Some changes have been made to the process of checking MSc theses at the department. They are in effect immediately (i.e. they apply to MSc theses discussed at the meeting on 5 Dec 2016). Please read the changes described below carefully, so you can finish checking the theses allocated to you in a timely manner. The new process and the new Grappa system developed by a software-engineering project will make the related bureaucracy easier and quicker, and will improve the legal protection of students.

Here is a summary of the changes:

1) The examiner does not need to email a statement and Urkund report to the office (they are entered in Grappa). The examiner does not need to inform the students about which department council meeting will discuss their thesis. Grappa will let the writer of the thesis know.

2) Besides into eThesis, the student will enter his or her thesis into Grappa.

3) The deadlines will be later than before, but they cannot be moved forwards at all.

These changes relate to the end of the process, when the review statement is ready (in future, there will also be some changes to earlier stages of the MSc-thesis process). More detailed descriptions of the changes below. The examiner who has written the review statement will enter the thesis information (writer, title, grade, the statement as a pdf, a link to the Urkund report, examiners) into Grappa  and add the treatment of the thesis to the agenda of some future department council meeting.

The new deadlines of the process:

-The examiners can add the thesis to the agenda of a specific council meeting 6 weekdays before the meeting, at the latest (meetings are usually held on Tuesdays, so the last possible day to add the thesis to the agenda is the previous Monday). After this has been done, that meeting will no longer be available to be selected in Grappa.

-When the review statement has been entered into Grappa, the thesis writer will enter their own work into both Grappa and eThesis at least 4 weekdays before the council meeting (the meetings are usually held on Tuesdays, so this must be done by the previous week’s Wednesday). If the thesis writer is late in doing this, the thesis will be taken off that council meeting agenda and automatically added to the following meeting.

Grappa will automatically send emails on the process, such as:

 -When the examiner has entered the review statement and filled in the related information, Grappa will send the thesis writer an email with the statement attached, including which meeting will discuss the thesis, asking the writer to enter their work into eThesis and Grappa, and the deadline for the meeting in question. When the student has entered their work into Grappa, it is interpreted as a receipt certificate.

 -If the competence of the examiners has to be certified in accordance with the degree regulations, Grappa will automatically send an email request to the professor in charge of the sub-programme.

 -When both deadlines for the meeting in question have ended, Grappa will send the convener an email detailing that the thesis attachments can be printed out from the system.

In order to log on to Grappa, you need to register as a user at: https://grappa.cs.helsinki.fi. Only examiners register as a user. Grappa will email the required link to the student's address that the examiner has filled in the system.  

You can log on at the same URL once you have been approved (if you have registered but cannot log on within 24 hours, please contact Kjell Lemström).