'Reports To' Project

Overview
User Guide for Initiators
User Guide for Department Approvers
User Guide for Viewers
Entry Logic with Examples/Scenarios

Overview

'Reports To’ is a function in LOUIE that allows us to keep a record of the reporting structure of the university – who reports to whom. Getting this information into LOUIE prepares the university to use forms that will be created, routed, and ‘signed’ or approved electronically.

Objective

To make sure that every position listed in LOUIE shows a reporting relationship to another position OR is marked as a position to be inactivated.

Work Flow

A department Initiator will complete the form that lists all the reporting relationships in the area.
The form is then electronically forwarded to the department Approver for review. Some areas will also have a second level Approver.
All forms are then forwarded and approved by designated staff at Human Resources.
The last step after final approval is when the information is loaded into LOUIE.

At any level of approval, a form may be sent back for corrections before being sent to the next level of approval. Initiators may also change or withdraw the form if corrections need to be made.

Viewing the Status of the Form

The progress, location and status of the form will be able to be tracked in LOUIE throughout the process. That progress can be viewed by the Initiator of the form, the Approvers and by those department staff with Viewer access.

For more information about who your department liaison is on this project, please talk to your department head or director.

User Guide for Initiators

A step by step guide for those initiating Reports To forms.

User Guide for Department Approvers

A step by step guide for those who have a departmental approval role.

User Guide for Viewers

A step by step guide for those who have view access only.

Entry Logic with Examples/Scenarios

You will complete the ‘Reports To’ form by

Establishing the reporting structure for benefit eligible positions
Establishing the reporting structure for non-benefit eligible positions
Inactivating either types of positions

The structure is based on positions reporting to positions (whether there are people in those positions right now or not) so you will be working with position numbers – not employee ID numbers. The following identifies the logic for establishing the structure and gives common scenarios:

Benefit Eligible Positions

A benefit eligible employee should be listed as reporting to the supervisory authority who completes the performance appraisal or reviews and signs ROA’s or approves time off.
- In most instances, this ‘chain of command’ is already defined in a department organization chart - even up to the person to whom the department head reports.
- For most staff, this will be the supervisor who completes and signs their final appraisal.
- For most faculty, this will be the department chair. For most chairs, it will be the dean.
A position may only report to one position; employees with multiple supervisors must be assigned to just one.
- A staff member may have several supervisors who direct their work, but typically one is designated the primary supervisor who gathers feedback and delivers the final appraisal. This is the ‘reports to’ position to record.
- A faculty member in Political Science may also teach classes in Applied Indigenous Studies. The ‘reports to’ relationship would be to the chair in their primary department.
For special assignments that have changed the reporting relationships, please contact HR to temporarily change the position number of the employee. If no change occurs in who reports to a specially assigned employee, they can remain in their current position number.
- A groundskeeper specially assigned to grounds supervisor now has other positions reporting to them. You would contact HR to change the position number of the employee to the grounds supervisor position number so that the other reports to relationships could be recorded appropriately. When the special assignment ends and the supervisor role is filled, the reporting structure is still correct.
- A program coordinator is specially assigned to a special project – but it doesn’t change the reporting relationships up or down. The employee would not change position numbers.
If an employee has a benefit eligible position and a non-benefit eligible position, report the primary role’s reporting relationship in the benefit eligible section. The part-time role will be reported in a different way in the non-benefit eligible area of the form.
- A regular faculty member with an academic year contract in Mathematics also teaches as part-time faculty in the summer. The primary role in Mathematics will have a position number in the Benefit Eligible section where you can enter the Reports To relationship. The part-time role will have a position number in the Non-Benefit Eligible section where you can record this role as reporting to the money manager (following the non-benefit eligible logic).

Non-Benefit Eligible Positions

Non-benefit eligible positions should report to the ‘money manager’ – the person who typically generates the forms for transactions in these positions. This is not necessarily the faculty or staff member who is responsible for the fund or is the employee’s day to day supervisor. These types of positions include:
- Pool positions occupied by more than one employee (student wage, part-time faculty, graduate assistants, etc.)
  - Student workers, temporary employees and graduate assistants likely have a ‘money manager’ or administrative staff member who generates their employment-related transactions – even though they all may work with different professors or staff members who direct their daily work.
- Positions used to manage funds (mobile phone allowance, salary set-asides, etc.)
  - The money manager usually manages the transactions in these accounts even if it is under the oversight of the department head.

Inactivating Positions

If a position is vacant, but will be used in the near future, do not inactivate it. Establish a ‘Reports To’ relationship that will be appropriate when the position is filled.
- A department has a vacant benefit eligible academic advisor position that is not currently posted, however they hope to have the funds approved to fill it in the spring. It would still be recorded as reporting to the position that would likely supervisor that role if filled
You may inactivate if all the following apply:
- it is vacant
- has no identified funding, and
- it is not currently posted.
  - A part-time faculty position has been on the department list but not used for a while. There is no funding attached and no plans to use it. It could be that this was a position tied to a grant-funded project that is now complete. The department inactivates the position.
If a position is vacant, but does not have an ‘inactivate’ checkbox available, you may contact the budget office to inactivate it.
- The department may have positions that may or may not have been used in the past, but are still are available to be filled. These positions may have been created in a reorganization or in anticipation of funding. After the budget office makes necessary changes, you can inactivate the position. This could take a day or two, so you may need to place the form on hold and return to inactivate the position later.