Unofficial Degree Audit Tutorial

The unofficial degree audit program produces a report (audit) which details progress toward meeting your degree or certificate requirements at McHenry County College. This report does not take the place of an official audit by MCC graduation auditors nor does it take the place of regular advising sessions with department chairs and academic advisors to determine future course selections and to confirm graduation requirements. It is a tool to use with your academic advisor or department chair.

Please note:

• The Degree Audit program contains MCC catalogs beginning with 2005/06.
• The program audits against the catalog year in which you applied to MCC. If that catalog is not entered into Degree Audit, the most recent catalog will be selected for the audit.
• The audit is not a real time report. The records are refreshed each night.

Begin Your Audit

Screen shot 1

Your declared degree or certificate program is indicated under Choose an academic goal to audit.

Create an Audit

• Choose an Academic Goal – Your declared program is noted. To create a degree audit for this program, click Create Audit. (The declared program is based on what was provided on your application. If the declared program in Degree Audit is incorrect, complete a Change Academic Program of Study form in the Advising and Transfer Center.)
• Add Goal – Create a “What if” audit by adding a different goal. Click Add Goal. Select the appropriate catalog year, select an academic program, scroll to top of page, and then save it. Select the program you wish to audit by clicking on it, and then click Create Audit. You may have up to four “hypothetical” goals.
• Edit Goal – Customize the name of a “What if” goal – for example, AAS Accounting 0506. You cannot edit the “declared” goal.
• Delete Goal – To keep the Choose an academic goal to audit area uncluttered, you can delete the goal after reviewing it. If you wish to keep it, use the Save Audit function. (Any user who has access to a specific record can use this Delete Goal function. Only the user who created a Save Audit can edit the saved audit.) The “declared” goal cannot be deleted.

Manage Options

• Academic Plans – Create an academic plan by adding courses and showing how you intend to finish a program. Courses you add appear in italics. Entering grades is optional. If you include grades, you can see a new GPA in the Parameter GPA (computed by the audit system). The transcript GPA remains in the Heading GPA (MCC’s transcript GPA). You will see “PC” (planned course) if you do not include grades. See details on how to use Academic Plans.
• Course History – Sort the information whichever way you wish. Use the sort arrows to the right of the fields you wish to sort.

Additional Options

You can change the first two options: Show outline numbering and Collapse satisfied requirements. The audit is broken down into requirements and sub-requirements. You have the option of having these requirements shown using outline numbering. Collapsing satisfied requirements to minimize sections of the audit that don't need your attention.

Restore an Audit

Your most recent two audits will always be available. Older audits will be purged eventually.

When you click on Create Audit, you will be presented with an unofficial audit of your degree progress. A green check that means the requirement has been met. A red “x” means the requirement has not been met.

Screen shot 2

Save Audit

You can save audits and give them custom names. Audits are quick and easy to create, and the two most recently created will always be available for you to view. However, since old audits are occasionally purged, you may have reason to save specific ones, for example, a “what if” audit that you created and discussed with an advisor or department chair.

• Click on Save Audit
• Highlight audit you would like to save and click Save
• If you wish to customize the name of the goal, highlight save audit, type in the customized name, and click Rename

Saved audits remain fully interactive. You can save up to 3 audits per goal. Retrieve a saved audit by going to Restore Audit on your Home page.

Share Audit

This function allows you to share an audit with an advisor or a department chair. A link to the Shared Audit will appear under the Communicator feature.

Move Courses

Some of MCC’s program requirements include many course options, and in some programs, a single course is an option for several different requirements. The Degree Audit places courses where it “thinks” they fit best, which may not always be where you and your advisor discussed. This feature allows you to place a course into any allowable position on the audit. Other courses will be reshuffled to accommodate the change. Custom course movements are stored as preferences of the user who created them and are applied to future audits run against the same degree. Custom movements are noted at the top of the audit and can be canceled at any time.

• Click on Move a Course at the top of the audit. There is a course moving option at each requirement where a different course can be applied. (refer to screen shot 3)
• Choose the course you would like to move from the dropdown list, and click Move Course.
• When you are done, click on Stop Moving Courses at the top of the page.

Screen shot 3

Communicator

Communicator is a private bulletin board for you. Advisors and department chairs may use the Communicator feature to document a discussion during an advising session. This function allows you and your department chair or advisor to access Shared Audits and to view notes related to advising sessions. See screen shot 4.

Screen shot 4

Academic Plans

Use the Academic Plan function to create a plan that lays out which courses should be taken to fulfill certain degree requirements. It can be used with the declared goal, or it can be used with another academic goal that you added.

Access the Academic Plan through the Degree Audit Home page.

• Click on Academic Plan
• Under Academic Goals, click on the goal for which you would like to create an academic plan.
• Click on Load Plan.
• Click Add New to add courses to your plan. Include the term by editing the course.
• After you have finished adding courses, click on Load Plan.
• Save this goal, since it is an Academic Plan – On the Home page, click on the academic goal for which you just made the Academic Plan.
• Click on Create Audit. The courses you included on your plan have the PC notation.
• Save Audit and then rename it by clicking on the Edit function. It’s now a saved Academic Plan.

9/9/08