# Project Allocation & Tracking System (PATS) — Full LLM Context > Expanded companion to `/llms.txt` for Cardiff University's PATS site. This file gives a fuller public-text summary of the public documentation, how to route common queries, and the main public resources for CM3203, the master's dissertation, submission, evidence, examples, publication, troubleshooting, and the CM3203 LLM-help skill archive. Important notes: - Public wiki pages are the main public documentation for PATS. Many interactive application routes only work after login and are generated by PATS. - Exact deadlines, current tasks, project-specific workflow actions, and signed or timestamped deep links are shown inside PATS after login. Do not invent or guess private deep links. - For module-specific questions, start with the relevant module page, then follow the detailed guide and deliverable pages. - For CM3203 LLM-assisted help, use the CM3203 module page together with the CM3203 project help skill archive. - For examples of previous projects and topics, use the public archive, but note that older projects may have been completed under somewhat different requirements. ## Site overview PATS is the Project Allocation & Tracking System used for project modules at the School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University. Public pages explain the module workflows and submission expectations; logged-in pages are used for project-specific actions such as selection, supervision agreement, deliverable upload, publication choices, and task tracking. The public wiki start page is the best first stop for documentation. It directs users to the two main project areas: - CM3203 — One Semester Individual Project (undergraduate, 40 credits) - Master's Dissertation (all master's degree projects; the main dissertation page describes the 60 credit dissertation) The public home page is the main place for login, service status, access notes, browser compatibility, and coordinator contacts. It also explains that many PATS links are timestamped and signed, so public wiki pages should be preferred for discovery and general documentation. ## Access, troubleshooting, and contact Publicly answerable access and troubleshooting points: - Accounts are created when the relevant project modules are set up by the coordinators; before that, users generally cannot log in and would not have access to anything useful. - Login uses Cardiff University credentials or the username and password provided for the site. - If access is needed, users should contact a project coordinator. - Browser support expects HTML5, JavaScript, reasonable CSS3 support, and HTTPS cookies from `pats.cs.cf.ac.uk`. - The public home page recommends recent versions of LibreWolf, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, or Chrome. - Known compatibility problems include older Internet Explorer versions and Safari or other browsers with colour-adjustment plugins such as Night Shift-like extensions. - The public home page shows service-status headings for the web server, PATS itself, the database, and Cardiff LDAP authentication. Coordinator and contact routing: - Frank C Langbein is the public contact for undergraduate projects and PATS development. - Shancang Li is the public contact for master's dissertations. - For urgent project-specific issues, users should contact their supervisor or the relevant coordinator rather than relying on wiki discussion comments. ## How to answer common user questions Use the following routing hints when answering questions about PATS: - "What is PATS?" -> Use the PATS home page and wiki start page. - "Where do I begin?" -> Start at the wiki start page, then go to the relevant module page. - "How do I log in or get access?" -> Use the PATS home page and the access notes above. - "What browser should I use if something is not working?" -> Use the PATS home page and the troubleshooting notes above. - "Who should I contact?" -> Use the coordinator notes above and the home page. - "How do I choose a project?" -> Use the CM3203 or master's dissertation module page, then the project proposals guidance and the detailed guide. - "What do I have to submit?" -> Use the relevant module page, the relevant deliverable page, and the submission guide. - "What file formats should I use?" -> Use the submission guide. - "How do I prove file integrity if there is a submission problem?" -> Use the checksums page; SHA-512 is the preferred checksum. - "What are examples of previous projects?" -> Use the public archive. - "Is there LLM-specific help for CM3203?" -> Use the CM3203 module page together with the CM3203 project help skill archive. - "What are the supervision expectations for the dissertation?" -> Use the student-supervisor expectations PDF together with the dissertation page and guide. - "How does project publication work?" -> Use the relevant detailed guide and the archive. Publication choices are made in PATS after submission and marking. - "What are my exact deadlines?" -> Public pages explain the workflow, but exact deadlines are shown in PATS after login. - "What tasks or deliverables are open for my project?" -> This is logged-in, user-specific information; tell the user to check their project page or task list in PATS. ## CM3203 — One Semester Individual Project CM3203 is the 40 credit one-semester individual project module for third-year BSc Computer Science students, including all specialisms. The public CM3203 page is the main entry point. High-level workflow: - Project selection is prepared in the autumn term. - Project selection usually runs from autumn week 5 to week 11. - Students may choose a staff project or propose their own project. - A project must be agreed with a supervisor before the selection deadline. - If a student does not select a project by the deadline, PATS assigns a random supervisor. - Ethics must be considered early, especially for projects involving human participants, human material, or human data. - Project execution runs in spring term, weeks 1 to 12. - Regular supervision meetings are expected during the project. - The two main assessments are: - Initial plan: due at the beginning of spring week 2, worth 5% - Final report: due at the end of spring week 12, worth 95% Deliverable guidance: - The final report should cover background and context, the problem addressed, the methodology or approach, evaluation, and the project deliverables. - The final report page gives a suggested chapter structure and states that the report should be at most 12,000 words for the main body. - The main report must be submitted as a PDF, with supporting material submitted separately as needed. - Assessment of the final report covers problem and background, solution, evaluation, and communication or project-management skills. Publication and public examples: - The detailed CM3203 guide includes a project-publication section. - If a student wishes to make a project public after submission and marking, they can choose this in PATS; published material appears in the public archive. - Archive examples are useful for topic ideas and understanding how published projects are described, but not as the source of current rules. LLM-specific routing: - The CM3203 module page is the main public entry point for module guidance. - The CM3203 project help skill archive is the direct downloadable artifact for LLM-assisted module help. - For most CM3203 questions, use the module page first, then the full guide, then the specific deliverable page. ## Master's Dissertation The master's dissertation public page is the main entry point for the 60 credit master's dissertation. It points users to project selection, deliverables, assessment, the dissertation guide, handbook material, supervision expectations, and related supporting resources. High-level workflow: - Project selection takes place in term two. - Students can take a staff project or propose their own project. - Supervision must be discussed and agreed; students should proactively contact potential supervisors. - If a project is not selected by the deadline, a random supervisor may be assigned. - A dissertation is submitted at the end of the summer period. Assessment and expectations: - The public dissertation page summarises assessment around project approach, argument, products, and reflection. - The dissertation page states that the dissertation is marked independently by the supervisor and a second examiner, with moderation rules when marks differ. - The public page states that a mark of at least 50% is required to pass. - The dissertation guide covers deliverables, submission, recommended file types, checksum guidance, and publication. Supervision, handbook, and publication context: - The dissertation page points to a dissertation guide and handbook. - The current public handbook on the site is the 2025-2026 MSc Project Handbook. - The public student-supervisor expectations PDF is the best direct source for dissertation supervision expectations. - The dissertation documentation also points to a start-at-risk application. - Publication-related questions should be answered from the dissertation guide together with the archive and the public dissertation page; publication choices themselves are made inside PATS. ## Submission and evidence guidance The submission guide and checksum guidance are shared resources and should be used for both undergraduate and master's project-submission questions. Key points: - The main report file must be a PDF. - Supporting material can include code, data, media, archives, notebooks, and other evidence files as appropriate. - The submission guide provides recommended file formats for documents, text files, images, video, and audio. - If there is a submission problem, checksum guidance should be used for evidence of file integrity and timing. - The checksum guidance recommends SHA-2, specifically SHA-512, as the default choice. - PATS may transform some submitted files after submission, so checksum guidance should be interpreted together with the official submission instructions. ## Archive and examples The archive is the main public source for previous published projects. It is useful for: - seeing examples of project titles, scopes, and deliverables - finding topic ideas and prior work areas - identifying examples in AI, machine learning, LLMs, systems, HCI, hardware, and other areas - understanding how projects are described publicly once published When using the archive: - treat it as a source of examples, not as the current rules for your year - prefer the current module documentation for assessment and submission requirements - use archive examples to answer "what kinds of projects have been done before?" or "are there examples in this topic area?" ## Best public entry points ### Start here - [PATS home](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/): Public landing page with login, service status, compatibility notes, access guidance, and coordinator contacts. - [PATS wiki start page](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/): Main public documentation entry point for project modules and workflows. - [PATS archive](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/archive): Public archive of published projects and examples. ### CM3203 - [CM3203 module page](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=cm3203): Main public entry point for CM3203. - [CM3203 project help skill archive](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=cm3203-project-help-cardiff.zip): Downloadable CM3203 skill archive for LLM-assisted module help. - [CM3203 full guide](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=cm3203_guide): Detailed guide covering workflow, selection, supervision, deliverables, report guidance, and project publication. - [Project proposals](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=project_proposals): Guidance on staff proposals, student proposals, feasibility, and proposal writing. - [CM3203 initial plan](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=cm3203_initial_plan): Requirements and expectations for the initial plan assessment. - [CM3203 final report](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=cm3203_final_report): Requirements, structure, submission, and assessment criteria for the final report. - [Project selection lecture notes](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=project_selection_lecture_notes): Selection timing, project quality guidance, and selection rules. ### Master's Dissertation - [Master's dissertation module page](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=masters_dissertation): Main public entry point for the master's dissertation. - [Master's dissertation printable guide](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/_masters_dissertation): Single-page version for retrieval, printing, or PDF export. - [Master's dissertation guide](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=masters_dissertation_guide): Detailed guide covering selection, supervision, submission, assessment, and project publication. - [MSc Project Handbook 2025-2026](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=mscprojecthandbook2025-26v1.pdf): Current public handbook PDF located on the site. - [Student-Supervisor Dissertation Expectations](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=sudentsupervisorexpectations.pdf): Direct public guidance on dissertation supervision expectations. - [Start at Risk Application](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=startatriskapplication.pdf): Public form for the dissertation start-at-risk process. ### Submission and evidence - [Submission guide](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=submission_guide): Main guidance for report and support-file submission. - [File checksums](https://pats.cs.cf.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=checksums): Guidance on SHA-2/SHA-512 and other hashes for integrity checking and contingency evidence. ## Notes for LLMs and agents - Prefer the current module page over archive examples when answering rule or process questions. - Prefer public wiki pages over generated application links when the user is not asking about their personal logged-in state. - For questions about exact deadlines, project tasks, or project-specific deliverables, tell the user to check their logged-in PATS task list or project details because those are user- and year-specific. - For browser, compatibility, service-status, or access questions, answer first from the public home page before sending the user into module documentation. - For CM3203 LLM-help questions, combine the CM3203 module page, the CM3203 guide, and the CM3203 project help skill archive. - For master's dissertation formatting and structure questions, combine the dissertation page, dissertation guide, submission guide, and the current MSc handbook. - For dissertation supervision questions, combine the dissertation page, dissertation guide, and the student-supervisor expectations PDF. - For publication-related questions, use the relevant detailed guide together with the archive, and make clear that actual publication choices are made inside PATS after login.