How to Certify and Submit an Annual Certification Report of Outside Professional Activities (OPA)
Completing Annual Certification Report for the Preceding Fiscal Year
- 2025-2026 Annual Certification Reports are due to the dean's offices no later than November 13, 2026. Deans are responsible for review and accepting Annual Certification Reports no later than December 16, 2026.
- All faculty must complete the Annual Certification Report in UC OATS whether they engaged in outside activities or not.
- Add information to UC OATS as the activities occur throughout the year instead of waiting to complete it all when the call comes out each fall quarter.
- To be considered “in compliance” faculty are required to: (1) obtain prior approval before engaging in OPA, (2) obtain prior approval for engaging students in any category of OPA, (3) comply with time limits, and (4) accurately disclose their activities. All faculty are required to complete and submit an annual certification, even if they do not engage in outside activities.
Annual Certification Report Resources for Faculty/Academics
The following are resources to help you fill out your annual certification report if you are subject to APM 025 or APM 671:
- Reporting Periods
- The reporting period is based on the fiscal year. You report on the previous fiscal year each fall. Please use the UC OATS Annual Certification Reporting Periods to help find the correct fiscal year.
- Submitting your Annual Certification Report
- From the UC OATS Faculty Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Submit Annual Certification - Enter an Activity
From the UC OATS Faculty Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Enter an Activity
• Enter Summer Information – applies to Academic Year (AY) Faculty only. If you engaged in Category I or Category II activities during the summer and received University summer compensation, then the number of days University summer compensation was received must be entered for the summer months. The information entered will calculate OPA time limits for the summer period. Faculty who “certify no activities” will not be prompted to enter summer information. Remember that each summer is split over two fiscal years, but you certify the summer information by the calendar year. You are only required to enter summer salary information if you engaged in a Category I or II activity while receiving University Summer Compensation (e.g., summer research salary, summer session teaching).IMPORTANT: Category I activities require prior approval. UC Davis requires the UC OATS Category I Activity Review & Consultation Request to be included for the review of Category I prior approval requests. The results of the consultation request must be attached to the "Notes" section of your prior approval request in UC OATS, otherwise, the request will be returned and cause delays in the review process. Note: for more information on what is required when requesting the consultation go to the UC OATS Category I Guidance page. Also, your Annual Certification cannot receive final approval until all Category I activities are approved.
Categories II & III activities do not require prior approval. Category III Activities do not need to be included in the annual certification report for general faculty
For each activity, verify if students from campus were involved in any substantive way, compensated or not. Note: Prior approval must be received before the activity commenced if students were involved. For more information on student involvement, see the UC OATS Student Involvement Guidance page.
For APM 671 faculty: When effort spent on Category II activities exceeds time and/or earnings thresholds, prior approval along with additional documentation is required. Refer to the "Documentation Matrix..."
- Report Effort and Earnings
From the UC OATS Faculty Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Report Effort and Earnings
• Report Stock / Stock OptionsBest Practices:
• For each activity, enter the number of hours of engagement that occurred during the appropriate service period:- One day = 8 hours or 6 Podium hours when teaching is involved
♦ Upon entering effort in UC OATS, and when appropriate, selecting “Podium Hours” will automatically convert the number of hours entered to the associated Podium Hours. - ♦ If you engaged in the activity for 3 hours in one day, report 3 hours. If you engaged in the activity for 10 hours in one day, only report 8 hours.
• For Category I activities, the effort reported should not be 0 unless the activity has changed. If the number is 0, provide an explanation why on the “Notes” tab for the activity.APM 025:
• The number of hours cannot exceed the system-wide annual time limits (academic-year appointees = 312 hours; fiscal-year appointees = 384 hours). If engaging in an activity that will exceed allowable time limits, a leave without pay may be required. Please consult with the department and/or dean’s office for guidance.
• Starting in 2025-2026: When reporting effort on OPA, activities done during nights/weekends should be counted toward time limits
• For AY faculty, if the activity was conducted during the summer, each month must be reported individually.
• For accurate reporting, record the time-frame for each instance you spent time on a Category I or II activity during the reporting period. Effort can be reported multiple times for each activity to provide specific details about when engagement occurred: Ex. 30 hours 11-02-20XX to 12-03-20XX; 20 hours 01-10-20XX to 01-31-20XX; etc.APM 671:
• The Schools of Health (SOH) have a stricter time limit (168 hours). If engaging in an activity that will exceed SOH time limits, please consult with the SOH Academic Personnel Office for guidance.
• APM 671-14-c says, “…professional activities performed during the evenings and weekends, count toward the annual time limits and earnings approval threshold.”
• For AY faculty, if the activity was conducted during the summer, each month must be reported individually.
• For accurate reporting, record the date for each instance you spent time on a Category I or II activity during the reporting period. Effort should be reported based on the actual dates of engagement and can be reported multiple times per activity. Be sure to enter the actual start date and end date engaged in the activity (do NOT enter the beginning and end of the reporting period).
• Engaging in an activity that will exceed effort (time/earnings), requires prior approval and should be entered as soon as possible to allow time for review and approval routing in UC OATS. When entering effort (time/earnings) and a threshold is exceeded, a “Request to Exceed TH” form will be generated. Continue with entering effort (time/earnings) until all known effort is reported in UC OATS because the “Not Submitted” request will update in real time accounting for all effort entered. Then submit the one “Request to Exceed TH” form for approval once reporting anticipated/known effort is completed. See the Submit Request to Exceed Threshold Form page for more information.- One day = 8 hours or 6 Podium hours when teaching is involved
- Recall Form
- From the UC OATS Faculty Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Recall Annual Certification - Separating and Retiring
- Faculty and Specialists in CE who are retiring or separating from the University are expected to submit an annual certification report before their last day. For those faculty who retire from the University and do not complete their report, please know that it may impact your ability to be recalled.
Department staff/managers who are informed about an impending retirement or separation must immediately send an email to the UC OATS help desk ([email protected]). Please include the following:
1. Name
2. Separation date
3. Reason (separation or retirement)
4. For retiring health compensation plan faculty, please include whether or not there are plans to recall them to the comp plan.
The Help Desk will update UC OATS, which will trigger an email to the academic notifying them that their annual certification report has been enabled. They will be expected to complete and submit their report. We ask that departments follow up with them to ensure this occurs. Please ask departments to add this step to their off-boarding process.
Annual Certification Report Resources for Faculty Administrators/Deans, Approvers, and Reviewers
- DEPARTMENT CHAIRS and ASSOCIATE DEANS
From the UC OATS Approver Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Switch to Faculty Workspace
• Once you are in your faculty workspace, use the Annual Certification Report Resources to help you submit your annual certification report.♦ Associate Deans/Executive Associate Deans (part-time faculty administrators assigned a "Dean Approver" role in UC OATS):
Before submitting your annual certification report, please email the UC OATS Help Desk: [email protected] advising that you’re ready to submit your report and we will coordinate next steps with you.- DEANS and FULL-TIME FACULTY ADMINISTRATORS
Overview of Reporting Requirements for Deans and Full-Time Faculty Administrators
From the UC OATS Approver Knowledge Base, please find the following instructions:
• Switch to Faculty Workspace
• Once you are in your faculty workspace, use the Annual Certification Report Resources to help you submit your annual certification report.- INSTRUCTIONS FOR REVIEWERS and APPROVERS
Note: Any prior approval requests (Category I, Student Involvement, Over the TH) that are en route for review will prevent the "Dean Approver" role from accepting the annual certification report. In other words, the report cannot be accepted as finalized until outstanding requests are completed first. Annual reports are considered complete/finalized only after the Dean Approver role has accepted them.
REVIEWERS (Department Staff, Managers, or CAOs / Deans' Offices Analysts) Review Annual Certification Review Annual Certification in Bulk Reviewer roles are generally managed by department managers or CAOs at the department level. When UC OATS was implemented each dean's office made the decision about whether or not department academic personnel staff would have access to review department-level requests in UC OATS. If you do not have access, please consult with your dean's office first before submitting a help desk ticket to gain access. Differently, deans' office analysts manage the reviewer role at the school/college level.
The reviewer role is responsible for reviewing and submitting annual reports as well as any requests that require prior approval (e.g., Category I, Student Involvement, and Exceeding the TH for Health Sciences) before forwarding them to the approver level. However, if an annual report is missing information, then it may be necessary to return the report to be updated. For example, there are activities reported yet no effort (time/hours) is reported. Note that faculty subject to APM 671 must also report their earnings in addition to effort (time/hours).For additional guidance, please see our UC OATS Reviewers Best Practices page.
APPROVERS (Department Chairs / Associate Deans / Executive Associate Deans / Deans) Review Annual Certification Bulk Review Annual Certification Approver roles are managed by Department Chairs at the department level, whereas Deans/Executive Associate Deans/Associate Deans/Deans may manage the role at the school/college level. The approver role is responsible for reviewing and accepting the annual reports. However, if an annual report is missing information, then it may be necessary to return the report to be updated. For example, there are activities reported, but no effort (time/hours) is reported. Note that faculty subject to APM 671 must also report their earnings in addition to effort (time/hours).