Callista SMS Functionality

SMS Functionality


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Admissions Callista's Admissions sub-system can be configured to support a range of direct and indirect admission processes and information levels. Functionality includes: Direct Admissions Course screen displaying preferential application processing functionality Electronic academic record transfer (ARTS) Electronic transfer of Tertiary Admission Centre application information Facilities to record and process admission enquiries Facilities to tailor direct admission, re-admission, course transfer, non-award and short course admission processes for Australian and international applicants Generation of institution-designed, rules driven correspondence International student management Recording of prior education details, employment history, statistical and disability details Seamless integration with Enrolments Standard and exception reports Advanced Standing Callista supports course articulation and advanced standing by recording partial credits, full exemptions and unit preclusions together with nominated alternatives and non-specific unit level advanced standing. Functionality includes: Advanced standing limits on a course by course basis DEST, (Government Reporting requirements), credit calculations Integration with Enrolments to automatically discontinue units granted as advanced standing Recording of credits and exemptions for prior studies at other institutions Assessments Callista's Assessments sub-system manages the academic assessment of students enrolled in units of study. For each unit offering, Callista records the complete assessment pattern and grading schema details. Callista assessment functionality covers identifying examination and other assessment requirements for each unit through to recording, confirming and publishing results. For examinations, Callista can: Assign central or non-central responsibility for examination management Identify exams as 'to be scheduled' or 'not to be scheduled' Functionality includes: Academic transcript Assessment items administration, including unit assessment patterns Assignment tracking Examination administration, including integration with Syllabus Plus® examination scheduling software and allocation of examination supervisors end user reporting. Configurable results processing, including direct data entry and electronic upload facilities. Maintain Unit Assessment Items screen Multiple grading schema Special consideration processing Audit In addition to Oracle's standard data item audit, Callista's audit forms draw together sets of related data items and monitor changes to key data items over time. Callista has been designed with a built in feature that captures and stores the history of key data elements. Calendar Callista breaks new ground with its Calendar facility by providing functionality that enables institutions to fully integrate flexible learning approaches and non-standard modes of teaching delivery via summer terms, winter schools, trimesters and straddling units as well as traditional semesters and year-long delivery options. The system delivers eleven calendar categories that can be used by licensees to define admission and enrolment periods, teaching and assessment periods, fee assessment cycles, course progression periods and graduation calendars. Within the Calendar facility, the Date Alias concept is a powerful tool used to trigger the activation of system rules and processes, thus delivering a high degree of automation together with a more consistent and transparent application of the institution's rules policies and procedures. Functionality includes: Calendar quality check Calendar rollover and automatic derivation of dates in subsequent periods Institution-defined calendar types Maintain Calendar Instance Relationships form and date alias inquiry pop-up System-wide application of institution-defined date aliases (for example in the establishment of unit discontinuation date criteria) Callista Connect Callista Connect student applications allow each student direct access to their Callista information, enabling them to self-manage important aspects of their education, such as updating their own enrolment related details, pay fees and viewing assessment results. Prospective students will be able to lodge electronic requests for course information, as well as make admission applications. Callista Connect student users can also see other important information published by the institution, via institution defined links. Callista Connect student applications include: Addresses Admission applications Advanced standing inquiry Callista Connect student self service results application Change of address Change password Change personal details Course attempts Course completion rule checking Course inquiries Course progression rule outcomes Electronic lodgement of other applications Enrolment inquiry Fee payments On-line fee assessment Personal web page preferences Self enrolment Results Unit attempts Unit set attempts Correspondence The Correspondence module is a system-wide facility for recording details of correspondence sent to and received from students and others. It is seamlessly integrated with Callista's Job Scheduler and automatically registers, for each student, any system generated items of correspondence such as enrolment forms and statements of account. Callista's Admissions subsystem makes extensive use of powerful user-defined, rules-driven letters that are easily customisable for individuals. Course Structure and Planning The Course Structure and Planning sub-system is used to maintain the institution's courses, units and unit sets (generic terminology for course majors and minors) together with details of their offerings in academic periods and teaching calendars. The sub-system incorporates all required Government reference details and makes extensive use of institution-defined terminology. Courses, units and unit sets are maintained under version control together with user-defined completion and enrolment rules. The set of functionality provided is extensive, highly flexible and includes: Course Details Alternative exits Course completion rules Course offerings Course stage rules Course versions Patterns of study Special requirements Unit Details Enrolled and achievable credit points with override capabilities Pre-requisite, co-requisite, incompatible and translation rules Teaching responsibility details Unit assessment details Unit definition Unit offering Unit Set Details Institution-defined categories (e.g. majors, minors) Links to course offerings Unit set rules Unit set versions The Course Structure and Planning subsystem includes many labour-saving features such as Patterns of Study, which are used in the automatic pre-enrolment of commencing and continuing students, and automatic roll-over of course offering patterns and unit offering options. Enrolments Callista's Enrolments sub-system is flexible and highly configurable. Using functions provided in a suite of reference forms, each institution selects from an extensive set of personal, course and unit steps to design a number of different enrolment processes tailored to suit the needs of different student groups. For example, Callista's enrolment process can include combinations of the following steps: At the person level - Record and Maintain Alternative ID's DEST personal and prior education statistical details Disability details Encumbrances International student details, including passport, visa and agent information Name aliases Personal details Person notes User defined Addresses At the student course attempt level - Record and Maintain Candidature details for research students Course enrolment Examination location Expected year and period of course completion HECS & PELS options and other fee details Intermission details Selected unit sets (majors, minors, etc.) Student course attempt notes At the student unit attempt level - the System can be configured to: Allow authorised staff to waive failed rules Apply an extensive set of enrolment rules either on-line or in batch Override derived EFTSU calculations Override enrolled and achieved credit points Record student specific unit attempt titles Record student unit attempt notes In addition, Callista provides a number of bulk processes including pre-enrolment into pre-defined groups of units to streamline enrolment processing and reduce the reliance on data entry staff. The system will also deliver full Internet based student self-enrolment via Callista Connect which will enable students to enrol over the internet. General Access Facility Delivered via client server and thin client Oracle Network Computing Architecture (NCA), Callista Inquiry Facility provides a secure environment to inquire on students, their courses and units, results, summary course progression and student fees together with a class list download facility and a comprehensive academic history report. Graduation Callista's Graduation sub-system celebrates the successful completion of a tertiary award. An extensive array of reference functions facilitates the organisation of ceremony rounds and the allocation of graduands to individual ceremonies. Functionality Includes: Allocation of graduands to ceremonies Automatic selection of potential graduands Graduand approval Maintain Ceremony Graduands screen, illustrating bulk setting of the conferral date Production of the graduate register Special awards including honorary degrees and prizes Testamur extract Job Scheduler The Job Control and Scheduling (JBS) subsystem is a sophisticated application that controls report production, large volume database updates, and system housekeeping tasks. The programs and commands to perform these activities are initiated from executable files or procedures accessed via 'jobs' which are run by users. The set of jobs available to specific users depends on their security access. Jobs may produce output in various forms, such as printed and on-screen reports, email or files. Meta Data Layer The Callista Meta-Data Layer (MDL) compliments the extensive suite of reports provided with Callista and is suited to ad hoc reporting, the development of standard and exception reports, standard and ad hoc queries, extracts to other corporate databases (for example the university's Library system) and data warehouses such as on-line analytical process (OLAP) solutions. The MDL presents de-normalised data that collapses several tiers into a broad single structure. Nearly 700 Callista tables have been reduced to approximately 200 supporting views. The MDL is delivered with extensive technical documentation covering Compatibility with tools Construction of queries Data diagrams and descriptions of each view Joining MDL views and database objects Naming conventions Performance issues Primary and foreign keys On-Line Help Callista incorporates a comprehensive On-Line Help facility that documents every form, report and job in the system and provides special topics to guide functional specialists in the configuration and management of the system. Callista's web-based On-Line Help facility is inherently extensible and can integrate locally developed policy and procedures documentation. Organisational Structure The Organisational Structure module is used to map the academic and administrative structure of the institution, together with the basic information about other organisations the institution does business with. Callista also has the ability to model external organisations. Facilities include: Institution-defined academic and administrative terminology (e.g. colleges, departments, faculties, schools etc.) Institution-defined address type functionality Maintain Organisation Unit Relationships form illustrating faculty and school relationships Maintenance of organisation unit relationships and history Multi-campus processing Person ID Groups The Person ID Groups facility is used to manage groups of students with common attributes. Key functions in this management process are: The creation and maintenance of group definitions Maintaining group membership, including: Copying existing groups to form new groups Importing files of person ID's into groups Importing records into existing groups Maintaining group user security access The production of address labels Individual institutions can determine how the Person ID Groups facility is applied to their business practices and determine which system users are granted the privilege to create and maintain person ID groups. Progression To support students in achieving course completion and graduation, institutions regularly evaluate students' academic progress and institute action where a student is not making the required progress. The Callista Progression subsystem provides a flexible means to both evaluate student progress and to manage the administrative tasks associated with progression evaluation. The Progression subsystem provides the ability to construct rules using the following measurement tools: Grade Point Average (GPA) Proportional failure Research milestone Unit failure Weighted Average Mark (WAM) Combinations of these measures may also be used when constructing progression rules. Institutions also define the outcomes that result from failure of a rule and can escalate the severity of outcomes for multiple failures. On-Line Help facility The set of progression functionality includes: Automated and manual progression rule checking Bulk and individual application of progression outcomes Course suspension Course, unit and unit set exclusion Maintain Student Progression Rule Check illustrating details of a failed progression rule Probation, optionally involving attendance type or credit point restrictions and / or required unit enrolments Seamless integration with Enrolments Callista also provides sophisticated course completion rules functionality that enables staff and students to measure progress towards course completion. This functionality operates both in standard mode where student's approved results and granted advanced standing are evaluated, and in predictive mode where assumed success in current enrolment is factored into the evaluation. Research The Research subsystem is used to manage all processes relating to research students within an institution. These students are those who have applied for or enrolled in a research course or one that has a research component. The functioning of the subsystem involves interaction with other subsystems (eg. Admissions, Enrolments, Assessments) and unique processes within the Research subsystem. The functionality provided through the Research system can be used in varying ways to best suit the needs of an institution. In addition to using the subsystem to manage research students, some functions may also be useful in assisting with student administration in other courses. Functionality includes: Automatic derivation of minimum and maximum submission dates Candidature details Special EFTSU, (formula for determining the number of active students at an institution), calculation based on date to date enrolment and which automatically factors in any coursework undertaken Maintenance of supervision arrangements Milestones Thesis management including examination processing, examination panels & tracking Transfer of candidature to another course facility Rules Management Callista's Rules Management facility puts control into the hands of academics and administrators. With nothing 'hard-wired', the rules management facility applies an extensive set of user-maintainable rules encompassing: Definition of student cohorts Enrolment policy (including pre-requisites, co-requisites, incompatible & translations) The calculation of student fees & charges The disbursement of income and projected income The evaluation of course progression The evaluation of course, course stage, unit set and alternative exit completion The generation of admissions correspondence The management of account and password control for Callista Connect Security The primary means of controlling access to Callista is via user-defined security roles. Security roles define which data users can see and what actions may be performed on the data. They are used to: Define what data users can see and what operations can be performed on that data Determine access to particular tables and views in the system Determine how users can access data Grant access to predetermined sets of menu structures, forms and jobs Callista security roles apply equally whether the user accesses the system via forms, web, SQL or any other ODBC compliant tool. The actual functions available to a security role are controlled by the granting of forms and jobs to the role and the automatic reconciliation of object grants required to perform those functions. The security wall exists at the database level providing the same access reels to users accessing the data from 3rd party products. Functionality delivered in the Callista Security subsystem includes: Creation and maintenance of security roles Creation and maintenance of system users and password management Customisation of individual user access Easily definable menus Enhanced functional 'step' security in Admissions and Enrolments Maintain System Enrolment Step Access - providing enhanced security features in the Enrolments sub-system Security restriction objects System error log and messages User-defined navigation pathways Statistics Callista's Statistics sub-system is used to create the set of Higher Education Student Data Collection files (for direct loading into DETYAPAC) and other associated returns together with a suite of internal reports and extracts designed to support the load, discipline and funding management of the institution. Callista incorporates extensive data validation checking at point of entry to ensure that data is clean and correct first time, every time. The Deakin Executive Information System module is an excellent on-line analytical process solution tool that is available as an add-on solution. Student Finance Callista's Student Finance subsystem provides a comprehensive set of tools to define the set of enrolment fees and charges. As Callista is built to industry standards it has the ability to interface to an Institution's financial system. Functionality includes: Automatic and manually triggered fee assessment Automatic creation of payment schedules (payment plans) including discount options Automatic establishment of contract assessment rates Debt management and encumbrances for under or late payment HESA, HECS & PELS Notices of Liability extracts Income disbursement Institution-defined fee types and fee categories, including HECS and tuition fees Integration with the institution's finance system Recording and maintenance of sponsorship arrangements Refund processing Reminder notice extract Retention schedules Statement of account extract Student fee inquiry User-defined fee assessment cycles Tracking Facility Callista's system-wide Tracking Facility provides a generic tool for monitoring the movement of documents or the progress of defined processes. Tailored functionality includes assignment tracking, thesis panel tracking and thesis examination tracking.