Set Up and Manage Academic Levels
Academic Levels in Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) provide a structured way to manage administrative case access across an institution. Defined and configured by Institutional Administrators, Academic Levels mirror your institution’s hierarchy and determine which Unit Administrators and Case Managers may access a case at each stage of the workflow. By linking access to the institutional hierarchy, rather than assigning access user by user, Academic Levels make case access more predictable, scalable, and consistent across units.
Each unit added to RPT automatically inherits an academic level from its parent unit. Level numbers increase as units become more localized. This creates a clear structure such as:
- Level 1: University
- Level 2: College or School (e.g. School of Engineering)
- Level 3: Department (e.g. Department of Biology)
Academic Levels determine which Unit Administrators and Case Managers may access cases at each workflow step. This article explains how to configure academic levels, customize the hierarchy, and apply academic levels in templates and cases to automatically manage case access.
Bulk Access Control
Academic Levels are used to grant administrative access to cases in bulk, based on where a case lives in the institutional hierarchy. When an academic level is assigned to a workflow step:
- All Unit Administrators and Case Managers associated with units at that level automatically gain access to the case during that step.
- Administrators do not need to be added individually to each case; access is derived from their role and the case’s unit level.
Academic Levels control administrative access only. They do not affect committee member access or candidate access. Committee member access access is determined solely by membership on a committee, and the assignment of that committee to a specific workflow step.
How Academic Levels Affect Workflow Steps
Academic Levels apply at two main layers in RPT:
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Template and Case Levels: The academic level of a unit determines which administrators can see cases created within that unit:
- A College‑level Unit Administrator (e.g., Level 2) can access all cases and templates created for that college and any of its departments.
- A Department‑level Case Manager (e.g., Level 3) can access only cases created in that department and workflow steps assigned to that department.
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Case Review Steps: Each workflow step in a template or case can be assigned one or more academic levels. These assignments control which administrators retain access as the case moves through the review. For example, a workflow step such as 'Dean Reviews Candidate Dossier' may be assigned to Level 1 (University), Level 2 (College), or Level 3 (Department). The following access permissions will apply:
- All Unit Administrators and Case Managers at the assigned levels automatically retain access while the case is on that step.
- Any committees assigned to the step also have access for the duration of that step.
When the case moves to the next workflow step, access updates automatically.
Administrative access updates based on the academic levels assigned to the new step. Committee access updates based on which committee is assigned to that step. Committee members gain access only when their assigned committee is on that step in the workflow.
Set Up Academic Levels
- Navigate to the Users & Groups page and select the Academic Levels tab to view the hierarchy.
- Click Edit Name below the desired level to view a list of units that fall under that academic level. From here you can change the ‘Level Name.’
These custom labels appear anywhere the hierarchy is displayed, including unit setup, workflow steps, access settings, and reporting permissions.
- Click Save at the bottom when finished.