Coordinator

:::tip Use this page when You are documenting the role that keeps day-to-day academic operations moving after department setup is complete. :::

The coordinator role is the operational backbone of the department after the initial setup is complete.

Why this role is central

If the department head activates the department, the coordinator keeps it moving.

This role sits closest to the live operating flow of the platform. In practical terms, the coordinator is usually the role most concerned with whether proposals are moving, projects are staffed, evaluations are progressing, and defenses are actually becoming ready on time.

Fastest route through this guide

1. Read Landing area to see the coordinator workspace.
2. Read First actions after invitation acceptance for the immediate operating sequence.
3. Read Core responsibilities to understand the coordinator's real ownership zone.
4. Read Operational checkpoints if you want the repeating control cycle.
5. Continue to Staff oversight and assignment if you want the deeper operating flow.

Landing area

• Dashboard: /dashboard/coordinator
• Key sections: projects, students, advisors, defenses, evaluations, reports, settings

First actions after invitation acceptance

1. Review the dashboard summary and active department workload.
2. Check pending titles, evaluations, complaints, or alerts.
3. Open project and assignment workflows.
4. Review defense and evaluation readiness.
5. Use announcements, reports, and communications to keep the department aligned.

Core responsibilities

The coordinator is the role that turns the department from configured into operational.

Workflow movement

• monitor proposal review movement and unresolved queues
• keep project activation from stalling after approval
• track milestone progress across the department
• make sure late-stage evaluation and defense work is not drifting

Staff and assignment control

• assign or reassign advisors where project coverage is weak
• assign evaluators for late-stage projects
• inspect staff workload and project readiness before bottlenecks become critical
• monitor whether evaluators are submitting work on time

Communication and escalation

• surface operational issues before they become governance issues
• use reports, reminders, and communication tools to keep work moving
• escalate only when coordinator-level intervention is not enough
• keep department-head oversight informed with real operational signals

What the dashboard is designed for

The coordinator dashboard currently emphasizes:

• project tracking and operational metrics
• advisor and evaluator performance visibility
• complaint and issue management
• evaluation and defense readiness
• quick actions for core coordination tasks

Operational checkpoints

Once the role is active, the coordinator usually works in a repeating review loop instead of a one-time setup sequence.

Checkpoint 1: Queue health

Start by checking whether work is accumulating in places that need immediate attention.

Questions to answer:

• are proposals, reviews, or alerts building up
• are there stalled projects that should already have moved forward
• are any operational queues being ignored long enough to affect the department

Checkpoint 2: Assignment health

This is one of the most important coordinator responsibilities because the platform depends on correct staffing at the project level.

Questions to answer:

• which projects still lack an advisor or evaluator
• which advisors appear overloaded or underused
• which projects are late-stage but still not staffed correctly

Checkpoint 3: Progress visibility

The coordinator needs a department-wide sense of movement, not just isolated project detail.

Questions to answer:

• are milestone reviews progressing across the department
• are students and advisors resolving feedback loops in time
• are evaluator progress and defense readiness still on schedule

Checkpoint 4: Escalation readiness

Not every issue should immediately go to the department head, but the coordinator should know when escalation is required.

Questions to answer:

• is this issue operational, or has it become a governance problem
• does the department head need visibility because the blockage affects policy, quality, or broad readiness
• is a reminder, reassignment, or direct follow-up enough to resolve the issue first

Practical handoff model

The coordinator operates between department governance and role-specific execution.

Phase	Primary coordinator job	Typical handoff
Proposal review	keep submitted work moving toward decision	department head steps in for governance-heavy approvals or escalations
Project activation	make sure approved work becomes staffed projects	advisors take over direct supervision after assignment
Milestone delivery	watch progress across many active projects	advisors handle direct feedback and revision loops
Evaluation and defense	assign evaluators, track readiness, and monitor deadlines	evaluators perform scoring, students complete readiness tasks

What success looks like

The coordinator is doing the role well when the department reaches this state:

• proposal and project queues move without long invisible delays
• advisor and evaluator assignment gaps are discovered early
• milestone and evaluation bottlenecks are visible before deadlines are missed
• reminders, reassignment, and follow-up happen before governance escalation is required
• the department head sees cleaner oversight signals because operations are already well managed

Product snapshot

Implementation note

The coordinator landing dashboard is real and active, but several coordinator section routes are still placeholder pages in the frontend repo. The docs should reflect the role confidently while avoiding claims that every deeper section is fully implemented already.

Common mistakes to avoid in the docs

• Do not describe the coordinator as a lighter version of the department head. The coordinator is the operational owner, not just a secondary admin.
• Do not reduce this role to proposal review only. It also spans assignment, progress tracking, evaluator follow-through, and defense readiness.
• Do not imply that coordinators directly replace advisors or evaluators. They manage movement and staffing, but they do not own every role-specific task.
• Do not claim every coordinator route is equally mature in the frontend. Some flows are clearly stronger than others and the docs should stay accurate about that.

Best page after this one

If you want to do next...	Go here	Why
Understand assignment and monitoring work in detail	Staff oversight and assignment	It expands the control surfaces this role depends on.
Follow the end-to-end academic process	Project lifecycle	It shows where coordinators intervene across stages.
Understand evaluation and defense operations	Evaluation and defense workflow	It covers the late-stage work coordinators often supervise.

Best next reads

• Staff oversight and assignment
• Project lifecycle
• Evaluation and defense workflow