For institutions looking to attract and retain grant money, data agility can be the difference between success and missing out.
Completing a winning grant or renewal application often depends upon gathering faculty data. Without the right systems, institutions run the risk of losing millions of dollars in funding.
Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) knows firsthand the challenges of working with paper-based data: having to comb through stacks of files, making calls to verify information and fill in blanks, all the while facing deadlines.
Ready for an easier, more reliable approach, XULA turned to Interfolio’s online Faculty Information System. Since adopting it, XULA has come to appreciate the many advantages of data agility.
Themes Discussed
- Academic Information Systems Power Grant Applications
- Data Help with External Affairs
- Online, Linked Systems Enable Efficiency
Academic Information Systems Power Grant Applications
Before implementing Interfolio at XULA, finding supporting information for grant applications was a struggle.
“For example, with a NIH grant renewal application, we had to look through stacks of faculty files to pull out the information we needed,” explains Dr. Marguerite Giguette, the University’s Associate Provost. “And although we won renewal, we knew we needed a more reliable way to find the requested information.”
For this reason and others, XULA implemented Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting module, an online, searchable source of accurate faculty data.
Data Help with External Affairs
The Interfolio Faculty Information System has not only made grant applications easier; it has also helped XULA promote the University and respond to their accreditation body.
“Before we adopted Interfolio, we would have trouble finding information because everything was in paper files, and we couldn’t run reports,” says Marguerite. “Now, with Interfolio, we have faculty data and reporting capabilities so we can more effectively promote the institution when we get media requests or when we’re responding to accreditation standards.”
“Very few faculty members needed help in learning the system, which is a testament to how easy it is to use Interfolio’s faculty information system.”
Dr. Marguerite Giguette
Associate Provost and Chief Institutional Research Officer
Office of Institutional Research & Decision Support
Xavier University of Louisiana
Online, Linked Systems Enable Efficiency
XULA also implemented Interfolio’s Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) module, which proved fortuitous when the pandemic began because RPT enables an online faculty evaluation process.
Moreover, because the RPT module is linked to Faculty Activity Reporting, faculty only have to gather and enter their data one time; once their data and supporting materials are in the activity reporting module, they can be pulled into their formal evaluations.
Administrators can also easily check what stage each faculty review is at. “This has been tremendous,” Marguerite says. “I can track faculty updates and evaluation submissions and know who to nudge to move things along.”
About Interfolio
Conceived by academics for academics, Interfolio is an education technology company headquartered in Washington, DC, USA and in Cambridge, England, UK. Founded in 1999, Interfolio operates the acclaimed Faculty Information System, the Researchfish impact assessment platform, and the widely used Dossier service. Over 400 clients based in 15 countries choose Interfolio’s technology for hiring and recruitment, academic appointments and timelines, activity data reporting, faculty reviews and promotions, and research impact analysis. For more information about Interfolio, please contact us below.
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