Modernising Supervisor Role Management and the Form S Process

The Postgraduate Research (PGR) Student Product Team has been established to modernise and improve processes supporting research student administration. The team is currently working on two key initiatives aimed at simplifying workflows, enhancing data quality, and improving the overall staff and student experience.

Improving Research Supervisor Role Management

Following a detailed review in 2024, work is now underway to transfer the Research Supervisor Role Management process from the HR system into Portico. This change will deliver several important benefits:

• A single source of truth for supervisor role information, removing the need for data transfers between systems.
• Simplified and more consistent role records, supporting easier maintenance and more reliable reporting.
• Improved data quality through new validation checks that are not possible in the current system.
• Opportunities to automate access to Portico’s research student management functionality.

Form S Process Review

The Form S process for postgraduate research studentships has also been identified as a priority area for improvement. Throughout this term, the team will be conducting a series of consultation sessions with key stakeholders to:

• Map existing workflows and user journeys
• Identify duplication, pain points, and inefficiencies
• Understand user needs and expectations
• Highlight opportunities and priorities for improvement

Next Steps

Updates will be provided as work progresses on these two process improvements. If you would like to know more about either of these initiatives or the work of the Product Team, please contact Paula Speller, PGR Student Product Owner (p.speller@ucl.ac.uk).