
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#16
Class Scheduling – October 2005 Release

Workflow Logic
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#17
Class Scheduling – October 2005 Release
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#18
Enrolment Management Release (December 2005)

Includes facilities to:

Close a class – including system-generated notification
to students that they must select another [probably
1st, 2nd and final warning].

Move Students – all or some students in one class
moved to another class within the same course and
activity – allows better support for balancing and
rationalising classes where necessary.

Message Students – auto generate emails (text only)
to students within a class.
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Course Catalogue and Scheduling Requirements
Releases (2006)

#19
Includes facilities to:



Maintain course catalogue within myUNSW.

Specify planned meeting schedule on week-to-week
rather than term / session date basis to allow for
variations within a session
Prepare for future terms (activity group structure).
Collect additional data required for centralised
timetabling e.g. anticipated enrolments, room
requirements, eLearning needs etc.
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#20
Towards University-wide timetabling …

myUNSW will be tightly coupled to Syllabus-Plus for
University wide timetabling.

Only a core set of central users will interact directly
with Syllabus-Plus Course Planner.

School/faculty interaction will occur via the myUNSW
interface including
 Ongoing requests for new classes,
 Closing classes and return of booked rooms,
 Changed requirements etc.
 Reports

End Goal – all school-based activity for managing courses
and classes, including timetabling management, will be
filtered through myUNSW [portal]

Staff shouldn’t need to use Campus Solutions in ClientServer or Course Planner
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#21
Early signs are good

Through parallel ‘business changes’ activities
we’ve persuaded all faculties to conduct
activity ‘class’ level enrolments through
Campus Solutions




Administrative staff in Schools are enthusiastic

Many students able to establish final timetable
months earlier than when local systems were
used
Local systems discontinued – eg TAS in FCE
> 90% of all classes on CS for 2006
Class information needs entered by staff after
timetabling [separate process for 2006]
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#22
What We Can’t Solve by Web Self-Service Alone

Academic Staff Anxieties



Complex, many factors at play

… Challenges for supporting Academic
Administration at UNSW
Industrial tensions
Academic Workload Policy [implementation
devolved to Schools]
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#23
Enquiries
Student Systems & Business Solutions

Robert Morrell, Manager
r.morrell@unsw.edu.au ext. 58757
Scheduling and Academic Requirements Unit

Sarah Thomson, Head
s.thomson@unsw.edu.au ext. 58757
myUNSW

Emily Middleton, myUNSW Administrator
e.middleton@unsw.edu.au ext. 58757

Acknowledgement: Presentation draws in part on material
from earlier presentations developed by Daniel Steel,
Adam Goc, Sarah Thomson and Geoff Whale.
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