Background
The Extenuating Circumstances process at UCD supports students who are unable to meet the requirements of their programme due to serious, unforeseen circumstances, enabling them to communicate and address issues that might affect their academic performance. The existing process, supported by a purpose-built system in Infohub, while designed for flexibility, requires a variety of local workarounds. This leads to an inconsistent experience for students and creates added complexity for staff.
Members of the UCD community have expressed the need for a collection of enhancements to the existing Extenuating Circumstances Online System. Continuing with the current process poses a risk that students in need may not be supported appropriately.
Project Objective
This project aims to improve the end-to-end Extenuating Circumstances applications process by focusing on the end-user.
A total of 13 enhancements will be made to the Extenuating Circumstances system over the course of this project. The enhanced functionality includes the ability for students to upload multiple files along with their applications and also enables School/ College offices to refer applications back to students when further information is required. In addition, more information is now available on the Extenuating Circumstances system and reports, eliminating the requirement to access other reports. Several changes have also been made to enhance communication and collaboration between Professional staff and module coordinators when processing applications.
Project Benefits
Easier for students to seek and access support when they need it.
Easier for Schools/Colleges to support students at a time of vulnerability.
Reduces the administrative burden on staff associated with this process.
Enables future reviews of policy by increasing data quality and reporting.
Project Team
Led by Programme and Operations Manager, Debra Heeney and supported by a steering group representing various offices across the University, this project is being delivered in collaboration with Enterprise Application Group (EAG) in IT Services.
Business Manager
Maria McDonald
Project Manager
Head of Enterprise Application Services
IT Services - Enterprise Applications Group
Project Steering Group
| Name | School/ Unit |
|---|---|
| Debra Heeney | College of Engineering and Architecture Administration Office |
| Claudia Schmid | College of Engineering and Architecture Administration Office |
| Shelly Smith | College of Engineering and Architecture Administration Office |
| Jeilbonn Kenny | College of Science Administration Office |
| Elaine Gannon | School of Agriculture and Food Science |
| Ulrike Mosig | College of Arts and Humanities Adm |
| Jessica Tuohy | School of Business |
| Dr James Fitzpatrick | School of Medicine |
| Fiona Nolan | Central Office - College of Social Sciences and Law |
| Dr Adrian O'Hagan | School of Mathematics and Statistics |
| Maria McDonald | IT Services - Enterprise Applications Group |
| Jeremy Britton | Service Lead – POST |
| Dr Ciarán Bryan | UCD Agile |
Project Timeline
The project timeline as of October 2023.
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July 2022
Project surfaced through Service Leads.
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August 2022
Project approved to progress to next stage at UMT Service Group on the 26th of August.
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September 2022
Workshop held with IT, Business PM and Service lead to define scope of project.
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October 2022
Workshop held with system users to validate and agree common enhancements
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November 2022
Two steering group workshops held to discuss and agree the prioritised list of enhancements to the existingSystem.
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December 2022
Submitted one enhancement to the ECS system which is now operational.
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April 2023
PROSCI Change Management workshop held with Project Steering Group.
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July 2023
Testing begins on Enhancement List.
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August 2023
Communication to Module Coordinators, Committee Members and Support Staff outlining upcoming enhancements.
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September 2023
Enhancements go-live.
Project Conclusion
Thirteen user-driven enhancements to the Extenuating Circumstances system went live in September 2023. These enhancements have been welcomed by those involved in the Extenuating Circumstances process. (opens in a new window)A recent article published in the UCD Work Smarter Together (WST) Newsletter also documents the experience of the project manager and others involved in delivering this project.