About Faculty Activity Reporting
On this page:
What FAR does
- Keeps a faculty record in one place. Activities can be organized as they happen instead of rebuilt each time they are needed.
- Generates a CV. FAR can produce a CV from a faculty member's entries. A standard template is available, and a custom option lets faculty choose which entries appear. Generating a CV creates a file for the faculty member only.
- Loads some information from Banner. Course enrollments, advising loads, and graduate committees are pre-loaded and don't need to be entered.
What's in FAR
FAR is organized into sections. Course enrollments, advising loads, and graduate committees come from Banner. Name, contact information, and current position are also pre-loaded. Other sections are entered by faculty, and entering information takes time, so the pilot will help identify ways to make it as easy as possible. Where information in FAR comes from is described on the FAR Data page.
| Section | What it Covers | How information gets in |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | Courses and enrollments from the Banner schedule | Loaded from Banner weekly |
| Advising Load | Assigned advisees and mentees | Loaded from Banner each semester |
| Graduate Committees | Graduate committee assignments | Loaded from Banner each semester |
| Non-Credit Instruction | Teaching outside the Banner schedule, such as workshops and courses at other institutions | Entered by faculty |
| Project Mentorship and Independent Study | Capstones, internships, research mentoring, and similar | Entered by faculty |
| Research and Creative Scholarship | Articles, books, creative work, presentations, patents, and more | Entered by faculty; imports from Google Scholar and PubMed are available. Imports from UM Impact will also be available when the FAR-to-UM Impact connection is complete. |
| Grants | Sponsored and non-sponsored grants and contracts | Entered by faculty |
| Service | Service to units, professions, and other organizations | Entered by faculty |
| Institutional Committees | Formal standing university committees | Provided by Faculty Senate, Office of the Provost, and the Office of the President |
| Honors, Awards, and Fellowships | Honors, awards, and fellowships | Entered by faculty |
| Professional Development | Trainings and continuing education | Entered by faculty |
| Professional Membership | Memberships in professional and civic organizations | Entered by faculty |
| Activity Distribution | Percentage of effort across teaching, research, and service | Entered by faculty |
| Health Professions: Clinical Teaching | Clinical teaching outside the Banner schedule | Entered by faculty |
How FAR connects to other processes
Several faculty processes ask for a CV, including faculty evaluation (Individual Performance Record), market adjustment requests, and sabbatical requests. FAR can generate a CV from a faculty member's entries. Faculty choose which entries to include, and the CV is a file for the faculty member to use.
FAR does not change these processes, their deadlines, or who decides. What counts as evidence is set by unit standards and the collective bargaining agreement.
Other Interfolio modules
UM completed implementation of four Interfolio modules on October 2, 2026: Faculty Search, Review, Promotion and Tenure (RPT), Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR), and Lifecycle Management. FAR is a separate module from the others.
The Faculty Search module is used by Human Resource Services to facilitate the faculty search process. The RPT module is used for the faculty evaluation, market adjustment request, and sabbatical application processes. The FAR module will allow faculty to keep a records of their teaching, scholarship, creative work, service, and professional activities. The Lifecycle Management module will support the centralization of faculty academic personnel records, appointment tracking, and career milestones.
Project timeline
From 2024 through summer 2026, the work on FAR was technical: structuring the tool in Interfolio, connecting data sources, and correcting data errors. Progress updates were shared at the forums listed below. This fall's pilot is the first opportunity for faculty to use FAR and give feedback on the tool and its support materials.
What has happened
| When | What happened | Who was involved |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | The Office of the Provost previewed the FAR project to Academic Affairs leaders at the annual Academic Affairs Forum in August. | Academic Affairs leaders |
| Fall 2024 | The Office of the Provost began designing and mapping how FAR would be structured in Interfolio. | Office of the Provost |
| Fall 2024 | The project was previewed at the September 2024 Faculty Senate meeting. | Faculty Senate |
| Spring 2025 | The Office of the Provost began building FAR's data structure in Interfolio and met with campus partners to map where data would come from. | Office of the Provost, Human Resources, Graduate School, Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, Information Technology |
| Summer 2025 | The data structure was completed, and drafting of help text for FAR fields began. | Office of the Provost |
| Summer 2025 | The College of Business's contract for Sedona, its faculty activity system, ended. The Office of the Provost collected the activity data stored there and uploaded it into FAR on behalf of College of Business faculty who had data in it. | Office of the Provost, Interfolio |
| Summer 2025 | Conversations began with Interfolio and Elsevier, the company behind Interfolio and UM Impact, about connecting FAR and UM Impact. | Office of the Provost, Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, Interfolio, Pure, Elsevier |
| Fall 2025 | Project update at the annual Academic Affairs Forum in August. | Academic Affairs leaders |
| Fall 2025 | Research and creative scholarship records in UM Impact were transferred into FAR, one time, for faculty who had records there. | Office of the Provost, Interfolio, Pure, Elsevier |
| Fall 2025 | Project update on the FAR and UM Impact work to Academic Officers in October. | Academic Officers |
| Fall 2025 | Interfolio and the Office of the Provost hosted a preview of the FAR tool in November. A January 2026 launch was anticipated at that time. | Office of the Provost, Interfolio, faculty and staff |
| Spring 2026 | The January 2026 launch was postponed because the connection between FAR and UM Impact had not been built and data error reports were still being resolved. | Office of the Provost |
| Spring 2026 | Data error reports were resolved. | Office of the Provost |
| Spring 2026 | The design of the planned FAR-to-UM Impact connection was finalized with Elsevier. See FAR and UM Impact. | Office of the Provost, Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, Elsevier |
| Summer 2026 | Elsevier began building the FAR-to-UM Impact connection. Anticipated completion: November 2026. | Office of the Provost, Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, Elsevier |
| Fall 2026 | Project update at the annual Academic Affairs Forum in August. | Academic Affairs leaders |
| Fall 2026 | On October 2, 2026, UM completed implementation of four Interfolio modules: Faculty Search, Review, Promotion and Tenure (RPT), Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR), and Lifecycle Management. | Office of the Provost, Interfolio |
| Fall 2026 | On October 13, 2026, the Office of the Provost opened a call for FAR pilot volunteers. | Office of the Provost, faculty |
Now and next
| When | What happens | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-October through November 2026 | Pilot with faculty volunteers | In progress |
| November 2026 | Anticipated completion of the FAR-to-UM Impact connection | Anticipated |
| December 2026 | Pilot feedback is reviewed and the tool and resources are updated | Planned |
| Spring 2027 | FAR opens to all faculty | Planned |
Dates may change, and this page is updated when they do.
Last Updated: October 14, 2026.