Latest Features, Updates and Bug Fixes (July 2019)

This post is simply to provide an update on a number of the features, updates and bug fixes we have recently added into Guru. As always, thanks for all the suggestions and reports that help us to improve our systems.

New Features (July 2019)

1. Changed the upload functionality for exam papers to try multiple template passwords when accepting the upload. Previously, only the latest template password was checked by default.
2. Added new enhanced localisation functionality for examination paper templates. This allows all text on the front cover sheet to be completely customisable by each local institution (without any coding changes).
3. Added audit recording for adding / removing ‘Watch’ notifications on examination papers.
4. Various interfaces in Guru now show a warning when CAPSLOCK is toggled while the user is entering a password.
5. Password retrieval functionality has been improved to handle multi-user scenarios more effectively.
6. Increased file upload size for examination papers from 20Mb to 50Mb in order to cater for occasional very large files.
7. A new facility has been added to allow the transfer of ownership of an examination document to a new user. This facility is available to SUPERUSERs only and can be found on the ‘My Documents’ page after switching to the original owning author. (Figure: Facility to allow the transfer of ownership of documents in the event of retirement or other unavailability causes)
8. Added new functionality to protect against creating duplicate users in the user interface. This could occur where a user manager in one school would not have access to view/edit users in another school. When a user changed department, this could have resulted in two accounts: User1 in the old school (retired) and User2 in the new school (active). New functionality will detect where a user already exists and will allow the user manager to “transfer ownership” of that user to a new unit. Once transferred, this allows the new user manager to take responsibility for that user.
9. Added a new report facility showing module assignments to both internal academics and external examiners. This report was added to the existing module allocation facility under the section ‘Module Ownership Report’. This generates an export of a form like that shown below:

Bug Fixes/System Updates (July 2019)

1. Added new functionality to backup databases in an additional AWS site (typically Frankfurt). This is to cover the possibility of a critical failure at the Dublin data center of AWS.
2. Improved code to return unused database connections - over a number of weeks and in certain specific circumstances this could have resulted in system interruption.
3. Added in some additional status which trigger ‘Watch’ notification messages (e.g. response from extern).
4. Fixed pagination issues on search results.
5. Removed the scenario where final external examiner reports could sometimes be listed twice on the interface.
6. Added a disk space check to servers that run on an hourly basis to highlight where institution servers are reaching hard-drive capacity.
7. Hid some unnecessary menu options on the external examiner financial information page.
8. Fixed an issue where certain users were being sent emails relating to missing module reports despite their accounts being disabled.
9. Modified the ‘Module Sets’ (DCU-only) functionality to include modules from future curriculum years before year rollover.
10. Fixed an issue where saving of a user, following a previous validation check, could result in a page that was not properly formatted.
11. Improved the responsiveness of the role allocation facility to work across a wider variety of screen sizes.
12. New security updates following most recent penetration security tests.

As always, keep the issues and suggestions coming and thanks for all your help with designing our systems.