Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Activity Data from DM is used in many ways. Individual faculty can use it to maintain up-to-date CV information and can run/generate ad-hoc reports and/or export data for any number of applications.

Units use the data in DM to generate reports about faculty activity, including (but not limited to) generating data for annual reports, to meet accreditation requirements, and for personnel evaluation and merit purposes.
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.

Faculty are responsible for entering new records in a timely manner and reviewing existing and automatically uploaded data for completion and accuracy. Your account should be up to date and complete at all times so that individual and unit-wide data is reliable at any given time.

Record dates typically include a start and end date.

• If an activity occurred on a single day, only the end date should be entered.
• If an activity is still occurring, such as committee membership, only the start date should be entered. The end date can be added once the activity has ended.
• Some activity record dates will need to be updated as the activity status changes, such as adding a publication date once a submitted paper has been published.

It is very possible that we can copy some of your data with permission from the other institution. Please contact Michigan Tech's DM Administrator to begin the process (see "How do I get help" below).

Help is available and accessible in the following ways:

• Review a guide - Click on the “Review a guide” link found on the upper left hand corner of the main activities page within DM. This has basic navigation information as well as detailed information for some of the trickier data entry procedures such as importing publications from an outside repository.
• Workshops - Offered campus-wide on a periodic basis and to individuals/units upon request.
• On demand - Contact the DM Administrator:
  • Email dm-admin@mtu.edu
  • Call 906-487-2135
  • Click on the “?” icon on the top right hand corner of the main activities page

Ultimately, faculty are responsible for ensuring all information in DM is accurate and up-to-date. However some units do employ staff and students to assist with data entry. Check with your unit leader to find out if this is available in your unit.

Some faculty choose to hire a student themselves to enter activity data for them. If you choose to do this, be sure to get in touch with the University DM 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 any information that is entered on your behalf, and confirm that everything is entered correctly.

There are six areas (data entry screens) of information that are loaded automatically for faculty. When you login to your DM account, you’ll see the main data entry screen. The areas that will automatically be 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 Cayuse
• Space Allocation – from ASPIRE, see space coordinator to make changes
• Technology Disclosure – from Office of Innovation and Engagement data from Cayuse
• Intellectual Property - Office of Innovation and Commercialization data from Cayuse
• Agreements (Licenses) – from Office of Innovation and Engagement data from Cayuse

The above data is loaded on a regular basis, some as frequently as daily. Note that this data cannot be edited or deleted but most of these screens have narrative fields in which the user can enter additional information.

Michigan Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning workshops are also loaded to the Professional Development screen at the end of each semester.

Yes. The “Review a guide” button at the top of the main Activities page in DM has detailed instructions on how to import publications from each common repository. It is highly recommended that faculty use the import tool for all publications when possible. There are also instructions on how to use CV Imports, which is a modified copy-and-paste tool that can save time for anyone with a large backlog of data.

If the error is from a screen in which you manually entered the data, simply go to that screen and correct the error.

If the error is from a screen in which data is uploaded from another campus database, you can either identify and contact the source department yourself (see the question about loaded data above for data sources) or contact the DM Administrator to assist with correction.

Some types of activities (particularly "Publications" and "Presentations Given") have many fields that may not be of use, depending on the nature of the activity. If there is a question about which fields are important, it is recommended that you run the Faculty Activity Report (FAR) and inspect the section(s) in question to see if the data is consistent and complete from record to record.

In general, the information you would expect to see on a CV is the same information that is important in DM with record dates being required in most cases. There are fields that may be more important than others depending on discipline.

Do take note that Publications data imported via the import tool with DM does not include information about student authors or peer reviews. Users will have to revisit those records to indicate which were peer reviewed and if any student authors should be noted.

The best way to ensure that you have complete data is to run and inspect the "Faculty Activity Report (Promotion and Tenure)". Review that report carefully and take note of any sections that have missing, incomplete, or incorrect records. Use the directions embedded in the report to determine which screen you should visit to complete and/or update your data entry.

There are opportunities for faculty to enter narrative context within almost every activity screen. These fields are to be used whenever the user feels additional narrative context would be helpful for reviewers.

There are some narrative fields that appear on the FARs that are especially important for tenure, promotion, review, and merit purposes and all faculty are encouraged to utilize these fields:

• Executive Statement: Professional Statement - Personal and Contact Information screen
• Executive Statement: Teaching Philosophy - Personal and Contact Information screen
• Summarize Teaching Evaluations - Teaching Evaluation Summaries screen
• Summarize Teaching Modifications - Teaching Modifications screen
• Annual Faculty Narratives - Annual Faculty Narratives screen

Instructions for what should appear in these fields can be found above the fields within the individual screens. Some of these statements are static (not tied to a specific academic year) while others allow faculty to enter a record for each academic year.

To run the FAR, first go to the Reports tab in DM and select the report you want. There are two FARs to choose from:

• one for Merit
  • typically used for annual reviews and has only one year of activity history embedded in the report
  • to run this report use the date range specified by your unit leader
• one for Promotion and Tenure
  • used for tenure, promotion, and reappointment though interim and major reviews (TPR)
    
    • this is also the best report to use for reviewing your own data
  • to run this report for TPR or personal review, use the "Faculty Activity Report (Promotion and Tenure)" report with the specific date range:
    • September 1 - August 31 for the current academic year

You then select the file format. Unless you are using the FAR to copy and paste information into another document, it is recommended that you only run the PDF file option. Reports should never be edited after exporting from DM. Any errors found should be corrected within DM or at the source database.

Most faculty will have some sections that contain no data due to the nature of their specific discipline. This is normal and reviewers are used to seeing empty sections. If you encounter an empty section in which data should be present, you can refer to the report instructions to determine where to enter the data.

If important faculty activity does not have a good “home” in DM, you can use the Faculty Activity Report Addendum screen to enter and explain additional activity. You can also address hard-to define activity within the Annual Faculty Narrative. Both options will appear near the end of the FAR.