UNLV Folio is the university’s information management system for faculty members. Within its secure and convenient web-based environment, UNLV Folio provides a database and reporting tool for faculty to document their scholarly achievements, along with a workflow module for university administrators to manage a variety of review processes, including annual evaluations and tenure and promotion reviews. It also incorporates a personal document curation platform for faculty to maintain their scholarly materials.

UNLV Folio has been designed to decrease the time and effort that faculty spend on reporting their activities and to increase the accuracy and consistency of their data. The university will use information collected from the system to enhance its ongoing efforts to promote and support faculty work.

UNLV Folio is a secure and easy-to-use online information management system for faculty members. It comprises three connected modules:

  1. A database and reporting tool for faculty members to organize and track their instructional, research, creative, clinical, service, and/or other professional achievements. Faculty may use the data in their own UNLV Folio profile to generate curriculum vitae, bio-sketches for grant applications, and other custom reports for their professional needs. University administrators may use the database and reporting tool to run reports on faculty accomplishments within a particular department, college, or the university at large.
  2. A workflow module for administrators and staff to electronically manage review processes, including faculty annual performance evaluations and faculty promotion and tenure reviews. To save faculty time and effort, review documentation can be imported directly from the reporting tool. The customizable workflow module is able to build digitized processes that mirror established institutional review procedures and set deadlines and automatic reminders to keep them on track. Process participants can check status and receive role-specific information about workflow progress.
  3. A personal document curation platform where faculty can collect and manage their own personal and scholarly materials that can then be used elsewhere in the system. It is a virtual storage drive to gather documents for upcoming reviews and evaluations, as well as a system to request and receive letters of recommendation. In addition, faculty can share materials with colleagues and get feedback directly within the platform.

Vendor

The current platform for UNLV Folio is a suite of cloud-based software products from a company called . The database and reporting tool in UNLV Folio is powered by Interfolio’s product, while the workflow module is powered by Interfolio’s . is used for personal document curation.

System Features and Benefits

The utilization of UNLV Folio on our campus provides a number of benefits and advantages for both faculty and the University:

  • The system is configured for single sign-on through ACE authentication.
  • Faculty can access the tool 24/7/365 from any computer with an Internet connection.
  • Data are automatically imported from other campus information systems (i.e., personnel data from Workday, teaching data from MyUNLV, and grants data from the Office of Sponsored Programs’ grantsERA database), minimizing the need for manual data entry.

  • The system is configured for single sign-on through ACE authentication.
  • Faculty can access the tool 24/7/365 from any computer with an Internet connection.
  • Data are automatically imported from other campus information systems (i.e., personnel data from Workday, teaching data from MyUNLV, and grants data from the Office of Sponsored Programs’ grantsERA database), minimizing the need for manual data entry.

  • The database can be customized to track and report on the unique professional activities of faculty from all disciplines. If the current configuration does not adequately meet the needs of a particular department or college/school, additional data fields can be created and revised data reports can be developed.

  • Chairs, deans, and other university administrators can use the centralized repository to rapidly generate summary reports for internal data requests and external requests from accrediting bodies, regulatory entities, government agencies, media groups, etc. without having to continually ask faculty members for information about their activities and achievements.
  • All data can be downloaded and warehoused to maintain institutional history of faculty responsibilities and accomplishments. Faculty data can be linked to student data and other institutional data, furnishing the capability to conduct comprehensive research and analysis.
  • Standardized and consistent faculty web profiles generated from the data can encourage interdisciplinary research among campus faculty, facilitate collaborations with faculty across the country and globe, and forge partnerships with external groups (e.g., industry, government, media, schools, etc.) seeking expertise in particular disciplines or fields. Such profiles can also attract prospective faculty and students to the institution.
  • Information derived from the database can help promote the University and communicate its contributions as an institution of higher education.

  • The electronic workflow module allows all stages of university review processes to be completed within a single platform without need for paper documentation or email communication.
  • The status of processes can be monitored at every stage. Automated reminders eliminate bottlenecks and move processes forward to timely completion.
  • All the documentation related to a review process can be downloaded to a PDF file for convenient long-term storage.

History & Timeline

Electronic faculty achievement reporting has been at UNLV since early 2011, when the university first licensed Digital Measures Activity Insight software for a period of five years. The contract was subsequently renewed for three years in early 2016. Approximately eighteen months before the expiration of the contract, the Office of Faculty Affairs performed a comprehensive needs assessment for UNLV’s faculty achievement reporting system and investigated over one dozen software products commercially available in the marketplace.

After a faculty information management system from a vendor known as Interfolio was identified as a potential replacement for Digital Measures, a campus review of the alternative product was conducted in Fall 2017. Vendor representatives visited the UNLV campus to provide live demonstrations of their products, and during the following weeks, provided live web-based demonstrations as well as recorded webinars. Faculty and administrators were given the opportunity to test Interfolio products for themselves within a sandbox environment.

Participants in the campus review of the alternative system included faculty members, department chairs, deans, business managers, administrative assistants, and representatives from a variety of administrative offices (e.g., Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, Office of the Senior Vice Provost, Office of Decision Support, Office of Information Technology, Office of Human Resources, Office of Web and Digital Strategy, and Faculty Senate). Stakeholders were overwhelmingly in support of replacing the old system with the suite of products available from Interfolio. After a contract was established in early 2018, a plan was developed to implement the products during the spring and summer and launch them in the fall.

The implementation of UNLV Folio was scheduled to occur during the latter half of calendar year 2018 and early part of 2019. The general timeline of tasks was as follows:

  • June 2018-July 2018: Clean data in existing database
  • July 2018-October 2018: Conduct needs assessments with campus stakeholders
  • August 2018-February 2019: Establish integrations to other campus information systems
  • September 2018-March 2019: Design database and configure new system
  • October 2018-March 2019: Migrate existing data into new database
  • January 2019-March 2019: Configure existing administrative processes in electronic workflow module
  • February 2019-April 2019: Create user resources and training materials
  • February 2019-April 2019: Design customized reports
  • April 19, 2019: Launch UNLV Folio at UNLV

Faculty Advisory Committee

To ensure that UNLV Folio meets the needs of academic faculty members and the university administration, an advisory committee with representatives from various colleges/schools and administrative units has been formed.

Current Committee Membership

Contacts

UNLV Folio Support

All questions and comments about UNLV Folio may be directed to UNLV Folio Support at unlvfolio@unlv.edu.

The UNLV Folio initiative is led by the Office of Faculty Affairs.

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