Automated Governance System (AGS) Policy

The AGS enables:

• Supporting governed workflows and evidencing for admissions and student administration. Authoritative student identity, enrolment status history, engagement status history, progression and outcomes are maintained in the Student Management System (SMS) as the system-of-record in line with the Information Governance Policy. The AGS may capture approvals, casework workflow, and governance evidence (including Learning Support Plan approvals and supporting documentation) where required, with links to the relevant system-of-record.
• Managing programme and module approvals and modifications to ensure academic quality
• Collecting metrics for monitoring strategy and operations
• Handling assessments and standards, including requests for extenuating circumstances, marking, scrutiny, examination boards, and conferment
• Coordinating misconduct and exclusion processes
• Ensuring accurate information for consumer protection
• Managing student support and well-being
• Ensuring good governance and compliance
• Measuring performance effectively

All activities involving the AGS align with the School’s regulations and policies, including IT Regulations, Information Governance Policy, Data Protection Policy, and AI Policy.

The School’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is the authoritative system for learning activity evidence and learning delivery content, in line with the Information Governance Policy. Where the AGS provides links, governance workflows, or curated access to learning materials (for example programme and module pages, descriptors, learning outcomes, weekly activities, or assessment briefs), it does so as part of the School’s governance and assurance system-of-record, without replacing the VLE as the system-of-record for learning delivery evidence.

The School integrates AI into all module teaching activities accessed via the Automated Governance System (AGS). Each week, students engage in a personalised learning experience through AI-driven automation. This includes:

• Using intuitive knowledge graphs and AI in teaching
• Navigating a bespoke environment with pre-designed challenges
• Receiving specific feedback from a virtual mentor

This method helps students identify areas for improvement and develop skills effectively. It offers a dynamic, engaging learning experience that simulates real-life interactions, contrasting with traditional sequential learning.

The School adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), focusing on the following key principles:

• Perceivability: Ensuring images are accessible in various formats and using appropriate fonts.
• Operability: Facilitating easy navigation.
• Understandable: Ensuring text is clear and appropriately written.
• Robust: Ensuring the AGS functions effectively across different media and platforms, including mobile devices.

For more information, visit: WCAG Guidelines

To ensure WCAG compliance, the School:

1. Integrates WCAG principles into its design processes from the outset.
2. Considers WCAG requirements explicitly during development and build phases.
3. Tests for WCAG compliance at every stage of development.
4. Requires WCAG compliance sign-off before any changes or additions go live.

The School will monitor accessibility through feedback and monitoring mechanisms, including:

• Module leader consultations
• Wellbeing and LSP consultations
• PAT consultations
• MyLSI platform
• Student surveys

Accessibility will be a component of module and programme surveys. The Director of Technology is responsible for reviewing WCAG compliance, reporting findings, and recommending improvements based on feedback. The Director of Technology will oversee the IT and AGS Team to develop and implement an action plan, ensuring changes are effective through stakeholder consultation.

The School's regulations, policies, and procedures include specific metrics to assess KPIs and overall effectiveness. Designated owners must report on these metrics. Reports are compiled and presented to governing bodies, particularly during the annual review, to evaluate strategy and adjust policies, regulations, procedures, and resources as needed. The AGS captures these metrics to evaluate performance and support continuous improvement.

The AGS supports the School’s Boards, Departments, and Committees by providing a reliable and efficient online system. This system ensures robust and transparent operations, as outlined in the School’s regulations and policies.

All committee and board governance records (including agendas, papers, attendance, decisions, minutes/action logs, and assurance evidence) must be captured and retained in the AGS as the governance and assurance system-of-record, in line with the Information Governance Policy. Meeting scheduling may be coordinated through the AGS where this is the School’s agreed operating model, but the core requirement is that governance evidence is recorded, version-controlled, and auditable within the AGS. The AGS is used to:

• Create meeting agendas, distribute materials, and track attendance.
• Conduct meetings remotely via Microsoft Teams, the School’s approved software, to maintain accurate records.
• Store agendas, attendance records, meeting records, and minutes transcripts securely in the AGS for effective auditing.

The AGS ensures:

• Meetings are automatically transcribed and securely stored to provide a complete audit trail.
• Transcripts are sent to participants within 4 working hours after the meeting.
• Manual minute-taking is not required, though personal notes are permitted.
• A draft AI-generated list of action points is shared on the AGS and notified via email.
• Participants may propose corrections to governance records within the School’s governed change and approval workflow. Final approval of minutes/decisions/actions follows the relevant committee’s terms of reference and the School’s governance arrangements, with evidence of approval and version history retained in the AGS.

The AGS also ensures:

• Meetings are recorded and securely stored, with access restricted to authorised users only, maintaining confidentiality.
• Participants are reminded at the start of meetings that recordings will be made for audit purposes.
• New board or committee members must consent to this policy upon acceptance.
• Recordings and transcripts are confidential governance records. Access is restricted by role-based access control and is granted only where necessary and lawful. Disclosure to regulators or other parties occurs only through the School’s formal disclosure and governance routes, in line with the Data Protection Policy, applicable legal obligations, and the School’s governance arrangements, with a record of disclosure retained in the AGS.

Where meetings are recorded or transcribed, this is done using School-approved tools and in accordance with the Data Protection Policy (including transparency, lawful basis, and access controls). Transcripts and recordings are governance records and must be stored securely in the AGS (or linked from an approved system) with role-based access, version control, and retention applied in line with the Data Retention Schedule. Where operationally appropriate, draft transcripts may be shared with participants to support accuracy, but timescales for distribution are service expectations rather than absolute guarantees and are subject to system availability, safeguarding needs, and confidentiality constraints.

The Director of Technology is accountable for AGS technical operation, resilience and support arrangements, in line with their role as Information Governance Lead and Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO). Staff and students must use the AGS in line with this policy and report issues or improvement feedback through the School’s governed support and change channels. Performance metrics are owned by designated accountable roles and reported through the School’s governance routes (Executive Committee and QCAC) where required.

The IT and AGS Team, managed by the Director of Technology, oversees system reliability. Staff and students must have access to timely support from the IT and AGS Team during normal School hours, Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 4 pm.

All use of the School’s IT facilities, including the AGS, must adhere to external and internal regulations, such as data protection, cyber security, copyright, and defamation laws, as well as the School’s own IT regulations. These regulations are accessible via the website and AGS.

Users are required to read, understand, and comply with all relevant provisions. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for unlawful behaviour. When accessing services from abroad, users must comply with both the local laws of that country and English laws, alongside the School’s regulations.

When using third-party online services, users must also follow the service provider’s regulations, terms, and conditions, whether accessed directly, through the School, or via a Jisc agreement. Violations of the law or third-party regulations will be considered breaches of the School’s IT regulations.

The School processes personal information to support its core functions, including teaching, administration, and compliance with legal obligations. This includes data related to applicants, students, employees, alumni, supporters, partners, suppliers, and research participants.

The School is committed to transparency and accessibility while ensuring efficiency, legality, security, and confidentiality in handling personal data. The Information Governance Policy and Data Protection Policy align with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), aiming to minimise risks of breaches, which could lead to harm, reputational damage, financial penalties, or investigations by the Information Commissioner.

The AGS supports the School’s governance and assurance obligations by providing controlled workflows, registers, issue logs, and evidence capture in line with the Information Governance Policy. Where the AGS processes personal data, that processing is governed by the Data Protection Policy and documented through the School’s governance model (including RoPA records where applicable), lawful basis mapping owned by Data Owners, role-based access control, and retention under the Data Retention Schedule.

The Director of Technology, a member of the Executive Committee and Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), oversees the AGS, working closely with the School’s Internal Data Protection Lead.

The AGS ensures:

• All meeting records are stored in the AGS according to the Data Retention Schedule.
• Records are kept in an encrypted format, with access restricted to authorised users.
• Meeting records may be deleted or destroyed after a specified retention period, as outlined in the Data Retention Schedule, or as required by regulators, courts, or government authorities.

User interactions with the AGS are logged in a proportionate and transparent way to support security, safeguarding, operational assurance, and auditability. Logging and monitoring are conducted in accordance with the Data Protection Policy and are documented in the School’s governed registers (including the Record of Processing Activities where applicable). Access to logs is role-based, auditable, and restricted to authorised personnel. Log retention and disposal follow the Data Retention Schedule.

The School’s incident response arrangements apply to the AGS as a critical governance system. Security incidents and personal data breaches affecting the AGS must be managed through the School’s governed incident and breach processes set out in the Information Governance Policy and Data Protection Policy, including logging, triage, evidence retention, and escalation to the President and governance committees where material.