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  4. Doctoral Actions Workflow User Guide - DGS

Doctoral Actions Workflow User Guide - DGS

The Kuali workflow application has been implemented for graduate students to request to appoint or modify their Ph.D. committee, schedule or modify their qualifying exam, schedule or modify their dissertation defense, request to extend the deadline to enter candidacy, request to extend candidacy, and/or submit exam or defense results. Departmental administrators will utilize the Kuali workflow application to review doctoral workflow requests for their students. Students and administrators should refer to the Graduate School catalog for academic regulations.

To view a pdf version of this user guide, including screenshots of YES, click here: Doctoral Actions Workflow User Guide - DGS Approval.

Reviewing the Doctoral Actions Workflow Request

  1. Once a request for doctoral action has been directed to you, you will receive an email. Click Begin Review to access the form.
  2. Information about the student appears in the Student Information section.
  3. The Action(s) Requested section reflects the student’s choice(s) of doctoral actions (appoint or modify their Ph.D. committee, schedule or modify their qualifying exam, schedule or modify their dissertation defense, request to extend the deadline to enter candidacy, request to extend candidacy, and/or submit exam or defense results. Please refer to the Graduate School catalog for detailed information about requirements. 
Appoint or Modify the Ph.D. Committee
  1. The selected action (Create or Modify) is reflected in the Action section.
  2. Committee members are listed, and any additional documentation required for non-Graduate Faculty is provided in the File Upload section. 
Schedule or Modify the Qualifying Exam

The selected action (Schedule or Modify) is reflected in the Qualifying Exam Action section. The Graduate School must be notified at least two weeks in advance.

Schedule or Modify the Dissertation Defense

The selected action (Schedule or Modify) is reflected in the Defense Action section. The Graduate School must be notified at least two weeks in advance.

The following sub-actions are available:

  • Extend Deadline for Qualifying Exams
  • Extend Candidacy
  • Qualifying Exam Results
  • Defense Results

Approval Workflow/Timeline

Doctoral Action requests route first to the program administrator for review. The Director of Graduate Studies is the second step in the workflow. Once the DGS approves a request, it routes to the Graduate School for final review and then to the Office of the University Registrar for processing.

Approving the Doctoral Actions Workflow Request

  1. Leave a comment in the Department Comments box, if desired. Comments will be visible to administrators, but not to the student.
  2. Attach a file, if needed.
  3. Click Approve.
  4. The request will now be routed to the Graduate School.

Denying the Doctoral Actions Workflow Request

  1. Leave a comment in the Department Comments box, if desired.
    • NOTE: Any comments in this box, whether left by the Graduate School or the departmental administrator, will be included in the denial notification email sent to the student.
  2. Click Deny.
  3. The student will be notified via email that the request has been denied.

Sending the Doctoral Actions Workflow Request Back to the Student

If, during the course of your review, you notice something that requires the student or the program administrator to change the request, you can send the request back. 

  1. Leave a comment in the Department Comments box, if desired. Comments will be visible to administrators but not to the student.
  2. Click Send Back.
  3. Select to whom the form should be returned: the student (Form Submission) or the Program Administrator (Program Administrator Approval).
  4. Add comments. These will be included in the send back notification.
  5. The user will be notified via email that the request has been sent back for additional action. 

Accessing Your Work Queue

In addition to clicking on the Begin Review button embedded in the notification emails, you can access your work queue at the following web address: https://vanderbilt.kualibuild.com/. Click Action List. 

Accessing the Documents List

To see a list of doctoral action requests in your department, access the home screen at https://vanderbilt.kualibuild.com/. Click the Doctoral Actions tile, and you will see a highly configurable listing of all submitted requests. By turning on and off “Columns” and using different filters, you can customize your experience with data elements you may find helpful. (A helpful starting point is here: https://vanderbilt.kualibuild.com/document-list/64108a7cf4e2d81965298e12.)

  1. To turn columns on and off, click Columns in the top row. A list of available fields will appear. Click on the eyeball icon to add or delete a column from your view.
  2. To export data, click Export in the top row. You can select to export either what you see on your screen (Current View) or all available data (All Data).

Questions

Please contact the YES Help Line at yes@vanderbilt.edu or 615-343-4306 if you have questions or need additional assistance.