To create an official unit and department, you will need to complete a "Create Official Unit and Department" request form found on the Signature Desk website. Below you will find support documentation to help complete the form.

 

Please note, that you will need to have access to *DEFINE to look up departmental codes and other information. This will be necessary to complete this form.

If you have any questions, please email signaturedesk@austin.utexas.edu

The Create Official Unit and Department form will ask a series of branching questions about the unit to be created. By answering these questions, one of three possible outcomes will be reached:

 

1.  Creating a Principal Investigator Unit – this cannot be initiated through the Signature Desk and will need to be complete by the Office of Sponsored Projects.

2.  Creating a Non-Academic Unit – this can be initiated by completing the Signature Desk form.

3.  Creating an Academic Unit or Organized Research Unit – this can be initiated by completing the Signature Desk form.

 

The paths to reach all three outcomes will be covered below, but the process of completing the Signature Desk form to create a Non-Academic or Academic Unit will be outlined once at the end of this document as the required information is the same for the creation of either type of unit.

 

 

Creating a Principal Investigator Unit

• After selecting Create Official Unit and Department you will be asked if this unit is an academic unit or an organized research unit. Depending on your answers to this and following questions, you will be routed to the correct form to complete. Select either No or Yes and click Next.

 

 

 

• If No is selected, the form will ask if the Unit to be created is a Principal Investigator (PI) Unit.

 

• If Yes is selected and you would like to create a Principal Investigator Unit, then the form will automatically re-direct to the Office of Sponsored Projects as the Signature Desk is not able to create PI Units.

 

 

 

 

 

Creating a Non-Academic Unit

 

• After selecting Create Official Unit and Department you will be asked if this unit is an academic unit or an organized research unit. Depending on your answers to this and following questions, you will be routed to the correct form to complete. Select No and click Next to continue creating a Non-Academic Unit.

 

 

• After No is selected, the form will ask if the Unit to be created is a Principal Investigator (PI) Unit. Select No and click Next to continue.

 

 

• A reminder will appear on the screen providing a preview of what information will be required to complete the rest of the form. A Unit Creation Checklist has been created by the Signature Desk team to help with the completion of the DocuSign form. After reviewing the checklist, click Next to complete the DocuSign form.

 

 

• Enter your name and EID email in the Requester fields.

 

• Enter the name and EID of the Authorized Signer in the Authorized Signer fields. Please be sure the person entered is an authorized signer of the new unit's report-to unit or a higher unit administrator as shown on the GG6 screen in *DEFINE. The individuals listed on the GG6 screen for the reports-to unit are valid signers, and please be aware the unit head of the new unit is not a valid signer. The Chief Business Officers for the unit involved, or their delegates as per the Financial and Administrative Services CUBO Members list, may sign in place of the DEFINE unit administrator. Any signatures needed from additional teams, such as the ASPM representative or Academic Affairs, will still be required if listed on the request form.

 

Using EID email addresses is required to ensure proper routing in DocuSign. EID email addresses are based on the EID of the recipient. If your EID is abcd1234, then your EID email address is abcd1234@eid.utexas.edu.

 

 

 

 

• Enter the Name and EID of the Chief Business Officer in the Chief Business Officer fields. This is required only if the Supervisory Organizations (PM/JM) to be created in Workday will have a different Default Cost Center than the superior Supervisory Organization.

 

• Enter the Workday Approver in the Workday Approver fields if this is required. This form must be signed by someone who has one of the following roles in the superior Supervisory Organization in Workday: HR Partner, Academic HR Partner, HR Executive, Academic HR Executive, or Security Partner. To see which individuals are assigned to these roles in Workday, enter “org:” and the sup org manager’s last name in the search bar, then click on the Roles tab. Only funding units that will not appear in the Department System or Workday are exempt from requiring a Workday Approver signature.

 

• Click Begin Signing to complete the DocuSign form.

 

Continue to Completing the DocuSign Form for Create Official Unit and Department

 

 

 

 

Creating an Academic Unit or Organized Research Unit

 

 

• After selecting Create Official Unit and Department you will be asked if this unit is an academic unit. Depending on your answers to this and following questions, you will be routed to the correct form to complete. Select Yes and click Next to continue creating an Academic Unit.

 

 

• A reminder will appear on the screen noting that the creation of an academic unit will route to Academic Affairs for review and approval. Please confirm your information beforehand to allow for a faster approval on this step. If you are creating an academic unit, please reach out to the Academic Affairs team at evpp-sai@austin.utexas.edu to confirm the proposed unit's information prior to submitting your request form. Click Next to complete the DocuSign form.

 

 

• Enter your name and EID email in the Requester fields.

 

• Enter the name and EID of the Authorized Signer in the Authorized Signer fields. Please be sure the person entered is an authorized signer of the new unit's report-to unit or a higher unit administrator as shown on the GG6 screen in *DEFINE. The individuals listed on the GG6 screen for the reports-to unit are valid signers, and please be aware the unit head of the new unit is not a valid signer. The Chief Business Officers for the unit involved, or their delegates as per the Financial and Administrative Services CUBO Members list, may sign in place of the DEFINE unit administrator. Any signatures needed from additional teams, such as the ASPM representative or Academic Affairs, will still be required if listed on the request form.

 

Using EID email addresses is required to ensure proper routing in DocuSign. EID email addresses are based on the EID of the recipient. If your EID is abcd1234, then your EID email address is abcd1234@eid.utexas.edu.

 

This document will automatically route to the Provost Office for confirmation of academic unit information.

 

 

 

• Enter the Name and EID of the Chief Business Officer in the Chief Business Officer fields. This is required only if the Supervisory Organizations (PM/JM) to be created in Workday will have a different Default Cost Center than the superior Supervisory Organization.

 

• Enter the Workday Approver in the Workday Approver fields if this is required. This form must be signed by someone who has one of the following roles in the superior Supervisory Organization in Workday: HR Partner, Academic HR Partner, HR Executive, Academic HR Executive, or Security Partner. To see which individuals are assigned to these roles in Workday, enter “org:” and the sup org manager’s last name in the search bar, then click on the Roles tab. Only funding units that will not appear in the Department System or Workday are exempt from requiring a Workday Approver signature.

 

• Click Begin Signing to complete the DocuSign form.

 

 

 

Completing the DocuSign Form for Create Official Unit and Department

 

 

 

• The DocuSign form will automatically fill in the date and the Requester’s Name, but please add in your EID in the highlighted box to the right of your name.

 

• Enter the Proposed Unit Code in the Proposed Unit Code field. This is the seven-digit code that will identify the subunit. Unit codes that already exist cannot be used. You can quickly check GG6 or GG5 in DEFINE to see if a unit code exists. 000 units are called “main units”. -001, -002, etc. are called “subunits”. Please note that if you choose to create a subunit, no other units will be able to report to it.

 

 

Is the unit funding, departmental/organizational, or both funding and departmental/organizational?

If the unit is marked funding, it will be connected to accounts and finance. If it is marked departmental/organizational only, it will only appear in the Department System and Workday as a personnel sort of unit and it will not be connected to accounts and funding. 

Funding-only units are common, ex. Principal Investigator units, but departmental/organizational only units are rare. Many units are created as both funding and departmental/organizational.

 

 

• Enter the Unit that new Unit will report to in the Unit Reports To field. This will be the unit the proposed unit reports to in DEFINE. If the unit is also departmental/organizational, this relationship will hold across the Department System and Workday as well. If a unit is a subunit, ex. 1234-001 or 1234-002, it will always report to its own main unit. In the example, these two subunits will always report to 1234-000.

 

• Enter the Organizational Level in the Organizational Level field. This number denotes the overall purpose of the unit and it is not connected to a person’s job title. Please see the DEFINE Organizational Levels Descriptions and Hierarchy guidance for more information about organizational levels. Organizational levels set hierarchy within a unit’s reports-to chain. The lower the number, the higher up the reports-to chain. Ex. A 7 can report to a 5, but a 5 cannot report to a 7. 

 

• Enter the Proposed Unit Head UT EID and Name in the Proposed Unit Head UT EID and Name fields. This is the same person counted as the unit head in the Department System if this unit will be organizational. Unit heads have fiscal responsibility and accountability for the accounts under their control. The Signature Desk does not have official guidance on who the Proposed Unit Head should be, but please consult internally about that role.

 

• Enter the Unit Short Title in the Unit Short Title field. This will appear in DEFINE and, if the unit is departmental/organizational, in the Department System under Short Title. Short titles can be no more than 22 characters including spaces, and no punctuation or symbols may be used.

 

• Enter the Unit Long and Department Full Title in the Unit Long and Department Full Title. This will appear in DEFINE. If the unit is departmental/organizational, this is also the long title that will appear in the Department System and Workday.

 

• Enter the Unit Abbreviation in the Unit Abbreviation field. This is a two- to four-character identifier for the unit. This is not the unit’s department code. Abbreviations are seen in DEFINE and Workday cost centers, and they can be updated as needed.

 

 

 

 

• Select Yes or No in the Move Unit to Office drop-down menu. A unit must be moved into an electronic office before the department can establish electronic document routing, signers, etc.

 

• Enter the name of the Electronic Office in the Electronic Office field. Electronic office names are always a short collection of characters and they are predominantly letters only, such as DY:EBITS. They are not the full title of a department and they are not a collection of numbers only, such as 1234000. If you are unsure of the name of the electronic office you would like the unit to be added to, please reach out to your department’s electronic office manager or your department’s financial team.

 

• Enter the Office Manager’s UT EID in the Office Manager’s UT EID field. This is the person in charge of the electronic office you would like to move the unit into. If you are unsure of who this is, please reach out to your department’s financial team.

 

 

 

• Select the Type of Unit that applies to the unit that is being created.

 

• Enter the Effective Date in the Effective Date Field. DEFINE will always create the unit on 9/1 of the current fiscal year. One year ahead can also be requested. However, a specific creation date can be specified for departmental or organizational units within the Department System.

 

• Enter the Special Use Code/CIP Code in the Special Use Code/CIP Code field. Please contact Academic Space Planning and Management if you are unsure of what this code is or if you have questions about it.

 

• Enter the Department Full Title for Sorting in the Department Full Title for Sorting Field. This is the same as the long title, but any general wording will be placed at the end. Ex. “Center for ABC” will be “ABC, Center of” for its sorting title. Please See the Department System Naming Standards for naming conventions.

 

• Enter the Department Familiar Title in the Department Familiar Title field. This is an optional field, and the Department Full Title can be entered here.

 

• Enter the Proposed Department Code in the Proposed Department Code field. This is a four-character code used to identify a departmental/organizational unit across DEFINE, the Department System, and Workday. No department code that already exists can be used, and please note that a department code cannot be changed once created. Funding-only units will not have a department code. You can check Workday or the Department System for existing department codes.

 

• Enter the Department Manager UT EID in the Department Manager UT EID field. This title does not mean the unit administrator, unit head, or Workday Supervisory Organization Manager. “Manager” here refers to the role of Department System manager. Department System managers can make updates to some contact types for a unit in the OHS Contacts system.

 

• Enter the Department Mail Code in the Department Mail Code field. You can check the UT Mail Code site to find the building’s mail code. 

 

• Enter the Department Building in the Department Building field. You can check the UT Mail Code site to find the three-letter identifier for the building. 

 

• Enter the Department Mailing Address and Zip Code in the Department Mailing Address and field. You can check the UT Mail Code site to find the full address for the building. 

 

• Enter the Department Zip Code in the Department Zip Code field. You can check the UT Mail Code site to find the zip code for the building. 

 

• Enter the Department Phone Number in the Department Phone Number field.

 

• The Department Fax, Department Web Address, and Department email Address are optional fields.

 

• Choose up to two Department Types from the drop-down menus in the Department Types field. A Department Type or types indicates the overall purpose of a department. It does not affect hierarchy like organizational levels do. It makes it easier for those who wish to search the Department System by various types of departments, such as Academic or University Administrative. 

 

• Enter any Department Attributes in the Department Attributes field. These give more information about a department beyond its Department Type. Please see the Department System Glossary for more information on attributes. Please see the Department Types and Possible Attributes guidance for a list of which attributes are associated with specific department types.

 

• Enter any Department Keywords in the Department Keywords field. This is optional, but they are meant to assist those searching the Department System for units related to different topics, ex. “business” or “oceanography.” No personal names should be used.

 

 

 

 

• Enter the Availability Date for the Supervisory Organization.

 

• Select Yes or No from the drop-down to answer if you need a Job Management (JM) Supervisory Organization to be created as well?

 

• Enter the Supervisory Organization Manager Name and EID.

 

• Enter the Supervisory Organization Manager Position Title.

 

• Enter the Superior Supervisory Organization. This is the Organization ID and name of the Supervisory Organization that should be superi9or to the new JM/PM sup org(s) in Workday.

 

• Enter the Default Cost Center. This is an optional field, but enter N/A if this should inherit upward to the superior sup org.

 

• Enter the Primary Location. This is an optional field, but enter the building abbreviation or enter N/A if this should inherit upward to the superior sup org.

 

 

• Click Finish to submit the DocuSign form. You will be automatically directed to a confirmation page and the form will be sent for signing. After it has been signed the Requester will be notified. The document will then be ready for processing by the Signature Desk. If there are any questions regarding the request, they will contact the Requester via the ServiceNow ticket. Upon completion of the request the Signature Desk will notify the Requester.

 

Please note that using EID email addresses is required for all Signature Desk form submissions to ensure proper routing in DocuSign. EID email addresses are based on the EID of the recipient. If your EID is abcd1234, then your EID email address is abcd1234@eid.utexas.edu.

 

 

Please note that request processing time varies depending on the overall volume of requests and complexity involved in the type of request made.

 

Follow the link to download the pdf version of the support documentation for Create an Official Unit and Department Signature Desk Request Form.