If a Candidate Is Launched with Incorrect Appointment Data

Overview

The values stored in the College, Department, Rank, and other appointment-based routing fields within Yearly Data determine how a submission progresses through the review process and cannot be modified for an active workflow submission. If the appointment data is incorrect at launch, the submission must be terminated and recreated after correcting the candidate’s information.  

This article explains how to resolve this situation and provides an optional workaround for submissions that have already advanced significantly in the review process. 

Correcting Appointment Data by Relaunching the Submission

If a candidate is launched with the incorrect appointment data, complete the following steps.

1. Download the contents of the submission before taking corrective action. This preserves a copy of all uploaded materials. To learn more about this process, see Downloading an Individual Submission. 
2. Review the downloaded files and redact any materials as required by institutional policies. 
3. Provide the downloaded materials to the candidate and any other participants as needed, so they can reference or re-upload them in the corrected submission. Redact data in the shared files as necessary.
4. Terminate the candidate’s current submission by cancelling it. This action cannot be undone. To learn more about this action and what it entails, see Monitoring the Status of Workflow Submissions. 
5. Update the candidate’s appointment information in the Yearly Data record. This may include fields such as:
   • College
   • Department
   • Rank
   • Other appointment-based routing fields based on your system's configuration. To review your setup, refer to the Configuration Report. 
6. Wait at least 15 minutes to allow the Workflow module to cache the updates.
7. Re-add the candidate to the schedule. A new submission will be generated using the corrected Yearly Data values. For instructions on this process, see Adding Candidates to a Schedule Post-Launch. 

The new submission will route according to the updated appointment and affiliation information defined in the candidate’s Yearly Data record. To verify the appointments a submission will be routed by, refer to the Appointments and Reviewers report. 

Workaround for Submissions That Have Already Progressed

If the submission has already advanced significantly in the process (for example, more than five steps), it may be preferable for the candidate’s review process to continue from the most recently completed step.

The Workflow module does not support restarting a submission from a previous step. However, you can simulate this behavior using the Prior Submissions field and a new (modified) workflow template.

This approach allows the candidate to attach the completed submission from the original process to a new submission that begins at the next appropriate step.

Workaround Steps

1. Complete the candidate’s current submission at its present step instead of terminating it. To learn more about this action, see Monitoring the Status of Workflow Submissions.
2. Save any draft materials from the current step outside of the Workflow module so they can be referenced in the new process as needed. To learn more about this process, see Downloading an Individual Submission. 
3. Update the candidate’s appointment information in their most recent Yearly Data record to ensure the correct College, Department, Rank, and other appointment-based routing fields are applied to the new submission.
4. Navigate to the Workflow Template used to launch the candidate’s original submission.
5. In the Actions column, select the downward arrow and choose Duplicate to create a copy of the template. For more information, refer to How to Configure a Workflow Template. 
6. Enter a unique title for the duplicated template so it can be distinguished from the original workflow template.

7. Edit the duplicated workflow template and make the following changes:

   • Remove the steps that have already been completed in the original process.
   • Do not remove the initial Candidate step, as workflow templates must always begin with a Candidate step.
   • In the initial Candidate step, remove existing fields and add a Prior Submissions field.

   The Prior Submissions field allows the candidate to attach the completed submission from the previous workflow process. To learn more about this field, see How to Configure Workflow Forms. 

   Add any additional fields or instructional text needed to guide the candidate through this step.

8. Create a schedule using the new workflow template. Use a unique schedule name to distinguish it from the original schedule. For guidance on this step, refer to Creating a Workflow Schedule. 
9. Before confirming the schedule, review the workflow template, steps, forms, and schedule settings to ensure the process is configured correctly. Refer to the Workflow Administrator Checklist section of the following article if needed: Checklist for Launching a Workflow Schedule. 
10. Confirm the schedule to launch the new process.

Once the schedule is confirmed, the candidate will have a new submission with the updated appointments. They should use the Prior Submissions field to attach the completed submission from the original process. The following guide can be shared with the candidate to help them complete their steps, Contributing to a Submission as a Candidate.