UC OATS Reviewer Best Practices

Reviewer Best Practices

As a UC OATS Reviewer, here are some best practices to help guide you when reviewing items in UC OATS:

Category I Request

  • Ensure that all the appropriate category I activity types have been selected. See the Activity Types & Help Text section at the bottom of the Outside Activity Category Types page for more information on activity types.
  • Verify the approval term matches the activity duration. If it’s unclear, ask the following:
    • Is this a partial year request that has fully ended or does this need a renewal? 
    • If a renewal is needed, alert the faculty member immediately. 
    • Is there a reason why the dates are not matching?
      • If there is, please ensure that a note is included addressing why.
  • Confirm that the activity has the appropriate consultation attached in the "Notes" section and that the information in the consultation matches what is in the request.
  • Ask yourself, does everything in the request make sense? Is anything off?
  • If the request is a renewal and a new consultation is not required, ensure that the statement from the faculty member indicating that there are no substantive changes to the activity is included as well as a note indicating where the consultation documentation can be found.

Annual Certification Reports

  • An Annual Certification cannot receive final approval until all Category I activities are approved.
  • Verify the effort reported closely matches the estimated effort on a Category I request. If it’s unclear, ask the following: 
    • Are any hours reported? 
      • If no hours are reported, did something change/was the activity cancelled after it was approved? Request the faculty member provide an explanation on the “Notes” tab for the activity. 
      • If hours are reported but marginally less, confirm with the faculty member that the hours reported reflect the entire year. 
      • For AY Faculty only: If more hours are reported than estimated, check if summer hours are broken out. If they are not, confirm with the faculty member if any summer hours are included and if any summer salary was earned/received. 
  • If the faculty member is subject to APM 025 verify that the hours reported do not cross the time threshold and a “request to exceed limit” is not present. 
    • If the faculty member has exceeded the time threshold even during the summer for AY faculty, a leave without pay may need to be taken.

Student Involvement

  • If the activity involves students, has the faculty member received approval from the Chair prior to commencing the activity? If not, then hold review/approval until this has been completed. 

Please remember that this information is intended to serve as a resource, however, it does not eliminate the need for analysis and careful review of the details associated with OPA prior approval requests and annual certification reporting.