Research Management (RES): Third-party funding module now online
The first major module in Research Management has been operational since mid-June: the ‘Projects’ work package (third-party funding report) is now available to administrative staff at the University and the University Hospital. This is an important step towards providing the transparency required for third-party funded research under the State Higher Education Act in a digital format without any disruption to the user experience.
Looking ahead
- Over the coming months, we will be rolling out training sessions for administrative staff and setting up a wiki and FAQ pages.
- From the start of next year, researchers will be able to submit their third-party funding declarations via the portal.
- In parallel, technical planning is underway for the ‘Publications’ work package. This module will enable all members of the university to enter publication data directly into the campus portal or import it via interfaces (including BibTeX, ORCID and OPARU).
Course, Examination and Degree Programme Management (EXA): Migration Successful
The migration of examination regulations and rules for 10 Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes has been successfully completed. The “Global Configuration” is being implemented step by step.
An important step for the future is the continuation of the EXA competence team’s involvement until the end of the winter semester 2028/29. The EXA competence team is the central authority for bundling the faculties’ requirements for the new system. It is responsible for the migration and maintenance of the modules, courses and examination organisation data in the system. With the EXA competence team’s involvement in the project, we can ensure that degree programme, examination and course management is optimally tailored to the needs of students and faculty at Ulm University.
Starting in August, the members of the EXA competence team will have the opportunity to gain initial insights into the student, examiner and examination coordination functions in our new system.
Reporting (BI): New roles and analyses
The BI expert role is now available for degree programme coordinators and administrative staff. This eliminates the need to query student statistics via the SAP reporting portal; the corresponding analysis options can now only be found in the campus portal.
Further standard reports (e.g. on study progress) will be made available in the current quarter. We are also working on optimising the transfer of reports between the system pillars.
Doctoral Student Administration (DOC): Postponement of the first product launch to November 2026
The product launch of the ‘Application for Admission as a Doctoral Student’ module, originally scheduled for June 2026, must be postponed to November 2026.
Reasons for the postponement:
- Creating the forms proved more time-consuming than anticipated, and there was insufficient time for comprehensive testing.
- Doctoral programmes still need to be fully assigned to the newly introduced ‘teaching units’ in order to ensure that access rights are granted in accordance with the GDPR.
We will use the time until November to carry out final testing, map the doctoral regulations and import data for external supervisors.
Organisational structure: Introduction of ‘teaching units’
A key focus over the coming months will be the implementation of the ‘teaching unit’ as a new organisational unit within our IT systems. This is necessary to ensure that data processing on the Campus Portal complies with data protection regulations through the use of roles and permissions.
We would like to thank all colleagues in the faculties and the administration for their cooperation during the functional tests, as well as all users for their understanding regarding the necessary adjustments. Our shared goal is a stable and user-friendly system.
We will keep you informed regarding further milestones.