Every assessment framework assumes things go according to plan. Mitigating circumstances exist for the moments when they do not. Late submissions, non-submissions, and requests for mitigation force institutions to balance empathy, consistency, and policy, all while assessments are still in motion.
In that assessment window, the balance needs a real process behind it. Students need a clear way to explain why a late submission, non-submission, or mitigation request should be considered valid, often with supporting evidence attached. Staff need the full context in one place so they can approve, reject, or refer the case, and the outcome needs to be recorded correctly. And the system needs to enforce the rules up front, including whether the request is even allowed at that point in time, before it reaches an approver. That means the workflow has to treat eligibility, evidence, and submissions as first-class parts of the process rather than loose details handled later.
Ellucian has been steadily investing in UK-oriented SaaS solutions that institutions can adopt with confidence. Together with ABCloudz, this work has already produced reusable workflows, integrations, Experience cards, and SaaS-ready alternatives to logic that previously depended on local processes or custom code. The Mitigating Circumstances workflow follows that same approach, focusing on a process that institutions can adopt as-is rather than redesign for every assessment cycle. In this SaaS model, Intelligent Processes provides the orchestration layer that turns policy rules, submissions, and evidence into a supportable operational flow.
This blog post answers the question of how to design a SaaS workflow for mitigating circumstances that handles submissions cleanly, checks eligibility early, captures evidence correctly, and routes decisions through Intelligent Processes. We will break down how we built a Mitigating Circumstances workflow for Ellucian Experience in the UK context. You will see how we made the process consistent, SaaS-native, and ready to adopt.
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What the workflow had to get right
Mitigating circumstances do not arrive as one neat process. They arrive as a stream of individual cases, each tied to a specific student and a specific assessment moment. So the workflow has to do two jobs well: treat every submission as its own trackable request, and block invalid submissions early if the mitigating circumstances window is not open or permissible, instead of wasting staff time later. That early eligibility control is essential, because eligibility should be decided before staff spend time reviewing evidence or processing submissions that should never enter the queue.
Then there is the detail that makes decisions fair. Staff cannot judge a request without seeing what exactly is affected, which module, which assessment component, and which due date, sometimes more than one. The workflow also needs to support the three request types in scope, late submission with a proposed new date, non-submission, and mitigation, while keeping communication airtight: a proof-of-submission email with the full form details and timestamp, plus a clear outcome message once the case is approved, rejected, or referred for more information. In practice, that means every one of these submissions must arrive with enough evidence and context to support a fair decision. It also means eligibility logic cannot sit outside the workflow, because late decisions about eligibility create confusion around submissions and evidence.
How the workflow runs in Ellucian SaaS
We built the mitigating circumstances workflow to do one thing really well: turn a student’s “something went wrong” moment into a clean case that staff can decide on fast, with the right updates applied automatically at the end. The goal was to make this SaaS workflow reliable for both students and staff, while letting Intelligent Processes manage routing, timing, and decision flow behind the scenes.
The student starts in Ellucian Experience and submits a request through an Experience form. Most of the context is pre-filled, so the student focuses on what matters: what happened, what it affects, and when. They select the module and the impacted assessment component or components, choose the request type (late submission with a requested new date, non-submission, or mitigation), add dates, pick a reason or use “Other,” attach evidence, and confirm a policy statement the institution can configure. This keeps submissions structured from the start and ensures that evidence is attached as part of the same SaaS interaction rather than handled separately.
Before any staff time is spent, the workflow checks eligibility. If the mitigating circumstances window is not open or the request is not permissible, the case is automatically rejected. If it is valid, the student gets a proof-of-submission email with the full details and timestamp. This eligibility step is critical because it prevents invalid submissions from moving forward and ensures staff review only the cases that meet policy rules. By resolving eligibility first, the workflow keeps evidence review and downstream submissions handling focused on valid cases only.
Then Intelligent Processes routes the case to the right approver based on program of study. The approver can approve, reject, or refer and pause the case for follow-up. Reject closes the loop with an email and an Experience notification. Approve moves straight to the update step, where any required component-level adjustments, such as grade, grade comment, or submission date, are applied back to the student record through Banner APIs, and the workflow ends with a clear outcome message to the student. Because Intelligent Processes controls this path, institutions get a consistent SaaS process for handling submissions, pauses, and decisions. Intelligent Processes also helps keep evidence, eligibility, and approvals aligned so the workflow does not split into disconnected manual steps.
Results
Students get one clear Experience flow to submit a case with evidence, receive a timestamped submission receipt, and see the decision by email and notification. They also benefit from clearer eligibility handling, because the workflow tells them early whether their submissions can proceed.
Staff get decision-ready requests with the right module and component context, plus a simple approve, reject, or refer path, with approved adjustments written back to the student record when needed. That means staff review evidence inside a cleaner context, spend less time sorting through unclear submissions, and can trust that eligibility has already been checked.
Institutions and Ellucian get a SaaS-native workflow that enforces eligibility up front and is ready to adopt across assessment cycles. They also get a SaaS pattern where Intelligent Processes supports repeatable submissions handling and evidence-driven decisioning without local custom code.
How to make mitigating circumstances submissions work in Ellucian SaaS
- Start with eligibility, because good eligibility logic prevents invalid submissions from entering the review process.
- Capture evidence in the same flow as the request, so submissions and evidence stay linked from the beginning.
- Use Intelligent Processes to route submissions consistently, because Intelligent Processes helps institutions avoid fragmented manual decision paths.
- Make eligibility visible early, so students understand whether their submissions can move forward before staff review any evidence.
- Design the SaaS workflow around real assessment timing, because submissions, evidence, and eligibility all depend on when the request is made.
- Treat evidence as structured input, not just an attachment, so staff can evaluate submissions faster and with better context.
- Let Intelligent Processes manage pauses, referrals, and approvals, because Intelligent Processes is most useful when the full decision flow lives in one place.
- Keep the final outcome clear, because students need to know how their submissions were decided and what happened to their evidence and eligibility status.
Turn institutional processes into Ellucian SaaS workflows
ABCloudz understands the common patterns behind institutional processes, but the build always depends on your specifics: which data you need to capture, which checks apply, who approves, and what must be updated once a decision is made. We lock those details down first, then implement the workflow in Ellucian SaaS using standard components so it is supportable and easy to adopt. That includes defining how eligibility is checked, how evidence is handled, how submissions are routed, and where Intelligent Processes should take over inside the SaaS design.
If you want to standardize a process in Ellucian SaaS, contact ABCloudz and share your current flow. We will translate it into a SaaS-native workflow your team can run with confidence. Whether the challenge is submissions, evidence, eligibility, or broader orchestration through Intelligent Processes, we can shape a SaaS workflow that fits the way your institution actually operates.
