Manage Committees at the Case Level
Administrators and case managers with access to a case can manage the committees assigned to its case review steps. You can add or replace a committee, adjust its members, and configure its instructions, requirements, and settings. Changes made within a case do not change a standing committee’s membership in Users & Groups or affect other cases. However, some member changes may affect more than one step within the same case when that committee is assigned repeatedly.
Manage Committees
- When editing a case or template's case review steps, scroll down to the Reviewers section. The committees assigned to this step appear here, along with their Manage Members, Instructions, Required Documents, Required Forms, and Settings tabs.
- Changes made here affect the committee in this template or case, not the underlying standing committee. To update the standing committee itself, make the change on the Users & Groups page.
Administrators can assign faculty members to committees only within their own unit or below.
Expand the sections below to learn how to change committee membership within a template or an individual case.
Add a committee or individual reviewer
You can assign a standing committee, an ad hoc committee, or an individual reviewer to a case review step. If multiple committees need access to the packet at the same step, add each committee separately. If reviewers need to collaborate as one group, assign them to the same standing or ad hoc committee.
For instructions on creating a committee, check out this article on how to Create Standing and Ad Hoc Committees.
When editing the desired case review step, select +Add Committee in the ‘Reviewers’ section. Choose a Standing Committee, an Ad Hoc Committee (new or existing), or an Individual User. Make your selection and select the Add button.
To assign another committee to the same step, select +Add Committee again and repeat.
Committees cannot see one another’s outstanding requirements. For example, one committee will not see another committee’s required letter or form while it is awaiting submission. After submission, access to the document or form response depends on its visibility settings.
Rename, replace, or remove a committee
Select the Options dropdown to make changes to the assigned committee.edit the name of the committee, replace the committee with another, or remove the committee from the current step.
- Edit Name: Changes the name displayed for that committee assignment.
- Replace Committee: Replaces the committee assigned to the case review step with another committee or an individual reviewer.
- Remove: Takes the committee off the step. A case review step must retain at least one committee, so add another before removing the only one.
A primary committee cannot be removed from a step if there is only one committee. At least one committee must be assigned to the Case Review Step at all times. If only one committee is present, it cannot be removed until another committee is added.
Manage committee members
After adding a committee to a case review step, you can manage members under the ‘Reviewers’ section. These actions do not change the standing committee’s underlying membership in Users & Groups.
If the committee is expected to move the case or upload required committee documents, ensure an eligible committee manager is assigned. If no one is designated as the committee manager, the committee will be unable to move the case forward or upload recommendation letters, which can cause the case to become ‘stuck.’
- Add Members: Add new or existing users to the committee.
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Star icon: Assign or remove the committee manager role. Committee managers can move the case and upload files.
Temporary committee members cannot be designated as Committee Managers.
- Circle with cross: Recuse a standing committee member
- X: Remove temporary member added directly to the case.
Removing individual committee members retains existing requirements, instructions for that step, and submitted required files and form responses from both the case and reports
Add instructions and requirements
Required items can prevent the case from advancing until their configured requirements are satisfied or omitted by an authorized user. Use the tabs under the assigned committee to configure its work at this case review step:
- Instructions: Select ‘Edit Instructions’ to add guidance for the committee.
- Required Documents: Add documents the committee must provide.
- Required Forms: Add forms for committee respondents.
Set whether the committee can move the case
Open Settings > Edit Settings and select or clear ‘This committee can move the case forward and backward,’ then select Save. When enabled, this setting allows an assigned committee manager to move the case during the committee’s review step. It does not change an administrator’s access to the case.
FAQs
Which standing committees are available to add to a case?
You can add a standing committee to a case in the unit where the committee was created or in a unit below it. Committees from unrelated units will not appear as options. If you need reviewers from another unit, consider creating an ad hoc committee for the case and adding the appropriate members, subject to your role’s access.
Need to add members from another unit?
Consider creating an Ad Hoc Committee. You can manually add those members to the Ad Hoc Committee for the specific case.
How can institutions assign department-specific committees while using a single university-level template?
Using a single university-level template simplifies template management and ensures consistency across the institution. However, it also allows flexibility to assign department-specific standing committees during the case creation process.
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Include Placeholder Committee in University Template: In the university-level template, include a placeholder committee, such as "Replace with Candidate's Department," in the case review steps. This placeholder ensures the template remains adaptable to different departments.
- Replace Placeholder Committees Within Specific Case: After creating a candidate’s case, administrators can replace the placeholder with the appropriate department-specific standing committee by navigating to the candidate's case and using the ‘Replace Committee’ function from the ‘Options’ dropdown to select the correct department committee.
This approach allows institutions to maintain a single, consistent template while addressing department-specific needs efficiently. It also reduces the administrative burden of managing multiple templates and ensures updates are applied universally, avoiding inconsistencies or outdated processes.
Why can’t a committee see materials uploaded by the candidate?
The committee will only see documents in sections that have been submitted by the candidate. First, confirm that the candidate has submitted the packet section containing the missing material. Candidates can submit sections separately, so a committee may be reviewing one section while another remains unsubmitted.
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Check the Cases page. When viewing the Cases list, ‘Case is with Candidate’ indicates that the case has not yet advanced to committee review, but check the specific section to confirm its status. Keep the case-list screenshot here.
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Check whether the section is locked. Submitted sections normally lock, but a Lock button only tells you the section is currently unlocked. It does not prove the section was never submitted, because an authorized unit administrator, case manager, or committee manager can lock or unlock a section manually. Keep the packet-section screenshot here.
If the section has been submitted, confirm that the committee is assigned to the current case review step and that the material access settings permit it to view the documents. Missing materials are not necessarily a committee-membership issue.
Packet sections can be locked/unlocked for candidate editing by a Unit Administrator or Case Manager.
Will replacing a committee delete submitted documents and form responses?
Yes. Using Case Review Steps > Options > Replace Committee removes the previous committee’s submitted required files and form responses from the case and reports. The step’s requirements and instructions remain in place for the replacement committee. This also applies when the previous reviewer was an individual user.
By contrast, adding or removing members of an existing committee does not delete its previously submitted files or form responses.