Records Office Requests
The Records Office's paper forms are requests in the SIS (migrations 294, 295 and 297). A student files one from Requests > Start Request; it is routed to the people who used to sign the paper; and when the final approver approves, the SIS records the outcome itself -- a name, a grade, a section, an enrollment, a letter.
Filing a request
| Who | Can file |
|---|---|
| A student | Their own requests |
| Registrar, Records Office, Super Admin | A request on behalf of a student: pick the student first, and the form's choices (for example, the student's own sections) are the student's |
Track requests from Requests > All Requests, and act on the ones waiting for you from Requests > My Approvals. Every approver can see the answers given so far, shown with their labels rather than as raw ids. The student is told the outcome either way.
Dropdowns of terms, courses, sections and instructors on these forms are filled by the SIS from current data, and a value outside that list is refused when the form is submitted.
The requests
| Request | Routed to | Approving does |
|---|---|---|
| Special Request (exception to academic policy) | The chair of the student's major, who records a recommendation, then Decision by the registrar or the Academic Standards Committee | Nothing beyond the decision itself, which the student is notified of |
| Change of Name | Records Office review | Records the new legal name and keeps the old one as a Former name. Needs a copy of the supporting document |
| Transfer Course Approval (before taking a course elsewhere) | Records Office (transferability and general education), then the chair of the student's major (major/minor equivalency) | Files a Pre-approved transfer credit (below) |
| Incomplete / In-Progress Grade | The instructor of the section, then Records Office review | Records the I or IP grade with its deadline and default grade |
| Directed Study | The proposed instructor, then the chair of the department that owns the course, then the Records Office | Creates the one-student section, assigns the instructor, enrolls the student, and records the substitution |
| Independent Study | The proposed instructor, then the chair of the department that owns the subject, then the Records Office | Creates the one-student section with the topic as its title, assigns the instructor, enrolls the student |
| Late Add | The section's instructor and the student's primary advisor (together), then Decision by the registrar or the Academic Standards Committee | Enrolls the student, past the add deadline |
| Enrollment Verification Letter | A registrar | Makes the signed letter downloadable from the request, and emails it as a PDF |
Where a step goes to "the student's advisor", it means the student's current primary advisor -- the advisor Colleague lists first among the student's open advisements. Other advisors can see the request but cannot approve or reject it, and a student with no current primary advisor has that step decided by the registrar.
When a step routes to someone by the student's answer -- the instructor of the section named on the form, the chair of a course's department, the proposed instructor -- and that person cannot be found, the step goes to the registrar instead.
Change of Name
Approving rewrites the current legal name with the new one and adds the previous legal name as a Former name (unless that name is already on file).
While Colleague holds names
The nightly import rewrites the legal name from Colleague. Change the name in Colleague as well, or the import restores the old one. On an instance that runs with Colleague owning the student record (WRITE_MODE=restricted), approving records nothing and the name is changed in Colleague only.
Transfer Course Approval
The student names the institution, course, credits (quarter or semester) and when they plan to take it, and may attach a syllabus. The Records Office decides whether it transfers and what it counts for in general education, optionally naming an equivalent course; the chair decides what it counts for in the major, minor or emphasis. One course per request.
Approval files a transfer credit with status Pre-approved (not yet taken): no grade, no term, and credits converted to quarter credits. The equivalent course is the chair's if they named one, otherwise the Records Office's. A pre-approved credit counts for nothing -- not in the degree audit, not for prerequisites, and it is left off the transcript -- until the official transcript arrives and Records approves it with the grade, as for any transfer credit.
Incomplete / In-Progress Grade
The student picks one of their own current sections (or one that ended in the last 60 days), chooses I or IP and explains the circumstances. The instructor states what remains, an optional earlier deadline and the default grade; Records approves. See Grade Entry for the instructor's side.
- The deadline is the instructor's date, or else the end of the next regular term after the course's term -- fall, winter or spring; summer does not count.
- Approval is refused if the student is no longer enrolled, the enrollment already has a final grade (use a grade change instead), or the default grade is not a final grade on the section's grading scale.
- A daily job replaces an I or IP still in place after its deadline with the default grade. A final grade the instructor submitted in time is never touched.
Directed and Independent Study
- Directed Study is a catalog course taught individually. The student picks the term, the catalog course, 297 (lower division) or 497 (upper division) and the instructor. Approval creates a one-student section of the subject's 297/497 course, enrolls the student, and records an approved course substitution of it for the catalog course, so the degree audit counts it where the catalog course was required.
- Independent Study is a topic of the student's own. The student picks the term, the subject's 495 course, the credit hours and the instructor, and fills in the outline, resources and evaluation. The chair is asked to explain an approval for a student without a 3.0 GPA in the area.
The section is created in the SIS, so the nightly import never deletes it. Enrollment goes through registration's normal rules for duplicates, repeats and credits.
Late Add
One section per request. The request can only be filed once the section's add deadline has passed and no later than the fifth week of the term; the credits must be within the section's range. The instructor records a recommendation and whether the student has been attending; the advisor records a recommendation; both pass it on whatever they recommend, and the decision is made at the next stage.
Approval enrolls the student despite the deadline but not past the seat count: if the section filled up while the request was out, the approval is rolled back and the approver sees why. The late-add fee is not posted by the SIS; bill it from the approved request.
Enrollment Verification Letter
The student picks the term and whether to pick the letter up or have it mailed (a mailing address is then required), and can ask for good-student verification for an insurance discount. Only a registrar can approve it, because approving signs it: the letter carries the approving registrar's name over the ENROLLMENT_LETTER_SIGNATORY_TITLE setting (default "Registrar").
Once approved, anyone who can see the request -- the student, Records -- downloads the letter as a PDF from the request. It states the student's name, date of birth, program, the term's dates, the credits enrolled and full- or part-time status, and is generated from the record as it stands when downloaded, so a letter printed after a late drop shows the credits the student actually has. Print and mail it, or hold it for pickup, as the student asked.
Approving also emails the letter as a PDF attachment, one message per recipient, to:
- the Registrar's Office (the
ENROLLMENT_LETTER_REGISTRAR_EMAILsetting,registrar@puc.edu), to forward or print and hand out. This copy lists everyone the letter went to; - the student, and the staff member who filed the request if one filed it for them;
- up to 10 extra addresses the requester listed under Also email the letter to. They are checked for being well-formed when the request is submitted. The letter carries the student's date of birth, so check these addresses before approving, and reject the request if one looks wrong.
The request page shows each copy under Emailed copies: who it went to, when, and whether it was sent or failed (with the reason). A registrar can use Re-send letter to email it to the same recipients again, for example after fixing a mail problem or correcting the record. A re-sent letter is generated from the record as it stands at that moment. If the letter cannot be produced at all, for instance because the student has no credit-bearing enrollment that term, nothing goes to the student and the Registrar's Office is emailed the reason instead.
When an approval is refused
What a request writes is recorded in the same transaction as the final approval. If it cannot be recorded -- the person has no student record, a section filled, a grade is not on the scale -- the approval is rolled back and the approver sees the reason; the request stays waiting.
Changing the routing
The steps, their order and who approves them are data, editable in Admin > Workflow Engine: an institution can add or reorder steps. What approving writes is code and is keyed on each form's field codes, so renaming a field breaks the request.