OPUS
On-line Payroll Update System

Dean's Office contact: Sue Barnhart

• Faculty appointments
  • New appointments
  • Reappointments
  • Distribution changes
  • Excess compensation
  • Leaves
  • Promotions
  • Salary adjustments
  • Separations
• Professional and classified staff appointments
• Graduate student, student, and hourly appointments
• Retroactive pay
• Summary: When to enter data into OPUS

Faculty appointments

New appointments
(1) For short-term temporary appointments, OPUS entry may be made when the signed approval form is returned by the Dean's Office.
(2 ) For non-short-term temporary appointments, OPUS entry may be made when email or written approval is received from the Dean's Office or Academic Human Resources..
(3) For permanent appointments, OPUS entry must wait until email approval is given by Academic Human Resources. The approval email should be pasted into the notes section of the OPUS screen.

Note: If an appointment packet does not arrive in Academic Human Resources by the payroll deadline, Academic Human Resources will remove the appointment from OPUS.

Reappointments
(1) The reappointment of a short-term faculty member within the same academic year may be entered into OPUS by the department, with no other approvals required.
(2) For the reappointment of a short-term faculty member from a prior year, a new short-term appointment/reappointment form must be submitted to the Dean's Office, and the OPUS entry can be made when this form is returned with the approval signature.
(3) OPUS entry for other reappointments may be made when the Dean's Office approval letter or email is received.

Distribution changes. Distribution changes are handled by the department and may be entered on-line at any time. The department must have appropriate documentation to support any change in funding, such as written approval from a PI, an approved release/recapture plan, a written or email request from the department chair or Dean's Office, etc.

Excess compensation. The paying department should send an email with the excess compensation information (faculty name, faculty title, paying unit name, budget number, total payment amount, reason/work performed, dates of service) to the home department for approval. The home department adds its approval to the email and forwards it to the Dean's Office. The Dean's Office adds its approval and sends the email back to the paying department. The excess compensation can be entered into OPUS by the paying department when the email with the two approvals is received, and a copy of this email should be pasted into the notes section of the entry.

Leaves. A statement citing the date of the President's or Provost's approval letter should be pasted into the notes section of OPUS. For sick leave or leave without pay, appropriate documentation must be sent to Academic Human Resources before entering the leave into OPUS.

Promotions. The department should have a copy of the President's or Provost's approval letter, and a statement citing the date of the approval letter should be included in the notes section of OPUS.

Salary adjustments. The department should submit an email request to the Dean's Office, which will be forwarded to Academic Human Resources. Academic Human Resources will send an email to the department giving the approved salary and effective date of the increase. When this email is received, the salary adjustment may be entered on-line. The email should be pasted into the notes section of OPUS.

Separations. The department must have a letter of resignation or retirement for a permanent faculty separation, a letter of non-renewal or denial of tenure, or an offer letter with a specified end date. When one of these items is obtained, it should be sent to Academic Human Resources, with a copy to the Dean's Office (unless these two offices already have copies). Then the separation may be entered into OPUS.

Professional and classified staff appointments. The final approval for staff actions (hiring, salary increase, temporary increase, etc.) is usually given by the Human Resources or Compensation offices via an email to the department, with an email copy to the Dean's Office. This email approval must be pasted into the notes section of the OPUS screen for all actions requiring prior approval. Excess compensation payment for professional staff should follow the same procedures as those for faculty excess compensation.

Graduate student, student, and hourly appointments. These appointments are handled by the departments. Dean's Office notification or approval is not necessary, but normal UW guidelines and restrictions must be followed. It is the department's responsibility to make sure that graduate students are paid from appropriate budgets and that TA allocations are not overspent.

Retroactive pay. If retroactive pay will be due after an OPUS entry, follow these steps. (1) Enter the data into OPUS, and type into the notes section the information you want Payroll to have regarding the processing of the retro pay. (2) When you receive your copy of the PERM, forward it to Payroll by changing the subject line to read "RETRO PAY, Unit xxx" (your unit number) and sending it to payme@u.washington.edu.

Summary: When to enter data into OPUS

Written approvals should be kept in departmental files. Email approvals should be pasted into the notes section of the OPUS screen.

See also Academic Human Resources' Web page on OPUS entries.