FAD

Faculty Activity Database is a web-based Tool for reporting and keeping up-to-date records of your activities and accomplishments. UBC’s CV guidelines | Faculty Activities Database User Guide

What is FAD?

Faculty Activity Database LOG IN (FAD) is an online faculty activity reporting system designed to make it easier for faculty to maintain and complete an accurate record of ongoing activities and accomplishments (teaching, research, service, public and international engagement) that can be used to produce faculty activity reports as well as bio-sketches, accreditation reports, web site bios, and standardized University promotion and tenure CVs.

How does FAD benefit users?

Faculty members regularly provide reports on their activities and accomplishments to a variety of internal and external constituents. However, on a faculty member’s priority list, maintaining an up-to-date CV often appears near the bottom. In addition, faculty members may keep their activity information in a number of locations: On their computer; In piles on their office floor; In filing cabinets, either in the office or at home; or Exclusively in their head.

Even when curricula vitae are up-to-date, they are most often maintained in a word-processing document. When a faculty member adds a recent research project to page 13 of a 42-page CV, he or she may need to then reformat pages 13-42—a potential nightmare.Faculty may experience a similar nightmare when mining information from the repository of their life’s work. If the CV is in a word-processing document, there is no convenient way to extract data across a number of categories without reviewing it page-by-page, and cutting and pasting information into a new document that must also meet stringent formatting requirements.

Faculty benefit from a centralized data warehouse because they can use it as a repository to record activities over time. As a result, they will not be scrambling to update their CV and associated documents once each year. At the same time, they are freed from having to fill in a variety of report templates and keeping their information up to date on the school’s website.

Administrators also benefit in other ways. With a centralized system featuring pre-configured report templates, producing reports is a matter of a few clicks. That means no more hours or days of chasing faculty down and aggregating information from tens or hundreds of disparate, unstructured, and inconsistent documents. Likewise, with ready access to all needed information through a search mechanism or a report, campus leaders can more quickly make decisions, allocate resources, and summarize faculty activities.

Implementing a centralized data management system for tracking and reporting on faculty activities will increase a school’s efficiency; offload time-consuming, repetitive tasks from faculty and staff; improve data usability; and provide reports that are more accurate and up to date for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why use a web-based faculty activity database?

A: Faculty and administrators must prepare annual activity reports, promotion and tenure documents, lists of awards/honors, accreditation reports, and more. A web-based activity reporting system like the FAD makes these tasks easier: faculty only need to enter the information into FAD once, and the information can be used to generate real-time reports accurately and efficiently. The system is available to faculty any time and is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.

Q: Who should use the Faculty Activities Database?

A: Any faculty person who needs to submit an annual activities report should have an account in the system.

Q: Do I need to sign up for an account?

A: If you are a faculty member within the Dept of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine you should already have an account. New faculty will be added to the system by the database administrator. If you are unsure about whether or not you should have an account, please contact dbertanjoli@pathology.ubc.ca.

Q: How do I login?

A: Log in at FAD using your email address and the password sent to you by the database administrator. Contact dbertanjoli@pathology.ubc.ca with any login problems or questions.

Q: How often do I have to use the FAD?

A: There is no requirement regarding how often you should use the system; however, you will need to record all new activities prior to the due date of the annual faculty activities report.

Q: What if my activity doesn't fit into any existing category?

A: Please refer to UBC's CV guidelines. If you still cannot find a location for your activity, please contact dbertanjoli@pathology.ubc.ca

Q: I've entered information. How do I submit it?

A: All you need to do is enter and save your information within the system.

Q: How do I create a report?

A: To access reports, including the Faculty Activities Report, click on the “Reports” link on the left-hand side of your screen. Select a type of the report you want to print from the dropdown menu and click 'run report'.

Q: Who has access to the information I enter into the FAD?

A:Currently, you, your department chair, database administrator.

Contact

For questions or help with your FAD account

We invite you to explore and provide feedback or ask questions. Please contact: Debbie Bertanjoli, Database Administrator: dbertanjoli@pathology.ubc.ca