Introduction
In addition to completing your own annual activity report, department chairs must also add comments for every instructor within that department.
If you are not a department chair, this page does not apply to you and you don't need to worry about it!
How do I add comments to my instructors’ annual reports?
Step 1: If you haven’t already, log into Interfolio at: https://faculty.bentley.edu
If you forget how to log in, you can always review this instructional doc: How do I log into Interfolio?
Step 2: Select Administration in the menu on the left.
Step 3: A dropdown menu will appear, and you will select Administration from that new dropdown menu.
Step 4: Under Activity Input, select Approve Faculty Input.
Step 5: You will see a table with a list of all the activity reports. Find the current year's annual report on the list.
Step 6: On the far right of its row, select the eye icon.
Step 7: You will see a table. Select the eye icon on the far right for your respective unit. Note: you will likely only have 1 option.
Step 8: You will see a list of your faculty that have submitted their annual report and are ready for you to view and approve. There is a View and Approve column, and every instructor has an eye in it. Find the instructor you would like to look at, and then select the eye in their row. 
Important!
If an instructor has not submitted their report yet, their Submitted Date column will be empty. Make sure to wait until they have submitted.
Additionally, we suggest that you check here every so often during this input period to see if any new reports have been completed.
Step 9: This will open an emulation of the selected faculty member for you to view their report. There are multiple sections that you will need to review and comment on. To view what the instructor has written, select the Preview button.
Important!
Please note: after you do this, you will be in an emulation of the instructor's account. Put another way: you are effectively the instructor during this time and anything you do will look like the instructor has done it themselves. When you complete Step 17 or select the Cancel button, this emulation will automatically end. However, if you go to a different part of Interfolio without doing one of those options, you will still be in the instructor’s account. If you do this, make sure to select Exit Emulation at the top right of the page so that you are back in your own account.
Step 10: A pop-up window will appear. Set the template to Faculty Annual Activity Report, the Start to Spring [current year], and the End to Fall [current year]. Then select Preview.
Please note: if you select the Print & Preview option, you will not be able to view any attachments that the instructor submitted. So, while downloading and/or printing is helpful, you will not be able to view their full report that way.
Step 11: A new Internet browser window will open with their report, which you can now review. You might find it easier to read everything at once and then write all of your comments OR keep this window open and go back and forth between reading the report and adding your comments in the other window.
Note: it might take a moment for the report to load and/or you will need to make the window larger to view everything.
Step 12: When you are ready to add comments, you will go back to your original window. The page will still have the Preview Vita pop up open so you will select the x button to get out of it.
Step 13: You can now make any comments you would like by selecting the +Add button next to each of the sections. You will only add comments to sections beginning with Chair Comments. There are 5:
- Chair Comments: Teaching and Curriculum Development Activity and Resources Narrative/ Instructional Activity Plans
- Chair Comments: Scholarly Activity and Resources Narrative / Scholarly Activity Plans
- Chair Comments: Service Activities and Resources Narrative / Service Plans
- Chair Comments: Professional Development Narrative / Professional Development Plans
- Chair Comments: Overall Narrative and Profile Request / Overall Self-Assessment
Step 14: You will write your comments for each of those 5 sections. Here is some additional guidance:
- Term: enter the term that the Annual Report is covering
- Chair Comments: enter anything that you would like to share with the faculty member here
- FAR does NOT autosave your comments as you write them. If you navigate away from the page, FAR times out after 60 minutes of inactivity, or you lose Internet connection without selecting one of the Save options, it will be lost. To avoid this, select the Save button periodically to save what you have done. Alternatively, you can write your comments in a savable document and copy and paste your answers here when you’re ready.
Step 15: Once you have completed writing your comments for the respective section, select the Save and Go Back button to return to the instructor’s report.
Step 16: You will follow steps 13-15 until you have reviewed and commented on each section.
Step 17: When you have completed your comments and are ready to approve their report, select the Chair Comments Entered button.
- If you have completed your comments but there are items that you want the instructor to address before you approve, select the Request Faculty Changes button. This will allow instructors to make changes and, when complete, come back to you for review.
Step 18: Repeat Steps 8-17 until you have viewed and approved all of your faculty.
How do I download my instructors' annual reports?
Step 1: If you haven’t already, log into Interfolio at: https://faculty.bentley.edu
If you forget how to log in, you can always review this instructional doc: How do I log into Interfolio?
Step 2: Select Administration in the menu on the left.
Step 3: A dropdown menu will appear, and you will select Reports from that new dropdown menu.
Step 4: Under Administrative Reports, select Standard Vitas.
Step 5: You will see a table. Select the hyperlinked number for the relevant unit to view a list of individual reports within that unit. Note: you will likely only have 1 option.
Step 6: Make sure that the View Vita options are the following
- Template: Faculty Annual Activity Report
- Begin Term: Spring [current year]
- End Term: Fall [current year]
- Employment Status: Full Time
- Assigned To Unit As: Primary Unit
Step 7: Now you will have an accurate list of instructors. Find the person whose report you would like to download. In their Vita Export column, you will see two options: Word and PDF. Select the option that you prefer.
Note: you can do Bulk Exports if you need more than one report at the same time. This Interfolio article provides more details: Configure Standard Vita Report
Step 8: A message will appear to tell you that your request is being processed. Seeing this will confirm that your request went through.
Step 9: You will need to wait a bit. It usually takes under an hour for a request to process, and you will receive an email letting you know when it's ready.
Step 10: When the report is ready, it will appear on your Interfolio homepage. It will be under My Tasks and titled Your Files Are Ready to Download. Select it.
Step 11: You will see a list of materials you've requested to download. Find the report that you need and select Download under their Action column.
Step 12: A zip folder of the report will automatically download to your computer. You now have a downloaded copy of the report! You can leave as is or you can choose to make any adjustments that you see fit (unzip the folder, print the report, move the file, etc...).