FAQs May 2014

 1.    How do I login/logout of NESS?

To login to NESS click on the link; which can be found at the bottom of the Staff Web Page under Academic Resources.

Or use the URL: https://ness.ncl.ac.uk

To log out simply close the session window and you will be logged out.

 2.    How do I change a member of staff’s access permissions?

You must be the designated Key or Super User in the School and have higher permissions than the member of staff to update their permissions. To edit a user’s permissions go to Admin>Staff>>View Staff List and click on the photo of the appropriate member of staff.

The permissions are divided into the categories below:-

• Attendance: Attendance Input/Attendance Admin
• Demonstrating
• Admin: General Admin/Exam Admin/Coursework Admin/DPD/Locksmith
• Mark Input: Exam Marks/Coursework Marks
• Delivery: Module Leader/Module Support/Project Supervisor/Marker
• Other: Tutor

Each member of staff has a ‘home’ school, to which the permissions selected above apply to. If the member of staff also needs access to student data/marks for another school, then you can add other departments. In the section ‘Other Departments’ select the required school from the ‘Works With’ drop down box. The user will now be able to do all the things they can in their home school for this ‘Works With’ school (you can also edit theses permissions). There is also an ‘Other School’ drop down for members of staff who are split between two schools.

 3.    How do I set a member of staff as Inactive in NESS?

Go to the Staff Information page Admin>Staff>>View Staff List and then click on the photo of the appropriate staff member. In the ‘Status Control’ section, select the ‘Inactive’ checkbox and click ‘Update’.

  4.    How do I remove a student who is wrongly registered on a Module?

NESS receives module registration data automatically from SAP. Therefore the correct procedure to remove a student from a module would be to update SAP and this information will automatically filter through to NESS overnight and delete the module there. However, if a student has data in NESS pertaining to the module such as attendance, it will not automatically be deleted in NESS. You can manually remove the student from the module in NESS if this is required:-

• Go to Module>Admin>>Edit Participants and select the appropriate module.
• The list of students registered on the module will be displayed with a ‘Remove’ checkbox next to each student.
• Select the appropriate ‘remove checkbox’ and click on ‘Modify’ at the bottom of the page.

5.    What is a Carrier Student and how do I set them up?

 

Students marked as PCF for their Stage decision for the previous year are allowed to carry module/s (normally no more than 20 credits) into the current academic year whilst they proceed with their new Stage.

 

At the start of the current academic year go to Exam Board>>Carriers and enter a student ID plus the module/modules they are carrying, then click on ‘Update’. These modules will appear in their ‘Assessment Summary’ highlighted in yellow and will be increase the number of credits they are registered for in NESS in the current year.

 

There will be no module decision in the current year but releasing modules for the student in the current year will send the marks up to SAP to update the student’s record for the previous year and there will be a third ‘Board Decision’ record in NESS.

 

6.    What is an External Student and how do I set them up?

 

If UG students fails more than 20 credits at the resit Exam Boards in September they are usually not allowed to progress to the next Stage in the next academic year and will return (depending on the number of credits failed) as either:

a)      External Students (cannot attend lectures and normally do not register properly)

Or

b)     Part-time Students (pay fees for the modules they are resitting and attend lectures).

These student’s records should always be checked carefully; in particular their attempt numbers and whether they have the correct module records. Module records for part-time students are usually imported into NESS because the student registers on the modules but external students often only have to register for the exams and therefore their modules are not imported at the start of the year into NESS automatically.

 

To check, and if necessary, correct their records go to Students>>Find a Student. Normally external students have a warning triangle next to their name indicating that the student is not fully registered. Click on the Pencil Icon (Modify) and scroll to the bottom of that screen where the list of modules the student is registered on should appear; the modules the student needs to do will probably not be listed here. You need to add all of the modules by selecting the module codes from the drop down list or if the module is from another School; enter the code in the space next to the drop down list then tab out of the field and click ‘update’.

 

You should also remove any modules which the student should not be taking in the current year in Module>Admin>>Edit Participants. The student will have pre-registered for the next academic year/stage before they were informed they could not continue and these modules must be removed both in SAP and in NESS.

 

For part-time students (as in students returning to redo failed modules) the steps are almost exactly the same as those for External students but the modules they are attempting for a third attempt are normally in NESS when you check.

 

7.    How do I setup an extension for a coursework exercise?

 

Go to Coursework>Admin>>Extensions select the appropriate module and piece of coursework. Enter the student number, date and time of extension.

 

The checkbox “Mail Tutor” automatically sends an email to the students tutor informing them of the extension.

 

Once you have filled in all the details click on “Grant”. The page should refresh and details of the students with extensions for the piece of coursework will be displayed at the top of the page.

 

8.    Why are my marks not pulling through to the Exams>Edit>>Module Summary page?

 

If there are no marks displayed on this page it means either the assessment has not been set up correctly and/or the module has not been totalled.

 

To check the assessment set up go to Exams>Setting>>Set up Assessment and check everything is set up correctly.

 

Then go to Exams>Admin>>Total Module and select the module/assessment from the dropdown boxes on the left. Select ‘Total and Combine’ marks; when you back to Exams>Edit>>Module Summary the marks should be displayed.

 

 

9. How do I pass a module by discretion

10. How do I pass a stage by discretion

11. How are compensatable marks compensated

 

12.      Why do students display as having failed credits for a module on the exam board summary when their mark is clearly a pass?

If the student’s mark indicates a pass but the exam board summary is displaying a fail it could be because the module decision is set to ‘F’ on the Module Summary.

• Go to “Exams-Edit-Module Summary” selecting the appropriate module and assessment.
• Scroll to the appropriate student and check the column “Cls”. If the wrong classification is displayed, you can select the “Reset Decisions” button (this resets all students’ decision) at the top of the page or manually change the decision for the student.
• You must select “Update” at the bottom of the page to store the changes.
• When you go back to the exam board summary the students stage decision record will be automatically recalculated and should no longer be displaying a fail for the module.

Please note if you are working in a previous academic year you must have “Locksmith” permissions to make any changes.