1. POSTGRADUATE ACADEMIC SUPPORT (PAS) GENERAL GUIDELINES

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 regardrd@sun.ac.za 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

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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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 postgraduate@sun.ac.za