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Creation, Modification & Approval

Once a SUggestion has been submitted on the website, it moves through to the ‘staff review’ section in SUggestions on SUMS.

How do I create categories for SUggestions?

When you can create your SUggestion categories, you can set default vote counts and durations, so any submissions assigned to that category will have to reach the required amount of votes in order to be passed.

  1. Within the SUggestions module, select ‘Categories’;
  2. Click ’Create Categories’ and enter a name, such as ‘A Proposal to hold a Referendum’;
  3. Set a default Title and Description to show when the idea is up on the website for voting, such as ‘I would like to see this idea implemented because…’;
  4. Enter an explanation for the category to advise your members on the voting parameters for their SUggestions;
  5. Enter the voting parameters you want set for that category:
    1. Default first vote count;
    2. Default first vote duration;
    3. Default second vote count;
    4. Default second vote duration;
  6. You can also select if you would like the voting for any ideas under those categories to be suspended upon hitting the threshold for the first voting period. If you would like submissions under this category to require two voting periods regardless of the number of votes received in the first instance, leave this blank.

You can modify and remove a category at any time

As a staff member, I want to create a SUggestion on behalf of a student

  1. In SUMS, navigate to 'SUggestions', and then select ‘Staff Review’. Here you can either create, modify or approve a SUggestion;
  2. To create a SUggestion, locate the green 'Create SUggestion' button in the top right of the page;
  3. Enter the Student ID details of the student that the submission is being created on behalf of;
  4. Select a category relevant to the idea content;
  5. If you would like the voting parameters to differ from the default settings assigned to the selected category, fill in the required duration and thresholds (this will need to be in line with the governance/processes in place);
    1. If you only want one vote, simply enter 0 into the second vote boxes;
  6. You have the ability to add/adjust the Twitter handle of the author, however please note that this is optional;
  7. Select 'Submit';

As a staff member, I want to create a SUggestion that has been submitted

  1. In SUMS, navigate to SUggestions, and then select ‘Staff Review’.
  2. To modify a SUggestion, find the submission and click the blue ‘Modify’ button.
  3. Select 'Submit'.

As a staff member, I want to approve a Suggestion that has been submitted

This has several stages:

Staff Approval

Once details are added/edited, you can then approve the submission as a member of staff. Approval of a SUggestion during this stage will forward the submission to the ‘CEO Review’ stage.

CEO Review

As part of the CEO Review subsection, the Chief Executive or relevant member of the Senior Management Team (dependent on the Bye-Laws in place) can view the content of an idea and make a decision as to whether approve or remove the idea. Approval of a submission shall advance the proposal to the ‘Pres/Chair Approval’ stage.

Remove

The Chief Executive/relevant Senior Manager has the ability to remove an idea. This will delete it from the system and the SUggestion will not move any further in the process.

Pres/Chair Approval

Following approval by the Chief Executive/Senior Management Team, the SUggestion shall sit within the Pres/Chair Review subsection, during which a decision can be made by the SU President (or nominated lead Sabbatical Officer) and the relevant Chair, ie. Union Chair.

Similar to Staff Review and CEO Review, the idea can now be approved/declined at the discretion of the SU President (or nominated lead Sabbatical Officer) and relevant Chair, through the ‘Modify’ button available.

Depending on which verdict is chosen, the outcome will be different; please note that these verdicts may be altered in line with organisational Bye-Laws.

  • “President & Chair Agree with idea” - SUggestion moves to the website for the idea to be voted upon (an authorisation reason will not be required for this verdict)
  • “President disagrees & chair agrees with idea” - SUggestion moves to website for voting, however the SU President/nominated Lead Sabbatical Officer can provide feedback regarding their disapproval within the comments.
  • “President & Chair Both Disagree” or  "President Agrees & Chair disagrees" - The SUggestion will not be voted on and will move into the "Not Plausible" section of the website.

There is also an option to archive a SUggestion. Doing so will forward the submission to the 'Archived' section of the website and the idea will not be voted on. This option can be used when a similar submission already exists and is being reviewed.

Please note that you will not need to give a verdict when archiving a suggestion.

Fast Track

If the Chief Executive/Executive Committee come to a majority decision that the SUggestion is a good idea/easy to implement, it can be fast tracked. This will allow a Sabbatical Officer to be immediately assigned.

Next Steps

Once the voting period comes to an end, one of the two outcomes will apply:

  1. If the submission hasn’t surpassed the voting threshold or has received too many negative votes, it will be moved to the 'Not supported' section of the SUggestions webpage.
  2. If the submission surpasses the vote threshold, it will go into the 'Assign Student Leader' subsection within SUMS and move to the ‘Working On’ tab on the website.

Updated on 24th of May 2021