ThesisFlow CMS

ThesisFlow CMS is an academic thesis submission and review management system designed for graduate students and academic advisors. It helps organize thesis drafts, track revision progress, record advisor feedback, and manage submissions through a structured approval workflow.

Key Features

• Version-Controlled Drafts: Students can upload successive thesis drafts with timestamps while preserving previous versions.
• Structured Review Pipeline: Track submissions through Draft Submitted, Under Review, Revisions Requested, and Approved statuses.
• Advisor Feedback: Advisors can provide comments and attach revision feedback to individual draft versions.
• Final Approval Lock: Once a draft is approved, the project is locked to prevent further student uploads.
• Role-Based Access: Separate student and advisor permissions for managing submissions and reviews.
• Secure Document Handling: Includes upload validation and secure document-download functionality.
• Installation Wizard: Simplifies initial setup, database configuration, requirement checks, and optional demo-data loading.
• Customizable Branding: Update the system name, base URL, logo, page titles, colors, gradients, and fonts.

Workflow Overview

1. The student submits a thesis draft.
2. The advisor reviews the submitted version.
3. The advisor requests revisions and provides feedback when changes are needed.
4. The student submits a revised version for further review.
5. The advisor approves the final submission, locking the project against additional student uploads.

Technology Stack

• PHP 8.0 or higher
• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
• PDO and PDO MySQL
• Fileinfo PHP extension for MIME-type checks
• Apache web server with mod_rewrite enabled
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Security Features

The README documents CSRF protection, parameterized SQL queries, file-upload validation, secure downloads, and strict role-based access controls. These safeguards support safer handling of academic documents; production deployments should still be configured and tested for the hosting environment.

Installation

Install locally using XAMPP or WAMP, or deploy to compatible Apache hosting. Follow the included installation wizard to check requirements, configure database credentials, load optional sample data, and generate the application configuration. Manual installation instructions are also provided.

Demo Accounts

The README lists the following accounts for evaluating the application when demo data is installed:

• Advisor: advisor / password123
• Student 1: student1 / password123
• Student 2: student2 / password123

These are demonstration credentials. Change them before deploying the application for real academic use, and remove the installation directory after setup as directed in the README.

Ideal For

• Graduate schools and academic departments
• Universities coordinating thesis submissions
• Academic advisors and research supervisors
• Developers building academic workflow solutions
• Freelancers and agencies creating customized education systems

Requirements

PHP 8.0+, MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+, PDO, PDO MySQL, Fileinfo, and Apache with mod_rewrite enabled.

Version Information

Version information is maintained in the package's CHANGELOG.md file. Confirm the release number in that file before publishing your listing.