When Interfolio administrative privileges are requested for someone, they initially receive access to all cases started from within their unit, regardless of where these cases are currently located. Access options on case steps beyond the administrator’s academic unit (dept. or school) need to be configured manually, and this applies to both open cases and to templates.
Because of the work involved in performing this configuration, deciding whether to request administrative privileges for someone in Interfolio requires balancing the individual’s need for administrative privileges against the burden of this extra work.
Terminology
There is a difference between being an administrator in an academic unit at UCLA and having the "administrator" role in Interfolio. This article focuses on the Interfolio administrator role and the reasons why you may or may not want to assign it to someone.
Interfolio Administrative Privileges
Interfolio administrators have wider-ranging access to Opus/Interfolio cases, and more features at their disposal, than either of the other two roles in available to admins in Interfolio (the roles of committee manager and committee member).
As we mentioned above, newly added Interfolio administrators have access to every step on all open cases and on all templates (i.e., future cases) associated with their unit.
Unfortunately, this default behavior is not in line with UCLA policy, which designates that AP admins should only have access when a case is within their academic unit, and not “beyond.” Departments should lose access when a case is sent to the school, and schools should lose access when a case is sent to APO. In order to implement this access, we edit the case's steps in Interfolio. This is done through the “recusal” feature, which restricts access on a step-by-step basis. This must occur in open cases and in templates.
Advantages of Interfolio Admin Privileges
The privileges associated with Interfolio administrator status are best understood by comparing them to privileges of the committee manager (especially) and committee member roles. The privileges of both these roles can be found in the article, Why Should I Star Someone as a Committee Manager? linked near the bottom of this page.
In addition to everything a committee manager or committee member can do, Interfolio admins can also:
Click the “Notify Candidate” button
Assign committees to case steps
Create Interfolio ad-hoc committees
Add or modify a document requirement for a committee
Add or modify a case’s candidate requirements (document or forms requirements)
Recuse other administrators (or their self) from steps in cases or templates
Create and manage committees
Create or edit Interfolio forms
Edit templates
The Drawbacks of Requesting Administrative Privileges
The disadvantage of requesting these privileges is the work involved in configuring case access once they have been granted.
For example, when a department requests Interfolio administrative privileges for a new hire, they must configure:
Every step past the department steps, in
Every open case and
Every template (future cases)
For schools, who must recuse their admins in multiple departments, each with their own set of cases and templates, this issue becomes even more pressing (see the For Schools section below for tips). When a school requests these privileges for a new hire, they must edit:
Every step past the school steps, in
Every open case
In every department in their school, and
Every future case (likely templates),
In every department in their school
As detailed in the article, How to Recuse an Interfolio Administrator from a Case Step in Interfolio (linked below), the process of configuring these options for a single step is very quick. However, as shown in the article Who Should Have Access to Case/Template Steps in Interfolio? (also linked below), each case has multiple steps that must be configured.
Making a Decision
Existing personnel should weigh the need for these privileges against the work involved in setting up case access, and decide whether they want to request administrative privileges for new personnel, and if so, how they will approach the work to ensure they follow APO policy.
Essentially, we advise that academic personnel admins in departments and dean’s offices consider whether new personnel truly need the abilities listed above — if they don’t, it’s easier to make them committee managers instead. If they do need the administrator role, the section below describes the broad strokes of the work involved.
How to Approach the Work
Request admin privileges only for AP staff who need it.
Star other personnel as committee managers instead (they will ask Interfolio admins to perform tasks when necessary).
Configure case steps for new hires immediately.
See the article How to Recuse an Interfolio Administrator from a Case Step in Interfolio linked below.
Configure template steps whenever possible.
The same process, performed on templates.
Check each case before sending forward.
Committee managers will need to understand the limits of what they can do in Interfolio, and who to consult when limits need to be overcome.
Also, configuring templates sets new cases on the right path, but existing cases should be prioritized.
And finally, checking each case before it’s sent forward should be standard practice regardless. See the article linked near the bottom of this page, What Should I Check Before Clicking the “Send Forward” Button? for more information.
Configuring Cases Already Sent Forward
When a case has already been sent past an academic unit, Interfolio administrators in the earlier academic unit will no longer be able to access it. This means that when a new hire appears in a department, their peers won’t have access to cases that have been sent to the school or to APO (assuming case steps for these peers have been properly configured), but the new hire will. Likewise, when a new hire appears in a school, their peers won’t have access to cases that have been sent to APO, but the new hire will.
Therefore, access to the steps on these cases must be configured by either the new hire, or by an Interfolio admin in an academic unit that currently has access to the case. For example, a case that has been sent to the school should be configured by the dean’s office or the new hire.
For Schools
The relationship between academic units at UCLA can be depicted as a tree, where each type of unit is “within” the one above it:
Campus (APO and Opus staff)
Schools (includes L & S divisions)
Departments
Areas (in the School of Medicine and Dentistry only)
Specialties (in the School of Dentistry only)
When “higher up” units add someone new, they will require the units “within them” to configure their cases and templates for the new “higher up” admin. This cooperation is sometimes required because the work involved in configuring cases across multiple “contained” units can be extensive, and must be broken up.
For example, when a school requests Interfolio administrative privileges for a new hire, the new SA receives access to all steps of all open cases that were started in any department within the school. DAs will need to help configure the SA’s access to cases that are still at department steps, as well as the department’s templates. SAs will still have to configure the steps of any cases that are currently at a school step, and APO will have to configure the steps of those cases that are currently at an APO step. Or the new hire can do it.
The New Hire Can Do This Work
If a school decides to request Interfolio admin privileges for a new administrator, that admin can start working on configuring their case access as soon as they have the privileges (yes, admins can recuse themselves), and many times they have the most extensive access.
This comes with a major caveat, however: If an admin recuses their self from a case’s current step, they will lose access immediately. Therefore, in scenarios where someone needs to restrict their access from a case’s current step, they should save the case’s current step for last, using the “recuse” feature on it only after doing so for all other required steps.
See Also
Opus Support Site Articles
What Should I Do in Interfolio When a New Administrator is Hired?
Why Should I Star Someone as a Committee Manager?
How to Add Someone to a Committee in Interfolio
Who Should Have Access to Case/Template Steps in Interfolio?
How to Recuse an Interfolio Administrator from a Case Step in Interfolio
What Should I Check Before Clicking the “Send Forward” Button?
Interfolio Help Center Articles
User Roles in Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure