Previous releases

2022 Fall release

1. New Report function: Export study plans (KTH proposal)

A new report function is created that allows for searching through all parts of the desired study plans, not only the search variables that exist today.

2. Consistent date format (KTH proposal)

The system will consistently use the Swedish date format, for example “2022-10-26.”

3. Comment field for administrators (KTH proposal)

The administrators/doctoral studies officers will have a comment field under chapter 7. Comments, like the doctoral student, principal supervisor and programme director have today.

4. More specific blue dotted marking (KTH proposal)

The dotted blue line surrounding parts of the study plan that have been updated since last being established will go down on a lower level, to make it easier for users to discover new information, for example study results imported from Ladok.

5. Automatic log when changing Principal supervisor and Programme director (KTH proposal)

When an administrator changes Principal supervisor or Programme director in a study plan, this will be automatically logged both in the Message log and in Report 4, so any changes made are clear to the users.

6. ”Expand All” remains expanded (KTH proposal)

Subsections in chapters (with + and – signs) will remain expanded when the user presses Edit or Save, instead of collapsing as today.

7. Demarcation line for clarity between posts in the Message Log (KTH proposal)

A line will separate the posts in the Message log so the text does not run together visually, like today.

8. Message Log is removed when the study plan is established (Gothenburg university, GU, proposal)

The Message log will be removed from the study plan when the plan is established. The log will not be available for users after that, except for superadministrators who can find it in Report 4.

9. A column for ”Last Established” in Report 1 (GU proposal)

Report 1 will have a column called ”Last established,” which specifies when the study plans were last established. This will help with follow-ups and keeping the content up to date. (The column also appears in the new report ”Export study plans.”)

10. Expanded permission for Administrators/Doctoral studies officers (Linköping university, LiU, proposal)

Administrators/Doctoral studies officers will have the possibility to change Principal supervisors and Programme directors in the study plans, which today only the superadministrators can do.

11. Notification about revision needed will specify the date for last establishing (GU proposal)

The notification emails sent to Doctoral student and Principal supervisor, and later to the Establisher, will specify the date when the study plan was last established.

12. Help texts possible in all headings in the report functions (GU proposal)

The system will allow for help texts if needed for the headings in the report functions.

13. Chronological sorting (GU proposal)

As many fields as possible should be sorted chronologically, both in the web version and in the PDF, regardless of when they were entered.

2022 Spring release

Here are the proposals that were accepted by the Joint University meeting/ Förvaltningsrådet on October 26, 2021, and were implemented in the spring release on March 23, 2022.

1. Headings under Overview

The page Overview will have two headings for clarity: “Study plans to approve” and “Study plans to revise.” For example principal supervisors may have some study plans that are undergoing revision and some that are due to be revised, and they will be sorted under the two headings.

2. Shortcuts

On the right-hand side, shortcut buttons will allow users to jump between chapters 1-10 and the Message Log, as well as expanding and collapsing the parts of the study plan with buttons + and -. This will reduce scrolling.

3. “Planned degree of activity” will be editable for the doctoral student

Planned degree of activity is now opened up for editing for the doctoral student – so far, only the principal supervisor has been able to do this.

4. Automatic updates will only occur in the status ”Created” and ”Waiting for doctoral student”

Automatic updates are for example new study results that have been registered in Ladok, and that are then imported to the ISP system during revision of the study plan. Previously the data was imported both when the doctoral student and the principal supervisor opened the plan for editing, but this sometimes led to the supervisor being unable to approve and send forward the plan since the imported data counted as a modification of the content, which meant the study plan had to be sent back to the doctoral student.

5. Return to Overview after Approve/Send back

When a user has approved or sent back a study plan, the system will automatically go back to Overview, as opposed to staying on the already handled study plan. This will save time for users who have a number of study plans to handle under Overview (which may be all users except doctoral students).

6. Information added about attached files

Information is saved about the about name and role of the person who attaches files, as well as date and time about when the upload occurred. The information is only saved about files attached after 2022-03-23.

7. “Total current study period used” will take into account the admission type

This calculation will take into account whether the student is admitted toward a doctoral degree or a licentiate degree. Previously this number has always been based on admission toward doctoral degree, which has led to the value being too low for those admitted toward a licentiate degree. (Please observe that the value under “Total current study period used” will be automatically updated for users admitted toward licentiate degree when they log in to edit the study plan next time.)

8. Corrected headings under “3.2.1. Credited courses,” now same as in Ladok

All headlines under Credited courses are now titled the same as in Ladok.

9. Function to update e-mail address and name

The system will have a function that updates e-mail addresses and names when they are changed in the HR system, by automatically sending them to the integration information in the ISP system. If for example a supervisor gets a new email address in the HR system, this will be updated also in the ISP.

10. Clickable links in Report 1

Users that have access to the administrative report functions, will now find that the results in the left-most columns can be clicked on, to open respective study plan. Right-clicking and opening in a new tab also works.

The study plan is opened in observer-mode or edit-mode depending on the status of the study plan, and role the user has in the approval process. The clickable links exist only in the report listing within the ISP-system, not in the Excel version of the report.

11. Text field under “8. Approvals” will be editable even if checked No or Not Specified

The associated text field for 8. Approvals is available to edit regardless of button selection for Permits required: Yes/No/Not specified.

12. Descriptive texts in Reports 1 and 2

There will be a short explanatory text at the top of the two reports that summarize what the reports can be used for. Each university can change the text locally.

13. Clearer confirmation when changing principal supervisor and programme director

When a superadmin has changed the principal supervisor or programme director in a study plan, the system will confirm the change in a clearer way than today.

14. Possibility to copy content from the system to the test environment more often

The universities will be able to copy the content of the system to the test environment used by the superadmins more often. Presently it is done once a term and there is no need to change that at the moment.

15. Expanded integration information

The system will allow for more information to be sent over from the HR systems of the universities, although this will also need local development to be implemented.

2021 Fall release

Here are the proposals that were accepted by the Joint University meeting/ Förvaltningsrådet on April 19, 2021, and was implemented in the fall release on October 27, 2021.

1. The Message Log can be open during editing of the study plan

The user will be able to have both the Message Log and another chapter of the study plan open and edit both simultaneously. The log can also be pinned at the bottom of the screen while open.

2. Clearer help texts

The help texts will have a grey background so as not to be as easily mixed up with the other texts.

3. Email notification to principal supervisor

The principal supervisor will get an email notification when the study plan is sent back to the doctoral student during revision.

4. Improved calendar

The calendar in the study plan will be improved with the possibility of choosing month and year in a drop-down menu.

5. Clearer when having multiple study plans open in different tabs

The name of the doctoral student will be displayed at the top of the study plan, next to the reference number, as well as in the browser tab, to make it easier for reviewers who have multiple plans opens simultaneously to keep them apart.

6. New option: “Not specified”

The new default option “Not specified” will be introduced for fields where the user today chooses between “Yes” and “No” and today’s default is “No.” Study plans that are already checked “No” or “Yes” will not be automatically checked to “Not specified” however.

7. Change in permission “Observer (school)”

Users with the permission “Observer (school)” will be able to view study plans with the status Created and Waiting for, in addition to those with the status Established as today.

8. Entering time as hours

It will be possible to enter time as hours in the sections “2.3 Departmental duties: to date and planned” and “2.4 Past and present leaves/assignments that constitute grounds for extensions/special reasons” in addition to todays percentage and days.

9. Better filtering when entering a new assistant supervisor

When entering a new assistant supervisor, the user will be able to search all schools at once.

10. New search variable: Deviations

The section “5.7 Deviations from previous study plan” will be searchable in Report 2 for those that have that function.

11. The SCB subject is removed

Some study plans have a so called SCB subject that KTH does not utilize, and this will be removed.

12. Unnecessary drop-down menus are removed

Drop-down menus that only contain one option will be removed.

13. Subject code will be a search variable

Subject code will be searchable in Report 1 and 2. (Requested by Linköping.)

14. HTML in texts

The superadmin will be able to use HTML in some texts for improves clarity (for example the help texts).

15. Function to remove notifications

The superadmin will be able to pause or remove notifications sent out. This should be an unusual action.

16. Acting establisher will have the function of regular establisher

The acting establisher in the system will be able to send the plan forward in place of the doctoral student and principal supervisor. This should be an unusual action.

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2021 Spring release

Here are the proposals that were accepted by the Joint University meeting/ Förvaltningsråd on October 20, 2020, and are planned for the spring release on March 24, 2021.

1. A warning will prevent simultaneous editing of the study plan

The entire ISP, including the Message Log will warn a second user if someone is already editing it (like for example doctoral student and supervisor when the ISP has the status Created).

2. Sorting of incoming study plans by arrival date on the Overview page

For users such as supervisors and administrative officers who deal with a lot of study plans, the work will be facilitated by having them sorted on date.

3. Function for doctoral students to initiate a revision of the study plan

Doctoral students will be able to initiate revisions of the study plan like the supervisor does today. An email is sent to the principal supervisor when the doctoral student starts a revision.

4. Increased maximum input under section 6: Meetings

The maximum number of characters will be 8.000 just like section 7: Comments.

5. Accessibility: Navigating with the keyboard for those that need/would like to

Users will be able to navigate without a mouse or other mousetrapping device.

6. Study period used (%) will be specified more – not only net time added up

The central change here is a new field named ”Current rate of study” (in this picture numbered as nr. 1 in orange) that when expanded specifies the rate of study from Ladok for every term. The picture shows this expanded. The earlier, aggregated, figure for this is still present with a small change of name, and is now called “Total current study period used (%) – Ladok” (nr. 2 in orange in this picture). The fields “Planned degree of activity” and “Work achieved so far…” are still present although somewhat relocated in the 2.1 frame.

7. The Doctoral Student’s email will be obligatory information in the study plan

The study plan cannot be sent forward if the email field is empty. This is to ensure that there is an address available in the system.

8. The Programme Director will be notified when the study plan is established

The Programme Director will be notified as this is one of the roles in the approval process.

9. Other roles than the principle supervisor will be able to edit the field “Doctoral program”

Under 1. Basic information, the doctoral student will be able to fill out this field.

10. The ”Change Permission” function will be made clearer and more user-friendly

For users with more than one role in the system, for example supervisor and programme director: “Change Permission” will be moved to the meny on the left instead of behind the person-icon at the top right of the screen, as the current placement has caused problems in some cases.

11. Create a comments field for Programme Directors under section 7 in the study plan

Information could be about the progress of the doctoral student and will be saved in the established study plan like the other comments. Please note that when comments are made the study plan is sent back to the doctoral student for approval as with other changes to the plan.

12. Change texts in the role titles at the top of the screen

There will be a text edit function for superusers so each university can decide for themselves what terms should be at the top.

(Moved to the fall of 2021 release: A function will be created for superusers to pause or remove notifications)

Notifications are rarely removed, and today this needs to be done by Lunds Datacentral, LDC, on request of the superuser. (Superusers are the eISP systems specialist and one colleague at the VoS unit at the KTH Education Office.)

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2020 Fall release

These changes were implemented in the fall release on November 4, 2020

1. Fewer clicks in the study plan – function to Expand all and Collapse all

Two blue buttons called “+Expand all” and “+Collapse all” allows the user to expand and collapse all the sections of the study plan in one click. The parts can also be opened and closed individually.

2. More information in notifications

Establishers who receive notifications about overdue revisions of study plans will have the names and emails to both the doctoral student and the principle supervisor in the notifications in the eISP as well as in the email sent out.

3. Bug: Report 1

A bug that affected the search windows in the function Report 1 has been fixed.

4. New search function in Report 2 under Activities/International participation

Users of Report 2 can now search for International participation and Year of graduation.

5. Local degree objectives: KTH's Sustainable Development Objectives

KTH's Sustainable Development Objectives will be found under section 9, along with Activities planned and realized in order to fulfil the objective

6. Departmental duties in percent or days

In the field Departmental duties under section 2.3 the user can choose between the value percent or days.

7. Searching for planned courses in Report 2

Administrative users will be able to search for planned courses for doctoral students on their school.

8. Page numbers on the PDF

The PDF version of the study plan will have page numbers. Already established study plans will have them appear in the next revision.

9. Report 2

The administrative function Report 2 has new search functions.