General

• How can I add a new staff user to APHID? 

• New staff users can be added by those in the APHID Admin and User Admin roles. To request APHID access for yourself or another staff person, contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu with the name, requested role, assigned department(s), and email address of the person for which access is being requested.

• How can I remove APHID access from someone who no longer needs it?
• A staff member should be removed as a user of APHID when they leave the university, or when their job duties no longer require access to the application. To request removal of APHID access for yourself or another staff person, contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu.
• How can I give APHID access to my department chair/dean?

• To request APHID access for a Department Chair or Dean, contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu with the name, requested role, assigned department(s), and email address of the person for which access is being requested.

  Department Chair and Dean users will have read-only access to all academics within their assignments, meaning that they will not be able to edit any data. They will not be able to view their own record.

  Once they have moved out of their administrative role, be sure to request that their access be removed.

• How can I add a new appointee to APHID?

• This is done by dean’s office staff once they have received an appointment action from the department, and only if the appointee does not already exist in the payroll system. If the appointee already has an ID number in the payroll system, you should instead create an Appointment action within that person’s APHID record. If you do not have access to the record as they were previously appointed in a different school/college, please contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu so that we can provide you access to the record.

  To proceed with creating a new appointee, from the home page choose the “Add a New Appointee” link in the right of the blue header bar. You will be required to enter basic information about the appointee. Once saving the record, a new temporary ID number will be assigned to the appointee, and you will be taken to an already created Appointment action. Complete the required fields for the appointment and save the action.

• What do I do if an academic that I expected to find in APHID is missing?

• First, check to be sure that the search terms entered were spelled correctly, as the search requires precise terms to be entered. Department names are based on those listed in the payroll system, and may be outdated.

  It is also sometimes the case that academics use alternate names (such as a stage name or married name), or their name has changed. The names in APHID are the official names from the payroll system, so searches should be conducted using these.

  If you have tried the above and the academic is still missing from APHID, it may be the case that you are unable to see them because of your role. Access to academics within your unit is governed by what has been entered on the Current Status page for a particular academic. If their departments have been incorrectly listed, then you may be unable to view the academic. If you believe this may have occurred, please send an email to your dean’s office analyst or to aphid-help@ucdavis.edu with information about the appropriate departments, percentages, and titles for the academic, so that the record can be updated.

• The name/address/date of birth/date of hire for an academic is wrong. How can I fix it?
• This information is pulled directly from the payroll system. If it is incorrect, the record in the payroll system needs to be corrected. These changes should carry over to APHID within a week.
• What do I do if an academic has two ID numbers?

• Academics should have only one ID number. After a new appointee has been officially hired and has been in the payroll system for at least a week, their permanent ID number will be automatically transferred to APHID, overwriting the temporary ID number that APHID had assigned. If the name or other key information entered for the temporary appointee in APHID does not exactly match what was entered in the payroll system, the temporary ID number may not be overwritten. If this occurs, please contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu and we can manually merge the two records.

  If an academic has two permanent ID numbers, this will need to be corrected in the payroll system. This can occur if an appointee previously worked for the university and the new hiring department does not realize that they have an existing identity in the payroll system. Please contact your dean’s office analyst or Academic Affairs consultant for assistance on sorting out which ID number will be used going forward. Once the single permanent ID number has been established, please contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu with information about the correct ID number so that we can manually merge the two records.

• Why is the Action Tracking record history incomplete?

• APHID’s predecessor, the Action Tracking System (ATS), came into existence around 2002. Any actions for a candidate that took place prior to this date may not be listed in APHID. Since 2011, Academic Affairs has been creating these historical records at the time that a non-redelegated action for the candidate is received in our office. If the historical records have not yet been entered, it likely means that the academic has not had a non-redelegated action since 2011.

  We will not create historical records for those who have separated or retired.

• Why is the payroll data information incomplete or inaccurate?

• This data is pulled directly from our payroll system on a weekly basis, each Wednesday afternoon. There have been periods of time in the past when this weekly update was not operating correctly, and so payroll data was not properly transferred to APHID. This may account for any missing information. If payroll data changes have occurred within the past week, you may need to wait until next Wednesday afternoon for the changes to be reflected on the payroll data page. Inaccurate data may get imported if an error in PPS is not corrected before the weekly update, which means the incorrect information in PPS ends up imported into APHID and will remain there even after corrections are made in PPS.

  As this page is meant only to be a reference of the activity that has taken place within the payroll system, we do not typically add or correct incomplete or inaccurate data. Data entry errors that have been made in the payroll system will display as errors in APHID as well.

• What should I do if the next eligible action(s) does not look correct?

• For each eligible action, you will see a small question mark at the end of the row. Clicking this will bring up a window that includes details about how eligibility was calculated. It will display information from the last action recognized as complete for that title, as well as the next eligible action, and may include the up-or-out year calculation for relevant titles.

  If the information for the last completed action is not correct, open up that action and be sure that all data and steps were entered accurately. If the step “Decision Announced by Dean/VC” has not been entered, the action is not considered complete and a new eligibility will not calculate until that step has been entered by the dean’s office staff.

  If you still believe that eligibility is not calculating correctly, or you are receiving an error message that you do not understand, please contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu with details about the case so that we can research it further.

• Why does eligibility have an error message that says "Couldn't find last action with Title Code: XXXX?"

• Eligibility is calculated based on data that has been entered for the candidate’s last completed action, as well as data entered on the candidate’s Current Status-Academic Appointments page. If the title code(s), step, and/or percentages between these two sources do not match, eligibility will not calculate correctly and you will instead see this error message. Please contact your dean’s office to have the candidate’s previous action or Current Status-Academic Appointments page updated to reflect the correct title, step, and/or percentage.

  If the data in both of these places is accurate, the candidate’s last action may not have been properly marked as complete. For APHID to consider an action complete, it must have a final decision (including a selection in the drop-down menu of Yes, No, Other, or Incomplete), and must have the steps “Final Decision” and “Decision Announced by Dean/VC” entered. For non-redelegated actions, the step “Comments Sent to Dean/VC” will also need to be present. Please contact your dean’s office or Academic Affairs about entering these steps if they are missing.

   If the data is found to be accurate and all needed steps have been entered, it may be the case that the candidate has changed title codes since their last completed action. For example, they may have moved from an Acting title code to a non-Acting title code, or moved from being a fiscal year to an academic year appointee. In these cases, eligibility will correct itself once the candidate’s next action with the new title code is completed.

Creating and Editing Actions

• How do I create an action for which a candidate is eligible?

• This should be done by dean’s office staff once they have received the action from the department. To initiate an action for which a candidate is eligible, choose “Create Action” from the drop-down menu next to the eligible title and click the “Take Action” button. If the candidate has more than one title eligible in that year, you will be asked whether you would like to include the other titles in this action.

  The action will be automatically created with several relevant fields pre-populated. Before saving the action, you should edit any pre-populated fields as needed, as well as add additional data to the action to ensure that any required fields are completed. Be sure to check that the correct delegation has been selected.

• What do I do if a candidate decides to defer their action?
• This should be done by dean’s office staff once they have received the deferral from the department. If the candidate is in a title/step that is required to submit deferrals, then “Deferral” should be chosen in the drop-down menu next to their eligible title. If the candidate has more than one title eligible within that year, you will be asked whether you would like to include the other title(s) as well. The deferral will be automatically created with several relevant fields pre-populated. Before saving the action, you should edit any pre-populated fields as needed, as well as add additional data to the action to ensure that any required fields are completed (such as marking it as a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year deferral).  Use “Not Applicable” in the Deferral Action Type Details for those Federation members who are required to submit a deferral due to Step Plus.
• What do I do if the candidate decides not to pursue an eligible action, and they are not required to submit a deferral?
• This should be done by dean’s office staff once they have been notified of this decision by the department. We consider this a “declined” action. If the candidate is in a title/step that is not required to submit deferrals, then “Decline” will be an option in the drop-down menu next to their eligible title. Choosing this and clicking on the “Take Action” button will automatically create a new action called “Declined,” with a detail of the action type that they have declined. If the appointee has more than one title eligible within that year, you will be asked whether you would like to include the other title(s) as well. Once the Declined record has been created, no further action need be taken.
• What do I do if a candidate previously decided to defer or decline their eligible action, and has now decided to pursue the action instead?
• Department staff should notify their dean’s office of this change through their typical internal process. The dean’s office staff should then open the deferral or declined action that had been previously created. Select "Change" next to the Action Type, then choose the action that the candidate will now be pursuing. Be sure to edit any existing data, such as proposed status or the delegation of authority, to reflect the new action type.
• How do I manually create an action?
• If an academic chooses to pursue an action before they are eligible, or they are pursuing an action that is not typically included in the eligibility calculation (e.g., emeritus status request), dean’s office staff can manually create the action by clicking on the “Add Action” button located in the blue “Action Tracking Records” header bar. All fields will be blank, so be sure to enter information for all required fields before saving the action.
• How do I delete an action?
• Actions can only be deleted by APHID Admins, located in the Academic Affairs office. Please contact the appropriate analyst or consultant, or send an email to aphid-help@ucdavis.edu to let us know which action should be deleted and why.
• Why do certain fields appear unavailable for editing?
• Your ability to edit certain fields within APHID is limited by your role. Currently, department staff cannot edit any fields in APHID. Dean’s office staff will be unable to edit actions older than three years, and will not have access to edit fields beyond their scope, such as CAP’s recommendation or the Vice Provost’s final decision.
• The final decision field is missing; how can I enter the dean's final decision?
• Double check the delegation of authority that has been chosen for this action. If the action has been mistakenly marked as non-redelegated, then the final decision field will not be visible. Changing the delegation to redelegated will restore the field. If the action is legitimately non-redelegated, you will need to enter the dean’s recommendation in the “Dean” field within the Recommendations and Comments section.
• What should I do if I am unable to see the committee recommendations and final decision for an action that has already been announced to me?

• To ensure that final decisions are not announced prematurely, recommendations and decisions made after the action has left your office are hidden until the official announcement has taken place. If you have already received this announcement and still cannot view this information, a staff member in the dean’s office or in Academic Affairs may need to enter additional steps to complete the action in APHID.

  If you are a department staff person, you will need to contact your dean’s office analyst to be sure that the step “Decision Announced by Dean/VC” has been entered for the action.

   If you are a dean’s office staff person, you will need to contact Academic Affairs to be sure that the step “Comments Sent to Dean/VC” has been entered for the action.

Off-Scales

• Who enters new off-scales or edits existing off-scales?
• Off-scales that are approved by the Vice Provost-Academic Affairs are entered by staff in Academic Affairs. Off-scales that are approved by the dean are entered by dean’s office staff.  If the off-scale was approved by the dean, be sure documentation of the request and approval are submitted to Academic Affairs for the personnel file.  Select “Edit Off-scale” in the upper right corner of the Off-Scale tab for options to add or edit off-scales.
• What do I do if a new off-scale will be replacing an existing one?

• Add the newly approved off-scale with the new start date.  Select “Edit Off-scale” in the upper right corner of the Off-Scale tab, then “Add New” to enter the new off-scale. Dean’s office staff can add/edit off-scales approved by the dean.  Be sure documentation of the request and approval have been submitted to Academic Affairs for the personnel file.  The consultant in Academic Affairs will add new off-scales approved by the Vice Provost. 

  The existing off-scale should be given an end date.  If the existing off-scale was VP approval, contact the appropriate consultant to add an end date to the existing record.  If the existing off-scale was Dean’s approval, the dean’s office can add the end date.  Once the end date has passed, the existing off-scale record will automatically be moved to the historic off-scales section.

• Will an off-scale automatically move to history after its end date?
• Yes. Current off-scales will automatically move to the historic off-scales section on the day after their end date.
• How do I delete an off-scale?
• Off-scales can only be deleted by APHID Admins, located in the Academic Affairs office. Please contact the appropriate analyst or consultant, or send an email to aphid-help@ucdavis.edu to let us know which off-scale should be deleted and why.
• Who enters the Step Plus increment and supplement?

• For redelegated actions, dean’s office staff enters the Step Plus increment and supplement upon approval of the corresponding action. For non-redelegated actions, Academic Affairs staff enters this information. Select “Edit Off-scale” in the upper right corner of the Off-Scale tab, then “Add New” to enter the new increment or supplement.

  For more information on entering Step Plus increments and supplements, please consult http://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/policies/step-plus/step-plus-salary-tables.

• How do I enter the Step Plus increment and supplement for a candidate that holds more than one title?

• If a candidate has multiple titles to which the increment and/or supplement will apply, an increment and/or supplement entry will need to be added for each title, with the appropriate percentage that the candidate holds that title being entered in the Percent field. For example, if a candidate holds a Professor title at 60% and an Agricultural in the AES title at 40% and they will be receiving both an increment and a supplement, four separate records will need to be added to the Current Step Plus Component(s) section on the Off-scale page; an increment for each title and a supplement for each title.

  For more information on entering Step Plus increments and supplements, please consult http://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/policies/step-plus/step-plus-salary-tables.

Reports

• Why do candidates who appear on past or current eligibility reports also show up on all future eligibility reports?

• This happens because the last action is not yet completed.  For example, someone with an eligibility of 2015-2016 will continue to appear on all future reports as eligible in 2015-2016.  The eligibility for this candidate will not update until the current action is completed.  Eligibility was specifically designed this way so that we do not overlook actions from the past when we are planning for the future.  Once the current or past action is complete, the candidate will no longer appear on that eligibility list and will appear on a future list instead. 

  Similarly, this also happens if the candidate’s eligibility is in the future (i.e., 2016-2017) and you run an eligibility report further in the future (2017-2018 or 2018-2019).  The 2016-2017 action will appear on all future reports until a final decision is made on the 2016-2017 action.

• Why are actions appearing out of order on the Action and Leave History report?
• The actions on the Action and Leave History report are sorted by review cycle, with the most recent actions on top. If an action is out of order on the list, this is because the wrong review cycle has been chosen. Please contact your dean’s office staff to correct the review cycle. Dean’s office staff should contact Academic Affairs if the action is more than three years in the past.
• Why is an action that has been completed still appearing on the Open Action report?

• Although a final decision on an action has been made and announced, the action may still appear on the Open Action report if certain information has not been entered into the record. For APHID to consider an action complete, it must have a final decision (including a selection in the drop-down menu of Yes, No, Other, or Incomplete), and must have the steps “Final Decision” and “Decision Announced by Dean/VC” entered. For non-redelegated actions, the step “Comments Sent to Dean/VC” will also need to be present. Please contact your dean’s office or Academic Affairs about entering these steps if they are missing.

  If an action has been appealed (and the Appealed checkbox has been checked), it will once again appear on the Open Action report. For an appeal to be considered complete, an appeal final decision as well as the steps “Appeal Decision Announced by Dean/VC” and “Appeal Comments Sent to Dean/VC” (for non-redelegated actions) should be entered.

If you have any suggestions for questions that you would like to see added to this FAQ, please contact aphid-help@ucdavis.edu.