Before the Start of Term: An Administrator’s Checklist

Victoria Davidson-Mayhew

Wednesday 20 August 2025

Introduction

The start of term is always a busy time, with staff, students, and systems all coming back to life at once. For administrators, a little preparation before the first day can make the weeks ahead run much more smoothly. Here’s a checklist to help ensure that everything is in place before teaching begins.

Access

• Check unit level roles

  Check unit level roles: Over time unit level roles change, and staff leave. It is worth regularly checking unit level roles as this impacts what users see and can do in MMS. It also impacts the notifications they will receive. Unit level roles can be viewed and edited by any unit administrator by:

  1. Log into MMS
  2. Select the school from the drop-down list at the top of the page
  3. Select the View School button
  4. In the People section, select the Assign Staff Roles link

  For guidance on how to add, edit and remove school roles see the Unit level roles guides.

• Module level roles

  Check that module level staff roles, guidance on how to add, edit and remove module roles can be found on the module level roles page.

Assessments

Ensure assessment tools (coursework, exam marking, final grades) are set up as expected. For example once students have started uploading documents, it is not possible to change the assignments to use Turnitin. There are unit level dashboards that may be helpful:

• Assignments dashboard
• Module Assessment Setup

• Assignments dashboard

  The Assignments dashboard lists all the assignments in current modules, including their assignment style, mark visibility and due date. It can also be used to bulk change the assignment style, student identification policy and lateness policy.

  To access the Assignments dashboard:

  1. Log into MMS
  2. Ensure that school is selected from the drop down list at the top of the Modules page.
  3. Select the View School button.
  4. Select the Assignments link in the Setup section.

• Module Assessment Setup dashboard

  The Module Assessment Setup dashboard displays the Exam marking and Final grade tools associated with each module. If a Final grade model has been applied, it will be displayed in with the Final grade tool.

  To access the Module Assessment Setup dashboard:

  1. Log into MMS
  2. Ensure that school is selected from the drop down list at the top of the Modules page.
  3. Select the View School button.
  4. Select the Module Assessment Setup link in the Setup section.

Groups and timetabling

• Check group imports from timetabling

  Confirm that the correct groups have been imported from the timetabling system into the module. This ensures that teaching activities, assessments, and sign-ups align with the scheduled timetable. If groups appear to be missing or incorrectly set up, follow up with your school administrator. For further details on how groups and their categories function, see the Groups and Group Types guidance.

• Review signup tools

  If your module uses signup tools, make sure that:

  • Each tool has a clearly defined start date so students know when sign-ups open.
  • Every signup tool within the module is linked to a different group type. This prevents clashes where multiple tools attempt to allocate students into the same group type.
  • For step-by-step instructions on setting up and managing these, see the Group Signup Tool guidance.

The start of term will always have a few surprises, but with preparation, most challenges can be handled smoothly. This checklist isn’t exhaustive, but it can help administrators feel confident that the essentials are covered. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] with MMS in the subject line.