When administrators create or enter activities on behalf of faculty and staff, those activities are typically sent to the listed lead for review before they can be published. In an ideal workflow, the lead claims the activity, reviews the details, and approves it for publication.
Between full inboxes, competing priorities, and the general busyness, claim and review requests often go unanswered. The result: accurate, well-documented activities sit in a pending state, invisible to leadership, missing from reports, and unavailable for public-facing showcases of your institution's work.
Administrator Direct Publish gives trusted administrators the ability to publish activities directly, without waiting for a lead to claim and review. Faculty and staff are still notified when their activity goes live, and they can review and edit the details at any time, no claim required.
Before You Begin
Administrator Direct Publish must be enabled for your institution before it can be used. This is located in the Collaboratory Settings, accessible only to administrators with the appropriate access.
Enabling Administrator Direct Publish
To turn on Administrator Direct Publish for your institution:
Navigate to Settings in the left-hand navigation panel.
Select the Access tab.
Locate the Administrator Direct Publish toggle.
Click the toggle to enable it.
A confirmation prompt will appear to make sure you understand the implications of this setting before it goes into effect. Read the message and enable to proceed.
When the setting is successfully updated, you'll see a confirmation message: Successfully updated Collaboratory settings. Administrator Direct Publish: Enabled.
To turn the setting off at any time, return to the same location and toggle it off. You'll see a corresponding confirmation.
BEST PRACTICE: Before enabling Administrator Direct Publish, discuss this setting with your team and establish clear internal guidelines for when it's appropriate to publish without owner review. This feature is most effective when used consistently and intentionally.
Publishing an Activity Without Owner Review
Once Administrator Direct Publish is enabled and you have access to use it, a new option becomes available on unpublished activities: Publish without Lead Review.
This feature appears in two situations: when there is queued lead or a pending claim on the activity. If the activity is awaiting portal submission, administrators can directly publish this activity without bypassing lead review.
To use it:
Navigate to the activity you want to publish.
Click on the Submit Step.
Locate the Publish without Lead Review action.
Select it to begin the publication process.
Before the activity is published, Collaboratory will check whether all required fields have been completed. If any required information is missing, those fields will be flagged so you can fill them in before proceeding. Required field flags function the same as they would for any activity.
Once all required fields are complete, confirm the action and the activity will be published immediately.
What Happens After You Publish
The Activity Goes Live
The published activity becomes visible on your institution's Collaboratory profile just as it would through any standard publication. There is no badge or indicator on the activity to signal that it was published via Administrator Direct Publish.
Faculty and Staff Are Notified
When an activity is published without owner review, the faculty/staff lead and any named faculty or staff partners listed on the activity are automatically notified. They receive:
An in-application alert informing them that an administrator has published an activity on their behalf.
An email notification informing them of the same.
The email notification lets them know the activity is now publicly visible and encourages them to review the details, make any edits as needed, and ensure the information accurately reflects their involvement.
Faculty and Staff Can Edit Without Claiming
One important change that comes with this feature: faculty and staff leads and partners no longer need to claim an activity before they can edit it. Any user listed as a lead or partner on an activity can access and edit it directly at any time, regardless of whether they completed the claim step.
This applies across the platform, not just to activities published via Administrator Direct Publish.
BEST PRACTICE: In your owner notification communications and follow-ups, make sure faculty and staff know they can edit the activity directly. Removing the claim step reduces friction and makes it easier for them to keep their records up to date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can faculty and staff undo a direct publish?
No. Once an activity is published, it cannot be unpublished by the lead directly. If there is a meaningful error in a published activity, the administrator or lead should edit the activity to correct the information. Questions about unpublishing should be directed to your institutional Collaboratory administrator.
Will leads still receive a claim notification before the activity is published?
Not necessarily. If the activity has a queued lead and when Administrator Direct Publish is used, the standard claim and review notification is bypassed. The lead receives a publication notification instead, informing them that the activity is already live. This process can also be used when the activity is pending claim, meaning that the lead would've received a claim email prior to the activity being direct published.
Does Administrator Direct Publish affect activities that owners have already started reviewing?
No. Administrator Direct Publish applies to unpublished activities. Activities that are already claimed, submitted for moderation, or published are not affected.
What if required fields aren't complete?
The activity cannot be published until all required fields are filled in — just like the standard publication process. Collaboratory will identify and flag any missing required fields before letting you proceed.