This case study was written by Alice Gianella, Programmes Administrator for UG Economics and MRes Programmes in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Background Context

Every semester we (the Programmes Administrative team) receive an influx of emails regarding module changes. By using Power Automate and in collaboration with the automation officer, we were able to create a sophisticated workflow that reduces this email traffic and filter students responses into our Teams page.

Approach

I created a form using Microsoft Forms, which provides a link to share with students when unit selections are required. Once the form is submitted, the results filter into our shared Teams space where the requests are listed within a Microsoft List. The administrators are then able to view each request and update the data in SAMIS accordingly.

Using this approach, not only are the students contacted via email when the request is submitted to confirm receipt, but once administrators have changed the status from 'To Do' to 'Completed' or 'Rejected', another email is automatically sent therefore saving a lot of time typing up similar emails and standardised correspondence.

At the end of each unit selection, the team can download the spreadsheet from Lists (as a back up) and refresh the report. It is easy to amend per semester and year which makes it perfect to use.

The image above is a screenshot of the list created to use with the Power Automate flow where the Microsoft Form information is populated. It contains all the helpful information we need to contact students and update information on SAMIS. The green 'Yes' option is changed by the administrator once a module change has been updated.

Purpose

We always receive so many unit change emails and therefore this tends to clog up our inbox where we may miss more important queries. The automation of this process has not only stopped our inbox filling up, but it also gives us a set place to view the changes and update once amended.

Furthermore, the process has been set up to automatically send an emails to the student(s) once the unit change has been received and once the administrator has updated this on SAMIS. We can track emails via the report to ensure that they are sent successfully. These reports run at the end of every day so it captures the updates from the day.

In the image above, it shows the section on the list from within Teams where we can add additional information to send to the student. For example, if a unit is full, we have to reject the request. We would add a note in this section to explain why it has been rejected so the student can submit another option.

Results and Outcomes

Overall this process has really helped with our team's time management. Something which used to consume a considerable amount of our time (responding to emails and then updating in SAMIS) has now been significantly reduced due to this process. The only steps we now have to do is access the report on Teams, view the new requests and update in SAMIS as needed.

Benefits and Limitations

The pros of the approach and experience:

• Reduced email traffic
• Students contacted automatically
• One set location for us to all access and update according
• Area in the list on Teams for us to provide additional comments we wish to be included in the email to the students
• Easy to update and replicate for different semesters/academic year updates

The cons of the approach and experience:

• Team members will need basic training on the process and documentation provided in the case of any handover.

Further reading

• Microsoft Lists App | Microsoft 365
• Microsoft Forms | Surveys, Polls, and Quizzes
• Why Use Power Automate – Automation | Microsoft Power Platform

For any follow up questions about this process, Alice and and Undergraduate Admin Team can be contacted at economics-ug-admin@bath.ac.uk.