24th July 2023 to present
Birmingham City University
Academic Services
Developed and deployed a self-certification system for students at BCU, with automated notifications, rule enforcement, and a staff portal for managing submissions. Led the project, overseeing development, testing, and deployment in collaboration with administrative staff.
I led the design, development, and deployment of a self-certification system for students at Birmingham City University (BCU). The system allows students to submit self-certifications for extenuating circumstances under strict rules, such as a limit of one submission per semester. Automated email notifications inform both students and staff upon submission, and students can cancel submissions if they are unprocessed.
In addition, I developed a staff-facing portal to enable administrative teams to search and review all submitted self-certifications. The new system was designed to integrate seamlessly with BCUâs existing legacy systems, which support the broader management of extenuating circumstances. I worked closely with administrative staff to gather requirements, conduct thorough testing, and ensure the solution aligned with institutional policies. The project delivered a reliable, user-friendly platform that streamlined the management of self-certifications for students and staff while complementing existing processes.
Participated in the testing and configuration of critical software updates, ensuring these were rigorously validated in non-production environments prior to deployment in the live environment.
Key Responsibilities
Delivered critical updates to a student change request system, ensuring successful deployment across development, testing, and production environments. Spearheaded the go-live process and led post-launch support, transitioning the tool to a stable, maintenance-focused phase.
Developed and led enhancements to BCU's Extenuating Circumstances portal, including the automation of missing assessment record generation and the implementation of a bulk deletion process for staff. Ensured data integrity by marking records as deleted while retaining them in the database.
Spearheaded a project to improve functionality within BCU's Extenuating Circumstances (EC) portal in e:Vision, accessed by staff and students. The project delivered several key improvements, including:
The project involved end-to-end development and leadership, including writing PL/SQL scripts to accurately process selected EC records. These enhancements significantly improved staff efficiency and user experience while maintaining robust data management practices.
DevOps ref. 12867
Contributed to the ongoing maintenance and enhancement of systems enabling students to report absences and staff to review and manage submissions efficiently.
BCU implemented complex rules to determine when a studentâs absence required tutor authorization. A critical factor involved calculating the total absence days for each student within the current academic year. I developed a robust process using PL/SQL to accurately compute two key metrics:
Managed and maintained e:Vision functionality related to dissertation and placement processes, providing tailored interfaces for both staff and students.
Administrative staff required the ability to assign a secondary dissertation supervisor to students when needed. I developed functionality to support this requirement, ensuring that students could easily view details of their assigned supervisor(s) through e:Vision. DevOps ref. 12127.
Developed a process to manage the transfer of contact point records (ENL) between student records, typically required when a student changed courses.
When students transferred courses, their associated contact point records needed to be copied accurately to the new course record. I designed and implemented a complex, iterative process using PL/SQL to automate this task. The solution ensured data consistency and integrity across records, reducing manual intervention and improving operational efficiency.