Faculty Success Glossary

A   |   B   |   C   |   D   |   E   |   F   |   G   |   H   |   I   |   J   |   K   |  L   |   M

N   |   O   |   P   |   Q   |   R   |   S   |   T   |   U   |   V   |   W   |   X   |   Y   |   Z

A

Administrator

A user appointed by the institution to perform administrative duties in Faculty Success. The duties and scope of an administrator will vary dependent upon the user’s permissions. To read more about the role, see Administrator Security Roles

Ancillary File

A file that is supplementary to a main data import file. To read more about using ancillary files with Data Imports, see Submitting Work Requests.

Authentication

The verification of the identity of a user. To read more about authentication options, read Advanced Authentication Overview.

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B

Beta Environment

A test environment, primarily used for web services and Workflow testing. Please note, our Beta Environment isn't intended to be uses as a Sandbox Environment. To read more about Beta, read this article.

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C

Checkboxes

Field type of boxes that are selected or cleared to turn a value on or off. More than one value can be selected. To read more about this field type, read Checkboxes and Drop-Down Lists.

Collaborator Name Parsing

Functionality that divides a list of names into individual DSA records. To read more about this feature, select this link.

Configuration

The overall setup of an instrument. This includes:

  • University Level Instrument vs. College Specific Instruments
  • Support for Multiple College Appointments vs. Single College Appointment
  • User Reference:
    • Editable vs. Non-Editable
      To read more about this option, read this.
    • Linking vs. Non-Linking
      To read more about this option, read this.
    • Significant vs. Non-Significant
      To read more about this option, read this.

The configuration of your instrument will determine the customization options available at the University and Unit levels.

Configuration Report

A spreadsheet that can be downloaded from the Home screen, which outlines the configuration of your instrument. To read more about this spreadsheet and how to read it, see this article.

CSV

Comma separate values. A file format in which each line is one record and the fields in a record are separated by commas. Also referred to as "comma-delimited". Read this article for more details about working with comma delimited files.

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D

Date Field

A combination of month, date, term, or year fields. The date field enables users to enter a date by picking the month or term from a drop-down list and typing the day and/or year into a text box with validation rules. To read more about date fields, see this article.

List of predefined values from which users can select only one value. The drop-down list ensures data integrity and consistency, and limits input values to those designated by your campus. To read more about drop-down lists, see this article.

Dynamic Screen

A screen used to collect data that are asynchronously changed as further updates to the information become available. Dynamic data are distinguished by continuous activity or change that is tracked over time. Multiple records can be created on a dynamic screen. To read more about dynamic screens, see this article.

Dynamic Sub-Answer (DSA)

A field type that enables users to create multiple records within a record. Enables users to associate one record with multiple sub-records. To learn more about DSAs, read this article.

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E

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F

Firewall

A part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications. Firewalls come up during discussion of LDAP Authentication and Storing Files on Your Campus.

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G

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H

Help Button

A field type that opens a pop-up window with content appropriate for the context. Cannot be added to the Main Menu or to summary screens. For a brief note about Help Buttons, see our Field Types article.

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I

Insignificant Date

Date fields that are simply another data element of a record and are not used to determine whether a record is included on a report or not. This is in contrast to a Significant Date field.

Instrument

The collection of screens and fields through which data are collected and reported together with the structure for storing the data.

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J

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K

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L

LDAP Authentication

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. An application protocol for querying and modifying directory services running over TCP/IP to authenticate users. Faculty Success supports LDAP authentication through remote authentication. To read more about LDAP Authentication, see this article.

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M

Mirrored Files

An additional feature that enables you to create a local backup of files stored through Faculty Success, or make them publicly accessible. To read more about Mirrored Files, see our Mirrored Files Overview and Setting Up Mirrored Files articles.

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N

Numeric Field

Field type of numerical values with validation rules: integers, decimals, percentages, or currency. To read more about this field type, see this article.

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O

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P

Parameter

A variable that can be given a specific value when a report is generated. These are most notably the Steps within Run Reports.

Password

A confidential sequence of characters that a user must enter to gain access to a file, application, or computer system.

PasteBoard

Enables users to easily copy up to 4K worth of text from another document and drag and drop the text into a field in Faculty Success. Available only from the expandable tray on the Manage Activities page, or when managing data for a user. To read more about the PasteBoard, see this article.

Permission

The ability to access a utility. Each Security Role will have a set of permissions, which define the access a user receives when assigned to that role. To read more about security role permissions, see this article.

Primary Key

One or more fields within a table used to uniquely identify each record in that table. Primary keys can be set at both the record level and the DSA level.

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Q

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R

Rapid Reports

Provides a way to run custom reports on the data in Faculty Success quickly and easily from the same pages into which you enter data. Available only from the expandable tray on the Manage Activities page or while managing data for a user. 

Record Reference

Creates an association between two records. List of references to records entered by the user in another screen, from which the user can select a value and thereby associate one record to another. To read more about record reference fields, see this article.

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S

Security Role

Used to assign security access to users within Faculty Success. Security roles are comprised of permissions, which correspond to utilities. The scope of a user’s permissions can be assigned at the campus, college, department, and individual levels. To read more about Security Roles, see this article.

Significant Date

Date fields used to determine if a record would be included on a report. To read more about Significant Dates, see this article.

Significant Ordering

Functionality that can be enabled within a dynamic sub-answer (DSA) that enables users to change the order of DSA records. This is displayed as up/down arrows within the DSA header, as long as the function is enabled and there is more than one DSA row.

Static Screen

A screen used to collect persistent data, which are data that are fixed and not likely to be modified, and for which any incremental modifications do not need to be tracked over time. Only one record can be entered on a static screen. To read more about this screen type, see this article.

Store File

A link field type that enables users to upload a file in Faculty Success. Creates a central repository of teaching, research, and service related files. To read more about Store File fields, see this article.

Success Consultant

Primary point of contact at Faculty Success. A resource to consult on the implementation of Faculty Success.

Summary Screen

A screen that shows all the records entered for the user on the screen selected from the main menu. Records are displayed in chronological, alphabetical, descending order, based on the record’s end date, beginning date, and summary screen text. To read more about Summary Screens, see this article.

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T

Text Area

A field type composed of multiple lines of up to 20,000 characters. You are able to set a character limit of less than 20,000. To do so, submit a Screen Revision work request indicating the field, and the character limit that should be enforced.

Text Box

A field type composed of a single line of characters. Character limits can be set on these fields as well, using a Screen Revision work request.

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U

Unit

Typically referred to as a campus, college, school, department, division, institute, center, etc. Units are the different components at your University which make up your service agreement, and their sub-components.

URL Field

A text box field used to enter a web address.

User Account

Each user who has access to Faculty Success receives an account. The user account encompasses the following:

  • The user's account information, such as Name, Email Address, Username, and Authentication method
  • The user's instrument assignments (if you have more than one instrument)
  • The user's security role(s) (and therefore permissions) for each instrument to which they have access
  • If the user is setup to track their teaching, research, and service activities, the account also holds their data within Faculty Success.

Each account is identified by a unique username. This username is used when the user signs in to Faculty Success. A username must be unique across all instruments, even if a user has access to only one instrument.

User Attribute

Faculty Success enables you to put indexes on certain data fields at the account level. These are typically stored on Personal and Contact Information, or Yearly Data. The values entered for these indexed fields are referred to as User Attributes. These attributes are used to group users both when assigning security and when running reports. In Faculty Success, the default user attributes are college and department. If additional attributes are needed in order to correctly group users for security and/or reports, a General work request should be submitting describing what is needed.

User Identifier

A name or number that is unique to a particular user. This is the username or an identifier secondary to username. This is stored at the user account level, and can be used for importing data.

User Reference

A field type which enables you to select one of your instrument’s faculty accounts. This field type uses search to enable type-ahead filtering of your faculty. User Reference fields are typically used when listing collaborators on research activities. There are many configuration options for User Reference:

  • Editable vs. Non-Editable
    To read more about this option, read this.
  • Linking vs. Non-Linking
    To read more about this option, read this.
  • Significant vs. Non-Significant
    To read more about this option, read this.

To read more about User Reference fields, read this article.

Username

A name or number that is unique to a particular user. Used for authentication. It can also be used for importing data. To read more about usernames, see this article.

Utility

Key functionality of Faculty Success. Utilities also correspond to a button or link in the Navigation Bar of Faculty Success. To read more about each of our utilities, see our Utility Overview.

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V

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W

Web Services

An open standard that enables different systems to exchange information easily and securely. This is how you are able to access our API. You can both read and write data with web services. Of note, Faculty Success uses a REST-based web service model. To read more about web services, see this article.

WebDAV

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. A protocol that enables users to manage files on remote servers. WebDAV must be enabled in order to store files on your campus through Mirrored Files. To read more about WebDAV, see Storing Files on Your Campus.

Workflow

The Workflow utility enables you to digitize campus processes and centralize data collection, reporting, and review within Faculty Success. To read more about Workflow, see this overview article.

Work Requests

The formal method for initiating work to be completed on your behalf by Faculty Success. Work requests are used to request screen revisions, submit data import files, submit reports to be built and revisions to existing reports; and change the permissions of Faculty Success security roles. To read more about work requests, see this article.

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X

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Y

Yes/No Field

A drop-down list field type with yes and no values. Used to answer a yes/no field.

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Z

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