Interfolio Admin Guide: Part 5
Part 5 of this guide provides information for the college dossier admin (CDA) on adding and requesting external review letters for a case.
External Evaluation Options
Case templates for major review years contain an External Evaluations section, meant for securely storing external evaluation letters. Files added initially to this section are never shown to the candidate or to anyone other than the CDA, institutional admin, or the current step's committee members. They are uploaded as confidential documents that will remain confidential even if moved to another section.
There are two ways a CDA can have external evaluation letters added to the External Evaluations section.
- Use Interfolio to send an evaluation request to external reviewers, and then have the external reviewers themsevles upload the letters to Interfolio.
- Work outside of Interfolio to request and obtain external evaluations, in which case the CDA uploads the external evalation letters to the External Evaluation section of the case.
Send and Receive External Evalution Requests Through Interfolio
The CDA (or a committee manager) can use Interfolio to email evaluation requests to potential external reviewers. The email provides an option for the external reviewers to accept the invitation. Once accepted, the reviewers are given access to specific files selected by the CDA for review, and then provided a link through which they can upload a recommendation letter directly to the candidate's case. Interfolio sends automatic reminders to external evaluators 7 days and then 1 day before the submission deadline.
To request an external evaluation through Interfolio, open the case from the Interfolio cases list, and then scroll down to the External Evaluations section.
Click the Request Evaluation button.
At the top of the page, type the name and email address of the external evaluator to be invited.
Note that you can invite multiple external evaluators at once by clicking the Add External Evaluator button.o
Scroll down and type the invitation message to be sent to the evaluator. Note, also, that you can adjust the name and email address of the email's sender, if, for example, you would like the request to appear as though it came from the department head.
Next, select which files the external reviewer will be permitted to see. Scroll down to the Files section and click the Add Files button.
Check the files you wish for the external evaluator to see. No other files but the ones you select will be made visible. Click the Add Files button when you are done.
Click the Preview link if you want to see how the email will appear to the recipient.
In the Response Settings section, it will be up to you whether to set a deadline. Evaluators will not be permitted to upload files after the deadline, but Interfolio will send reminder emails 7 days and then 1 day before the deadline.
Select the option for "Yes, allow the evaluator to submit additional files." This is important so that the evaluator can upload a bio and CV along with the evaluation letter.
Leave the option selected for Administrators and Entire Committee to have access to the documents, and then click Send Request.
Steps for the External Evaluator
Once you send the external evaluation request, the recipient can choose to accept or deny the request. Here are the steps the external evaluator needs to take.
The recipient of the external evaluation request must choose I Accept or I Decline.
External evaluators do not need an Interfolio account to accept an invitation, review candidate documents, and submit evaluation letters.
Recipients who accept will immediately be shown a list of the files shared with options to view or download the files.
Evaluators who do not immediately perform their review can return to the invitation email later on and click the View Request link to return to the review request page.
On the request page, external reviewers should click Add File in the Confidential Evaluation section to upload the review letter.
To upload a CV and Bio, they should click the Add File button in the Additional Files section.
Files uploaded by the external reviewer will go directly into the External Evaluations section of the candidate's case.
View Submitted External Evaluations or Resent Requests
After requests are sent, they can be re-sent or the request settings can be edited.
Open the case from the cases list, scroll down to the External Evaluations section, and expand it to view existing requests and uploaded files.
Requests for which the evaluator has uploaded files appear in blue. Click on the evaluator's name to view the submitted file(s).
Pending requests that have not been submitted to appear in black. Click Edit next to a request for options, including resending.
Choose Edit and Resend Request to add or remove files and change settings.
Note that you can also edit request settings without resending the request.
Upload External Evaluation Files From Computer
If Interfolio is not used to send external evaluation requests, or letters are sent by external reviewers through email or other conventional means, then CDAs can upload files to the External Evaluations section from their own computers in the same manner they add other files and letters.
Click on the case from the Cases list, scroll down to the External Evaluations section, and click to expand it.
Click the Add File button and upload the external evaluation documents.