Guidance Notes for ATAFinancePublished: Mar-2013Contents

1. Introduction 32. How to Log On 33. Search Page 44. Create a New ATA 55. Help Facility 86. Authorisation process 87. ATA Authorisation 108. Managing Email Alerts 159. Appendix 1 17

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1. Introduction

The ATA system was introduced following the work of the Staff Recruitment Group and is intended to allow key stakeholders in the recruitment process (HoD, Faculty Office) to track the progress of the authorisation electronically.

The system replaces all previously existing paper and spreadsheet based systems and should be used for all staff appointments including extensions and contractual changes relating to grade or FTE.

2. How to Log On

The ATA system is accessed via the Finance tab on Pegasus – this should be familiar to all FIS users.

- Select the ‘Financial Authority to Appoint’ link

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3. Search Page

Once you enter the ATA system, the first screen that you will encounter is the Search page.

- This screen can be used both to search for existing submitted ATAs and partially completed saved ATA’s and to create new ATAs.

- Searches can be performed on various parameters (Reference, Department, Faculty/Senior Officer, Funding Type and Status). This is done either by typing the relevant reference number into the Reference box or by selecting the relevant descriptor from the drop down list for the other parameters - and thereafter clicking the search button.

- If there are ATA’s in the system which require your authorisation then the option “Awaiting my….” will be available below the status box as shown in the screen above. Simply check the box and click on Search to access the form which requires your attention.

- If you have partially completed ATA’s that you have previously saved in the system then you will be alerted to this via a message in red text when you log in as shown below

- To retrieve partially saved ATA’s simply check the Saved (partially completed) ATAs box shown above.

- To raise a new ATA, recruiters should click the ‘Create New ATA’ button.3

4. Create a New ATA

- To create a new ATA click on the ‘Create New ATA’ button.

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- There are a number of mandatory fields which must be completed before the ATA can be submitted for authorisation – these are all indicated by a red asterisk.

- After clicking on the ‘Create New ATA’ button, a new electronic form opens for recruiters to complete.

- Explanations for the Funding Type are given in Appendix 1.

Department – automatically defaults to the recruiter’s department but can be changed (NB for HASS Department = Subject) – drop down menu

Faculty will default in based on the Department selected.

Centre/Unit/Course/Project – this is not mandatory but can provide helpful additional information.

Post description – free text

Advertise post (through HR) – radio button

Full time/FTE % - radio button

Working pattern – free text (not mandatory)

Fixed term indicator – radio button

Start date/end date (indicative start date required for all posts)

Post type – drop down menu

Salary information – drop down menu for salary scale and point within scale

Funding type – drop down menu

- This is a critical field in determining the authorisation path for an ATA. To avoid undue delays, if you are unsure about which funding type applies, contact your faculty accountant.

- Where a post is to be funded from more than one account/funding type, you need to know what percentage will be charged against each source of funding. The first funding type should be selected from the drop down list in the 'Funding Type' box and the relevant percentage entered in the 'Percent' box. If the percentage entered is less than 100%, the system will alert you to this.

Responsibility/context/budget letter

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- This is not a mandatory field. However, in order for the ATA to progress as quickly as possible, it is preferable for these details to be entered.

- Where the account details are left blank, it is imperative that a detailed description of the reasons in support of the post, including specific sources of funding, RKEs or pFACT reference is included.

- If you are entering a budget code include the first three elements i.e. responsibility, context and budget letter. The subcode is usually completed by the finance authoriser.

- The system will validate the data entered against the Chart of Accounts and will alert the recruiter to any incorrect elements or combinations.

Reasons in support of the request – you can upload supporting documents in Excel, Word or PDF format. Alternatively you can enter free text up to 3000 characters. It is mandatory to take one or other of these options.

- If you are happy with the data entry click submit. The form will be validated across all fields for completeness. If the form does not meet the validation then it will not submit. Fields which require review will be highlighted.

- Alternatively you can save the form partially completed for review later. Please ensure that saved ATAs are subsequently submitted as they cannot be accessed by Finance authorisers until they are submitted successfully.

- If you have submitted a form with incorrect detail then this can be edited by the Finance contact for that funding type/faculty combination.

- Editing is possible right up to the point of recruitment. So if a recruitment process has been unsuccessful the same ATA can be used with the details reprofiled. Again this editing can only happen through the Finance contact for the form. Any edit will result in a notification email being sent to the recruiter and anyone who has authorised the form at that point.

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5. Help Facility

If you are unsure how to complete a field, there is on-line help available – the options can be seen in the drop down menu for Help Links shown below.

6. Authorisation process

Once you have completed the ATA, it will go through an authorisation process. This process will vary from Faculty to Professional Service depending on the type of funding.

In the first instance, email notification will be sent to the relevant member of staff in the Finance Office. They then have to:

- Determine the appropriate authorisation path for that particular ATA.- Review the ATA and determine whether they are able to authorise the

ATA.

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Once these steps are completed, email notification will be sent to the other authorisers (HoD, Faculty Officer, Grantholder in the case of research grants and contracts, Dean for Academic Departments and Head of Service, Head of Directorate and COO/CFO for Professional Services).

The final authorisation will be by HR – once the ATA is fully authorised, the recruiter will receive an email notification to that effect. Similarly, if any changes are made to an ATA form, or one of the approvers refuses to authorise the post, the recruiter will be notified by email.

Viewing Status of Submitted ATA’s It is possible to check the status of an ATA at any time.

To see which authorisations have been completed, it is possible to view the history of the ATA by clicking on the view history link. This shows which stages of authorisation have been completed. In addition, it shows if any comments have been added by one of the authorisers (e.g. insufficient information on sources of funding, sent back to recruiter on 7 November).

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Recruiters can see which authorisation steps have yet to be completed by scrolling to the end of the ATA form. Click on Potential Authorisers to identify who can authorise the form at any stage.

7. ATA Authorisation

The Finance Office is responsible for determining the Authorisation Flow of an ATA which ensures that all the appropriate approvals are obtained

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dependent on the Faculty/Professional Services (PS) area and funding type.

7.1 Stage 1 Authorisation

Once the authorisation flow has been confirmed an email will automatically be sent to all Finance Office contacts identified at stage 1 informing them that an ATA requiring their authorisation has been submitted.

On accessing the ‘Search’ form any Authoriser will be given the option to select those ATAs requiring their authorisation. To access click on the radio button and ‘Search’.

Once you have selected the ATA of interest scroll down to the Authorisations section

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In practice you may not be able to authorise the ATA immediately. In this case enter the reason in the comments box and submit comment only. This comment can be viewed in the ATA History and will let the recruiter see that, even though an ATA has not been authorised, it is being progressed and see the reason for any delay.

To authorise the ATA select Authorised from the drop down list, enter any relevant comments and click Submit your Authorisation. Any comments entered will be submitted automatically.

Authorisation Refused will stop the ATA permanently i.e. if it were subsequently decided that the case could progress a new ATA would be required. This option should therefore be used with caution, after discussion with the relevant department, and supplemented with explanatory comments in the box available.

For either selection the system will prompt to ensure that the intended selection has been made.

Comments can be added after authorisation if required and viewed in the History.

It is possible for more than one authoriser to be named at each stage 1 authorisation. If any one of those identified authorises the form then it will progress through the flow. In this way cover can be provided during periods of leave.

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7.2 Stage 1 Authorisation

Submission of stage 1 authorisation automatically generates an email to stage 2 (HoD) authoriser. Stage 2 is a mandatory part of the authorisation process.

For stage 2 authoriser Search options similar to stage 1 will be available if there are any ATAs awaiting HoD authorisation. Click on the required option and scroll down to the Authorisations part of the ATA.

The HoD requires to respond to three standard questions relating to the post by clicking the appropriate radio button before submitting or refusing authorisation. Similar to stage 1 comments can be submitted prior to any authorisation decision to explain potential delays and can be added after authorisation has been submitted.

If the HoD requires to make any changes to the ATA then these can be implemented through the Finance Office Stage 1 authoriser. Any change will generate an email alert to the recruiter and also to anyone who has already submitted their authorisation.

Similarly if authorisation is refused then email alerts will be sent to the recruiter and anyone who has already submitted their authorisation. As stated above Authorisation Refused should be used with caution.

7.3 Delegating Stage 2 Authority

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In practice the HoD may delegate responsibility for authorising ATA’s to a deputy or administrator. The HoD will still be named at that stage but a second authoriser can be inserted and can progress the form on behalf of the HoD within the terms of the University’s Financial Regulations. Details of any delegated authority should be communicated to the Faculty Accountant.

7.4 Stage 3 Authorisation

Completion of stage 2 authorisation will generate an email alert to stage 3 authorisers if any have been activated (stage 3 is not mandatory and will only be activated for certain funding types). Stage 3 Authorisers include the Dean, Faculty Officer for academic areas, Senior Officer for Professional Services (PS) areas and the Grantholder for research and other externally funded areas.

ATAs awaiting authorisation can be accessed via the Search screen as shown above. Again the authorisers should elect to submit comments if authorisation cannot be given immediately.

Any required changes can be implemented through the Finance Office Stage 1 Authoriser and will generate email alerts to the Recruiter and all previous Authorisers who can view details of the change in the ATA History. Comments can also be entered after authorisation.

As for stage 2, authority can be delegated to another member of staff by arrangement with the Faculty Accountant.

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7.5 Stage 4 Authorisation

Submission of stage 3 authorisation automatically generates an email alert to stage 4 (HR) Authoriser. If stage 3 is not activated then completion of stage 2 will generate an alert. Stage 4 is a mandatory part of the authorisation process.

For stage 4 Authoriser Search options similar to stages 1, 2 and 3 will be available if there are any ATAs awaiting HR authorisation. Click on the required option and scroll down to the Authorisations section of the ATA.

Again authorisers should elect to submit comments if authorisation cannot be given immediately. Any required changes can be implemented through the Finance Office contact and will generate alerts to the recruiter and all previous stage Authorisers.

As for prior stages several Authorisers can be entered as standard for each Faculty/PS area in line with HR team structure.

Once stage 4 authorisation has been submitted an email will be sent to the recruiter informing them that the ATA has been fully authorised and of the next steps in the recruitment process.

7.6 ATA Cancellation

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The ATA can be cancelled by the recruiter or Finance right up to the point of recruitment. The cancellation option is located at the bottom of the form. Reasons for the cancellation must be entered. In the event of cancellation email alerts are sent to the recruiter and all submitted authorisers. If an ATA is cancelled it cannot be re-activated.

8. Managing Email Alerts

It is possible to manage the generation of automatic email alerts. For example a Finance Office authoriser may not require New ATA alerts preferring to use the Search facility on a daily basis whilst a secondary authoriser may only require to switch on alerts when the primary authoriser is on leave.

Select email notifications from the Pegasus menu.

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Check or uncheck the email alert options and click Apply Changes.

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9. Appendix 1

Help on Financial Authority to Appoint – ATA Search Page

9.1 Funding Type

The funding type is a critical field in determining the authorisation path for an ATA - if you are unsure which funding type is applicable, please contact your Faculty accountant in the first instance. There are seven different types of funding outlined in the ATA template. These are:

Consultancy - consultancy projects will typically be funded from external bodies and will have an account code which contains a context prefix 'SA'.

Core salaries - core salary expenditure relates to salary expenditure funded through the core departmental salary budget. Typically these will have a context code DG1000 followed by budget letter J.

Courses - such posts will typically be funded from income generate from short courses and will have an account code which contains a context prefix 'SB'.

Departmental Funds - this category covers posts funded from a number of sources including Departmental running costs; Excellence Funds; Project funds. These will typically have a context prefix beginning with the letter D (but excludes core salaries as noted above)

Earmarked SFC grants- this category covers posts funded from earmarked Funding Council grants. These will typically have a context prefix 'GS'.

Research Grant Contract- this category covers posts funded from externally funded research grants and contracts. These will have a context prefix beginning with the letter R.

Special Fund- this category covers posts funded from departmental and individual special funds and research funds. These will have a context prefix beginning with the letter C.

Further information on account structure can be found on the Finance Office website.

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9.2 Status

This field indicates the authorisation status of the ATA and can be used to search for existing ATAs at a particular authorisation stage. There are a number of different authorisation stages.

Authorisers to be confirmed. This is the first authorisation stage and indicates that the relevant authorisers (e.g. Finance Office, Head of Department, Faculty Officer, Dean, HR representative) have yet to be determined.

Part authorised - this indicates that the ATA has been authorised by some but not all of the required authorisers. It is possible to determine the progress of authorisation by clicking on the View History link for the ATA.

Fully Authorised - this indicates that the ATA has been authorised by all of the required authorisers. .

Authorisation refused - this category indicates that one of the nominated authorisers has refused to approve the ATA. It is possible to determine at which stage authorisation has been refused by clicking on the View History link.

Cancelled by Finance/Cancelled by Recruiter - this status indicates that the ATA has been cancelled (either by the Recruiter or by Finance Office) because it is no longer required.

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