Database FAQs

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How do I log in?
Go to http://fds.duke.edu/ and click on the large Login button in the center of the screen. It will take you to Duke's WebAuth authentication screen. Use your normal DukeNet ID and password to authenticate.
If you have difficulty logging in, or questions, please contact fds@aas.duke.edu

If you are a member of more than one department, you will be prompted to select the group you wish to work in when you log in. If you plan to work on your annual report, it is important to select the department in which you will be evaluated.

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How do I find my data?
All data entered for you is available via the set of links under the Database heading in the left-hand sidebar menu viewable after you have logged into the Faculty Database System.
When you click on the word Database a complete set of links will appear to provide direct access to the different types of information. Clicking on a type such as Publications generates the list of all publications.
Entries annotated "noWeb" are available only through the Database view.

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How do I edit an entry?
To edit an entry, click on the small edit text that appears at the end of each entry.

After making desired changes, be sure to click the Update button that appears at the upper right-hand side of the screen.

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How can I manage my information in the database?
There are three main "views" of your data in the database. These are:
- Your web page
- Your CV
- Your annual report
Each of these views can be accessed via the links on your "welcome" page: the first page you see after you log into the database and select your department. (Once you are logged in, you can always return to this page by clicking the "welcome" link in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.)

Each of these views displays information based on
- formatting and display decisions made by your department
- the CV data that has been entered into the database
- the privacy options you select for each entry
To view and manage all of your database entries in a certain category (e.g., publications, lectures, teaching, committees/service) use the links that appear under the "Database" link on the left-hand side of your screen.

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How can I add or update my photo?
- Log into FDS.
- On your welcome page, click the "Edit your general Info" link.
- Locate the Picture field on the General Info form (in the same section as the Web Page fields).
- Click the Browse button, navigate to the image you wish to use, and select it.
- Back on the General Info form, click the Update button.
- Navigate to your web page to view the new picture. You may need to click your browser's refresh button in order to view the change.
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How can I select and order the publications I want to appear on my web page?
By default your web page displays your 5 most recent publications. You can prevent an entry from appearing on this list by editing it and checking "omit from recent publications" in the privacy options section of the form.

Alternatively, you may select your own set of publications to display on your web page:
- Make sure you are logged in to the FDS
- Go to your web page: you can either click "Edit your web page" on the first screen you see after logging into the database, OR click the Webpage link in the list on the left-hand side of your screen.
- Find the Publications section of your webpage and click the "select representative" link that appears at the beginning of the section.
- You will see a screen that shows all your publications. By entering numbers in the boxes to the left of each citation, you can select which publications you want to display and in what order.
- When you have made your selection, click the Submit button to return to your web page and view the results.
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Is my CV available on the web?
By default, the CV view of your data (available when you click the "Curriculum Vita" link in the left-hand links under "Webpage" while you are logged into the database) is not available on the web. Only you, your department chair, and your departmental FDS managers have access to it.

If you wish to make it available, you may do so by clicking the "edit your personal information" link on your "welcome" screen, or the "edit" link beside your name on your web page. On the resulting "General Info" form, scroll to the bottom and check the box beside "Do you want to display your vita on the web?" A link to the CV will then appear on your web page.

Note that if you choose to publish your CV to the web, any entries you have marked "omit from web" in the privacy options will not appear on your published CV (although you will continue to see them on your CV when you are logged into the database).

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How can upload a copy of my CV in my own format?
- From your web page (make sure you are logged in first), click the Edit link beside your name or beside Contact Info to get to your General Info form
- Locate the "Vita options" section at the bottom of the form
- Check the box beside "Display your vita on the web?"
- Click the Browse or Upload button and select the CV file you wish to upload (preferably it should be in PDF format)
- Click the Update button at the bottom of the General Info form.
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I have my own website: how can I link to it from my FDS web page?
- Log into FDS.
- On your welcome page, click the "Edit your general Info" link.
- Enter the address of your website in the Main Web Page field (just below the section containing the NetID and DukeID fields). Be sure to include http:// at the beginning of the address.
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How can I have my FDS contact information automatically updated from the university directory?
On the general info form, each field containing contact information that is also listed in the university directory has a linked chain icon beside it. If the chain is broken by a red x, the FDS entry does not match the university directory and won't be automatically updated if the university directory is updated. If the chain is not broken, then the entries DO match and any change made in the university directory will be passed along to FDS in a nightly update. To have your FDS contact info automatically updated from the university directory:
- Make sure you are logged into FDS
- On the first screen you see after you have logged in, click the "Edit your personal information" link
- On the general info form, check the contact information fields for broken link icons. Some may be unavoidable (for example, some staff have specific local titles that do not match the job category listed in the directory). If you hover your mouse over the broken link icon, you can see your directory listing for that field.
- If a link is broken and the directory listing is correct (as revealed by hovering), correct the FDS entry to match the directory. Now any future updates to the directory will propagate to FDS without further effort on your part.
- If the directory entry is incorrect, log into http://work.duke.edu/ , click MyProfile, then correct the information under Campus Physical Address and Campus Mailing Address (Phone and Fax number can be updated under Campus Physical Address). If necessary, update the entries in FDS to match corrections made in the directory. Note that the broken link icon will not change until FDS has updated against the directory overnight. Now any future updates to the directory will propagate to FDS without further effort on your part.
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Can I upload and link a PDF or other file attachment to an entry, such as a publication?
Yes. In most FDS forms, including the publications form, a small paper clip icon appears at the bottom of the form:
To attach a file to an entry:
- Click the paper clip icon to expand the file attachment area
- Click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button and select the file for attachment
- If desired, enter text that will appear as the link to the file. If you do not enter text, the link text will be the file extension (usually PDF).
- Make sure that "public" is checked in the "Any Info" section.
- Click the Update button (above the file attachment section) to submit the form and the attachment.
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How can I display additional images or other files on my web page?
The following instructions are in two parts. The first explains how to upload the file to the database, so it will have a web address. The second part explains how to link to it from your web page.

Uploading a file to the database
Please note that no one else can upload shared files on your behalf (department managers will only end up uploading the file to their own shared files areas. Write to fds@aas.duke.edu for workarounds if you are a department manager and this poses a problem).
1. Log into FDS.
2. In the navigation links on the left hand side of the screen, click "Database" to expand it, then click the "Shared Files" link in the list that appears below.
3. You'll see a page titled "List of Files for [your name]." Click the "new" link beside your name.
4. On the "Add a New File for..." page, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to locate and select the file you want to upload.
5. In the File Name field, enter a name for your file. It can be anything, but one option is to enter the name as it appears in the "select a file..." field. This name will become part of the file's url.
6. In the "Who can access this file" field, click the radio button beside "world."
7. Click "Update."
8. Now you will return to the "List of Files for ..." page, and you'll see a link to the new file you have uploaded.
9. Right-click on the link to the file and choose the option that will allow you to copy the web address of the file: "copy shortcut," or "copy link location" are two possible phrasings. (This will copy the web address of the file to your computer's clipboard, so you can paste it into another location later--see below.)
Displaying the file on your web page:

The simplest way to display an image is to enter it in one of the input fields for an entry that already appears on your web page. Suppose you want to add an image of your book cover along the right-hand side of your "Research Interests:"
1. click the Edit link beside "Research Interests;" you'll see the text field for "Research Description".
2. Enter the following somewhere among the existing text
  (you might need to try a few times to get it positioned just right):
  <img src="" align="right">
3. Click between the 2 "s and press Control-V (PC) or Command-V (Mac) to paste the link location from Step 1 there.
If you simply want to add a link to the file, instead of displaying an image,
1. enter the following in the place you'd like to link to appear:
  <a href="">Enter link text here</a>
2. Click between the 2 "s and press Control-V (PC) or Command-V (Mac) to paste the link location from Step 1 there.
3. Enter your link text
4. Click the Update button on the General Info form to submit and view your changes.
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Can I give someone else access to update my information without sharing my password?
Yes. To give another person "proxy" access so they can enter and update information for you:
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS
- On the first screen you see after you have logged in, click the "Edit your personal information" link.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the resulting Update General Info form and find the Optional Proxy section.
- Enter an email address and password in the Optional Proxy section. Note that this does not have to be a real email address, as long as it is in the form something@something.something
- Click the Update button.
- Now your proxy will be able to log in using the email address and password you entered. The proxy must use the FDS Custom Login option to log in and update your information.
- To remove proxy access, simply repeat these steps and remove the email address and password from the Optional Proxy field.
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Can I format the text I'm entering into the database?
Yes. A built-in text editor has been added to the database so you can format text without having to use HTML.

Note: This feature was made possible by new web-browser technology and is only available in the following recent browser versions (contact your local computer support if you need one of these browsers installed):
Windows: Internet Explorer 4.0 and later; Mozilla 1.3 and later
Mac: Mozilla 1.3 and later
Linux: Galleon
- In form fields for which the text editor is available, a paper and pencil icon will appear beside the field title: . Click this icon to activate the editor.
- Text formatting buttons similar to those found in word-processing programs will appear above the field and can be used to apply formatting which will be visible in the field below.
- Clicking the pen and paper icon a second time will display your text as plain text with HTML code.
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How does the custom date field work?
Some of the forms used to enter information (e.g., Publications, Lectures, Committee/Service) have a "Custom Date" field. The Custom Date field shows the date that will be displayed in the citation.
By default, the Custom Date field is autofilled with a text version of the numeric date entered in the fields above it.

To display a different date than the one filled in automatically, just edit the text of the custom date field.

Note: Say you enter a publication, edit the custom date text so it's just right, and submit the form. Later you edit the entry and change the year or the month, causing your carefully composed custom date to be overwitten by the autofill. All is not lost: simply click the green cycling arrow icon to the right of the Custom Date field to restore the previous custom date.

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What is the "database full date?"
The "database full date" will appear in place of the year/month/day fields in most forms if you have javascript turned off in your browser settings. Although you can use the database full date field in place of the year/month/day fields, it is a less flexible view, and it is recommended that you turn on javascript if you see this field in your forms. See below for instructions:

Internet Explorer 6.0 (PC)
- From the Tools menu, select Internet Options
- Select the Security tab
- Click the "Custom Level" button
- In the "Scripting" section, locate "Active Scripting" and click "Enable"
- Click OK and Apply. You will need to restart Internet Explorer before the change will take place.
Firefox (PC)
- From the Tools menu, select Options...
- Select Web Features
- Check Enable Javascript
Firefox (Mac)
- From the Firefox menu, select Preferences...
- Select Web Features
- Check Enable Javascript
Safari (Mac)
- From the Safari menu, select Preferences...
- Select Security
- Check Enable Javascript
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How can I customize the text of links to online publications?
When you included a link to an online publication in the "Web URL" field of the publication form, the link that appears in the citation is the last part of the URL that was entered.

To specify other text for this link, enter the URL of the publication in the "Web URL" field on the publication form, then append a space at the end, followed by the desired text.
For example, if the URL of your publication is:

http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf

and you want the link to be [MyArticleX] rather than [pdf], enter the URL like this:

http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf MyArticleX

The link can be any word, but it cannot contain any spaces.

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Can I use the FDS to send email to groups within my department?
Yes. The FDS makes it very easy to send email messages to groups or subgroups of people within your department. This service allows members of a department to send email to other members of their own department via the FDS--it cannot be accessed by outside spammers or by members of another department who are logged into the FDS.
- Click the Utilities link in the list on the left-hand side of any FDS page.
- Click Email Mgr in the list that appears under the Utilities link.
- Click the "email lists" link that appears to the right of the page title.
- You may select one or more individuals or groups within your department to send email to from any of the following groups: Aliases, Categories, Dept. Committees, Local Users. To select more than one, hold down the control key (PC users) or the command key (mac users) on your keyboard as you select additional users or groups.
- To exclude individuals who are members of groups you have selected, select the names of the people to exclude from the "Local Users *Excluded*" list.
- Click the View button below the Cc field to view the list of users who will receive the message and verify that the names are correct.
- To de-select a group or individual, hold down the control key (PC users) or command key (mac users) on your keyboard while clicking the selection you wish to remove.
- Enter a Subject and the text of the message in the appropriate fields.
- Click the Mail button to send the message.
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Can I upload a file containing my publications, instead of entering them one by one?
Yes, you can upload your publications from a file of any of the following types:
BibTeX
EndNote
Refer
ProCite
Medline
1. Open a blank "Add a new publication" form.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the form and find the "BibTeX/EndNote/Refer/ProCite/MedLine Upload" section: click the Upload button.
3. Select the type of file you wish to upload.
4. Browse for and select the file. Then click the Submit button.
5. At the top of the form is a table with the publication types indicated in your file on the left and the FDS publications types on the right. Select the type on the right that corresponds with the type on the left--once you have done this the first time, the FDS will remember your choices.
6. Specify the criterion by which the system should identify duplicate entries (the "Title with" options only work if the fields match exactly).
7. Choose Update or Overwrite (the difference is explained on the form).
8. Click the Submit button.
9. Finally, you will see a list of all the publications that will be uploaded. From here you can choose not to upload certain entries, and to do some last-minute editing. Then click Submit one more time to upload the publications to the database.
NOTE: While it is possible to upload a publications list from Endnote, you must first export your Endnote library to BibTeX format and upload to FDS as a BibTeX file:
1. Open EndNote. In the drop-down menu in the toolbar at the top of the screen, click on Edit > Output Styles > Open Style Manager
2. Select “BibTeX Export”
  (Hint: click on any Name, and type bib very fast. It will go straight to the “BibTeX Export” listing)
3. Back in the main EndNote toolbar, click Edit > Output Styles > BibTeX Export
4. Open the database that you want to convert to the BibTeX format. Make sure that all entries have been given a Label. You can specify a Label for an individual Endnote entry, or a number of Endnote entries all at once. To specify for a number of entries:
  - Select the Endnote references you wish to export to BibTeX.
  - Go to "Tools > Change and move fields".
  - Select "Label" and "replace whole field with".
  - Enter a Label -- the word "Article" will do. Click 'Ok'.
  - Save as a text file. During the save, change the ".txt" extension to ".bib".
5. Click File > Export. Give the filename a .bib extension. Click on Save.
6. In FDS, select this file for upload, and select BibTeX as the file type for upload.
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I received email that a "secure message" was sent to me via the faculty database. Is this legitimate?
A person sending you email via the form linked from your faculty database web page can elect to "send it securely" by clicking a checkbox on the form. If the sender chooses this option, the message will not be sent to your regular email account. Instead, it will be saved in the faculty database where you can read it once you have logged in. You will receive automated email alerting you to the secure message and telling you how to access it. The feature allows you to receive sensitive information that should not be entrusted to ordinarly email, such as passwords or account information.

To access the secure message:
- Go to http://fds.duke.edu/ and log in (to protect yourself against phishing attacks, use an existing bookmark or type the url directly into your browser, rather than clicking a link in the email message)
- Click the 'Access your secure email messages' link in the center of your welcome page. It should have a yellow star beside it to indicate a new message.
- On the Email Listing page, click the message number to read your message.
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I do not want to receive secure messages through the faculty database. How can I turn this off?
If you do not wish to receive secure messages, you may turn off the option:
- Log into the faculty database.
- Click the "Edit your personal information" link on your welcome page
- Scroll to the bottom of the form. In the Privacy Options section, un-check the "accept secure email messages?" setting
- Click the "Update" or "Submit" button at the bottom of the form.
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Can I create my own categories for grouping my publications?
Yes, you can create your own "tags" for categorizing your publications. Note that these tags operate in addition to the required "Types" field at the top of the publications form, and not as a replacement. The "Tag" field is near the bottom of the publications form. You can select an existing tag from the drop-down selector, or add a new tag using the text field. You can add multiple tags for one publication--click the green + icon to access additional fields. If you create a new tag, it will be available to other users within your group (appearing in their drop-down lists as well as your own). If you don't want your tags to be available to others in your group, you can check the "private" checkbox when you create the tag. On your Publications list web page, tagged publications will have the tag name as a link appearing at the end of the citation, and clicking the link will result in a list of publications with that tag.

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Is there a way to edit or delete multiple entries at the same time?
- Click the Database link on the left-hand side to expand the menu beneath it, and click the Table Access link near the bottom of the list. (If you do not see the Table Access link, click the "Advanced Mode" toggle at the bottom of the list and look again.)
- Use the "Select a table to display" drop-down menu to chose the category of entry you wish to edit (i.e., Publications, Lectures, Committees, etc.)
- In the left-hand column, select the fields that you wish to view or edit. You can select multiple fields by holding down the shift or control/command keys while you click. To view all fields, select "all" at the top of the menu. At the bottom of the column, click "View" to view the entries without editing, or "Edit" to edit the entries.
- Edit the entries as desired. Not all fields are editable in this view. When you are finished, click the Submit button at the bottom of the form to save your changes. You can mark entries for deletion upon submit by checking the box in the delete column. You can also use the "select all" and "delete all" options at the bottom of the form.
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Are there general instructions for faculty on updating the annual report?
Yes, two types of instructions are available:
- Video introduction to the annual report
- PDF handout on updating the annual report
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Who can view my annual report?
Your annual report may be viewed by:
- you, and anyone to whom you have granted your proxy access
- your department chair
- staff in your department who have "manager" access to your department's FDS.
The A&S deans can see a version of your annual report which you can review by clicking the "dean's view" link at the top of your annual report. The dean's view includes some additional information such as research interests and education. It does not include:
- any entries on your report which have been tagged "omit from vita" or "omit from web."
- any comments entered in an "Info for the Chair" field.
For more information about the privacy of your information in the database, see the Faculty Database Privacy Policy.

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What is the "dean's view" of the annual report?
The "dean's view" is a modified version of the annual report which is available to the deans. It includes some information not included on your regular report, such as the information about your research interests and education that also appears on your web page.

The dean's view does not include:
- any entries on your report which have been tagged "omit from vita" or "omit from web."
- any comments entered in an "Info for the Chair" field.
You can see the "dean's view" of your report by clicking the link at the top of your annual report.

For more information about the privacy of your information in the database, see the Faculty Database Privacy Policy.

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I entered information on my annual report, but it doesn't show up, or it appears in the wrong year. What happened?
The date of the entry may have been entered incorrectly.

In most of the database entry forms, the Date field has two parts:
1. Fields for entering year, month and day
2. A "Custom Date" field
The date entered in the first section (year/month/day) determines how the entry is listed chronologically. This date must fall within the time period specified on the report form in order for the entry to appear on the report. This date will also determine the order in which the entry is displayed on the report.

The "Custom Date" field shows the date that will display in the entry. It can be modified if the date for display needs to be different than the chronological date entered above it.

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How can I locate an entry that is not appearing on my report?
Click the Database link that appears on the left-hand side of your annual report. A list of links will appear under Database corresponding to the categories of information that can be entered in the database (Publications, Lectures, Comm(ittees)/Service, Grants, etc.). Click the relevant category to see and edit a list of all the entries in that category.

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Why are courses I didn't teach appearing on my annual report? Is there a way to remove them?
The course information listed in the faculty database is pulled in from the SISS system. As a result, all courses listed in SISS, even independent studies in which no students were enrolled, also appear in the faculty database. You can remove these courses from your annual report by clicking the "edit" link next to them and checking the "omit from annual report" checkbox that appears at the top of the form.

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Who should I contact if I need to request a change to the annual report form for my department?
Contact fds@aas.duke.edu or you may write directly to adrienne.moore@duke.edu .

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Can I give someone else access to update my annual report without sharing my password?
Yes. To give another person "proxy" access so they can enter and update information for you:
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS
- On the first screen you see after you have logged in, click the "Edit your personal information" link.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the resulting Update General Info form and find the Optional Proxy section.
- Enter an email address and password in the Optional Proxy section. Note that this does not have to be a real email address, as long as it is in the form something@something.something
- Click the Update button.
- Now your proxy will be able to log in using the email address and password you entered. The proxy must use the FDS Custom Login option to log in and update your information.
- To remove proxy access, simply remove the email address from the Optional Proxy field.
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Can I format the text I'm entering for my annual report?
Yes. A built-in text editor has been added to the database so you can format text without having to use HTML.

Note: This feature was made possible by new web-browser technology and is only available in the following recent browser versions (contact your local computer support if you need one of these browsers installed):
Windows: Internet Explorer 4.0 and later; Mozilla 1.3 and later
Mac: Mozilla 1.3 and later
Linux: Galleon
- In form fields for which the text editor is available, a paper and pencil icon will appear beside the field title: . Click this icon to activate the editor.
- Text formatting buttons similar to those found in word-processing programs will appear above the field and can be used to apply formatting which will be visible in the field below.
- Clicking the pen and paper icon a second time will display your text as plain text with HTML code.
Note: When copying and pasting formatted text into a database form, you can retain at least general formatting if you activate the text editor before you paste.

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How does the custom date field work?
Some of the forms used to enter information (e.g., Publications, Lectures, Committee/Service) have a "Custom Date" field. The Custom Date field shows the date that will be displayed in the citation.
By default, the Custom Date field is auto-filled with a text version of the numeric date entered in the fields above it.

To display a different date than the one filled in automatically, just edit the text of the custom date field.

Note: Say you enter a publication, edit the custom date text so it's just right, and submit the form. Later you edit the entry and change the year or the month, causing your carefully composed custom date to be overwitten by the auto-fill. All is not lost: simply click the green cycling arrow icon to the right of the Custom Date field to restore the previous custom date.

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Can I customize the text of links to online publications?
Yes. When you include a link to an online publication in the "Web URL" field of the publication form, the link that appears in the citation is the last part of the URL that was entered. (E.g., the link http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf would display in the citation as [pdf])

To specify other text for this link, enter the URL of the publication in the "Web URL" field on the publication form, then append a space at the end, followed by the desired text.
For example, if the URL of your publication is:

http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf

and you want the link to be [MyArticleX] rather than [pdf], enter the URL like this:

http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf MyArticleX

The link can be any word, but it cannot contain any spaces.

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Can I upload a file containing my publications, instead of entering them one by one?
Yes, you can upload your publications from a file of any of the following types:
BibTeX
EndNote
Refer
ProCite
Medline
AIP Spin (BibTeX format)
1. Open a blank "Add a new publication" form.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the form and find the "BibTeX/EndNote/Refer/ProCite/MedLine Upload" section: click the Upload button.
3. Select the type of file you wish to upload.
4. Browse for and select the file. Then click the Submit button.
5. At the top of the form is a table with the publication types indicated in your file on the left and the FDS publications types on the right. Select the type on the right that corresponds with the type on the left--once you have done this the first time, the FDS will remember your choices.
6. Specify the criterion by which the system should identify duplicate entries (the "Title with" options only work if the fields match exactly).
7. Choose Update or Overwrite (the difference is explained on the form).
8. Click the Submit button.
9. Finally, you will see a list of all the publications that will be uploaded. From here you can choose not to upload certain entries, and to do some last-minute editing. Then click Submit one more time to upload the publications to the database.
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Can I import my publications directly from another online database into the faculty database?
The FDS supports import of publications directly from PubMed. This option is available in departments known to use PubMed. If you would like to use this feature but do not have the import option in your publications form, please write to fds@aas.duke.edu to have it turned on for your department.

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Can I attach files, such as images or other documents, to my annual report?
Yes. In all of the forms used to enter data for the report, a small paper clip icon appears near the bottom of the form:
To attach a file to an entry:
- Click the paper clip icon to expand the file attachment area
- Click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button and select the file for attachment
- If desired, add a brief description of the file in the "Link Label" field.
- Choose any desired options in the "Any Info" section:
- Click the Update button (above the file attachment section) to submit the form and the attachment.
To add contextual images:

By default, attached files will appear at the end of the entry to which they are attached. If you would like the attachment to appear within the text of an entry (e.g., if you wish to include images contextually within your research statement) you can do this with only a few additional steps, by using the text editor to place a "tag" to your image in the body of your text.
- Do not check "display at end of entry when possible" when uploading the attachment (otherwise the image will appear twice--once where you are about to place it, and again at the end of the entry).
- Submit the form to upload the attachment (this creates the link to your image).
- Your attachment will appear as a link at the bottom of your entry. Click this link and copy the address of the resulting web page, or right-click (windows) or control-click (mac) and choose "Copy link location" or similar option from the resulting menu.
- Edit the entry again.
- Click the text editor icon beside the text field where you wish to add the image.
- Place your cursor at the point in your text where you would like to place the image.
- Click the "add image" icon in the editor menu:
- Paste the link of the image into the resulting "Enter url" field.
- Click the "Update" button on the form to submit your entry.
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I need to make changes to last year's report, but I can only get to the report for the current year. How can I access a previous year's report?
You can access a report from a previous year by going to your current annual report and appending
-2004 (substituting the desired year for 2004)
to the end of the url.

For example, if the url for your current report is:
https://fds.duke.edu/db?listrpt-1-2-4
you can access your 2004 report by ammending the url as follows:
https://fds.duke.edu/db?listrpt-1-2-4-2004

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How do I indicate to my department chair that my annual report is complete?
At the top of the annual report form, click the link that says "Click here to indicate that this report is ready for the chair to review."

When the report has been marked ready, the text will read "This report is ready for the chair to review. Click here to mark it "not ready", if you choose.

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I am an FDS manager for my department. How can I add a new member?
To add a new member in your department:
- Log into the FDS.
- If you are a manager in more than one department, navigate to the department the new person will be a member of.
- Under the "Database" link on the left-hand side of the page, click "Add Member."
- Fill in the first and last name fields in the resulting form, then click the "LookUp" button. If the person is currently listed in the university directory, or already has an account in FDS, contact information and important account information, such as the Duke NetID and Duke Unique ID, will be automatically filled into the form.
- If more than one person with the same name occurs in the directory, or if the person already has an FDS account in another group, you will be asked to select the correct person from a list. The General Info form will be populated with relevant information from the Duke directory or the existing FDS account. Add any other desired information about the person (title, specialty, etc), then click the UPDATE button at the top or bottom of the form.
Note: You can add a new member even if clicking the LDAP button does not automatically fill in account information. However, the person will not be able to log into the FDS until their Duke NetID has been entered into this form.

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When I try to add a new member for my department, I get an error stating that the person already exists in the database and can't be added again. What should I do?
The person you are trying to add is already a member of another department. To add the person in your own department:
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS.
- Use the Search link in the top right-hand corner of any FDS page to look up the person and find the other department(s) in which the person is a member.
- In the search results, click the name of the person you wish to add to go directly to his or her web page.
- In the links on the left hand side of the person's web page, you will see the link "add2us." Click this link to get an "Add new member" form for your own department with the person's information already filled out.
- Make any desired modifications (contact info, office hours, etc.) and click the UPDATE button at the top or bottom of the page.
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How can I give another person manager access to my FDS group?
Note: You must be in "Advanced Mode" for this task. Expand the Database link and use the green link at the bottom of the section to toggle between Basic Mode and Advanced Mode.
- If the person does not already have an account in the FDS, you must add them (see "Adding a New Member.")
- Make a note of the email address that is entered in the required Email field on the Add Member or General Info form.
- In the links on the left-hand side of the screen, click the Config Group link that appears under Database. (The Config Group link is only visible in Advanced Mode, as noted above.)
- On the Update Group page, scroll down to the "Mgr Proxies" field and add the email address you noted earlier on its own line (the email address must match the address used for this person's account).
- Click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.
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How can I remove manager access for another manager in my group?
Note: You must be in "Advanced Mode" for this task. Expand the Database link and use the green link at the bottom of the section to toggle between Basic Mode and Advanced Mode.
- In the links on the left-hand side of the screen, click the Config Group link that appears under Database. (The Config Group link is only visible in Advanced Mode, as noted above.)
- On the Update Group page, scroll down to the "Mgr Proxies" field and remove the email address of the person whose manager rights you wish to remove.
- Click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen
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How can I delete a person from the FDS?
To delete a person from the FDS:
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS.
- Navigate to the web page of the person you need to delete.
- Click the Edit link at the top of the person's webpage to get to the person's General Info form.
- Scroll to the bottom of the form and click the Delete button.
Note: Once a certain amount of information has been entered into the database for a person, you will not be able to delete the account. Instead, you will need to remove the person from your site by setting a departure date (see the next question).

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How can I delete someone who is missing the Delete button?
For record-keeping reasons, once a certain amount of data is entered into the FDS for a person, the person cannot be deleted, and no delete button will appear at the bottom of the General Info form. However, a "Departure Date" can be set, and this will remove the profile from all public web views. (The department FDS manager will continue to be able to access the account via the List Members page).
To set a departure date:
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS.
- Navigate to the web page of the person you need to delete.
- Click the Edit link at the top of the person's webpage to get to the person's General Info form.
- Scroll to the Hire Date/Departure Date line. Then set the Departure date to any date in the past and submit the form.
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How can I find a person who has a departure date set?
- Click the "list members" link under Database in the links on the left-hand side
- Click the "Current" link beside the page title (List of Members). It will change to "All."
- Find the person you need to edit in the list, and click his/her name to access his/her general info form
- Make any necessary edits, or modify or remove the Departure Date to reinstate him/her as a current member.
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Can I start entering information for a new faculty member before his or her official start date without making information about the person available on the web?
Yes, you can do this by setting a Hire Date. When you create an account for a new person, look for the Hire Date field on the Add Member form. Enter the date you want the person's information to become available on the department website.

Prior to the Hire Date, no information about the person will appear on the department website. To access and edit information for this person prior to the hire date:
- Click the Database link on the left-hand side of any FDS page.
- Click the List Members link.
- At the top of the page, click the "Current" link that appears beside the List of Members title: the page will refresh and the "Current" link will change to "All."
- Locate the name of the person and click their email address to go to their General Info form. Then use the links on the left-hand side of the page under Database to add any additional information for the person.
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How can I add or replace a picture of a faculty member?
- Log into the FDS.
- Navigate to the web page of the person for whom you will upload the picture.
- Click the Edit link beside the person's name or title to edit the General Info form.
- Find the Picture field (in the top third of the form below the web page fields) and click the Browse button beside it.
- Locate and select the image file to be uploaded
- Once the file location appears in the Picture field, click the Update button at the top or botton of the General Info form.
- If the picture does not immediately appear on the faculty member's page, try using your browser refresh button to reload the page.
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Can I use the FDS to send email to groups within my department?
Yes. The FDS makes it very easy to send email messages to groups or subgroups of people within your department. This service allows members of a department to send email to other members of their own department via the FDS--it cannot be accessed by outside spammers or by members of another department who are logged into the FDS.
- Click the Utilities link in the list on the left-hand side of any FDS page.
- Click Email Mgr in the list that appears under the Utilities link.
- Click the "email lists" link that appears to the right of the page title.
- You may select one or more individuals or groups within your department to email from any of the following groups: Aliases, Categories, Dept. Committees, Local Users. To select more than one, hold down the control key (PC users) or the command key (Mac users) on your keyboard as you select additional users or groups.
- To exclude individuals who are members of groups you have selected, select the names of the people to exclude from the "Local Users *Excluded*" list.
- Click the View button below the Cc field to view the list of users who will receive the message and verify that the names are correct.
- To de-select a group or individual, hold down the control key (PC users) or command key (Mac users) on your keyboard while clicking the selection you wish to remove.
- Enter a Subject and the text of the message in the appropriate fields.
- Click the Mail button to send the message.
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Can I create standing mailing lists for groups that I email often?
Yes. The FDS allows department managers to create "aliases," or additional lists of department members. An example might be a list containing all faculty except emeriti plus administative staff, that will be used repeatedly. To create an alias:
- Click the Utilities link in the list on the left-hand side of any FDS page.
- Click Aliases in the list that appears under the Utilities link.
- Click the "New" link that appears to the right of the page title.
- Fill in the Alias Name field with a name for the alias you are about to create (you may use letters, numbers, and + or - symbols in the name).
- Select the categories and users you wish to include in the alias.
- Add any additional email addresses you wish to include in the "Additional Emails (one per line)" section.
- Click the View button to verify that the list contains all the appropriate people.
- Click Submit to create the alias.
- Now the new alias you have created will appear in the Aliases column in the Email Manager.
Note: When setting up aliases, keep in mind that to the extent that you construct them by selecting groups, rather than individuals, they will stay up to date as you add and remove members from the database.

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I need to add a new type of publication, lecture, committee, degree, activity, or student for my department, OR I need to add a new specialty for faculty in my department. How can I do this?
Note: You must be in "Advanced Mode" for this task. Expand the Database link and use the green link at the bottom of the section to toggle between Basic Mode and Advanced Mode.
- Make sure you are logged into the FDS
- Click the Database link on the left-hand side of the screen to expand it.
- Click the Config Group link that appears under Database
- In the links just under the page title at the top of the Update Group page, click the Types link.
- Add the new specialty or Type in one of the empty fields in the appropriate section. If you need to add more than two types to a section, click the green + icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the section you are in to add more fields.
- You may change the name of a type. If you need to remove a type, simply delete the text and leave the field blank. DO NOT enter a new type in its place: this will result in all data assigned to the old type being reassigned to the new one.
- Use the numbers to the right of the type names to change the order of the list.
- Click the Submit button at the bottom of the form.
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What is the process Arts & Sciences will follow when they enter CV data for faculty into the FDS?
Click to open the Process for Entry of A&S CV Data into the Faculty Database System (PDF, 48 KB).

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How can I add a new "News" item?
- Log into FDS.
- In the breadcrumbs at the top of the page (e.g. Home > Arts & Sciences > Your Group Name > Staff), click the name of your group.
- In the navigation links on the left-hand side of the page, click the "News" link that appears below "Webpage."
- On the News listing page, click the "new" link at the top of the page (in some groups this link may read "add news" instead).
- Fill in the required fields.
  - In the List Dates field, only the first date, designating the first day the news item will appear, is required. You may optionally enter a date in the second field to specify a day when the item will disappear.
  - The Subject field will be the "headline" for the news item, usually appearing in bold at the top of the entry.
  - Enter the body of the news item in the Message field. If you wish to control the point at which the text "breaks" and a "more info" link is added to take the reader the another page, you may enter @@ in your text where you want the break to occur. Otherwise, the break will be added automatically after a few lines of text.
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How can I change the order of existing News items?
- Log into FDS.
- In the breadcrumbs at the top of the page (e.g. Home > Arts & Sciences > Your Group Name > Staff), click the name of your group.
- In the navigation links on the left-hand side of the page, click the "News" link that appears below "Webpage."
- On the News listing page, you may reorder news items by dragging and dropping them into the desired order. Click and drag the hand icon that appears to the right of the News item you wish to move.
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How can I update the Chair/DUS/DGS/Business Manager listings for my department as they appear on the Trinity website?
- Log into FDS
- If you are a member of more than one group in FDS, be sure to select the department you plan to update when you log in.
- In the breadcrumbs at the top of your FDS welcome page (e.g. Home > Arts & Sciences > Your Department Name > Staff) click the name of your department.
- In the navigation links on the left hand side of the page, click the Database link to expand it.
- Click the Extra Info link at the top of the list now appearing under Database.
- To add a new Chair/DUS/DGS/Business Manager, click the "new" link beside the appropriate title. If the title has an existing entry, click "edit" beside that entry to update it.
- Click the green "+" icon beside the title you wish to add. Your group should already be selected. From the Class menu, select Faculty or Staff. From the resulting "Users" menu, select the person you wish to add. Click Done. Repeat this step for any additional positions listed on the form.
- You can select multiple names for a single entry by holding down the apple/command key (Mac) or the Ctrl key (PC) on your keyboard while you select. You can also UN-select a name that you have already selected by holding down the same keyboard key and clicking the selected name.
- Click Update to save your entries.
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Last Update: 2011/01/25 14:26:39.

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