CASE STUDY
The University of Rhode Island
What if you could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in faculty and administrative staff time?
The University of Rhode Island (URI) has done just that after adopting Interfolio Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR) in 2018 and Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) in 2019. Implementing these two modules of the Interfolio Faculty Information System has brought other welcome changes. Department chairs no longer complain to administrators about cumbersome faculty data processes. And, thanks to Interfolio’s superior customer support, URI’s internal support teams are no longer the only resource available to address faculty questions.
Themes Discussed
- The Right Technology Makes Training Easier and Puts an End to Complaints
- Interfolio Support Team Augments Institutional Support
- Massive Time Savings Leads to Increased Revenue
The Right Technology Makes Training Easier and Puts an End to Complaints
Internal support teams’ lives become much easier when they’re not devoting so much time to supporting faculty members who are struggling with difficult homegrown faculty information systems.
“Our homegrown system was incredibly cumbersome. Faculty would be doing redundant work annually, and we received a slew of complaints,” says Phillip Teixeira, Lead Information Technologist in URI’s Office of the Provost.
“With Interfolio’s modules,” in contrast, “we were able to provide less training than we did with our previous system,” adds Teixeira.
Interfolio Support Team Augments Institutional Support
Institutions can provide relief to their small internal support teams by partnering with a technology vendor that provides live support.
“Before we adopted Interfolio, I was the one-person support team for 776 full-time faculty,” says Teixeira. “After we implemented the FAR and RPT modules, I could take a deep breath because Interfolio has a support infrastructure for faculty: a 1-800 number where you can get a human being Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM, within 30 to 60 seconds.”
Massive Time Savings Means Greater Impact by Faculty, Staff
Just how much time can the right faculty information system save you? In URI’s case, calculations suggest that each year, Interfolio RPT saves URI close to 6,000 hours in committee review members’ time and hundreds of hours in staff member time for an estimated total time savings worth over $380,000.
“Before I knew this platform existed, I tried to make it. And then I discovered Interfolio’s Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT), and it did everything I wanted it to do plus everything I hadn’t thought of. If you’re seriously considering Interfolio’s solution and you have a homegrown option, unless you are MIT or Cal Poly, take a demo with Interfolio. Because for the University of Rhode Island, RPT saves us somewhere around 6,000 hours and $380,000 in faculty time every single year.”
Phillip Teixeira
Lead Information Technologist, Office of the Provost, The University of Rhode Island
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