iPaMS

Integrated Programme and

Module System

Training Document

Contents

Page iPaMS Overview...............................................................................................1 How to Browse or Find Existing Modules........................................................2 How to Copy Forward an Existing Module......................................................4 How to Add a New Module.............................................................................6 Editing and Entering Module Data..................................................................8 Appendix.......................................................................................................12 Contact Us.....................................................................................................13

iPaMS Overview

iPaMS (integrated Programme and Module System) is an internally funded project, building on an

earlier JISC project, to create an enterprise wide database of all data related to modules and

programmes and other learning opportunities. Furthermore, the workflow related to the approval of

new courses will be built into iPaMS, thus creating efficiencies by moving the whole process online.

The logging in page for iPaMS live can be found at http://ipams.exeter.ac.uk/. If you want to practice

before using the live page, iPaMS test site can be found at http://ipams-dev.exeter.ac.uk/ , you can

log into both sites with your University username and password. Once you are logged into iPaMS

you will see the menu bar is on your left hand side, you have access to two tabs, modules and add

module.

Add module: This allows you to add a new module that is

not already held in iPaMS.

Modules: This takes you to the full list of modules that are

held in iPaMS. Here you can search/browse, view, edit and

copy forward these existing modules.

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How to Browse or Find Existing Modules

This section shows you how to find a specific module that is already in iPaMS or to browse the

modules by their discipline.

1. To browse or view modules use the ‘modules’ tab on the left hand side in the menu bar.

After clicking on the ‘modules’ tab, a list appears showing all the modules held in iPaMS.

2. To browse all the modules you can use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the page

(first, previous, next and last). The modules are ordered alphabetically based on their

module codes.

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3. To search for a specific module, type the module code or title into the search bar and then

click ‘search’, or chose the module from the suggestion list (to copy this module forward you

can read “How to copy forward an existing module” on page 4).

4. To clear the search, click the ‘clear’ button. This resets your search back to the beginning

and shows you all the modules held in iPaMS.

5. To browse specific disciplines, you can also use the search bar by typing the beginning of

the discipline’s module code (first 3 characters). For example with Drama, if you type DRA

and click search it brings up a list relating to all drama modules; same with ARC for

Archaeology.

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6. There are three options on the right hand side of each module: view, edit and descriptions.

The ‘view’ button provides an overview of the module and includes information on ELE links

and SITS entries. The ‘edit’ button allows you to change the title of the module and the

module code. Lastly, the ‘descriptions’ button takes you to a list of all the previous years in

which this module has been taken.

How to Copy Forward an Existing Module

This section shows you how to copy a module description from a previous academic year to the

newest academic year i.e to ‘copy forward’.

1. After finding your existing module from the list within iPaMS (learn how to do this in “How to

browse or find existing modules” on page 2) click on the descriptions button on the right

hand side of the module title.

2. This then takes you to a page showing all the academic years that this module has been

offered. The example bellow shows that “Pretexts and Contexts of Drama 1” has been

offered in the academic years 10/11 and 11/12. By clicking view next to either 10/11 or

11/12, this allows you to view the module descriptor from that year. You don’t have access

to edit any data in iPaMS unless it is 12/13, this is because modules older than 12/13 are

archived. Therefore, to edit the data for 12/13 you will need to copy the module forward.

3. When copying this module forward, click on the copy button next to the most recent year.

4. This transfers the chosen year’s data into the most current year’s template. If you are

copying forward data from 10/11 or earlier to the new 12/13 template, you will see a

warning message. The transfer to the new template will be as complete as possible;

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however, there may be fields that can’t be transferred across. The warning message will

inform you of fields that were in the old template that are not in the new template and visa

versa. This could mean there may be some data missing that you will have to copy this data

in manually. However, if you are copying forward data from 11/12 to 12/13 this problem will

not arise.

5. Please now go to “Editing and Entering Module Data” on page 8 to learn how to edit any

data. If you do not need to edit this data, you can simply click save at the bottom of the

screen.

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How to Add a New Module

Before adding a new module you may want to check that someone else hasn’t already added the

code/descriptor into the database. To do this, follow the steps from “How to browse or find existing

modules” on page 2. If the module is not in iPaMS already, then follow the steps below to add a new

module. If you are planning to save data from any other year other than 12/13 please contact

Lauren Welland (l.m.welland@exeter.ac.uk).

1. Click on the ‘add module’ tab in the left hand menu

2. The next page allows you to add the new module’s title and code into the database. Note

that the module status should stay as ‘active’. After developments to the workflow are

complete, this drop down will allow you to flag modules as draft, approved, published, etc.

Now type in your title and code into the relevant boxes and click submit.

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3. The module descriptions page is now displayed. As you have not entered any data for this

module yet, the page will appear empty. To enter a module description, click “add a module

description”.

4. The module descriptor page is now displayed. Please leave the module template option as it

is and do not to edit the academic year 2012/3 or change the format of the date. Similarly

we ask for you to keep the module description as ‘active’. More functionality will be

introduced into iPaMS at a later date to allow you to select from these drop-down boxes. If

you are entering data that is not 2012/13 then please contact us.

5. Please now go to “Editing and Entering Module Data” on page 8, for further instructions on

entering data into iPaMS

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Editing and Entering Module Data

After following the steps in “How to copy forward and existing module” on page 4 or “How to add a

new module” on page 6, the next stage is to edit or add module information to the module

descriptor. Please bear in mind you will only be able to edit data that is 12/13 or newer, this can be

done by copying forward the 11/12 module. Data older than 12/13 is archived data and therefore

cannot be edited.

Important – Please Note Before entering any data there are some points to take into consideration, due to iPaMS still being under development.

There is no version control in iPaMS at the moment, therefore, if you save over a module and the data is wrong, we will not be able to retrieve the original version.

Unless you click the save button at the bottom of the page, any entered or edited

data will not be saved.

The help buttons don’t work at the moment, if you need guidance please see the

faculty’s webpage

http://as.exeter.ac.uk/support/admin/staff/programmeandmoduledevelopment

/guidanceonmodules/.

There are no mandatory fields, so if you miss out some fields it will allow you to

save the module and these fields will not be shown when it feeds to the website.

The academic year will show up as 2012/3 rather than 2012/13. Please do not

edit this format. If you are entering any other year’s data please contact Lauren

Welland (l.m.welland@exeter.ac.uk).

Due to development regarding workflow, the drop-down box for module

description status must also stay as active.

If you are pasting in data from Word into a free text box (not tables such as ILO)

you must use the ‘Paste from Word’ button (see below for details).

How to paste data from word into a free text box Firstly you will want copy your data from word and then click on the ‘paste from word’ button, shown bellow. After pressing the button, a window will pop up for you to paste your data into. To do this you will need to click into the pop up and press Ctrl+V on your keyboard to paste, then click insert. This will insert your data into the free text box.

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1. When you come to enter/edit your data, you will see this screen with collapsible fields.

2. Click on the descriptor titles to expand their sections. If you want to close the section, just

click back on its title.

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3. You can keep open multiple sections when working on your data whilst also skipping to

specific titles if needed. You don’t need to close the sections before submitting or saving

your work.

4. When inputting data into iPaMS, there will be multiple formats to collect your data such as:

drop-down menus, free text boxes and tables.

5. Drop-down menus. One example of a drop down menu is within the basic module details,

when choosing the module staff. You will simply need to click on the arrow next to the drop

down and select your staff member. You also need to do the same with the role of the staff

member. If your staff member is not in the list or you need more than three staff per

module, please contact us. If you are copying forward a module and the staff member has

changed you will need to click the ‘remove’ check box. You will then in the row/s bellow, add

the new staff member/members. However, if just the member’s role has changed you can

change this without removing them.

6. Free text boxes: When editing or entering data in the free text boxes, please refer to the

appendix for a key regarding the function buttons. Most importantly, when copying data

from word into these free text boxes you must also use the ‘paste from word’ button (see

above for details).

7. Tables: You don’t need to use a function button to paste data from word into any of the

tables in iPaMS. Regarding the ILO tables, please do not number the Intended Learning

Outcomes (ILOs) starting with 1 at each section; instead, the numbering will follow through

the different ILO skills, as shown in the example below.

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8. The origin date may not be held in iPaMS so this will need to be updated for modules that

are copied forward.

9. When you have finished, please remember to click save (if editing previous data) or submit

form (when adding a new module) at the bottom of the page.

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Appendix

Buttons

Function

Bold

Italics

Bullet Points

Numbering

Format titles

Decrease/Increase indent

Block Quote

Insert Special Character

Insert/ Edit Anchor

Subscript/Superscript

Preview

Spell Checker

Full Screen Mode

Insert/Edit Table

Undo/Redo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Paste as Plain Text

Paste from Word

Remove Formatting

Edit HTML Source

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Contact Us

If you have any issue please contact us. We are more than happy to help. Please keep checking the

training page as it will be updated throughout the development of iPaMS.

Lauren Welland (Project Support Officer) l.m.welland@exeter.ac.uk [01392 722681]

Sam Daly (Project Manager) S.Daly@exeter.ac.uk [01392 726432]

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