Milestone System

The milestone system tracks student progress through program requirements, thesis stages, and other academic checkpoints.

Overview

What Are Milestones?

Milestones are:

• Defined checkpoints in academic progress
• Trackable with submission and approval workflows
• Configurable for different programs
• Triggering notifications and reminders

Milestone Components

Component	Description
Templates	Milestone definitions
Instances	Assigned milestones for specific students
Sets	Groups of related milestones
Approvals	Review workflow for submissions

Milestone Templates

Template Properties

Each template defines:

• Name - Milestone title
• Description - What's required
• Category - Type of milestone
• Applicable To - Who it applies to
• Approval Requirements - Who must approve
• Form Schema - Data to collect
• Deadline Rules - When it's due

Categories

Category	Examples
thesis_progress	Draft submission, data collection
committee_formation	Committee selection, approval
defense	Proposal defense, final defense
annual_review	Yearly progress review
administrative	Paperwork, registrations
presentation	Conference talks, lab meetings
submission	Paper submissions

Creating Templates

1. Go to Admin → Milestones → Templates
2. Click Create Template
3. Fill in template details
4. Define approval workflow
5. Add form fields (if needed)
6. Save

Milestone Sets

What Are Sets?

Sets group related milestones:

• Honors Thesis Set - All thesis milestones
• PhD Year 1 Set - First-year requirements
• Annual Review Set - Yearly checkpoints

Creating Sets

1. Go to Admin → Milestones → Sets
2. Click Create Set
3. Name and describe the set
4. Add templates to the set
5. Set order and dependencies
6. Save

Milestone Instances

Assigning Milestones

When a student enters a program or starts thesis:

1. System creates instances from templates
2. Instances are linked to the student
3. Deadlines are calculated
4. Approvers are determined

Instance States

State	Description
not_started	Milestone not begun
in_progress	Student working on it
submitted	Awaiting review
under_review	Being evaluated
revision_requested	Needs changes
approved	Completed successfully
completed	Finalized
exempted	Requirement exempted
waived	Requirement waived

State Transitions

not_started → in_progress → submitted → under_review
                                            │
                    ┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
                    │                       │                       │
                    ▼                       ▼                       ▼
            revision_requested          approved              rejected
                    │                       │
                    │                       ▼
                    └────────────────► completed

Approval Workflow

All approvals run through the unified workflow engine (Workflow → WorkflowInstance → StageInstance → StageApproval). When a student submits something for review, the entity itself simply carries the status submitted — per-approver progress is tracked on StageApproval records, each of which moves through:

Approval status	Meaning
pending	Awaiting this approver's decision
approved	This approver signed off
rejected	This approver rejected
revision_requested	This approver asked for changes
delegated	Passed to another approver

Approval Roles & Ordering

Who approves each stage (advisor, committee members, program committee, department admin) and whether they act sequentially or in parallel is defined on the Workflow itself — workflow definitions are seeded at application boot and managed in the program consoles' Workflows tab. Approver assignment is resolved automatically per entity (e.g., the student's advisor, the relevant committee group).

To change an approval chain, edit the workflow's stages and approver roles in the Workflows tab rather than per-milestone configuration.

Deadlines and Reminders

Deadline Calculation

Deadlines can be:

• Fixed Date - Specific calendar date
• Relative - Offset from another date
• Rolling - Repeating interval

Reminder Configuration

Set up automatic reminders:

• Days before deadline
• Reminder frequency
• Notification channels (email, in-app)
• Escalation rules

Example Configuration

Defense Milestone:
  Deadline: Thesis submission date + 30 days
  Reminders:
    - 14 days before: First reminder
    - 7 days before: Second reminder
    - 1 day before: Final reminder
  Escalation:
    - Overdue: Notify advisor

Form Schemas

Custom Fields

Milestones can collect data:

• Text responses
• File uploads
• Date selections
• Checkboxes
• Signatures

Schema Definition

Define fields in JSON schema format:

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "abstract": {
      "type": "string",
      "title": "Thesis Abstract"
    },
    "defense_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date",
      "title": "Proposed Defense Date"
    }
  }
}

Notifications

Notification Events

Automatic notifications for:

• Milestone assigned
• Deadline approaching
• Submission received
• Approval required
• Status changed
• Revision requested

Email Templates

Each event can use custom email templates:

1. Go to Admin → Email Templates
2. Create template for milestone event
3. Link template to milestone
4. Configure recipients

Reporting

Milestone Reports

Generate reports showing:

• Milestone completion rates
• Overdue milestones
• Approval timelines
• Student progress summaries

Accessing Reports

1. Go to Admin → Reports → Milestones
2. Select report type
3. Filter by program, date, status
4. Export as needed

Troubleshooting

Milestone Not Appearing

1. Verify set is assigned to student
2. Check instance was created
3. Confirm student has correct role
4. Review visibility settings

Approval Stuck

1. Check all required approvers
2. Verify approver has permission
3. Review approval configuration
4. Manually advance if needed