Approve/Send Back Faculty Input Form
Once the Faculty Input Process is initiated, faculty members can begin updating their activities. Throughout this process, Administrators manage participation and approve/reject submissions. Approval rights are limited to administrators with access at the relevant unit level (e.g. a college-level administrator can only review submissions from faculty within their college and its subunits).
Workflow visibility follows a top-down, unit-based structure. Administrators can view workflows created at their own unit level and any subunits beneath it. For instance, a university-level administrator can see workflows from all colleges, but a college-level administrator cannot access workflows from other colleges. This structure ensures that workflow access aligns with organizational hierarchy and administrative scope.
If a submission is approved at one level but rejected at a higher level, the review process restarts. In such cases, the faculty member is notified via email and in the ‘To Do’ section on their dashboard, with instructions for resubmission.
Activity Input Forms remain editable throughout the approval process, meaning reviewers may see different information at different times. Forms are only locked once fully approved, after which they can be found under Prior Activity Input Forms in the Reports section.
Approve/Send Back Faculty Input Form
- Navigate to the Administration page and click Approve Faculty Input under the Activity Input section.
- The Approve Faculty Input page will display. Click the Eye (View) icon under the ‘Actions’ column to view the approval process for the desired Input Form.
- The # of Approval Steps column includes the faculty step.
- Click the Envelope (Email) icon under the Actions column to email faculty during a workflow.
Emailing faculty is not automatic, so if you want to notify your faculty that a workflow is open, you can do so here.
- A list of the unit breakdown will display for your unit and below. Click the Eye (View) icon under the ‘Approve’ column to view the faculty members included in this workflow at the selected unit.
This view is filtered by the selections in the ‘Details’ and ‘Faculty’ sections. To see the desired workflow, adjust the Start/End Date and Faculty members, then click ‘Refresh Report.’
- A list of the faculty breakdown will display. Click the Eye (View) icon under the ‘View and Approve’ column to view and approve the faculty member's input form.
Click the Envelope (Email) icon to individually remind faculty members who have not completed their Activity Input Form. Reminder messages can be sent in bulk to faculty members from the Communications page.
- This will open an emulation of the selected faculty member. enabling you to review and Approve the form. A Reject option will appear next to the approve button.
Please note that the Approve and Reject buttons may be customized with alternative labels.
FAQs
If an administrative approval step is not included in the workflow, will changes be automatically accepted if the sections are mapped to the activities form?
Yes. Any row added via the Initiated Input form will immediately appear in the Universal Activities form, regardless of whether an Administrative Approval step is included. The approval step does not prevent data from being added, it simply serves as a marker that the administrator has reviewed the input. If the section is properly mapped, the data will be visible and processed without further review.
How does initiated input approval work for a faculty member with a joint appointment in another unit?
Initiated input approval for a faculty member with a joint appointment involves administrators from both the primary and secondary units reviewing and approving the faculty member's input.
Can a faculty member resubmit a rejected Faculty Input Form after the due date?
No, faculty cannot resubmit their Faculty Input Form if it was rejected after the due date has passed. The workflow will need to be reopened or the due date extended first. Once the due date has passed, the entry points to the form (Action Items on the home page and the submitted form under Forms & Reports) are no longer accessible to faculty. Reopening or extending the due date restores access, but the outcome varies depending on the faculty member's status at that point.
| Workflow reopened/due date extended for: | Outcome |
|---|---|
| All faculty |
|
| The rejected faculty member |
|
| Both approved and rejected faculty members |
|
Recommended Approach
If administrators are approving or rejecting faculty activity forms after the due date, it is recommended to first complete all approvals and rejections. Once finished, the due date can be extended. Only faculty whose forms were rejected will be able to resubmit. Faculty whose forms were approved will only be able to view their forms, not resubmit them.