Subsystem

Assessments

Purpose

The process automatically creates tracking items for students' assignments.

An exception report lists those records it is unable to process, providing details of the student unit attempt and the attempted action.

Normally Run By

Scheduled to run in batch mode as required

Anticipated Frequency

Whenever assignment cover sheets are produced. Generally set up as a standing request to run at regular intervals, such as weekly.

Update Process(es)

Automatically creates a tracking item to track a student's assignment

Reports

Initiate a Tracking Item for the Assignment - Exception Report

Parameter Sample

Related/Dependent Jobs

Must be run in conjunction with, and prior to, the process ASSJ3500 - Create Assignment Cover Sheets

Update Process

The process automatically creates a tracking item for those student unit attempt assessment items defined by the job parameters. Assignment tracking items have steps inherited from their tracking type. These steps are mapped to four System defined steps, although the tracking type, and therefore tracking items, may have extra steps not mapped to the System steps. The System defined steps and their meanings are:

• ASSIGN-DUE - Assignment submitted by student
• ASSIGN-ASS - Assignment sent to assessor for marking
• ASSIGN-MRK - Marked assignment returned from assessor
• ASSIGN-RTN - Assignment returned to student

When this process creates a tracking item:

• the tracking steps of the tracking type ASSIGNMENT default to the tracking item
• the action date of the first System defined tracking step (ASSIGN-DUE) is set to the due date of the unit attempt assessment item
• the action dates of the remaining tracking steps are calculated from the 'action date' of the first step and the 'action days' defined (in TRKF1100) for the remaining steps of the tracking type ASSIGNMENT.

Run Details

This job is run in batch mode at the time assignment cover sheets are produced. This is usually prior to commencement of the relevant teaching period and certainly prior to sending details of assessment requirements to off-campus students. It must be run in the same job request as ASSJ3500 - Create Assignment Cover Sheets.

Refer to the Job Control and Scheduling subsystem for details of scheduling and running batch jobs.

Job Parameters

Job parameters are used to:

• limit the set of students to which the process is applied. For example, the process can be run for students in a particular teaching period or in a particular course
• record values to be inserted for each tracking item created by this job
• Tracking Type - enter the tracking type to be recorded for all tracking items created when this process is run (the selected tracking type must be mapped to the System tracking type ASSIGNMENT).
• Tracking Status - enter the user defined tracking status to be recorded for all tracking items created when this process is run. The status must be one which is mapped to the System tracking status ACTIVE.
• Tracking Start Date - defaults to the current date and time but may be overridden. It is recorded against each tracking item created by this process.
• Tracking Originator - defaults to the current user but may be overridden. It is recorded against each tracking item created by this process.
• Previous Run Date - entering a date on which this report was run previously causes all other parameters to be ignored. No processing takes place, but instead the exception report for the previous run date is reproduced.

Report(s)

The Exceptions Report

The exceptions report can contain many types of entry which can be divided into two groupings:

• Records for which the System could not create a tracking item. This occurs when a combination of data in the student unit attempt assessment item and/or the tracking item is such that a complete tracking item record cannot be created or an invalid tracking item record would be created. The report provides clear descriptive messages to advise the cause of these exceptions. Rectification relies on the user having detailed understanding of the Assessments and Tracking subsystems.
• Records which could not be processed because the record was locked by another process. In this case the job should be rerun. Most locks are of short duration and will not be present when the job is rerun. Persistent locks may result from 'detached processes' and must be investigated by your Database Administrator.