What’s Happening in DSA
Insightful
Inclusive
Understanding people and the world
Stronger together
Impactful
Inspiring
Staff in the Spotlight Project updates Insider News DSA Infographic
Leading for the future
Outcome driven
Update from DSA’s executive director
Carmel O’Regan I am delighted to provide the latest edition of the DSA Newsletter. As we rapidly approach the latter end of Session 1, it remains apparent there is much to share with a multitude of activities underway across not only DSA but also within the University and the sector. Progress is well underway with the ‘DSA Refresh’ with the overarching focus of strengthening relationships, redesigning processes for overall effectiveness and alignment to the student lifecycle, with the student experience front of mind. I hope you can take some time and enjoy catching up with this edition to provide an insight on our people, projects and of course stats and useful information to provide an overview into the range and depth of what’s been happening.
csu.edu.au
Edition 1 | May 2018
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN DSA DSA Refresh DSA’s Draft Change Proposal was launched on 12/3/18. The feedback and consultation period closed on 16/4/18. During the consultation period DSA Executive and HR provided opportunities and information updates, FAQ’s and opportunity for all staff and stakeholders to engage. DSA staff have been supported with training to prepare for the next phases of the change, which has included emotional resilience and resume and interview skills workshops. Following review of all feedback submissions the draft was endorsed to progress the final Change Plan to an independent Translation Working Party (TWP). The TWP reviewed position descriptions and translated existing staff where appropriate and confirmed positions for the rounds of Expressions of Interest and recruitment to fulfil the new structure. Round one Internal Expressions of Interest have now opened.
Graduation In early April Debra Farrelly was appointed as a consultant within DSA to provide services for the implementation of recommendations from the Graduation review held in May 2017. During 2016, Debra was employed with CSU in the role of Acting Executive Director for DSA, and during 2017, returned in the role of Acting DVC Students. Debra will be working with stakeholders across the university and externally through to the end of June.
Graduation Planning System DSA Client Services and Business Solutions Teams are working to deliver a ‘GPS Pilot’ to trial the potential and capabilities of this system to verify a student’s eligibility for graduation and streamline process. Currently Graduation Check Transcripts (GCTS) are sent to Faculties for approval. A number of courses have been identified to take part in the pilot from the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts and Education. It is anticipated this trial will be in place and underway for August graduations.
Division of Student Administration - 2018 Newsletter 2
DSA Process Acquisition DSA has initiated and is engaging with faculties and other stakeholders to improve several processes which will significantly improve service to our students. Two important changes to process have recently occurred: •
Go live of Special Consideration Workflow; and
•
Production and management of ADPP student cards by Goulburn Police Hub.
Two key processes we are working to improve: •
The student eligibility for graduation - DSA, Facility of Arts and Education and Faculty of Science are piloting DSA processing a percentage of courses via the use of GPS;
•
Working with the School of Policing and the NSW Police to deliver the Policing Scholarship processing through the Goulburn Police Hub.
Ongoing collaboration and work on several other processes continue.
Exams/Grades/Academic Progress Operationally, DSA examinations team are preparing for the 201830 examination session in June. Printing and dispatch processes have commenced in our new dispatch space in the Logistics Hub on Wagga campus. We have 18,000 students sitting examinations this session. DSA Operations Team continue to work through and implement recommendations of the examinations review which will improve efficiencies and service delivery to build student and academic staff training resources is underway and will be rolled out in due course.
Timetable DSA timetable team visited CSU’s 6 main campuses to view the learning and teaching spaces. The team also toured the science and CCI specialist spaces. This will allow the team to be informed when scheduling decisions critical to providing the best possible service. The Session 2 timetable for 2018 is currently being finalised and preparations will commence early in June for 2019 scheduling. The Personalised Student Timetable, My Timetable project is progressing well. A QA and Production system is active and populated with ‘real’ data. Testing will commence shortly and there has been ongoing engagement with stakeholders across Faculties and Divisions for their input and feedback. Preparation to build student and academic staff training resources is underway and will be rolled out in due course.
UAC White Label Project CSU is embarking on a Pilot project to test the viability of the NSW Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) providing a customised online application and assessment service. For Session 1 (201930), UAC will be receiving and processing applications for domestic undergraduate on-campus and graduate entry teaching courses. Applicants will apply using a CSU branded UAC online application and UAC will complete the assessment of the application and issue offers. Offers will then be loaded into Banner for acceptance with CSU, much the same as what we do with our school leavers who apply through the UAC centralised system. There are a number of key tasks the project needs to achieve for the implementation of this project, which mostly centres around a routing mechanism within our website to direct applicants to the correct online application. Work has already begun on this routing service, with staff from DOMC, DIT, DSA and SP&I being consulted in the design and construction, with the full project relying on consultation and work from all sections and faculties of CSU. If you have any questions about the project please contact Simon Barton, Project Officer for more information.
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RECENTLY IN DSA WE WELCOMED!
and said farewell to...
Terence Goh, Division Support Officer, Innovation & Capability Team
Lara Gamble, Student Services Assistant, Student Central
Brooke Winnel, Executive Assistant, Office of Executive Director
Catherine Walsh, CSO, Partners and Pathways
Elizabeth McKinley, Senior CSO, Operations Team
Michelle Burton, Student Services Assistant, Student Central
Lauren Darley-Bentley, Compliance and Policy Officer, Compliance Policy Team
Raelene Graham, Student Services Assistant, Student Central
Petra Pollock, Assistant Manager, Admissions Team
Lara Cowling, CSO, Partners and Pathways
Candice Masling, Business Analyst, Business Solutions Team
Elizabeth Hamilton, Assistant Manager, Student Central
Rebecca Slattery, Student Services Assistant, Student Central
Vanathy Mayooranathan, GPS Coordinator, Business Solutions Brett Masters, Digital Content Officer, Student Central
STAFF IN THE SPOTLIGHT! Rebecca Slattery What is your role within DSA? I am a Student Service Assistant at Student Central What CSU Values do you represent most and why? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? I would definitely say that I represent the CSU value inclusive, because I try to make everyone feel valued and important. I’ve been lucky enough to meet, work with, and learn from many people while working and studying at CSU who are impactful, insightful and inspiring, in so many different ways. I hope at some stage in my career others will describe me the same way.
What do you hope to achieve within your team this year? I have genuine pride in CSU, and so what I hope to achieve is that I do myself, my team, and the University proud. Tell us something that might surprise us about you? Including Australia, I have also lived in two other countries, Canada and England.
Lauren Darley-Bentley What is your role within DSA? Compliance & Policy Officer, Compliance & Policy team What CSU Values do you represent most and why? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? Insightful – I am perceptive, which helps me quickly understand and respond to people and situations.
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What do you hope to achieve within your team this year? Being from outside of the university, I hope to bring a different perspective and different ways of doing things. My hope is to add to DSA’s focus on improving efficiency. Tell us something that might surprise us about you? I worked with indigenous communities in the Andes Mountains of Peru for a couple of years …. I can build mud brick houses!
Brooke Winnel What is your role within DSA? I am the Executive Assistant for Carmel O’Regan while Kady Whiteley is on maternity leave. What CSU Values do you represent most and why? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? I strongly believe in being inclusive, it is a value I believe I follow in my personal life and I am happy to working for an employer that believes everyone should be included.
What do you hope to achieve within your team this year? On a personal level I hope to have a broader knowledge of CSU and how it operates and on a team level we are striving to achieve the best outcomes for DSA. Tell us something that might surprise us about you? I like activities that push me outside my comfort zone, whether it be abseiling down a waterfall of jumping out of a plane. Hopefully next it will be completing a mini triathlon.
Terence Goh What is your role within DSA? DSO, mainly data entry in BDMS and qualitychecking student forms in Talisma What CSU Values do you represent most and why? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? Such a tricky one. But considering the fact that there were in excess of 500 interactions in Talisma when I started, I am going to pick ‘Impactful’. Hopefully my contribution to the team is facilitating the progress of the work.
What do you hope to achieve within your team this year? I’m such a newbie at this stage. So if I even gain a good insight into the different Banner screens and get a good understanding of how that relates to the various studentadministration processes, I’ll be happy. Tell us something that might surprise us about you? Ermmmm … I enjoy cooking, baking and knitting? I’m such a foodie, and I have come full-circle. Now I believe that the old ways are best, really. So cooking/slow-cooking with fresh ingredients; using a cast-iron pan; transforming simple, non-fancy ingredients into something tasty. I have also always enjoyed crafting, creating, and making and building things (aka too much of a tight-arse).
Candice Masling What is your role within DSA? Student Systems Business Analyst within the Business Solutions team. Basically a fixer. I fix business processes that usually include the use of a system of some sort. What CSU Values do you represent most and why? Inclusive, Impactful, Insightful or Inspiring? All of them! But I hope Inspiring – challenging everyone to look outside the box and think of better, more efficient, less stressful ways to do what they do. Sometimes I know it’s hard to do that so part of the job is finding the positive in any change and encouraging others to see the positive too.
What do you hope to achieve within your team this year? Technically I’m here for a short fixed term, so during this time I want to work hard My Equals, understanding how we and all our stakeholders are all affected by the system and how we can best prepare as a group so that when a new system goes live everyone is ready and knows what to do – or they have the support there if they need it. Also to fix up processes like Grade Release in the simplest way possible. I hope that I help the business and when everyone thinks of the changes they think; what a cool process, what a great improvement. Tell us something that might surprise us about you? I’m currently obsessed with watching the daily vlog of Casey Neistat on YouTube and I don’t know why.. just a guy who films what he does all day. His work, family, fun. He started in 2015 so you can imagine how much I still have to watch.
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PROJECTS Credit and Pathway Management This project will see the introduction of three interfaces to explore, research and award credit (or recognition of prior learning). Credit & Pathways Manager (CPM) is used by staff, Credit & Pathways Planner (CPP) is used by students and Credit & Pathways Explorer (CPE) will soon be available to the public and prospective students.
What is the vision? The Credit Pathway Management Project is working towards developing a solution to better record and re-use credit outcomes to provide a consistent and transparent result for applicants and students while exponentially reducing the assessment time as the database grows.
What are the benefits? • Credit outcomes can be provided to applicants and students quicker • Credit outcomes are consistent and transparent • Credit outcomes can be re-used and maintained using expiry dates • Credit outcomes, trends, pathways can be tracked and reported • Credit outcomes are recorded in a central database across all schools and faculties enabling sharing of information between faculties
Progress to date? • Deployment of the staff interface – Credit Pathway Manager (CPM) May 2017 • Deployment of the student interface – Credit Pathway Planner (CPP) July 2017 • Deployment of public interface – Credit Pathway Explorer (CPE) March 2018 • Integration between existing CSU systems and CPM – March 2018 • Entry of existing credit packages into CPM – April 2018
What’s next? • The project will official disband end of May having successfully completed all achievable tasks in the revised scope of the project • The vendor will continue to provide improvements from the roadmap until later in the year
Project Sponsor Carmel O’Regan Project Manager Mike Charles Business Analyst Marian Wolmarans Project Officer Lauren Purcell
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Special Consideration Workflow Update Workflowing of the Special Consideration Process and the ability for the form to be used for in session requests.
Phase 1
Student Form
What is the vision? The Special Consideration Workflow project has the potential to bring about a significant reduction in staff effort, when reviewing Special Considerations and Special Circumstances requests. At the same time the student experience will be much improved with the implementation of an authenticated, pre-populated web form.
Phase 2
Workflow
What are the benefits? • Improve the student experience dramatically. It will eliminate the difficulties that student (and staff) currently experience with the existing PDF form. • Accuracy and efficiency gains by drawing the data from Banner for the form to automatically populate the student details. • Ability to handle “in session” requests in the same interface
Phase 3/BAU
Improvements
• It will automate the data movement to the decision maker, messages to students and data entry into Banner • Full reporting capability will be delivered, for statistics and assessment reporting committees • All requests will be tracked via student tracking pages and contain document upload features
Progress to date? • Special Consideration Workflow was delivered on 5th April 2018 • We have a few minor bugs being fixed – a relativley sucessful release! • At time of publishing (27.04.2018):
- 830 request have been submitted – includes cancelled and expired requests
- 268 were in session requests
- 270 request have been completed resulting in 257 automatic Banner updates
Project Sponsor Julie Cleary Project Manager Anton Terblanche Business Analyst Heather Fielding Key contact/s Kate Aylmore
The project officially closes on Monday 30th April 2018 and we are in discussions with DIT regarding the backlog and continuous improvement schedule.
What’s next? • The project will official disband end of April having successfully completed all achievable tasks in the revised scope of the project • The vendor will continue to provide improvements from the roadmap until later in the year
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CRM Replacement The University is preparing for the purchase of a new Customer Relationship Management System (CRM).
What is the vision? As part of the University’s major systems renewal investigation the decision has been made to select a vendor and implementation partner for a new CRM, through a closed tender and evaluation process. The Project is being led by a Steering Committee and three sub-committees; the Functional Evaluation Team, the Technical Evaluation Team and the Commercial Evaluation Team. DSA is represented on the Technical Evaluation Team by Jeff Roffe, and on the Functional Evaluation Team by Kate Aylmore and Katrina Allitt.
What are the benefits? • The University will benefit from a system that has increased functionality, greater reliability and improved ease of use. • Students will benefit from having greater visibility of the system through the Student Portal.
Progress to date? • The functional and technical requirements have been gathered and documented. •
Scenarios have been written for demonstration by short listed vendors.
• 5 providers have been shortlisted. • Request for Tender documentation was prepared and submitted to vendors. • 4 tender documents were received from Ellucian; Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle and Sales Force. • The tender documents were evaluated and the committees short listed two vendors – Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce.
What’s next? • Microsoft Dynamics and Sales Force will be invited to provide a demonstration to the committees involved in selection in the week of 7 May, 2018. • A decision will be made regarding the successful vendor. • A staged implementation will occur alumni then current students followed by future students.
Project Sponsor Jenny Roberts Project Manager Phil Roy Business Analyst Mark Westerman Key contacts Jeffrey Roffe Katrina Allitt Kate Aylmore
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CSU Transparency In Higher Education Reforms Update What is the vision?
Progress to date
To provide Transparency in Higher Education Admissions by addressing the need for clear and easy to understand information about a wide range of different application and assessment pathways into higher education for school leavers, mature age students and others seeking entry.
• Course Entry Criteria has been reviewed and CASIMS updates have been completed to ensure criteria is clear and transparent. – July 2017
What are the benefits?
• Course Profiles have been created and made available online – August 2017
• achieve greater transparency through the use of common language about admissions processes and the publication of consistent information • widen the accessibility of information to prospective students • improve the comparability of information available from providers about their admissions processes and entry requirements • enhance the accountability of higher education providers for the information they publish about their admissions policies • ensure all higher education providers are subject to the same reporting requirements • provide students, parents, teachers and career advisors the knowledge and capacity to more easily navigate higher education admissions policies and processes
• Course (OCB) and University Information Sets have been completed and made available online – August 2017
• Final decision on consistent terminology made available December 2017. Phase two Common Terminology and Information Sets • TEQSA guidance notes available – February 2018 • Layout of Institution Dataset with Web Office reviewed. • Terminology updates in CASIMS will be actioned as a bulk.
Progress to date • Review Entry Criteria and Pathways information collection channels – underway Business Analyst reviewing requirements.
Project Sponsor Carmel O’Regan Business Analyst Heather Fielding Key contacts Melissa Dawe
• Basis of Admissions subsets to allow the appropriate reporting of applicants in Course and University profiles – underway • Review University wide terminology to ensure compliance with reforms – by May 2018 • Prepare information sets and profiles for use in 2019 Admissions – by May 2018 • Provide information required for DET Information Platform with the initial proof of concept due for release December 2017 – Submitted via TAC’s for courses offered via TAC’s. Waiting on advice for non TAC programs. • The Platform release is due by August 2018 • Review of CSU Policies to ensure compliance – underway. • Review of CSU sites with TEQSA – May 2018
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My Equals Project Update What is the vision?
Progress to date?
My eQuals (also known as the “Digital Student Data Project - DSD”) is a collaborative Higher Education sector initiative that will establish a shared online service for the production, management and verification of testamurs, academic records and other formal credentials documents issued by all Australian and New Zealand universities.
• Updated PDF versions of the Academic Transcript and AHEGS documents and a new automated process for the creation of a PDF Testamur are currently in development
The key objective of the My eQuals project is to enable verified digital versions of academic transcripts, testamurs and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statements (AHEGS), to be made available to graduates and current students through the My eQuals platform. This then allows graduates/students to securely share their academic documents with third parties such as potential employers or other tertiary institutions.
What are the benefits? The provision of services via the My eQuals platform will provide many benefits in: • Aiding trust in graduates’ credentials as qualifications are verified and secure, protecting against fraud • Improved processes and efficiency through streamlined administration processes and reduced manual handling as the documents are verified via a central, trusted source
• Testing of the new version of the Academic Transcript and Testamur has commenced • Development of the updated version of the AHEGS and document is nearing completion • Integration between CSU and the My eQuals Portal has been established • Analysis activities commenced to streamline the online transcript request processa
What’s next? • Finalise testing of the new versions of the Academic Transcript, AHEGS and Testamur documents • Engagement with Business Teams to develop updated business process • Business UAT • Commence integration testing with the My eQuals Portal • Role out for August graduation
• Enhanced ability to interpret records across multiple institutions • Environmental sustainability by reducing printed documents • Instant verification of the authenticity of digital documents received from applicants
Project Sponsor Carmel O’Regan
• Greater trust in documents received due to them being digitally certified by the issuing university.
Project Manager Michael Charles
• Efficiency gains for employers and students due to reduced manual handling of physical documents. • Protected university brand ensuring graduates’ qualifications are guarded against fraud • Lifelong access to documents for graduating students • New Transcript format that covers a student’s full academic history
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Business Analyst Candice Masling Key contacts Jeffrey Roffe
PST Personalised Student Timetable, My Timetable Project What is the vision? The Personalised Student Timetable, My Timetable project will provide the platform for the provision of timetables which are specific to each student. It will also allow the flexibility for students to select their preferred class options for course subjects they are enrolled in. In addition, academic staff are able to improve the management of
teaching schedules, and reduce conflicts with respect of bookings. What are the benefits? •
Students can self-determine study pathway by nominating classes.
•
Create a dataset for personalised timetables.
•
Improved student experience.
•
Improved management of schedules within residential schools
•
Reduce the requirements on teaching staff to support sign up process.
•
Allow for more effective time management of classes.
Project Sponsor Carmel O’Regan
The Personalised Student Timetable project is progressing well. A QA and Production system is active and populated with ‘real’ data. Testing will commence shortly and there has been ongoing engagement with stakeholders across Faculties and Divisions for their input and feedback. Preparation to build student and academic staff training resources is underway and will be rolled out in due course.
Project Manager Mike Smith Business Analyst Rob Geis Key contact/s Amanda Lynch
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Student Knowledge Base Expansion Project (HEPP) DSA recently finalised this fantastic project initiative. The the Student Knowledge Base (AskCSU) provides FAQ content for current CSU Students and provides over 700 FAQs per day via the Student Portal. The most commonly accessed FAQs relate to enrolment, tuition fee options, grade release and graduation. These categories also have a high amount of instructional content. This project specifically allows the usability of Ask CSU for students with disabilities, and English as a 2nd language students via: • 16 instructional videos for high-volume • instructional FAQ content • Audio-only faqs for high-volume FAQ content and high-volume FAQs in sign language instructional videos • Provide targeting administrative support on a self-serve basis •
The videos are easily accessible hosted on youTube. Students began watching them as soon as they were uploaded. Students do not need to login to the student portal. The videos are also accessible and linked from CSU’s online FAQ self-help, so please take a look: YouTube
Some other benefits from this project include: • All videos were created using CSU resources (with the exception of the sign language inserts), all actors and voiceovers are current CSU students. These actors now have professional pieces to include in their portfolios. • Videos all utilise closed captioning and some we have included Auslan translations. • We created new branding for our ask CSU team with the use of Orange shirts used in the videos (which was extended to all support services during orientation) and a new graphic which encompasses how we can help our students. • Scripting is easy to understand and videos can be paused if students wish to follow along. • All Students require access to the internet and a computer as part commencing studies and this platform required no additional technology and is very easy to use for those returning to study or limited technical abilities.
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INSIDER NEWS – SOME NEWS & INFO TO SHARE! Comms directory / staff portal Find a Staff Member – Do you know you can update your details via self-service facility to change Fax, Mobile and Building/Room information. Please review your details and log a job if it needs updating. https://networks.csu.edu.au/self_service/commsdir.pl
Conflict of interest We all have a responsibility to disclose any Conflict of Interest. Could you please review the link and if you think this may be relevant to you or you have questions please discuss this with your manager and if appropriate complete the Conflict of Interest form also on the DSA intranet under forms. https://policy.csu.edu.au/document/view-current.php?id=146
Lynda On-Line Learning As advised at the end of last year DIT have funded staff licences for Lynda.com for 2018, great news. Access to Lynda is available via the DSA intranet. If you don’t know about Lynda talk to your supervisors so you can make the most of this on-line learning tool for professional development and training. https://www.lynda.com
DSA Back to Basics A reminder to take some time to refresh yourself with the DSA Back to Basics, which is also available on the DSA intranet under our key reference documents. https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/2878701/DSA-Back-to-Basics.pdf
Vice-Chancellor’s Forum March was the first Vice-Chancellor’s Forum (VCF) for 2018. It was held in Bathurst and around 70 people from across the University attended. Although the forum is limited in numbers for logistical reasons, I think it’s important all staff get the opportunity to hear what happened and what the key messages were from the Forum. Use this link to watch a video briefing on the forum. https://youtu.be/MD08y0sXPdU
Knowledge Base - Reminder The common procedures are now available in Talisma Knowledge Base. Quick Tip - use Internet Explorer rather than Chrome, Firefox, etc., for the best performance in using the system. https://www.talisma.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Talisma_Knowledgebase.pdf
Key Dates Find all CSU’s key dates including all Session, Census, Application, Residential schools and more on the CSU Staff Administration Calendar, which is now available on from the CSU Staff Portal or DSA Staff Services Page. https://staff.csu.edu.au/ https://www.csu.edu.au/division/student-admin/staff-services/resources Download the calender here: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/student-admin/staff-services/resources/CSUAdministration-Calendar.xlsx
Division of Student Administration - 2018 Newsletter 13
INFOGRAPHICS Special Consideration Applications
Review of Grade Applications
Partnership Intake Numbers - Comparisons 8000
Change of Grade Applications
2017 Partnership Intake Numbers
Student Central
7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 2015
2016
2017
2018 (Jan-Apr)
Exams
Graduation