System Guidelines

The Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) tool is the official and confidential university system of record for academic professional reviews (aka casebooks).  

Administrators are the users with the most power within RPT. In addition to being able to access documents, e-mail candidates, and committees, and move a case forward or backward, Administrators are the only users who can create templates, forms, and cases for the units to which they have access. Administrators can also grant user access and create standing committees. Administrators can exist at any organizational level in RPT and have the ability to perform administrative functions for all units within their administrative hierarchy. For example, an Administrator at the university level will have access to settings, cases, and committees for all units at or beneath the university level, such as colleges, departments and so on.  

Administrators are integral to supporting our change management processes, particularly around faculty adoption and continuous improvement. It is critical for units and system administrators to observe appropriate procedures for accessing and managing features within the RPT tool:   

1. Units must conduct an annual review of the unit's system administrators and submit changes to Mason FACTs in writing.
2. Units must identify a hierarchical communication model that channels communication from the RPT Administrator Working Group to appropriate stakeholders, including but not limited to auxiliary RPT Administrators. 
3. Administrators must be able and willing to:
   • Attend trainings/meetings, as required, and adhere to applicable guidelines to secure and retain RPT Administrator access;
   • Update/maintain unit templates, in collaboration with unit leadership, on an annual basis;
   • Provide a list of prospective system users for upcoming review cycles, each academic year, to identify participants for centralized RPT training;
   • Serve as initial point of contact for end users within the assigned unit;
   • Ensure adherence to system guidelines at the unit level, including but not limited to certifying that Committee Manager training has been satisfied prior to assigning Committee Manager access to system users.

The Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) tool is a committee-friendly engine for conducting academic professional reviews online while assuring casebook integrity, workflow and committee member access. The extraction and reproduction of casebook materials via the RPT tool is discouraged unless conducted in support of a documented reasonable and/or required accommodation for casebook reviews. Please remember that casebook materials are confidential documents and it is critical to observe appropriate procedures for managing and disposing of casebook replicas and related materials. 

Users should consult their unit renewal promotion and tenure guidelines for additional guidance.

The Committee Manager role safeguards casebook integrity, an equitable review process and a seamless end-user experience within the Review, Promotion and Tenure (RPT) tool. Committee Managers can access documents, e-mail candidates and committees. Additionally, Committee Managers are the only designated user, with the power to (1) record the assessment(s) of a committee after a committee has finished reviewing a case and (2) progress a case either backward or forward.

It is critical for units and system administrators to observe appropriate procedures when designating the Committee Manager and granting access within the RPT tool: 

1. Units must identify a list of prospective Committee Managers for their unit for the upcoming review cycle. Committee Manager lists must be submitted, in writing, to Mason FACTs, by May 31st, for RPT training.

2. Unit Administrators must certify that Committee Manager training has been satisfied prior to assigning Committee Manager access.

3. Committee Managers must be able and willing to:

   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Attend trainings, as required, and adhere to applicable guidelines to secure and retain RPT Committee Manager access;

   • Serve as the exclusive point of contact for an assigned review committee to accurately document the committee’s assessment of a casebook after the committee has finished reviewing a case;

   • Ensure adherence to system guidelines at the assigned review level, including but not limited to ensuring that all casebook sections are locked and remain locked during the review process, escalating requests to unlock a case section, as needed, and escalating casebook download and reproduction requests to the appropriate system administrator.

​​​​​​The Review, Promotion & Tenure (RPT) tool automates existing workflows and processes for faculty renewal, promotion and tenure in compliance with the George Mason University Faculty Handbook. The institution has developed a series of corresponding RPT templates that standardize the various types of faculty appointment detailed in the Faculty Handbook.

Faculty Affairs & Development will assess RPT templates on an annual basis in collaboration with appropriate governance teams to capture:

• Revisions to renewal, promotion and/or tenure policy and/or best practice
• Revisions to institutional timeline
• Interfolio software updates
• Approved feature requests
• User access and/or permissions revisions

Updated templates and corresponding training materials will be made available for use each Spring semester of the corresponding academic year.