Tracking the Impact of Covid-19 Using Interfolio Products
COVID-19 is impacting all areas of higher education from moving to online classes, to delaying reviews, and hiring processes. Our teams are in daily contact with our client institutions and have started seeing patterns in how institutions are using our products to adjust their processes and document necessary changes. This article and the videos posted below walk through some examples of how Interfolio can support universities in tracking changes related to the COVID-19 crisis in real time.
Interfolio hosted a special COVID-19 webinar to address higher-education workflow changes and trends we're seeing among our client partners. Our panel of Interfolio consultants and project managers discussed ways to use your Interfolio modules to track changes and delays you may be experiencing that are caused by COVID-19. We will also share stories and best practices from your peers at partner institutions, including the steps they're taking to manage different processes across campus.
The headings below the webinar are abbreviated video walk-throughs and
We recommend creating an activity classification to track activities that are delayed or cancelled due to COVID-19. This video walks though an example of setting this up, and the steps are outlined and illustrated in the text below the video.
Open the Administration section of Faculty180 and select Setup from the left-hand navigation menu.
Under Setup, scroll down to and select Activity Classifications.
We recommend something like "Delayed Due to COVID-19," but you can change this depending on what you want to track.
You will want this to appear as a dropdown list of selectable options. Make sure Required is not checked.
Select can enter / edit.
We recommend a Help Description similar to "This activity classification can track activities that are delayed due to COVID-19."
For Organization for which data are collected enter "COVID-19." If necessary you can add Administrative Notes concerning the classification and procedures.
Select all Activity Input activities to which this activity classification will apply.
We recommend selecting all activity types.
Under Classification, enter the options to appear in the dropdown you are creating. For example:
- Delayed due to COVID-19
- Reassigned duties due to COVID-19
- Cancelled due to COVID-19
Click Save and Go Back when you are finished.
To check this, follow the procedure for emulating a user.
You can find an overview of the instructions in this article: Tools: Emulate User
Go to Activities
Scroll down and click to "ADD"
Input the activity and click to "Continue"
Make sure the classification appears with the correct selectable options in the dropdown
We recommend creating a position status to capture changes made or delays due to COVID-19. The video below talks through this procedure, and the article below gives specific step-by-step instructions. An institutional administrator can set this status and make it available to all administrative units.
Navigate to the Administration section and open the Statuses tab.
Make sure you check the Settings for tab to ensure you are editing statuses for the right administrative unit.
On the Statuses tab, click the Actions button at the top right of the Administration screen and select Add new status.
Enter a Name for the status to indicate the action being taken in relation ot COVID-19. We recommend something like:
- COVID-19 Delay
- COVID-19 Waiver
- Delayed due to COVID-19
We recommend checking:
- Applicants can update their application materials while this status is active
- Evaluators can review applications while this status is active
Click Yes to make the status available to all units below the one you are editing.
You can also create a Message Template notifying applicants that you are delaying hiring at this time. The template can be linked to the status you've created above. This message will go out to applicants when the "COVID-Delay" status is applied to any position.
Open the Message Templates tab of the Administration page.
Enter the From name, and Reply to email address that will appear in the inbox of recipients.
Enter the email Subject and Message and click to Save.
Apply the position status you have created to the position.
Check the box to Send a message to all applicants with this change.
All applicants to the position will get the message you've selected notifying them of the delay or other change to the position.
As many of our client institutions are delaying review processes due to COVID-19 issues, we are offering advice on how to initiate, request, and track these delays using interfolio's Review, Promotion & Tenure. The video below explains how to create a new RPT status to track delays due to COVID-19, how to create a new case data form to track reason codes and other information, and how to create a form to allow candidates to request a delay due to COVID-19.
The text below the video explains these processes with illustrated step-by-step instructions.
Adding a status that can be applied to any case at your institution will allow you to organize cases and report delays. Committee Managers and Administrators can then add the status at the individual case level.
Navigate to the Administration section of RPT, open the Statuses tab and select Add Status.
Enter the status name and select a color for the status. We recommend a name such as "COVID-19 Waiver/Delay." You can set the status color it display in red when it appears on a case.
The status will now appear in the list of statuses that can be applied to any case at your institution as shown below, and will appear in the dropdown list of available statuses when setting the status of a case.
Open the case page (candidate packet) of the case you want to delay. Click Change and select the status you've created from the dropdown.
The status will appear on the case as shown below.
Some of our clients have expressed an interest in giving candidates the option to delay their review cases due to COVID-19. The instructions below are for creating a short form to allow candidate's to request a waiver for delay.
Go to the Administration section of RPT, open the Candidate Forms tab, and select Add Candidate Forms.
We suggest naming the form something like "COVID-19 Waiver" with a description of the form. Select the Unit where you want the form to be available and click Done.
Click Add Question. We will add a Multiple Choice question asking the candidate if they wish to delay their review, and enter a yes or no answer.
- We suggest adding the Question Title "Do you wish to delay your review?"
- For Question Type choose Multiple Choice
- Check to make the Question Required and click to Save
Enter the answer Yes, click Add and enter the answer No.
It may be a good idea to add another question allowing candidates to add comments to the form. Click Add Question to enter another question to the form, or Done if you are complete.
- For the Question Title enter Additional Comments
- Select Paragraph as the Question Type
- Leave the Question Required box unchecked
The form will appear to candidates as shown below. It will be available to apply to any cases and can be sent to the candidate as part of their case requirements.
We also recommend creating a case data form to track delays for administrative purposes. Administrators will fill these forms out when creating a case.
Navigate to the Administration section of RPT, open the Case Data Forms tab, and click to Add Case Data Forms .
We recommend a Form Title such as "COVID-19 Waiver/Delay," enter a Description, select the Unit to which you want the form to apply, and click Done.
Click Add Question. We will add a Multiple Choice question asking the Administrator completing the form if the candidate wants to delay their review, and enter a yes or no answer.
- We suggest adding the Question Title "Does this candidate wish to delay their review?"
- For Question Type choose Multiple Choice
- Check to make the Question Required and click to Save
- We suggest adding another multiple choice Question Type with a Yes/No answer:
Question Title: "Has this action been approved?"
- We also suggest adding a multiple choice Question Type asking when the review is expected to resume:
Question Title: "Expected term to resume review:"
Answer Options (depends on your term types): Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer
The form will appear to Administrators as shown below. It will be available to apply to templates and cases and will appear when an Administrator is creating a case.
