OBIKAS Guidebook

Last Updated: September 2015

Remark: This guidebook describes the OBIKAS modules for the use of instructors,
advisors and students. It also includes some of the rules defined in the system in
accordance with the Boğaziçi University Directives Governing Education. However,
it does not include every academic rules and regulations. The users are therefore
advised to check the respective directives of Boğaziçi University.

I. INSTRUCTOR
Visit OBIKAS (registration.boun.edu.tr), click “Instructors” and enter your username
and password.

As an Instructor
1. Course List & Final Dates for 20**/20**-* Term: It displays the list of courses
given by the instructor in the selected term. For each course, the course
code, days & hours, course room, number of students enrolled, and final
exam date, slot and room(s) are listed.

2. Student Lists of the Courses at 20**/20**-* Term: Click to a course code to

view the list of students enrolled in that course. The course page includes
student’s photo, ID number, name, surname, whether the course is repeated,
grade, department, e-mail, advisor(s), semester, status (Ugrad, grad, etc.),
general status (normal, repeating, on probation, senior) fields. The instructor
may send message to all or selected students in the list, and access to
previous messages sent and received.

3. Course Descriptions & Syllabus: For each course, add a course description,
consent notice and upload course syllabus.

Select a course form a dropdown menu. Write the course description and
consent notice in related fields. Upload the course syllabus and click submit
button.

The information entered in consent notice area will be shown to the student
who is requesting consent for the course before he/she sends the request.
(e.g: Do not send consent request if you are not a student in the Faculty of
Engineering.)

4. Submission of Course Grades: This tool is accessible only during the grade
submission periods. For each course, this page includes student’s photo, id
number, and name, surname fields. Grades do not have to be entered all at
once. Once the grades are entered, they can be saved using the “Save
 Grades” button. Saved grades can be changed within the grade submission
period. Saved grades must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by clicking
“Send to Registrar” button. Otherwise, the grade submission is not complete.
Once the grades are sent, grades cannot be changed.

REMARK: F grade is given for those students whose grades are not submitted
to the Registrar’s Office within the grade submission period.

5. Course Evaluations Results for 20**/20**-* Term: For the selected term,
course evaluation results are displayed.
The page displays the answers to the questionnaires evaluating the
instructor’s courses.

The statistics on evaluation results on the basis of University/Faculty-School-

Institute/Department-Program are shown.

Below the comparative results; the average of evaluation results of all

courses given by a department/program are listed. For each course, average
score of each question, number of students enrolled, number of students
participated in evaluation, participation rate, the ranking of the course within
the University/Faculty-School-Institute.

The results for each course can be viewed by clicking the course names at the
top of the page. At the bottom, the written comments by students can be
viewed.

Click “Print summary” to print the page.

6. Student Consent Requests: Consent requests form students are viewed and
evaluated. The Instructors’ access to give consent for their courses will be
closed 2 hours before the registration system is closed for student’s access. In
Consent Requests page, consent requests made for all courses open in that
term are listed. The list can be sorted by clicking the corresponding header.
The list includes the following headers:

 Student ID number
 Student name, surname
 Course code
 Department
 Status
 GPA
 Semester
 Request date
 Instructor’s access to students’ transcripts is limited to the registration period.

Click to “Show/Hide Details” button to reach messages sent by the student if

any, student’s entrance type (ÖSS, Special, Exchange) and e-mail address. The
page also contains links to send messages to selected students, show consent
message history with a selected student and show consent message history
for a selected course.

By clicking “Consent Stats” the instructor may view various statistics about
his/her consent activities in the current registration period.

To approve the student’s consent request click “Approve”, to reject click

“Reject”, to send the student request to a shortlist to evaluate later click
“Shortlist”, to remove a request from shortlist, click “Remove From Shortlist”.

REMARKS: The instructor cannot revoke the approved consent request.

The consent approvals have lifetime of 24 hours. If a course is not added to

the program in 24 hours after its consent approval, the consent approval will
automatically be revoked by the system.

In case of simultaneous consent requests made to multiple sections of a

course, as soon as the student adds one section of the course to her/his
program the system will automatically revoke the remaining consent
requests.

In a given registration period, student is allowed to submit at most 2 consent

requests for the same course section.

7. Excuse & Resit Exams Schedule & Student Lists for Academic Term 20**/20**-
*: The students whose excuse petitions have been accepted by the Excuse
Commission and be granted to take excuse exam are listed. The table
includes student name, surname, course code, decision, reason, final date
and the excuse exam date fields.

Others
1. Schedule Planner: Click on the course code to view the combined course
schedule of students enrolled in that course
2. Suggestions or Technical Problem Reporting: Report technical problems or
make a suggestion to improve the system.
3. Go to BOUN-Moodle: Enter to the course management system.
II. ADVISOR

Visit OBIKAS (registration.boun.edu.tr), click “Instructors” and enter your

username and password.

As an Advisor
1. Students' Information and Curriculum Planner: The instructor views the
academic records of the students that he/she advise, evaluate their course
lists and approve them if acceptable or request revisions, and communicate
with them via the messaging system.

If the advisor advises students in more than one program, each program’s
students are listed separately. The advisor can view:
 Student id number
 Name, surname
 Student status (undergraduate, master, etc.)
 Semester Status
 General Status (Repeat, Normal, etc.)
 Department
 Semester
 GPA
 E-mail
 Course Schedule
 Curriculum Planner
 Academic Records

The advisor can send message to all or selected students and view all
previous messages sent and received. Once a message is sent, notice e-mail is
sent to the student. If “Copy To E-mail” is selected while sending the message,
the notice e-mail includes the message content as well.

2. Approval of Students' Course Lists:

During the registration period, student’s course list sent for advisor’s
approval, approved by advisor, or in preparation by the student can be
viewed. Click a student’s name to view the details.

REMARKS: Except those who are in senior status, undergraduate students

(including those on probation and repeating status) who take a total amount
of courses with less than 11 credits worth are required to have the approval
of the University Executive Committee to complete their registration; those
who take 11-14 credits worth of courses are required to have the approval of
the Faculty/School Executive Committee to complete their registration. Such
students will not be able to send their underloaded course programs to the
 advisor approval. Advisors will not be able to approve the underloaded
“incomplete” programs.

Failed courses for which the prerequisite has been waived by the instructor
and Faculty/School Executive Committee, will not be automatically loaded to
the student’s program. The waiver decision must be renewed every term.

Students in repeating status will have to take their failed courses as soon as
they are offered. However, for students whose failed course credits exceed
the average term credit of their program, the failed courses will be
automatically and serially loaded to their program according to the date of
the first enrolment to the course. Ties will be broken alphabetically. The
instructor will receive a warning message, which will list all the courses the
students have failed.

The automatic pre-loading of required courses for freshmen will only be

made for students who are starting their program in the Fall semester (i.e.:
regular students). For those students, the required courses in the first
semester of their curriculum will be automatically pre-loaded in the Fall
semester and the required courses in the second semester of their
curriculum will be automatically pre-loaded (provided that they have satisfied
the pre-requisites) in the Spring semester. Those students cannot drop these
courses, however they can make section changes, and they can add new
courses before they sent their program to their advisors for approval.

The automatic pre-loading of the required courses with F grade will be done
only if the course is offered to the student’s department in respective term.

Students registering to their 3rd or higher terms in Master’s Programs with

Thesis will not be able to send their course list for advisor’s approval, unless
Thesis course is added to their list.

3. E-Petition: The petitions written by the students are viewed and evaluated.

An updated and detailed e-petition guide can be reached at OBIKAS e-

Petition main page.
III. Student

Visit OBIKAS (registration.boun.edu.tr) and click “Student”  “Student Information”

and enter your username and password.

Academic / Courses
1. Academic Records: It displays, for each semester, the courses taken by the
student, course grades, credits completed, SPA and GPA. At the top of the
page, student’s name, surname, id number, semester, faculty, department,
status, term status, high school, email and advisor name are listed. At the
bottom of the page, executive board decisions are listed. The screen can be
printed using the “print” button. In addition, minor students can view their
minor transcripts by selecting the “Minor Program” from the dropdown
menu.
2. Courses & Final Schedule: It displays the final exam schedule of the courses
taken in the current term. The screen can be printed using the “print” button.
3. Grades for Academic Year 20**/20**: It displays the credits and grades of the
courses taken at the selected term. In addition, credits completed at the
selected term, SPA, the overall credits completed by the end of the selected
term and GPA are listed.
4. GPA Calculator: This tool calculates the student’s SPA and GPA for the
current term under different grade scenarios.
5. Consent Requests: This tool is used during academic registration period only.
First, choose the course abbreviation (e.g. BIO) from the dropdown menu.
Then choose the course name from the second dropdown menu. Use the
“Comments/Message to Instructor” field to write your message to the
instructor and click submit. Previous consent requests; their status and
details can be viewed in this screen. Student can cancel a request if it is not
approved/rejected by the instructor yet.
REMARKS: In case of simultaneous consent requests made to multiple
sections of a course, as soon as the student adds one section of the course to
her/his program the system will automatically revoke the remaining consent
requests.

The consent approvals have lifetime of 24 hours. If a course is not added to

the program in 24 hours after its consent approval, the consent approval will
automatically be revoked by the system. In this case, the request will be
marked with “Canceled by Student”.

The Instructors’ access to give consent for their courses will be closed 2 hours
before the registration system is closed for student’s access.

Student can send consent request for at most 10 courses.

 In a given registration period, student is allowed to submit at most 2 consent
requests for the same course section.

Course whose consent requests are approved are not added to the student’s
course list automatically. They must be added to the course list and course
list must be sent for advisor’s approval.

6. Payment Calculator & Course List Planner: Only used by the students enrolled
to the executive and other graduate programs. For each course to be added
to the course list, tuition that must be paid is calculated.

General
1. ID Info: It displays the identity information of the student.
 Basic Information: E-mail, TR ID number (if exists), phone number,
alternative phone number, emergency phone number, birth place,
date, blood type, whether left handed. The student can fill in the
empty fields. Only the alternative phone number can be updated.
 Family Information: Father’s name, mother’s name, their occupations,
and their phone numbers. The student cannot update phone
numbers.
 Address Information: The student cannot update it.
 Residence Address: Use “Same address as above” if it is so.
 ID Card Information: Used for the citizens of the Republic of Turkey.
The student cannot update it.
 Passport Information: Used for foreign students.
2. Photo Upload: It displays the student’s current photo. The student can
update it. Follow the instructions on the screen for the technical
requirements.
3. Document Request: Official transcript, student copy transcript and student
document are requested here. Previous document requests and their details
(document type, amount paid, number of copies requested,..) can be viewed.
4. Payment & Document Information: It displays the payments made by the
student. For each payment, arrival time, payment type, amount paid and
bank’s name are listed.
5. Application for Graduation: Students who have completed the graduation
requirements must apply here to initiate the graduation process. The screen
displays the student’s information a short survey on future career plans, and
use of BUCard remaining balance (if any). Once the student submits the
application, approval is given by the units below:
 Library: Checks whether there are any unreturned books, any unpaid
fees
 Dormitory Management: For students who stayed in dorms, checks
whether there are any unpaid fees.
  Office of International relations: For students who participated in
Erasmus Exchange, checks whether there are debts.
 Budget and Performance Directorate: Checks whether the student has
any debt to the university.
Each unit’s decision can be followed from the screen.

6. Application for Ex-matriculation: Students who would like to ex-matriculate

without completing degree requirements must apply. Once the student submits
the application, approval is given by the units below:
 Library: Checks whether there are any unreturned books, any unpaid
fees
 Dormitory Management: For students who stayed in dorms, checks
whether there are any unpaid fees.
 Office of International relations: For students who participated in
Erasmus Exchange, checks whether there are debts.
 Budget and Performance Directorate: Checks whether the student has
any debt to the university.

Each unit’s decision can be followed from the screen.

7. E-Petition: E-petitions are submitted and followed here. E-petitions should be

used for academic requests only. For non-academic requests, submit your
petitions to the Office of the Dean of the Student Affairs.
An updated and detailed e-petition guide can be reached at OBIKAS e-
Petition main page.

8. BUCard Dining Logs: Transaction logs of all BUCard issued (active, passive,
pending) for the student are displayed. For each card, student id, card type,
date issued, balance and “show logs” button directing to transaction logs are
listed. Click “Show Logs” to list all transactions (money uploads, spending
records) related with that card.

Applications and Others

9. Financial Aid Application Form: Students apply for fellowships here.
10. Dorm Applications: Students apply for dorms here. Student information is
retrieved from the system. Student submits preferences over the dorms and
family information used in evaluation of application.
Course List Preparation

Visit OBIKAS (registration.boun.edu.tr) and click “Student”  “Course List

Preparation” and enter your username and password.

1. Course List Preparation Screen: This tool can be used only during the
registration, add-drop and withdrawal periods. Student prepares the course
list for the current semester and sends it for the advisor’s approval. On the
top of the page, basic information takes place. These are: student’s id
number, name, surname, department, degree status, status (normal,
repeating, on probation), GPA, semester, tuition fee, amount paid, advisor(s),
student’s email, last login date. Student can update his/her email address
here.
On the screen, the courses selected by the student are listed. For each course,
course’s code and section, course title, description, credits, status, schedule
viewed. Students enrolled in a minor program, must select whether the
course is taken for the major, minor or both programs by clicking the “Save
types” button.

At the bottom of the screen there are following buttons.

 Send Message To Advisor: Click here to send a message to the advisor.

Write the message text and click “Send Message”.
 Send To Approval: Once the course list is made, click “Send To
Approval”.
 Cancel Send: Click “Cancel Send” to recall a course list that have been
sent to advisor for approval but not approved yet.
 Consent Requests: This tool is used during academic registration
period only. First, choose the course abbreviation (e.g. BIO) from the
dropdown menu. Then choose the course name from the second
dropdown menu. Use the “Comments/Message to Instructor” field to
write your message to the instructor and click submit. Previous
consent requests; their status and details can be viewed in this
screen. Student can cancel a request if it is not approved/rejected by
the instructor yet.
REMARKS: In case of simultaneous consent requests made to multiple
sections of a course, as soon as the student adds one section of the
course to her/his program the system will automatically revoke the
remaining consent requests.

The consent approvals have lifetime of 24 hours. If a course is not added

to the program in 24 hours after its consent approval, the consent
approval will automatically be revoked by the system.
 The Instructors’ access to give consent for their courses will be closed 2
hours before the registration system is closed for student’s access.

Student can send consent request for at most 10 courses.

In a given registration period, student is allowed to submit at most 2

consent requests for the same course section.

Course whose consent requests are approved are not added to the
student’s course list automatically. They must be added to the course list
and course list must be sent for advisor’s approval.

 See Past Data: Click here to view the courses taken in previous terms.
For each course, course’s code, title, credit, grade and status are
listed.
 Schedule: Weekly course schedule for the course list prepared can be
viewed.
 Curriculum: Program curriculum can be viewed. Here the student can
check which courses he/she must take at the current semester.

2. Preparing a Course List: Courses can be added in 2 ways.

 Adding one course at a time: Choose the category of the course from
the dropdown menu titled “Required Course” and click “Add”. A page
that displays the courses from the selected category will open.
Choose the course clicking the control button on the left. Then choose
the course adding options available on the top of the list. Course
adding options are:
 Credit/Noncredit: Choose credit if you are taking the course for
credit. Choose non-credit if you are taking the course for non-
credit.
 Repeat: If you are taking to course to repeat for some other
course, then you must click the “Repeat selection with” box and
choose the appropriate course from the dropdown menu.
Once the course adding options are selected, click “Add Selected
Course” button. Once the action is completed you will be taken back
to the “Course List Preparation Screen”. If the course cannot be added
for any reason, you will be prompted. Repeat the same steps to add
another course.

 Dropping a course: Select the course that you would like to drop and
click “Drop”.
 Changing the course section: Select the course that you would like
make a section change. Then click “Change section”.
 Withdrawing from a course: This tool is available only during the
withdrawal period. Select the course that you would like to withdraw
 and click “Withdraw”. Student can cancel a request by clicking “Cancel
Withdraw” button if it is not approved/rejected by the instructor yet.
 Quick Add: This module allows adding more than one course at a
time. Enter the related field; course abbreviation, code, section.
Select whether the course will be taken for credit or non-credit. If the
course will be repeated for another one, select the appropriate
course from the dropdown menu. Once all the courses are listed, click
“Quick Add” button.

REMARKS: Once the course list is made, do not forget to click “Send to
Approval” button to send the course list for advisor’s approval. The
registration to the courses will not be completed without the advisor’s
approval.

Except those who are in senior status, undergraduate students (including

those on probation and repeating status) who take a total amount of courses
with less than 11 credits worth are required to have the approval of the
University Executive Committee to complete their registration; those who
take 11-14 credits worth of courses are required to have the approval of the
Faculty/School Executive Committee to complete their registration. Such
students will not be able to send their underloaded course programs to the
advisor approval. Advisors will not be able to approve the underloaded
“incomplete” programs.

Failed courses for which the prerequisite has been waived by the instructor
and Faculty/School Executive Committee, will not be automatically loaded to
the student’s program. The waiver decision must be renewed every term.

Student registered to a minor degree should mark the courses that are taken
as part of the minor program’s requirement before sending her/his program
for advisor’s approval.

The automatic pre-loading of required courses for freshmen will only be

made for students who are starting their program in the Fall semester (i.e.:
regular students). For those students, the required courses in the first
semester of their curriculum will be automatically pre-loaded in the Fall
semester and the required courses in the second semester of their
curriculum will be automatically pre-loaded (provided that they have satisfied
the pre-requisites) in the Spring semester. Those students cannot drop these
courses, however they can make section changes, and they can add new
courses before they sent their program to their advisors for approval.

The automatic pre-loading of the required courses with F grade will be done
only if the course is offered to the student’s department in respective term.
Student registered to a minor degree should mark the courses that are taken
as part of the minor program’s requirement before sending her/his program
for advisor’s approval.

Students registering to their 3rd or higher terms in Master’s Programs with

Thesis will not be able to send their course list for advisor’s approval, unless
Thesis course is added to their list.