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Managing a Candidate’s Thesis

This section provides an overview of thesis management and discusses how to:

The Thesis Management component is the main administrative component that tracks the progress of the thesis and its evaluation. A single thesis record is part of the research candidate structure, and you can enter information after the research candidate has been created. The component interacts with the Evaluation Management feature to capture the evaluation status and any prize or honors recommendations.

See Understanding Evaluation Management

See Understanding Evaluation Management Setup

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Thesis Submission

SSR_RS_THESIS_MAIN

select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Thesis Submission

This is the main thesis management page, containing the general details of the thesis.

Thesis Management – Evaluation

SSR_RS_THESIS_FNL

select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Evaluation

After results are obtained, complete the details on this page and review any awards for the candidature.

Thesis Management – Comments

SSR_RS_THESIS_CMNT

select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Comments

Enter and review comments relating to the candidate’s thesis.

Thesis Management – Additional Information

SSR_RS_THESIS_CA

select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Additional Information

Enter and review Common Attribute fields associated with the candidate’s thesis. This page appears only if Common Attribute fields have been created using the Common Attribute Framework.

Thesis Management – Attachments

SSR_RS_THESIS_ATTCH

select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Attachments

View and add attachments associated with the thesis.

Access the Thesis Submission page (select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Thesis Submission).

Image: Thesis Submission page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Thesis Submission page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Thesis Submission page

This is the main thesis management page containing the general details of the thesis from the time the request for a Notice of Intention to Submit is issued through the submission of the thesis. The Thesis Management record is created when the system first recognizes the person as a research candidate. The thesis record structure is effective dated, so you must insert a new effective dated row in the component as data is modified. Central to this is the updating of the Thesis Status, which should explain the reason for the data modification.

Any user with access to the Thesis Management component can view or edit this page. Generally, however, update access is restricted to staff in the Research Office or Heads of Department (or similar level academic staff members).

Note: Because the thesis record becomes linked to the evaluation records created in the Evaluation Management System, validations have been placed to prevent deleting all related thesis data rows if an evaluation record has already been created.

Field or Control

Definition

Send Notifications icon

For information about the Send Notification button,

See Using Online Notifications

Thesis Submission Nbr (Thesis Submission Number)

A counter field that generally corresponds to a separate evaluation. The initial value is 1, and the value is generated by the system each time a new Submission row is inserted (as distinct from a new effective dated row), by clicking the Resubmit Thesis button. An example of use: The initial value of 1 is used to track the submission and evaluation of the thesis. The evaluation results in a request for the thesis to be modified and resubmitted for evaluation. The number is incremented by one to track the resubmission of the thesis and to create a new evaluation.

Principal Supervisor

The current supervisor nominated as being principally responsible for the candidature. This principal supervisor is the person identified in the Candidate Management, Supervisor page with the Principal Supervisor check box selected.

Thesis Title

Enter a thesis title. If you are using the Thesis Title field on the Research Topic page to develop the candidate's thesis title, that value is automatically copied if the field here is blank.

Transcript Level

Select the Transcript Level at which you want the Thesis Title information to be published.

Print on Transcript

Select this check box if you want to print the Thesis Title information on the transcript.

Note: It is possible to print multiple Thesis Titles from a single thesis record. The transcript process selects the most recent row for each unique thesis submission number where the transcript level is set and the Print on Transcript option is selected.

Thesis Status

This field works closely with the Effective Date and Effective Sequence fields to indicate the current stage of the candidate’s thesis.

The Status values are defined in the Research Status Code setup component. The available research status codes are those defined with the System Usage value equal to Thesis. This is a required field.

Note: This field has underlying PeopleCode that supports 3C Engine triggers that occur in real time or store in a trigger table for processing later. Essentially, communications can be triggered automatically based on assigning a specific status value.

Resubmit Thesis

Occasionally it is necessary for a candidate to completely rewrite a thesis after the first examination and resubmit it several months later, possibly with new examiners. This effectively restarts the thesis examination and grading process. Clicking the Resubmit Thesis button enables the processing of a resubmission by inserting a new row and resetting all fields to the correct values ready for a new Notice of Intention to Submit and the resubmission of the thesis.

Note: Inserting a new effective-dated row without using the Resubmit Thesis button carries forward all field values from the previous row; because the resubmission process is used infrequently, use the button instead and thus ensure that the correct values are set automatically.

If clicking the Resubmit Thesis button causes the maximum number of submissions to be exceeded (based on the maximum defined on the Research Processing Options page) a Warning message appears.

See Setting Up Research Tracking Options for Academic Programs

Candidate Management

Click this link to navigate to the Candidate Management component.

Submission

These fields relate to the Notice of Intent to Submit (NOITS) process which generally must be completed before the thesis can be evaluated.

Field or Control

Definition

Intent to Submit Approval

This field specifies whether the supervisor has approved the candidate’s intent to submit the thesis.

Intended Submission Date

This is the date when the candidate plans to submit the thesis in the NOITS (and when it has been approved by the supervisor). The Research Administrator manually enters this date.

Actual Submission Date

This field indicates when the thesis was actually delivered to the Research Administrator, ready to be examined.

Num of Copies Submitted (Number of Copies Submitted)

This field indicates the number of copies of the thesis submitted for examination.

Details Declared Correct

Select this check box to indicate that the candidate’s supervisor has declared that the details provided by the student in the NOITS are correct. The check box is deselected by default.

Ready for Completion Seminar

Select this check box to notify the Head of Department to schedule the seminar using the Events module. The check box is deselected by default.

Return of Thesis Requested

Select this check box to indicate that the candidate has requested the return of the thesis after examination. The check box is deselected by default.

Embargo

These fields relate to the treatment of the thesis and examiners once the evaluation process has been completed.

Field or Control

Definition

Embargo Type

The reason for the withholding the thesis from the public (Embargo). Select from: Intellectual Property, Ethical Considerations, National Security, and Unembargoed (default value).

Start Date and End Date

The start and end dates of the embargo period.

See Understanding Evaluation Management.

Access the Thesis Management – Evaluation page (select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Evaluation).

Image: Thesis Management – Evaluation page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Thesis Management – Evaluation page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Thesis Management – Evaluation page

After all the results required to determine the outcome of the candidature have been obtained, the appropriate prescribed authority completes the details on this page and records the award for the candidature. Generally, only members of a specific senior academic role should update this page, consistent with the role of Chair of Examiners, Dean, or similar.

Examination

Field or Control

Definition

Exam Initiated

Select this check box to indicate that the candidate has submitted the examination certificate. You can select this check box only if the Intent to Submit Required check box on the Research Processing Options page has been selected.

Exam Supervisor Approval

This field indicates whether the candidate’s supervisor has approved or rejected the examination certificate. If the Exam Certificate Required check box is selected on the Research Tracking Options page, you must enter a value in this field.

Certificate Final Approval

This field indicates whether the Head of Department (or perhaps the Dean or Chair of Examiners) has approved or rejected the examination certificate, which has been endorsed by the supervisor. If the Exam Certificate Required check box is selected on the Research Tracking Options page, you must enter a value in this field.

Certificate Approver

This field defaults to the current user. Because it is likely that the thesis data will be updated by an administrator or some other user on behalf of a professor or a dean, you can look up and select an approver from an available list.

See Setting Up Research Tracking Options for Academic Programs

See Setting Up Research Tracking Options for Academic Plans

Result

Field or Control

Definition

Evaluation Status

This display-only field from the Evaluation Management component shows the current value of the Evaluation Status field for the highest evaluation number row for the subject candidate number. This is the current overall status of the thesis evaluation.

Review Evaluations

Click this link to begin the evaluation process. When you click the link for the first time, you are prompted to create the candidate's evaluation records in the Manage Evaluation component, in which the actual evaluation detail takes place. The Evaluation Category and Evaluation Code parameters that have been defined for the candidate's academic program or academic plan are used to create the appropriate evaluation committee schemes and rating components. You can override these settings if a different evaluation makeup is necessary.

If an existing evaluation has previously been created for the candidate, the link takes you to the Manage Evaluation component to view this information.

Recommendation

This field is read-only and displays data from the Recommendation field in the Manage Evaluation component. This information is displayed only when the candidate’s evaluation code is equal to that specified in the Final Evaluation Result Code field; if no result code is shown, the evaluation process is not yet complete.

Recommended Prize

This read-only field shows the prize nominations (if any) for the candidate in the Manage Evaluations component.

Honors and Awards

More than one Honor or Award can be associated with the final result. They are displayed in this table.

Honors/Awards

Click this link to access the Honors and Awards Table (Set Up SACR, Product Related, Campus Community, Define Campus Community, Setup, Honors and Awards Table). The Prescribed Authority reviews the prize nominations and identifies the prize awarded to the candidate here (usually following a determination by the relevant committee).

Degree

This field displays the name of the degree with which the candidate is eligible to graduate. This is a read-only field of the degree granted the academic plan.

Student Career/Program

Click this link to access the Student Program/Plan component.

Finalization

Field or Control

Definition

Candidate Advised

Select this check box when the candidate has been or is about to be advised of the outcome of the thesis examination and overall grade.

Examiner Payments Processed

Select this check box to indicate that the thesis examiner’s payments have been processed. You manually set this field after determining that all payment processing is completed.

Library Submission Made

Select this check box to indicate that the archival copy of the final thesis has been sent to the University Library.

Proceed to Graduation

Select this check box to indicate that this candidate is ready to be processed for graduation (and is now moving out of the responsibility of Thesis Management).

See Managing Evaluations

Access the Thesis Management – Comments page (select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Comments).

Image: Thesis Management – Comments page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Thesis Management – Comments page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Thesis Management – Comments page

Any user with access to the Thesis Management component can view or edit this page. You can add or delete comments only through the Thesis Submission page. Comments are specific to each effective dated row and will reset to blank each time a new row is inserted.

Field or Control

Definition

Comments

Enter your comments in the text box. By default, the field is empty.

Display Comment to Student

Select to allow candidates to view the comment in the Candidate Center. By default, this check box is:

  • Deselected in administrator pages. Select this option if you would like to share the comment with the candidate.

  • Selected in the Candidate Center self-service pages when candidates add comments.

Comment Author

Select the OPRID of the user who updated the comment field from the available list. The Author defaults to the current user, but it is likely that the thesis data will be updated by an administrator or some other user on behalf of a professor or a dean. The name associated with the OPRID is also displayed on the page.

Access the Thesis Management - Additional Information page (select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Additional Information).

Image: Thesis Management - Additional Information page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Thesis Management - Additional Information page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Thesis Management - Additional Information page

Enter and review Common Attribute fields associated with the candidate’s thesis. This page appears only if Common Attribute fields have been created using the Common Attribute Framework.

See:

Access the Thesis Management - Attachments page (select Records and Enrollment, then select Graduate Research Management, then select Thesis Management, then select Attachments).

Image: Thesis Management - Attachments page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Thesis Management - Attachments page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Thesis Management - Attachments page

This page is used to store thesis-specific attachments.

Field or Control

Definition

Visible to Student

Select to set whether or not the attachment is visible to students on the self service page. By default, attachments added to administrator pages are not visible to students.

Add Attachment

Click this button to add an attachment to the page.