Purpose

To enter and maintain details of Graduation Ceremony rounds and associated Ceremonies

SubSystem

Graduation

The term Ceremony Round describes a period of time during which a set of Graduation Ceremonies is conducted. The term can also imply the preparatory events and processes leading up to the Ceremony Period itself. Each Ceremony Round is linked to one or more prior completion periods (the Ceremony Round Periods) used to identify potential Graduands.

Institutions typically have more than one Ceremony Round during an academic year. Ceremony rounds might run concurrently, for example where an institution runs Graduation Ceremonies both in the 'home' country and overseas. Alternatively, this situation could be handled by creating different Ceremony locations within the one Ceremony Round.

Related Forms and Jobs

Ceremony Rounds and their associated Ceremonies are defined in this form. It is the first of four forms creating a complete data structure for Ceremonies. A button in this form leads to GRDF2110 (Maintain Award Ceremony) which in turn leads to GRDF2120 (Maintain Unit Set Ceremony), and GRDF2130 (Maintain Award Ceremony Group)/.

The Ceremony Structure is used primarily by the job GRDJ5100, which allocates Graduands with course awards to Ceremonies, and GRDJ5200, which sets up presentation orders within each Ceremony. Graduands may also be allocated to Ceremonies individually, using the form GRDF4210.

Prerequisite Calendar Structures

As a precursor to creating a Ceremony Round and Ceremonies, a Graduation Calendar Instance and associated Date Alias Instances must be recorded in the Calendar Subsystem. A Graduation Calendar Instance broadly defines a Ceremony Round. Only those Date Alias Instances already associated with the selected Ceremony Round are available for use in this form. For more information refer to Ceremony Rounds and Dates in Understanding Graduation, or Calendars and Date Aliases in Specialist Functions.

Note: It is not possible to update information related to a Ceremony after the Ceremony Date has passed.

Graduation Ceremony Rollover

Award Ceremony structures can be rolled over per Ceremony (not per Ceremony Round) using the 'Copy From Ceremony' button. Only the composition of the Ceremony (i.e. the Award Ceremony structure) can be rolled over. A Ceremony must still be created prior to running this process. Any warnings that are encountered during the process are displayed.

Ceremony compositions can be rolled over from a previous Ceremony. This includes the ability to roll a Ceremony from inside a Ceremony round to another Ceremony. For example, GRD-ROUND 1 Ceremony 1, rolled into GRD-ROUND 1 Ceremony 2.

This form is accessed from the main menu.

The Ceremony Round block contains:

• Calendar Type (LOV)
• Start Date
• End Date
• Start Date Alias (LOV)
• End Date Alias (LOV)

  Button

  • Graduands (GRDF3200)

The Ceremony Round Period block contains:

• Year
• Completion Period (Pop)

The Graduation Ceremony block contains:

• Ceremony Number
• Venue Code (LOV)
• Ceremony Date Alias (LOV)
• Closing Date Alias (LOV)
• Ceremony Start Time
• Ceremony End Time
• Ceremony Fee
• Maximum Guests Per Graduand
• Total Attending
• Total Possible
• Total
• Total Inabsentia

  Buttons

  • Notes (GRDF2510)
  • Graduands (GRDF3200)
  • Award Ceremony (GRDF2110)
  • Copy From Ceremony (Overlay)
    • Ceremony Round (LOV)
    • Ceremony Number (LOV)
    • Copy button
      Only enabled when both fields are populated
    • Cancel button

Ceremony Round block

Use this form to create, maintain and inquire on Ceremony Rounds and the Ceremony or Ceremonies held during each round.

Select the Calendar Type denoting the required Ceremony Round from the list of ACTIVE and PLANNED graduation calendars available. Necessary details for a Ceremony Round are:

• The Start and End Date Aliases which delimit the period during which possible Graduands are automatically identified. (See example in opposite column)
• A link to one or more Completion Periods, achieved by entering the year and selecting the appropriate period from values End, Mid and Summer in the Ceremony Round Period block

Button

• Access to a list of all Graduands allocated to this Ceremony Round (Manage Ceremony Graduands, GRDF3200) is via the Graduands button on the Ceremony Round block

Notes:

Introductory information on Ceremony Rounds, Start Date Alias, End Date Alias and Completion Periods is given in Understanding Graduation.

Example of using Start and End Date Aliases:
The process to identify students potentially eligible to graduate at May Ceremonies may be limited to running between a Date in the preceding November and one at the end of February.

When Callista automatically identifies and creates Graduand records (GRDJ3100), it compares the Ceremony Round Periods with the student's Completion Year/Period. This is advised by students as the time of their expected Course Completion, and is shown in ADMF3240 and ENRF3000. When the Progression Subsystem becomes available, the System will normally be able to derive a student's Completion Year and Period.

Graduation Ceremony block

One or more Ceremonies can be recorded for each round. Required data for a Ceremony are:

• A Ceremony Number as a unique identifier of each Ceremony in the round. Once the Ceremony has been created, this number cannot be amended
• The Code for the Venue where this Ceremony will be held
• The Date of the Ceremony - a Date Alias Instance selected from those already linked to this Ceremony Round
• A Closing Date Alias Instance marking the cutoff point for the automatic allocation of Graduands to the Ceremony
• The Ceremony Start and End Times (using the 24-hour clock)

Optionally, a Ceremony Fee and the maximum number of Guests per Graduand can be recorded. Currently these are for information only.

Totals fields cannot be accessed. Their values are automatically calculated each time the form is queried, from information in the records of individual Graduands. (See Totals Note in column opposite.)

Notes can be recorded for each Ceremony. Instructions for doing this are found under Notes Facility in the General System Functions and Facilities section.

Buttons

• Use the Graduands button on the Graduation Ceremony block to access GRDF3200 (Manage Ceremony Graduands) in the context of the selected Ceremony
• The Award Ceremony button leads to GRDF2110, which in turn accesses GRDF2120. These forms are used to record details of the courses and unit sets for which awards are to be presented in the Ceremony selected
• The Copy From Ceremony button (Overlay) allows the rollover of a Graduation Ceremony. A Ceremony cannot be the target of a rollover if it already contains underlying details, nor will it rollover if the source ceremony has no structure.

Notes:

Venue Codes for this and other Subsystems are recorded in the form ASSF4200.

The use of Ceremony Date Aliases and Closing Date Aliases is outlined in Understanding Graduation.

The Ceremony and related details can be logically deleted but the Ceremony Number cannot be reused in the same Ceremony Round.

The Ceremony Date Alias Instance and Closing Date Alias Instance cannot be changed once Graduands are allocated to the Ceremony.

It is not possible to update information relating to a Ceremony after the Ceremony Date has passed.

Individual allocation of Graduands to Ceremonies is still possible after the Closing Date, using the form GRDF4210.

Totals.

Combinations of the Graduand Status, Graduand Approval Status and the Graduand Type are used in determining totals, as follows:

• Total
  Graduands with statuses of POTENTIAL or ELIGIBLE to graduate, APPROVED or WAITING approval, and either having indicated they are ATTENDING, that their intention is UNKNOWN or that they are graduating INABSENTIA
• Total Attending
  All those ELIGIBLE, APPROVED or WAITING approval, and who have indicated they will be ATTENDING
• Total Possible
  Total minus Total Attending
• Total Inabsentia
  The sum of graduands with the s_graduand_type of INABSENTIA

The Notes facility can be used to record a description of the Ceremony.