Frequently Asked Questions about Digital Measures
Faculty data from Digital Measures is used in many ways. Individual faculty can use it to maintain up-to-date CV information that you can use to easily generate ad-hoc reports like publication lists, research lists, reports for teaching loads, or even a full CV. (Remember—if there is not a custom report that fits your needs, we can always build one for you.)
Units use the data in Digital Measures to generate reports about faculty accomplishments, including (but not limited to) generating data for annual reports, to meet accreditation requirements, and for personnel evaluation and merit increases. Two essential forms are generated using the data in Digital Measures: the Faculty Activity Report (Merit) and Faculty Activity Report (Promotion and Tenure).
The University uses the data to generate reports about scholarly activities and accomplishments, which are used for various purposes, including accreditation, reports to the Board of Trustees, and State and Federal reports.
In short, we use the data that faculty keep updated to showcase faculty accomplishments in a variety of venues.
Yes. While faculty are responsible for ensuring all information in Digital Measures is accurate and up-to-date, there are some options available if you'd like assistance with entering your information from your CV.
First, some units at Michigan Tech employ their own staff and students to assist with data entry—check with your department chair or dean to find out if this is something your area does.
Second, some faculty choose to hire a student themselves to enter CV information for them. If you choose to do this, be sure to get in touch with the University Administrator at dm-admin@mtu.edu so your student can be set up with an account to enter your data.
Keep in mind that you will need to review the information once it is entered for you, and confirm that everything is entered correctly and accurately.
There are six areas (data entry screens) of information that are loaded for faculty. When you login to your Digital Measures account, you'll see the main data entry screen. The areas where data is loaded for you include:
- Historical (Permanent) Data | Yearly Data - Human Resources data from Banner
- Graduate Student Advising - Graduate School data from Banner
- Scheduled Teaching - Registrar's data from Banner
- Sponsored Research - Sponsored Programs data from TechTracks database
- Space Allocation – from Aspire, see space coordinator to make changes
- Technology Disclosure – from Office of Innovation and Engagement data from OIIE
- Intellectual Property - Office of Innovation and Commercialization data from OIIE
- Agreements (Licenses) – from Office of Innovation and Engagement data from OIIE
Normally, the above data is loaded at the end of each semester, although some may be loaded more frequently. Faculty should check their own information periodically throughout the academic year.
When you login to your Digital Measures account, you'll see the main data entry screen. There is a sub screen Faculty Narratives to enter narratives used in both reports.
Your narratives must be updated for each academic year; deadlines for updating your annual narratives are determined by your unit.
None of these fields is "required," per se. However, a good rule of thumb is to enter data into the fields that you would want to appear on a CV. The reason there are so many data fields is because different departments ask for different publication information.
From needing to correct loaded data to general questions, you can contact the University's Administrator directly by emailing dm-admin@mtu.edu, or by submitting your questions through Digital Measures via the "?" icon in the top right navigation menu which launches a "Get Help" window.