CourseFiles Automation
Academic Accreditation Dossier Generation & Archival System.
“Replaced weeks of manual accreditation document gathering with one-click OBE course dossier generation.”
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Automating Engineering Accreditation Compliance
Engineering accreditation boards (such as ABET / Washington Accord) require rigorous 'CourseFiles' compiling syllabi, lecture schedules, student graded samples (best, average, worst), and Course Learning Outcome (CLO) attainment matrices. We engineered a centralized automation platform that extracts semester data and generates standardized accreditation binders in minutes.
Project at a Glance
An academic document automation system designed to track Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), aggregate student assessment artifacts, and compile compliant accreditation folders automatically.
Higher Education Accreditation & Document Automation
University Quality Enhancement Cells (QEC) & Deans
Q2 - Q3
One-click generation of fully indexed, board-compliant CourseFile audit dossiers for all academic departments.
The Problem
Every semester, engineering professors spent 20+ hours photocopying exam papers, organizing physical three-ring binders, and manually calculating outcome attainment percentages for external accreditation visits. Missing files or inconsistent formatting risked institutional probation.
Hundreds of faculty hours wasted on physical binder assembly and manual arithmetic.
Missing student sample exam papers discovered days before external auditor visits.
Mathematical discrepancies in Course Learning Outcome (CLO) attainment calculations.
Lack of standardized archival: past semester files lost across departmental filing cabinets.
Goals
Technical Goals
- Digital submission portal for faculty to upload syllabi, assessments, and graded artifacts.
- Automated calculation engine computing CLO and PLO attainment percentages.
- High-performance PDF bundling engine combining diverse student uploads into a unified indexed dossier.
- Long-term digital repository guaranteeing instant retrieval during multi-year audit cycles.
Business Goals
- 100% compliance with international accreditation criteria (Washington Accord / ABET).
- Eliminate physical printing and binder costs across the entire engineering faculty.
- Allow professors to focus on teaching and research rather than paperwork compilation.
My Role
Lead Software Architect
Core Responsibilities
- Architected the relational schema mapping courses, assessments, and learning outcomes.
- Engineered the Python automated PDF compilation engine with table of contents generation.
- Built the Django web portal with role separation for Faculty, Program Chairs, and Auditors.
- Designed attainment calculation formulas verifying statistical thresholds.
Primary Focus Areas
Solution
CourseFiles Automation transforms accreditation audits into a seamless digital workflow. Instructors upload raw exam questions, answer keys, and student graded samples throughout the semester. At the end of the term, the system validates completeness, calculates outcome attainment matrices, and compiles a board-ready 100-page dossier with clickable bookmarks.
Outcome-Based Attainment Engine
Automatically calculates whether student cohorts met predefined learning outcome thresholds.
Digital Artifact Repository
Securely stores best, median, and worst student submissions with automated privacy sanitization.
Automated Dossier Assembler
Merges PDFs, inserts standardized cover pages, builds an index, and outputs a certified audit bundle.
Architecture & Data Flow
Modular architecture linking Django web services, Celery background worker queues, PDF rendering engines, and PostgreSQL database.
Course Artifact Upload
Django Forms / S3 StorageInstructor uploads syllabus, question papers, marking schemes, and student samples.
Attainment Arithmetic Engine
Python / NumPy / PostgreSQLCalculates CLO achievement percentages based on inputted student mark sheets.
Asynchronous PDF Bundling
Celery / ReportLab / PyPDFCelery task aggregates documents, stamps page numbers, and creates digital bookmarks.
Auditor Verification Portal
Django Views / Tailwind CSSExternal evaluators inspect verified dossiers digitally with one-click download access.
Core Features
One-Click Accreditation Dossier Export
Automated PDF bundlingCompiles complete 100+ page course folders with cover pages, syllabi, exam questions, and sample answers in seconds.
CLO / PLO Attainment Calculator
Automated OBE calculationsGenerates statistical charts and percentage attainment matrices required by accreditation bodies.
Missing Artifact Audit Checklist
Proactive compliance checksFlags incomplete course folders (e.g. missing median exam sample) before semester deadlines.
Multi-Year Historical Archival
Centralized institutional memorySearch and retrieve complete course dossiers across past semesters for longitudinal accreditation reviews.
Engineering Decisions
Celery Asynchronous Workers for PDF Generation vs In-Request Processing
Why: Compiling and merging dozens of scanned student PDF exams takes 15-30 seconds; running it asynchronously prevented web server timeout errors.
Challenges
Corrupted or Password-Protected Student Scans: Scanned mobile photos crashing standard PDF merge utilities.
Engineered an image pre-processor that re-encodes uploaded scans into normalized PDF/A compliant pages before bundling.
Achieved 100% compilation success rate across thousands of diverse faculty uploads.
Implementation Timeline
Academic Logic Modeling
- CLO/PLO database schema
- Attainment math formulas
- Faculty portal auth
Artifact Upload & Checklist
- Drag-and-drop upload widget
- Completeness validation checklist
- Scanned image sanitizer
Asynchronous Dossier Engine
- ReportLab cover generation
- Bookmark indexing
- Celery background worker queue
Departmental Trial & Cutover
- Trial with Electrical Engineering dept
- Faculty training workshops
- Production rollout
Results & Metrics
Reduced coursefile compilation from 20 hours to under 15 minutes.
Zero formatting or missing-artifact infractions during external audit visits.
Saved thousands of printed pages per semester across the institution.
Screenshots
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CourseFile Completeness Checklist & Upload Tracker
Faculty view verifying that all required syllabi, assessments, and student samples are uploaded.
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Automated Outcome Attainment Matrix & Evaluation Breakdown
Calculated CLO/PLO percentage matrix formatted according to accreditation board standards.
Demo Video
CourseFiles Demo: 2-minute video demonstrating course artifact upload, automatic completeness verification, and one-click PDF compilation.
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Demonstration Highlights:
Lessons Learned
Faculty compliance surges when the upload interface explicitly shows a visual progress bar of remaining required items.
Sanitizing student scans into standardized PDF/A format is essential before attempting programmatic page merging.
Tech Stack
Backend & Framework
PDF & Processing
Database & Frontend
Business Impact
CourseFiles Automation removed the stress and panic from accreditation season, transforming it into an orderly, transparent digital routine.