Training & Resources

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Workflow | Activities | Reports

The following guide has been created to assist faculty using the Watermark Faculty Success System. Additional guides for Workflow processes (Annual Review & FES, Post-tenure, etc.) will be added as those processes are opened.

*SHSU Watermark Workflow Tenure and Promotion Help Guide (PDF)*

*SHSU Watermark Workflow 1st-Year Annual Review Process Help Guide (PDF)*

*SHSU Watermark Workflow 2nd, 4th, 5th Year Annual Review Process Help Guide (PDF)*

*SHSU Watermark Workflow 3rd-Year Annual Review (Straw Poll) Process Help Guide (PDF)*

*SHSU Watermark Workflow Post-Tenure Review Process Help Guide (PDF)*

*SHSU Watermark Workflow Faculty Evaluation System (FES) Annual Review Process Help Guide (PDF)*

These guides are intended for faculty members being reviewed for a particular evaluation process as well as for members of a department promotion and tenure advisory committee (DPTAC), department chair/school director, and dean when applicable.

*SHSU Watermark Workflow Administrators Submissions Help Guide (PDF)*

This guide is intended for administrative reviewers such as department chair/school directors, or deans. It shows how to view faculty submissions prior to an evaluation process reaching their administrative review step.

Workflow Process Emails
All participants in a Workflow process will receive a Watermark-generated email with an “Office of the Provost” sender name once their step in a process has opened. The email will provide information such as the name of the process they can now enter and the due date for any submissions or reviews. There will also be a link included in the email directing the participant to the Watermark Workflow system.

Workflow Tasks Screen
When a user enters the Workflow module, they will see two sets of Workflow tasks: Inbox and History.

Inbox
If the user has any tasks waiting for their input, it will show up under the Inbox list. Information concerning the task with include:

1. Name of the review process
2. Step of the process
3. Name of the Candidate under review
4. Due Date showing the time the user must submit their input

The user can click on the name of the process to enter the submission form for their assigned step.

History
Once a user submits an item from their Inbox the process will move to the History list. This list includes the Name of the process and the Candidate’s name, both of which will remain the same throughout an evaluation. The Current Step and Due Date information will change over time as it tracks in which step the submission is currently being evaluated, and what the due date is for that step to be completed. The user can click on the name of the process at any time to view any accessible submission content from the steps proceeding the current step. One additional column exists in the History list called Actions. Depending on what step the process is currently located in, the user can download all visible submission and review information and associated files. Once an entire review process is completed, the user may download a complete set of all submission and review documents they have permission to see. Until a process is completed, an additional option called Recall also appears under Actions. If the due date of the user’s submission step has not yet passed, the user may recall the submission to make edits and/or add/remove documents, and then resubmit. Once the Current Step moves multiple steps beyond the user’s assigned step, the Recall function (while still appearing) will no longer work.

Required fields in Workflow Steps
When a user enters their assigned step in a Workflow process, they will see an online form with a varied group of places to upload files and fields to enter text. Any field with a red asterisk * next to the name is a required field that must have input in order to submit to the next step. In some cases, users have options over which type of input or document uploads they want to provide for a section of the submission form. As a result, none of those fields will show as required, but an entry should be made for that section using at least one of the options.

File Uploads
There are multiple areas in the evaluation process steps where files can be uploaded as part of a submission. The maximum file size for a single document is 1GB. You will receive an error message "Unable to upload file.xxxxx" if the file is too large. You may simply click "Delete File" to remove it. Any file types can be uploaded.

Two options for uploading supporting documents are available in the various portfolio documents areas of the Faculty Step in all review processes:

• Document Upload by Category, OR
• Document Upload by Academic Year

Faculty are encouraged to follow your college instructions, upload your documentation using only one of the following methods.

Your materials will be displayed to reviewers exactly as they appear on your faculty submission page. Files uploaded within each of the upload fields will appear in two columns, moving from left to right, then top to bottom.

If you wish to provide files appearing in folders and subfolders, you are encouraged to save these files and structure them using a Zip file. To create a Zip file containing the desired folder structure you may right-click (on a PC) on the top-level folder and select Send to -> Compressed (zipped) folder. The resulting zip file will be named as the top-level folder.zip. On a Mac, you will Control-click on the top-level folder and then choose Compress from the shortcut menu. The resulting zip file will be named Archive.zip (which can, and should, be renamed.)

The following guide has been created to assist SHSU faculty interested in beginning to enter data into the Activities database in the Watermark Faculty Success System. Please note that entering data into the Activities database is not required for the Spring 2024 review cycle.

Watermark Activities Tutorial Video (Youtube)

SHSU Watermark Faculty Success Activities Help Guide (pdf)

The Watermark company also provides general guides on their Faculty Success system that we recommend you review prior to entering your Activities data into the system: Faculty Success Overview and Watermark Faculty Success Features.

Required Activities Entries
Faculty are asked to enter Activities necessary for generating an accurate and complete CV, as determined by the academic discipline and for use in the annual review, promotion and tenure, and post-tenure processes. There are additional, optional fields available within many of the activities categories or records that can be entered if desired.

Dates in Watermark Faculty Success
Every Faculty Success activity record includes at least one date field option that can be entered. At a minimum, one of these date fields must contain data for the record to save. These dates are important, as they are used to determine what will be included in any reports from the system (i.e., CV, annual review, P&T).

For completed activities, you may create a “date range” for each record. If the range overlaps the period for a requested report, the record will be included. For most records, dates are straightforward; however, some aspects may not be intuitive:

• A record for a current/ongoing activity should only have the Start Date entered and leave the End Date blank.
• If an activity occurred on a single day, the date should be entered in the End Date field only and leave the Start Date blank.
• Dates must be entered in chronological order on the screen.
• If more than two dates exist in a record (i.e., you’ve entered the four possible dates on a publication record), the range will always begin with the earliest entered date of the record and end on the latest date.
• In most cases where multiple date fields exist (e.g., publications or intellectual property), you do not need to fill out all dates. The options provided by the multiple date fields are designed to allow you to record in-progress work within your data that will be included in reports covering that date range.

System Uploaded Fields and Records
While most activity record fields are blank and available for you to enter your information, some fields will have data provided from other campus systems, such as Banner. In those cases, you will see a Lock icon to the right of the field name. These system-populated fields include items such as official names and email addresses in the Personal and Contact Information, as well as portions of the Degrees records, both within the General Credentials/Expertise Category. In addition, most fields in the Scheduled Teaching records within the Teaching/Mentoring Category will be provided for you. All fields within the Administrative Data category records (i.e., Permanent Data, Yearly Data, and Workload Information) are uploaded from campus systems and are locked. If any of the data in the locked fields appear to be incorrect or incomplete, please email facultyrecords@shsu.edu.

Importing Publications
Publications activities under the Scholarship/Research section of Faculty Success allow for an import of a bibliography of your works using a BibTeX file from software such as EndNote, Google Scholar, HeinOnline, Mendeley, RefWorks, or Zotero. There is also an interface to search some third-party sources (Crossref, ORCID, PubMed) for publications in their databases, the results of which can then be imported directly into your records. Please reference the Watermark Publication Import Overview and Import Publications guide for more information.

Report Data pulled from Activities Entries
All reports use the entries from the Watermark Faculty Success Activities database to generate a Vita, Activity, or other types of reports. Reports used in Watermark Workflow processes such as annual reviews, promotion, tenure, or post-tenure review can be run by faculty at any time using the Reports tab in Watermark.

Dates used for Watermark Faculty Success Reports
All reports filter Faculty Success activity records based on a selected Date Range. Data from activities will only appear in a particular report if that an activity’s associated date field(s) are included in the report’s date range. All activity records include at least one date field option.

For completed activities, you may have single dates, a span or range of dates, or simply start date for each record. If a span of dates overlaps the Date Range period for a requested report, the record will be included. For most records, dates are straightforward; however, some aspects may not be intuitive:

• A record for a current/ongoing activity should only have the Start Date entered and leave the End Date blank.
• If an activity occurred on a single day, the date should be entered in the End Date field only and leave the Start Date blank.
• Dates must be entered in chronological order on the screen.
• If more than two dates exist in a record (i.e., you’ve entered the four possible dates on a publication record), the range will always begin with the earliest entered date of the record and end on the latest date.
• In most cases where multiple date fields exist (i.e., publications or intellectual property), you do not need to fill out all dates. The options provided by the multiple date fields are designed to allow you to record in-progress work within your data that will be included in reports covering that date range.

Rapid Reports in Watermark Activities
While most of this guide will cover the Reports tab, there is a simplified interface to run existing reports by clicking the Rapid Reports link in the upper right of the Activities tab. The resulting popup window lets you choose from the current list of available reports, set a date range for the activities that should appear in the report, and options for the file type created and downloaded if you click Run Report.