1. There’s An Exception to That? TRACY ROBERTS MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY

3. How many times in a semester are you asked for an exception to a policy? Rarely Once Are you kidding me? – Weekly!

4. Things to consider When a policy exception is requested, what questions do you ask? What questions SHOULD you ask? Who decides if an exception is granted? When does the exception become the rule? HOW DO YOU TRACK EXCEPTION REQUESTS??

5. Discussion Topics ProblemGoal SolutionTracking & Reports Maintenance

6. Things to know Examples used were from within the Office of the Registrar, but this presentation is applicable for other offices as well. We found the difference between an exception request and a complaint to often be indistinguishable. Our solution tackles both exceptions and complaints.

7. The Problem People were asking for exceptions and we had no way to track them. Sometimes the exceptions were rare. Have we ever granted that exception before? Has this student been granted an exception already? Which policy exceptions will NEVER be granted? Have we notified all the right people of an exception or complaint?

8. What was our goal? Consistent Decision Making Document for historical purposes SACS Accreditation & Assessment Look for patterns

9. Solution  Created a Microsoft Application with an Access back- end database to store all policy exceptions and complaints from students, faculty, staff, and parents.  The application is stored on one of our servers, so it is backed up nightly and accessible from any computer with remote desktop connection.  It took approximately 1-2 weeks to build and test the initial model.

10. Solution Brought online around August 2013; now have 366 entries. Access to the application is controlled by folder rights and University Active Directory permissions. Only permanent employees in our office have access to it. As part of the application, there is a folder to store supporting documentation.

11. What is tracked? Student Info ID Name Semester Date of initial contact Student Info ID Name Semester Date of initial contact Issue Type Exception Complaint Hold Issue Type Exception Complaint Hold Initiator Student Faculty/Advisor Staff Parent/Guardian Other Initiator Student Faculty/Advisor Staff Parent/Guardian Other Office Unit Degree Audit Graduation Records Registration Transcripts Office Unit Degree Audit Graduation Records Registration Transcripts Category Hours in Residency Course Level Restriction Upper Level Hours Category Hours in Residency Course Level Restriction Upper Level Hours Special Offices Involved Public Safety IDEA/OEO Provost’s Office President’s Office Special Offices Involved Public Safety IDEA/OEO Provost’s Office President’s Office

12. What is tracked? Description of Issue Summarizes issue Appears on certain reports Description of Issue Summarizes issue Appears on certain reports Actions Taken Date of action Action desc. Employee ID Type of notification Action Actions Taken Date of action Action desc. Employee ID Type of notification Action Final Resolution Approved Denied Discussed In Progress Final Resolution Approved Denied Discussed In Progress Others Involved Instructor Advisor Administrator Staff Others Involved Instructor Advisor Administrator Staff Tags/Key Words Grade appeal Falsification Course repeat Tags/Key Words Grade appeal Falsification Course repeat Other Info Attachments Other Info Attachments

13. Robust Search Feature Almost every item in the application is searchable or filtered. How many exceptions have been granted for that student? Has an exception been granted for a particular request? How many complaints were referred to Public Safety? How many exceptions were requested and/or granted during a time range?

14. Reports  Policy Exception Summary Report  Print for a single student, semester, or office unit  SACSCOC Student Complaint Log  Date range  Policy Exception or Complaint Detail Report  Expanded screen print showing all data entered for this one record

18. DEMONSTRATION

19. Maintenance  Adding reports or searchable fields as needed  Updating validation (lookup) tables with new data

20. Changes & Considerations  Action steps are locked down to a specific userid, so if that employee leaves, only the administrator can update/delete his/her records.  We have changed some fields to be mandatory to prevent incomplete records.  Getting employees in the habit of documenting exceptions or complaints at the time it happens.  How do you determine if a complaint needs to be documented?

21. Contact Info Tracy Roberts University Registrar Murray State University troberts@murraystate.edu 270.809.3380