Curriculum Assessment Definitions

Epic summary

The Curriculum Assessment Definitions workspace records which assessments exist in a curriculum version and what academic outcome each assessment produces.

For example, a progression rule cannot contain the words First Professional Result as free text. The curriculum must first contain a defined assessment:

Curriculum Version: MBBS 2024
└── Phase I
    └── Assessment: First Professional MBBS
        ├── Subjects: Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry
        ├── Authority: Affiliating University
        └── Produces: Final overall outcome

The definition is reusable. Later, the Assessment and Examination module creates actual regular or supplementary examination occurrences and records each student’s result against this definition.

Curriculum assessment definition
  -> Actual assessment occurrence
      -> Student assessment outcome
          -> Referenced by phase progression

This epic does not yet define examination eligibility, marks, pass calculations, attempts, supplementary rules, examination scheduling, or result processing. Those rules will be documented with the Assessment and Examination module. This epic creates the stable curriculum record that those rules and later progression conditions reference.

Before you start

The institute programme must exist.
A Draft curriculum version must exist.
The stage or phase that owns the assessment must already be defined.
Relevant institute courses must exist and be placed in the curriculum where subject links are required.
The conducting or awarding organisation must exist in the External Organisation Catalogue and have an applicable authority relationship where required.
The user must have the Academic Registrar, Curriculum Committee Member, or another authorised curriculum role.

Actors and access

Access source	Access in this epic
Institute member with Academic Registrar role	Coordinates definitions, resolves ownership, and submits the curriculum version for review
Institute member with Curriculum Committee Member role	Creates and reviews assessment definitions within a Draft curriculum version
Institute member with Assessment Coordinator role	Reviews academic structure and confirms that the definition can later be implemented operationally
Department Admin or authorised Faculty reviewer	Reviews subjects and components connected to the assigned department
Institute member with Dean or Principal role	Approves the curriculum version when included in the institute approval route
Auditor role	Reads definitions, sources, changes, validation, and publication history

What is being defined

An assessment definition answers:

What is the formal assessment called?
Which curriculum version and phase does it belong to?
What type of assessment is it?
Which authority conducts or awards it?
Which subjects or curriculum courses does it cover?
Does it produce subject outcomes, an overall outcome, or both?
Which outcome values can later be published?
May a phase-progression condition reference the overall outcome?

It does not answer:

whether a particular student is eligible to appear;
when the assessment will be conducted;
what papers or marks will be used;
how pass or fail is calculated;
whether a supplementary attempt is allowed; or
what result a student obtained.

Screen structure and data captured

The workspace contains Assessment Directory, Assessment Definition, Academic Coverage, Outcome Contract, Dependency Review, and History.

Screen 1: Assessment Directory

The directory shows every assessment definition in the selected curriculum version.

Each row shows:

assessment code and formal name;
owning phase;
assessment type;
conducting or awarding authority;
number of linked subjects or courses;
subject-level and overall outcome requirements;
progression references;
definition completeness;
curriculum-version status.

Users can filter by phase, type, authority, course, incomplete definition, and progression use.

Screen 2: Assessment Definition

Field	Required	What the user defines
Curriculum version	Inherited	Draft curriculum being edited; read-only
Assessment code	Yes	Stable code unique inside the curriculum version, such as `MBBS-PROF-1`
Formal name	Yes	Name from the governing curriculum or university source
Local display name	No	Institute-friendly label without changing the formal name
Owning phase	Yes	Curriculum phase to which the assessment belongs
Assessment type	Yes	Professional examination, phase-end assessment, workplace assessment, portfolio review, dissertation review, or another supported type
Purpose	Yes	Plain description of what completion of this assessment establishes
Conducting model	Yes	Managed in MedCES or conducted by an external authority and imported/recorded
Conducting authority	Conditional	Applicable university or other organisation relationship
Awarding authority	Conditional	Organisation that publishes or certifies the outcome where different
Source reference	Yes	Regulation, university ordinance, curriculum section, or institute approval
Notes	No	Human-readable clarification that does not contain executable rules

Codes remain stable inside a published curriculum version. A copied successor version may retain the code so comparison remains understandable, but the records remain version-specific.

Screen 3: Academic Coverage

The user identifies what the assessment covers without defining mark calculations.

Field	Required	What the user defines
Curriculum course or subject	Yes	Course placement covered by the assessment
Coverage type	Yes	Primary subject, allied subject, integrated component, or another supported relationship
Subject outcome produced	Yes	Whether the assessment later produces a separate outcome for this subject
Overall-outcome contribution	Yes	Whether the subject contributes to the overall assessment outcome
Display sequence	Yes	Order shown in later assessment and result screens
Source reference	Yes	Source supporting the subject’s inclusion

The screen prevents links to courses from another institute or curriculum version.

Screen 4: Outcome Contract

The outcome contract tells later modules what a valid published result looks like. It does not calculate that result.

Field	Required	What the user defines
Subject outcomes required	Yes	Whether final subject-level outcomes must be present
Overall outcome required	Yes	Whether one final overall outcome must be published
Outcome value set	Yes	Controlled outcomes such as Passed, Failed, Pending, Withheld, Cancelled, Under Review, or Superseded
Successful outcome	Conditional	Outcome understood as successful completion, normally Passed
Finality required	Yes	Whether progression may consume only a final published outcome
Result authority required	Yes	Whether the publishing authority and reference must be recorded
Evidence required	Yes	Whether a result sheet, notification, or external reference must be retained
May be used for progression	Yes	Allows this assessment to be selected in a phase-transition condition

Outcome values come from a controlled type supported by the application. A user cannot create an outcome whose behaviour the process layer does not understand.

Screen 5: Dependency Review

Before curriculum submission, MedCES shows:

missing assessment fields;
missing or inactive authority relationships;
subjects outside the owning phase;
duplicate assessment codes;
outcome contracts with no successful final outcome;
progression conditions referencing this assessment;
assessment definitions no longer referenced anywhere;
changes compared with the previous curriculum version or source pack;
operational assessment behaviour still awaiting later configuration.

The last item is visible as a readiness dependency. It does not cause the curriculum definition to invent unapproved pass or eligibility rules.

Screen 6: History

History shows creation, import, source changes, subject links, outcome-contract changes, validation, review comments, approval, publication, and successor-version relationships. Published history is read-only.

Worked example: First Professional MBBS

The institute opens the Draft MBBS Curriculum 2024 version and creates:

Code: MBBS-PROF-1
Name: First Professional MBBS
Phase: Phase I
Type: Professional Examination
Conducting model: External authority
Authority: Affiliating University
Subjects: Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry
Subject outcomes required: Yes
Overall outcome required: Yes
Successful outcome: Passed
Final result required for progression: Yes

The definition does not contain a mark threshold. The later Assessment and Examination configuration will determine how subject and overall results are calculated or imported.

The Phase I to Phase II progression rule can now reference MBBS-PROF-1 and require its final effective overall outcome to be Passed.

Use case 1: View assessments defined for a curriculum

As an Academic Registrar or Curriculum Committee Member
I want to see assessments by phase and purpose
So that missing or duplicate definitions are visible before progression is authored.

Acceptance criteria

The directory is restricted to the selected institute and curriculum version.
Each assessment shows phase, type, authority, coverage, outcome contract, and progression use.
Draft and published versions are clearly distinguished.
Users can open previous-version and pack-source comparison where available.
Operational occurrences and student results are not displayed as editable curriculum records.

Use case 2: Define a curriculum assessment

As a Curriculum Committee Member
I want to define a formal assessment in a Draft curriculum version
So that later assessment and progression work uses a stable reference.

Acceptance criteria

Code, name, owning phase, type, purpose, conducting model, and source are required.
Assessment codes are unique within the curriculum version.
An external model requires an active applicable authority relationship.
The record cannot be created beneath a published curriculum version.
The action creates no examination date, candidate, mark, or student result.

Use case 3: Define assessment coverage

As an Assessment Coordinator or Curriculum Committee Member
I want to identify the courses or subjects covered
So that the academic meaning of the eventual result is clear.

Acceptance criteria

Only course placements from the same curriculum version can be selected.
Coverage type and whether a subject outcome is expected are explicit.
A subject cannot be linked twice with the same coverage type.
Removing a linked subject shows progression and later-assessment impact.
Coverage changes in a published curriculum require a successor version.

Use case 4: Define the outcome contract

As an Assessment Coordinator
I want to define the outcomes the assessment will publish
So that progression can consume a typed final result without reading marks.

Acceptance criteria

Subject and overall outcome requirements are explicit.
Outcome values come from supported controlled values.
One successful outcome is identified before progression use is enabled.
Finality, authority reference, and evidence requirements are captured.
The screen explains that these fields do not calculate pass or fail.

Use case 5: Reference an assessment from progression

As a Curriculum Committee Member
I want to make a valid assessment available to the progression builder
So that the phase rule references a real curriculum record rather than text.

Acceptance criteria

The assessment must belong to the same curriculum version.
It must produce an overall outcome and identify a successful outcome.
It must permit progression use.
The progression condition stores the assessment-definition identifier.
Renaming a Draft assessment updates its display without breaking the identifier reference.

Use case 6: Validate assessment definitions

As an Academic Registrar
I want to validate assessment definitions before curriculum review
So that incomplete references are not published.

Acceptance criteria

Validation checks identity, phase, coverage, authority, source, outcome contract, and progression references.
Every error links to the exact field or dependent condition.
Unsupported operational behaviour is listed as a later configuration dependency rather than stored as free text.
Published assessment definitions remain immutable.
The validation result is retained with the curriculum review.

Business rules

Every assessment definition belongs to one curriculum version and one owning phase.
A phase-progression condition can reference only an assessment from the same curriculum version.
Assessment definitions are version-specific even when a stable code is carried into a successor version.
Changing an assessment definition requires a new curriculum version after publication.
The definition records academic identity, coverage, authority, and outcome contract.
The definition does not calculate marks, eligibility, attempts, supplementary access, or results.
Actual examination occurrences and student outcomes are operational records outside Setup.
Progression consumes only a final effective outcome when the definition requires finality.
Earlier attempts and superseded outcomes remain available in the Assessment and Examination history.
Users select supported types and outcomes; they cannot add executable formulas or scripts.

Technical design

How the records relate

academic.curriculum_version
└── academic.curriculum_stage
    └── academic.assessment_definition
        ├── academic.assessment_course_link
        └── academic.assessment_outcome_contract

Later operational records:
assessment.assessment_occurrence
└── assessment.student_assessment_outcome
    -> consumed by a progression condition referencing the definition

Conceptual schema

Record	Important fields
`academic.assessment_definition`	curriculum version, owning stage, code/name, type, purpose, conducting model, conducting/awarding authority relationship, source
`academic.assessment_course_link`	assessment definition, curriculum course placement, coverage type, subject outcome required, overall contribution, sequence, source
`academic.assessment_outcome_contract`	assessment definition, subject outcome required, overall outcome required, value set, successful outcome, finality, authority/evidence requirements, progression use
`assessment.assessment_occurrence`	assessment definition, cohort, session, occurrence type, authority, dates, status
`assessment.student_assessment_outcome`	occurrence, programme enrolment, attempt, subject outcomes, overall outcome, finality, authority, publication/reference, superseded outcome

The last two records belong to the later Assessment and Examination module. They are shown here only to make the reference boundary explicit.

Process-layer responsibilities

The Setup process layer must:

enforce institute and curriculum-version ownership;
validate that the owning phase and linked courses belong to the same version;
validate applicable authority relationships;
prevent duplicate assessment codes within a version;
expose only supported assessment types and outcome values;
prevent progression use until the outcome contract is complete;
calculate dependency impact before a Draft definition is removed;
keep published definitions immutable;
copy definitions and stable codes safely into a successor curriculum version.

It does not calculate examination eligibility, marks, results, attempts, or progression decisions.

Success outcome

Every assessment referenced by a curriculum or phase transition has a clear identity, phase, academic coverage, authority, and final outcome contract, while operational examination rules and student results remain with their owning module.