About Candidate Involvement in Cases
Candidate involvement is an important decision point when creating a case in Interfolio's Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT). This article outlines what it means for a candidate to be involved in a case, including what access and actions are available to them, and the ramifications of selecting “Yes” or “No” to the question ‘Will the candidate be involved in this evaluation?’ Understanding this option is essential for ensuring proper workflow, communication, and access throughout the review process.
Setting Up Candidate Involvement
When setting up an RPT case, administrators must choose whether the candidate will be involved in the evaluation. This choice cannot be changed later, so it is important to select carefully.
If yes is selected, the candidate will have access to their candidate packet, be able to submit their own materials, and be communicated with during the evaluation period. If no is selected, the candidate will not have access to their case or materials at any point—neither during nor after the review process.
If access becomes necessary, the case must be deleted and recreated with candidate involvement enabled.
When creating a case with candidate involvement, administrators have the ability to notify the candidate OR move to step one. If you do not notify the candidate at this step, the candidate does not receive an automatic email or action item and the candidate will never have access to this packet throughout the rest of the case. In order to involve the candidate at this point, you must delete the case and recreate it.
Candidate Access and Submissions
After the case is created, an Administrator or Case Manager must send the case to the candidate to notify them of their review. The case will then appear on the candidate’s dashboard, allowing them to begin populating and submitting their packet.
As long as the packet section is unlocked, candidates can continue to submit materials—even if the case has advanced to later workflow steps.
Once notified, the candidate can view the:
-
Overview Page: Lists the required materials and forms the candidate will need to add to their packet. The candidate will have access (can view and respond) to any files shared with them by the committee.
-
Packet Sections: Their packet will likely be divided into sections, each with a list of materials to upload in order to complete each section. If a due date has been set, the candidate will see the due date for each section. Each section of the packet can be submitted once all requirements for the section have been met.
These due dates are soft deadlines—the overall packet deadline takes precedence.
Editing and Submission Rules
Candidates have full control over the content they submit within their packet, unless the section is locked. Once a section of the packet is unlocked, candidates can upload, delete, or replace materials as needed—even after the case has moved into later workflow steps. This flexibility allows candidates to make updates throughout the evaluation process, provided that the relevant section remains open for editing.
Administrators and Case Managers do not have the ability to alter, remove, or upload materials on behalf of the candidate. While they can adjust access settings, unlock specific sections, or manage internal documents, they cannot make any changes to candidate-submitted content.
If a candidate mistakenly uploads the wrong document, an administrator must unlock the section and inform the candidate, who can then delete the incorrect file and upload the correct version.
Committee Access
Committee members receive notifications whenever any section of the candidate’s packet is submitted. The full packet does not need to be submitted for notifications to be triggered. This can sometimes cause confusion if committees expect to see a complete packet. That is the intended functionality.
To prevent the notifications from going to committee members before the entire packet is submitted, it is recommended that Unit Administrators create a blank Admin Only step at step one, and start adding committees at step two.