POSTGRADUATE ACADEMIC SUPPORT PAS GENERAL GUIDELINES TABLE OF

POSTGRADUATE ACADEMIC SUPPORT (PAS) GENERAL GUIDELINES

TABLE OF CONTENTS BACKGROUND WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM USING PAS? WHERE DOES THE INFORMATION COME FROM? WHO HAS ACCESS TO PAS? HOW DO I GAIN ACCESS TO PAS? WHAT DOES PAS LOOK LIKE? General Console Groups of people Function Bar

BACKGROUND What is PAS/NAO o PAS is the abbreviation for Postgraduate Academic Support, and is a web based system developed for staff members concerned with the management of postgraduate students. Its Afrikaans acronym – NAO – is the abbreviation for Nagraadse Akademiese Ondersteuning o PAS provides integrated and timeous information about postgraduate students concerning the outcomes of administrative processes such as application, registration, funding, etc o PAS provides a simple interface for capturing Study Leaders, Examiners and Titles securely to the central system of SU o Various Excel reports can be generated via PAS o Historic data of postgraduate students are available for as far back as 2000 o Groups of students can be contacted via PAS

BACKGROUND The following needs were identified – o Staff members involved with the daily management of postgraduate students need a consolidated system which makes information on postgraduate students available in an integrated and user-friendly way o Different groups of staff members need access to the same information to improve processes and cooperation o Making contact with groups of postgraduate students according to faculty, department, programme, etc.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM USING PAS/NAO? o Postgraduate Coordinators from Academic Departments o Heads of Academic Departments o Staff members from Departments or Faculties involved with Postgraduate students and /or Research o Faculty Managers o Faculty Secretaries

WHERE DOES THE INFORMATION COME FROM? o From the SU Central Administrative System o The main PAS console information is refreshed on a daily basis and reflects all transactions captured during the previous day o All data captured via PAS is stored in the SU Central Administrative System and is readily available at all times

WHO HAS ACCESS TO PAS/NAO? o All academic staff members should only have automatic access to their ‘own’ postgraduate students via PAS o Departmental staff members have access to only their own Department’s postgraduate student information o Faculty staff members have access to information of all postgraduate students falling under the particular Faculty

HOW DO I GAIN ACCESS TO PAS? o Presently by means of a URL provided by IT if your request is accompanied by an email from your line manager authorising your access. Please send email to Rita de Jager, Head: Postgraduate Academic Support, Information Technology, SU at rd@sun. ac. za in this regard o Hopefully PAS/NAO will be made available via my. sun. ac. za in 2014 in such a way that you would be able to apply for access to the system once only with the approval of your line manager (same principle as annual leave) o If your line manager changes, you will have to apply for access again

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? LANDING PAGE Keep an eye out for notices! New functions and other news will be announced here

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? CONSOLE Your registered postgraduate students are shown automatically Choose any other group of students on the menu to the left

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? CONSOLE o Sort by clicking green headings o Light brown rows are International students (hover cursor over row for more information) o Icons in 2 nd column show that Functionaries and /or Research Outputs have been captured

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? STUDENT GROUPS Click the student group that you would like to display on the console

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? STUDENT GROUPS All groups are persons of the Faculty or Department where you are employed o Interested Persons - All persons who have requested that a yearbook of your Faculty be mailed to them o Final Year Undergraduates - For postgraduate recruitment purposes o Applicants - To facilitate planning o Current students - All registered postgraduate students and those currently busy with postgraduate studies but not registered yet

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? STUDENT GROUPS All groups are persons of the Faculty or Department where you are employed o Graduates All students who have graduated during the current or previous year o Postdoctoral Fellows Currently shown only per Faculty but the facility to display the group per Department will be made available during 2014

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: FILTER OPTIONS Filter on the fields below, e. g. Department, Programme Type and many others

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: ADMINISTRATION Choose a student on the console and view the information by clicking an item on the menu

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: STUDY GUIDANCE Choose a student on the console, capture the information shown on the menu below to the central SU system and generate Excel reports

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: RESEARCH OUTPUTS Choose a student on the console and submit thesis/dissertation or publish it via the e-thesis system

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: REPORTS Print an Excel report of the following students: • All students appearing on the console when the report is requested • All registered and non-registered students to whom you have access, on the same report

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: EMAIL Send email to all students on the console Create email wording in both Afr and Eng and the system will dispatch emails correctly

WHAT DOES PAS/NAO LOOK LIKE? FUNCTION BAR: FORMS As many forms as possible are to be created interactively with data from the central SU system. This task will receive priority in 2014.

A PAS MANUAL WITH FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE IN DUE COURSE Enquiries may also be directed to the Postgraduate & International Office postgraduate@sun. ac. za