The Interview Weekend homepage lists all seasons (past, present, and future) entered into the current system, organized by date. A 'season' is a collection of weekends within the same year, that share the same high-level data. Within each season, each 'Interview Weekend' is listed, along with setup status and action links.

URL: https://www.umms.med.umich.edu/interview-weekends/

Actions Available (more details below):

• Create New Season : the first step in setting up the dates for and departments/interests involved in each weekend
• Edit Season Setup : allows modification of weekend dates and departments/interests entered during Season creation
• Manage Season : for indicating the candidates and faculty involved in the season (regardless of weekend), via data uploads; also contains the 'control panel' for turning the faculty and candidate-facing apps on/off. 
• Setup [Weekend] : for indicating weekend-specific details, such as hotel, department interview allocation, and interview dates and time-slots
• Manage [Weekend] : for uploading weekend-specific data (events, SSRs, hosts, travel plans) and interacting with the weekend (running Candidate/Faculty Match, generating itineraries, downloading reports)

Season and Weekend Statuses and their meanings:

As seasons and weekends are set up, the status in the weekend section is updated to reflect what must be done next. The following statuses are available:

• Pending - Season Needs Data : user has created a season with 1+ weekends; season and its associated weekends are now ready to accept season-level data uploads (candidates and faculty)
• Pending - Weekend Needs Setup : user has uploaded season-level candidate and faculty information; season is now complete; weekends now each need their specific overarching details
• Pending - Weekend Needs Data : user has finished setting up each weekend; weekends are now ready to accept weekend-level data uploads (events, travel, etc.)
• Active : at least 1+ records have been uploaded to each available category (Events, SSRs, Travel, Hosts); Match can technically be run and itineraries can be produced
• Complete : the end date for the weekend has passed; data is still available for viewing

Create New Season

This page allows you to specify via a web form the dates for the weekends in the season (year). At least one weekend is required, and there is not limit to how many weekends can be in one season.

The page also asks for the Departments/Interests involved in the season's weekends. As department names can change and may evolve into flexible interests, specifying these for each season allows for flexibility and user customization.

Each Department/Interest entry requires a Long Form (e.g. "Cellular and Molecular Biology") and a Short Form (e.g. "CMB"); the Long Form is used for candidate-facing materials including the Itinerary and the Candidate Weekend/Faculty Selection app, while the Short Form is used everywhere else (internally) including in uploads.

Note: this list of departments must contain all departments/interests indicated for faculty (done via the season's Faculty Upload) and candidates (done via the season's Candidate Upload), regardless of department slot allocation. For example, if BIOI and HG are participating in the season (either weekend) but CANCER is not, yet there are faculty members who have CANCER as one of their departments/interests, CANCER either needs to be in the Season list, with an allocation of zero, or CANCER should be removed from that faculty member.

Note: any information entered at the season level is shared across all weekends in the season.

Note: Seasons can be created for any year, at any time; while the system is flexible, it is highly recommended that only one season be created at a time, as the app relies on identifying the 'current' season as the one that is farthest in the future (typically the current one).

Edit Season Setup

Once a season is created, this page allows you to change the dates for that season's weekends, as well as the departments/interests involved in the season. 

Restrictions:  

• if a weekend has any interview time-slots already defined for it, the season dates will not be editable or removable 
• if a department/interest has any faculty or candidates associated with it, that department/interest cannot be deleted/removed
• the first weekend date and the first department/interest cannot be deleted, as there must always be one of each in a season

Manage Season

This page allows you to upload two key pieces of data for the season: the candidates and faculty involved in the season (regardless of weekend).

• Candidate Upload: indicate the candidates invited to all weekends in the season, as well as their primary dept/interest
  
  • Interview Weekends - Candidate Upload (Season) Template and Instructions
• Faculty Upload: indicate the faculty invited to participate in all weekends in the season, as well as their dept/interests (up to 5)
  
  • As faculty members can change departments, retire, or get hired, specifying these for each season allows for flexibility and user customization.
  • The Faculty Information report in PDEP (and M-FACTIR in the future) can be used to get the list of all PIBS faculty in order to build this upload
  • Interview Weekends - Faculty Upload (Season) Template and Instructions

Note: this list of departments must contain all departments/interests indicated for faculty (done via the season's Faculty Upload) and candidates (done via the season's Candidate Upload), regardless of department slot allocation. For example, if BIOI and HG are participating in the season (either weekend) but CANCER is not, yet there are faculty members who have CANCER as one of their departments/interests, CANCER either needs to be in the Season list, with an allocation of zero, or CANCER should be removed from that faculty member.

Note: any information entered at the season level is shared across all weekends in the season.

Control Panel: 

This page also allows you to turn the Faculty Availability and Candidate Weekend Selection & Faculty Choices sites on or off, as appropriate. By default, both sites are off and their radio buttons disabled. 'Off' means that faculty and candidates will not be allowed into their respective sites. Switching the radio button to 'On' will 'open up' the site to faculty or candidates (accordingly), allowing them to submit their availability and choices.

Clicking on the label for each switch takes you to the respective site (i.e. click on "Faculty Availability" to go to the Faculty Availability site). Note that access to the Faculty Availability site is controlled by user role; see the 'Access Levels' section below for more details. Access to the Candidate site is initially open to anyone, but only those users with a UMID matching what was uploaded to the season (via Candidate Upload) will be able to progress past the first screen.

Rules of Operation:

• Once at least one faculty member has been uploaded to the Season, Faculty Availability will be enabled (note that 'enabled' and 'on' mean different things) but still Off.
• Once at least one faculty member has submitted their availability, the Candidate Choices site will be enabled (but still Off).

According to how the IW process is understood to work, it is recommended that Faculty Availability be switched on (to collect info), then turned off once collection is done. Then Candidate Weekend Selection & Faculty Choices should be turned on (to collect info) and then turned off once all candidates have signed up. (However, both can be turned 'on' at the same time if desired.) Then Match can be run.

Access Levels:

Access to the Faculty Availability site is controlled by user role; there are currently 3 different user roles set up:

• "Faculty Member": any faculty member uploaded into this season will be able to log into the site IF the site is turned 'on'; they will be denied access if it is 'off'
• "Proxy for Faculty Member": any U-M person identified as a 'faculty proxy' in HITS Software Delivery's App Access system will be able to log into the site IF the site is turned 'on'; they will be denied access if it is 'off'
• "Administrator": any U-M person identified as an 'administrator' in HITS Software Delivery's App Access system will be able to log into the site, regardless of if it is 'on' or 'off'.
  
  • This allows for 'after hours' data entry after the Faculty Availability site is closed ('off').

Both Proxies and Administrators will first be presented with a list of faculty members in the season upon login; selecting a faculty member will allow the proxy or administrator to submit or change availability information for that faculty member.

Setup [Weekend]

This page allows you to specify via a web form the hotel information for the weekend (name, address, and phone), the interview allocation per department (e.g. 8 slots for Bioinformatics), the actual dates and time-slots when the interviews can happen, and any optional notes for the weekend. Returning to this page allows for editing of previously entered information.

Page Details:

• One hotel can be specified per weekend
• The list of departments/interests is controlled at the season level, via the Create New Season page, and thus statically displayed here (not editable)
• The candidate 'slot' allocation controls the number of candidates allowed to choose their preferred weekend via the Candidate Weekend Selection & Faculty Choices page, based on their primary department/interest
  
  • These allocations can be adjusted once candidates start submitting their choices, but note that changing the allocation to be equal or lower than the filled value will prevent any additional candidates for that department/interest from choosing that weekend.
• The Filled Slots column indicates how many candidates from each department/interest have chosen that weekend (this is a static value).
• Interview time-slots are unlimited; there must be at least one, but there is no maximum
  
  • These time-slots control what is shown elsewhere in this application, as well as the Faculty Availability app 
• Notes only appear on this page, and are for internal use

Restrictions:  

• if an interview time-slot already has 1+ interviews associated with it, it will be not editable or removable

Manage [Weekend]

This page is actually a section, allowing you to upload remaining weekend-specific data (events, travel, etc.) as well as run Candidate/Faculty Match, generate itineraries, and download reports. It is composed of 4 tabs:

Weekend Uploads

This tab contains 6 buttons, allowing you to upload large amounts of weekend-specific data via CSV (comma-separate value) files. 

• Upload Events : Create events and identify who will be attending them (individuals, groups, or all attendees).
  
  • Interview Weekends - Events Upload Template & Instructions
• Upload Contacts (SSRs) :  - Indicate the contact (SSR) assigned to each candidate.
  
  • Interview Weekends - Contacts Upload Template & Instructions
• Upload Hosts : Indicate the host(s) assigned to each candidate.
  
  • Interview Weekends - Hosts Template & Instructions
• Upload Travel : Identify individual travel plans to and from the weekend as well as intra-weekend group travel details.
  
  • Interview Weekends - Travel Template & Instructions
• Upload Candidate Faculty Choices (optional) : Add, change, or delete candidate's faculty choices, before or after it has been submitted by candidates.
  
  • This info will be primary collected by the Candidate Weekend Selection & Faculty Choices form that each candidate completes, but that data can be modified via CSV here
    
    • NOTE that uploading candidate's choices here implicitly ties them to the weekend for which you uploaded the data.
  • Interview Weekends - Candidate Faculty Choices Upload Template and Instructions
• Upload Faculty Availability (optional) : Add, change, or delete faculty availability, before or after it has been submitted by faculty members.
  
  • This info will be primary collected by the Faculty Availability form that each faculty member completes, but that data can be modified via CSV here
  • Faculty availability can also be adjusted by logging into the Faculty Availability mini-site 'after hours' as a super-proxy, regardless of if the site is open to the faculty.
  • Interview Weekends - Faculty Availability Upload Template and Instructions

Interviews (Match)

This tab allows you to run Candidate/Faculty Match, to algorithmically pair candidates and faculty for interviews. If Match has not yet been run, a button is available for you to do so. Once run, this button disappears and the interview Match results (interviews) appear in a table, sorted alphabetically by candidate. Statistics about how well Match performed are also displayed (but disappear once you leave the page). Any subsequent visit to this tab will automatically display the interview matches.

NOTE: once run, Match cannot be undone (except manually via an HITS Service Desk ticket).

The table of interview matches shows each candidate, their primary department/interest, and their matched faculty across all time-slots for the weekend, based on the candidates' faculty choices. 

Page Details:

• the table's contents can be searched within via the table's search box; type 1+ characters and the contents will shrink to only those that match the query
  
  • Search Within looks through all columns, including faculty names and locations
• empty interview slots (where Match could not connect a candidate with a faculty member) are identified by a yellow  icon
  
  • you can filter the view to only see candidates with 1+ unmatched slots by selecting the View Incomplete Schedules checkbox at the top of the table
• any candidate's interviews can be edited by clicking anywhere on the candidate's row in the table

Interview Editing

This page allows you to modify the Match results for a given candidate (removing or switching faculty and/or changing the location of the interview). All interviews for a candidate are shown at once; one or more interview details can be modified and the changes saved at once via the Save button.

Clicking the faculty's name shows a list of all other faculty available during this time-slot. Clicking one of these faculty will replace the current faculty with the new one, and update the location. This list is filterable by name and department/interest. 

Clicking the (X) button next to the faculty's name will remove the faculty from the interview time-slot without immediately replacing them with a different one. Click the subsequent 'Add Faculty Member' button to show the list of all faculty available during this time-slot.

Changing the details in the Building dropdown menu and Room input box for each time-slot saves the location information for that faculty member in that time-slot (and is carried with them if they are removed and added to a different candidate in the same time-slot).

The 'Show Faculty Choices' button displays the list of faculty members chosen by the viewed candidate, in the preference order they specified. This list can be moved around on the screen.

Click 'Save' to save your changes; click 'Cancel' to leave this page and return to the Interviews list without saving any changes. Or click 'Back to All Interviews' to return to the list of all candidates' interviews.

Itineraries

This tab displays a list of all candidates and provides access to their individual itineraries. Click on a candidate's row to view their itinerary. 

Itineraries can be also be batch-printed from this page via the Print Itineraries dropdown menu: select a department/interest to print itineraries for all candidates in that department/interest; select 'All' (or simply click Go without making a selection) to print all itineraries. You are first taken to a preview page showing all selected itineraries in print-friendly format (no application navigation, etc.); from here, use your browser's Print function (File > Print) to print out the itineraries.

Itinerary Detail Page

Clicking on a candidate shows their itinerary in its full detail, with all individual and group events, travel, accommodations, hosts, and SSR information formatted appropriately. Use your browser's Print function (File > Print) to print out the itinerary in print-friendly format.

Click 'Back to All Itineraries' to return to the list of all candidates.

Note: if certain details have not yet been uploaded (such as hosts or travel), the itinerary will still generate, but those items will not appear.

Reports

This tab allows you to generate and download aggregate/summary reports, which can be further manipulated in Excel. The following reports are currently available:

• All Candidate Events : a list of all candidate events, including interviews, organized by candidate name
• Faculty Availability : a list of all faculty's availability (submitted and not submitted) during this weekend, organized by department/interest
  
  • Run this report during Faculty Availability collection, to determine who has not yet submitted their availability
• Faculty Interviews : a list of when and which candidates faculty are interviewing with, organized by faculty member name
  
  • Run this report after Match is run, to inform faculty who they are interviewing
• Candidate Faculty Choices : a list of all faculty chosen by each candidate (both who submitted their choices and who did not), organized by candidate name
• Candidate Itinerary Email Template - a list of all candidates' scheduled interviews for this weekend and links to the external itinerary. (For use with an external email system such as MailChimp.)
  
  • Use this template once itineraries are ready to be sent out
• Host Email Template - a list of all hosts assigned to candidates for this weekend and links to the external itinerary. (For use with an external email system such as MailChimp.)
• Faculty Interviews Email Template - a list of all faculty interviews and some associated information, for this weekend (For use with an external email system such as MailChimp.)