Health Sciences Information Services (HSIS) has helped Yale’s Faculty Administrative Services team launch a new online tool called Faculty Search Reporting Process (FSRP), which replaces the current paper/PDF Faculty Search Questionnaire (FSQ) process. FSRP is an application that enables academic leaders, such as provosts, deans and department administrators, to gain insights into faculty recruiting practices. It provides access to faculty search reports and data, which can help academic leaders ensure compliance with national guidelines.
The application will impact all ladder and multi-year faculty searches, including those conducted by Faculty Affairs for School of Medicine (YSM) , Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS), and the professional schools. With the integration of Interfolio, FSRP increases overall efficiency by reducing manual effort and automating workflows. It also simplifies approval processes and enables better record-keeping for possible audits and reporting related to academic searches.
Timeline
The FSRP project began in April 2021 with planning and requirement gathering. Development lasted from September 2021 to June 2022, and revisions and pilot deployment were completed in February 2023. The application is expected to handle around 300-350 searches per year with roughly 200 users.
Team
The technical team from HR Innovation and Strategic Support (HRISS) - Ron Lipkins, Arun Darwar, David Hazall Farrell, Alberto Cruz-gil, Luis Sistos - and the business team consisting of Karen Anderson from the Provost’s Office and Faculty Administrative Services - Diane Rodrigues, Audrey Bribiescas and Anna Maria Hummerstone - played a crucial role in the development and implementation of the application. Faculty search questionnaire reviewers from the provost’s office, dean’s office, and Faculty Affairs for YSM, FAS, and SEAS comprised the user acceptance testing team.
Results
When discussing the launch with project lead Subha Srikumar, she shared, “one of the most fascinating aspects of the FSRP application is that it is much more than just a questionnaire. It is a cloud-based Salesforce application that is easy to use and navigate for even novice users.” The application reduces manual work as data is pulled from Interfolio via integration, has automated workflows, tracks approval history, and sends out automated email notifications to approvers for timely approvals. It also enables the collection of additional data points for future reporting needs.
The FSRP application has shed light on the importance of running an inclusive search, with faculty playing a crucial role in the search committee. The application has helped provide transparency to the provost, deans, and Faculty Affairs dean’s Office by providing information about the Search Committee Members and their role in the searches that they are part of.
By building this application, HSIS and HRISS have helped provide transparency and data that can be used for future reporting capabilities. This new process and tool will enable the provost, Office of Institutional Equity & Accessibility, and faculty search administrators to remain compliant with Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs guidelines and have access to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity aggregate data reports, enabling them to develop analytical reports for both university audits and internal needs, all within one application.
