3 Keys to Success for Your Faculty Management System
How do you maximize adoption and utilization of a faculty management system? Addressing quality, process visibility, and accountability can yield big results in the ultimate success of your software investment.
Stating the obvious: faculty affairs administrators see big benefits from automating appointment, promotion, and tenure (APT) processes. But finding the right technology is just the start. Effective implementation and adoption requires faculty management systems also address quality, visibility, and accountability.
1. Quality:
Most faculty affairs teams have experienced a last-minute scramble to address quality-related issues. For example, finding out late in the process that an arms-length reviewer is actually a personal friend of the candidate. And missing information on forms can cause extra calls and rework. Or perhaps it’s that the department staff preparing documents simply don’t know which items are required for promotion at the tenure track level.
A good faculty management solution should have mechanisms to:
- reduce errors at the source
- catch errors earlier in the process
- and/or ensure that rework from errors is well contained
2. Visibility:
For key stakeholders, one of the most frustrating aspects with APT processes can be the limited visibility into progress. The candidate may not know if they have submitted all of the required materials. A committee member may not realize they are holding up the process. A good solution will allow everybody to easily see where each APT process stands and who has the next action to keep it moving.
3. Accountability:
One of the great benefits of automating your APT processes can be enhanced accountability. A good solution will keep a full audit trail of each step in the process. This ensures accountability without requiring massive paper documentation — and a room full of filing cabinets!
Our Buying Guide was written to help you evaluate a potential faculty information system purchase. If you have not downloaded it, please do. It’s informed from our team’s combined experience working in faculty affairs and with faculty affairs departments.
Tom Simon is the Chief Executive Officer for Mountain Pass Solutions.
A growth-focused startup software executive, Tom has a proven history of success working with industry giants, including Intel, Kellogg’s, Deloitte Consulting, and Valassis. Developing strategy and tactics to strengthen the internal team and its roadmap, Tom has successfully used his leadership to advance core customer relationships and generate sustainable growth for Mountain Pass Solutions.
