Digital Measures

Digital Measures

FAQs and Instructions

FrequentlyAskedQuestions

What is“DigitalMeasures?”

Digital Measures (DM) isa datamanagementsystem usedwithinhigher educationinstitutions.Itis essentiallyashowcaseforfacultyteaching,research, andservice activities—which provides ameaningful,efficientwaytomanage information.This software,consideredthe“goldstandard”for software in higher education,is currentlybeingused bymore than400schoolsandcolleges, andit has beencustomizedfor theCollegeofCommunityandPublic Service. DM is compliantwith theFamilyEducational Rights andPrivacyAct(FERPA) andthe Americans withDisabilities Act(ADA).

What isan“ActivityInsight?”

Anannual FacultyActivityReport(FAR) andother customized reports and documentscaneasilybegeneratedfromtheinformation withinDMtobetter showcase one’s work. Byallowingfacultytoinputinformation over thecourse oftheyear, it shouldsignificantlyalleviate theburdenof collecting, organizing,andformatting this information allatoncewhentheFAR is due.

What arethe advantagesto DM?

Facultycan access thedatabase24/7from anycomputer with aninternet connectiontoenter informationabouttheiractivities. If activities and accomplishmentsare recordedregularlythroughouttheyear, anend-of-year report canbeeasilyandquicklyprinted.

Enterdataonlyonce,anduseittogeneratedifferentkindsof personal reports/documents(e.g. anannual FacultyActivityReport,acurriculumvita,and tenure/promotion documents).

Instead ofcontinuallyqueryingfacultyfor informationabouttheiractivities, the unit heador deancanusethedatabase to gather theinformation quicklyand generatereportsfor accreditationbodies,facultyawards received, assessment,

memberships inprofessional associations,etc.

The DMdatabasewill allowustomoreeasily identifyareas offacultyinterest, expertise, andresearchsothat wecanbetter publicize possiblefunding opportunities,facilitatecollaborationacross thecollege,andadvocatefor additional resources.

Who canaccessmydata?

Thefollowingindividuals will have access toyour data:

1. You

2. Your unit heador his/her designee

3. TheCCPSDean’s Office

4. CCPS Personnel Committee Members

5. Provost Office

How willthedata beused?

Dataenteredcanbeused bythefacultymembertogeneratean annual Faculty ActivityReport, aCurriculum Vita,or other specializedindividual reports suchas alist of allpapers delivered,allunit service activities, etc.

Unit heads can useittogeneratereports aboutvarious activitiesoftheirunit’s faculty(facultypublications,memberships,governancepositionsheld, etc.) Such informationisperiodicallyrequested bythe administration,andby using DM,the unit headcancompiletheinformationmorequickly—withouthavingtoquery eachfacultymember.

TheDean’s Officecanuseittogeneratereports aboutthevarious activities of collegefaculty. Suchinformationis periodicallyrequestedbythe administrationforpurposesof accreditationor publicity. Itis alsousedinthecollege’s publicityandadvancementefforts.

Thedatawill befor individual or for aggregate purposes only.

What aboutproprietaryinformation,intellectualproperty,or research that isnot yet part ofthe establishedbodyofliterature?

Facultymembersenter onlytheinformationthey wishto enter. Ifaprojectis sensitive or proprietary,thereis noneedtoincludeit.Onecan,if onewishes, indicateany work in progressbysimplyproviding ageneral identifyingtitle. Faculty shouldonlyenter information forwhich theywouldliketoreceivecredit. Forexample,shouldafacultymember publish,he/sheshould enter thecitation, abstract, and where feasible, a copy of the published document (i.e. upload files as supporting evidence.)

Howsecure isthedata?

Alldatacollectedover a 128-bit SSL-encryptedconnection

Servers arestoredinan IBM-ownedandmanaged datacenter

Locked,cagedserverroomprotected byarmedsecurityguards who arepresent at alltimes

Servers arefirewalled andlocatedbehindanintrusiondetectionsystem

Redundantfiresuppressionandclimatecontrol systems usedat all times

Redundantpower andinternetconnections

Securenightlybackups tofivegeographically-dispersedlocations owned byIBM

andIronMountain

Howmany years’worthof data must be entered?

NowthatDMhasbeenadopted bynearlyalltheGVSU colleges,CCPS is requiring facultyto useDM togeneratetheirannualFAR. Themorea facultymember usesitandthemoredatatheyenter, themore complete,accurate,anduseful all the reports will be.The amount ofwork afacultymember mustcompleteto useDM is stronglycorrelatedto thenumber ofyears ofhistorical datatheyenter.

Vita information for regular faculty was entered into DM during the summer of 2011 by the Dean’s Office. Also, the GVSU Information Technology Office uploads Scheduled Teaching information each semester from Banner. It is theresponsibility ofeach facultymembertoreviewhis/her DMaccounttoensureorganization,check for accuracy,upload supporting documents, andsubmitupdates.

Faculty members will enter their data themselves. They can (and should) update it at any time (e.g. changing the status of a publication from “under consideration” to “accepted” or “forthcoming”). Data for a faculty member reflects only what he/she has chosen to enter. No changes will be made to the data except those made by the faculty member.

Who canprovidemewith technical support?

TheDM systemis relativelysimple,intuitive,andeasyto use.Thereis anonline tutorial, andasetofinstructionsandother aids will be posted and available to everyone. Anyonewho has problemsor questions cancontacttheCCPS Dean’s Office