1. GA PAF Preparer’s Meeting – JUNE 30, 2016
Welcome
Welcome!
Today we will be discussing the procedures for processing of Fall 2016 Graduate Assistant PAFs. Hopefully today’s information is helpful and that the Grad Assistant PAF process goes smoothly and timely so that our Grad Assistants can receive their paychecks timely.
This Power Point Presentation will be posted to the Graduate College website so you can refer to it whenever you need to.
Feel free to ask questions as we go along and there will be time at the end of the presentation for questions as well.
GA PAF Preparer’s Meeting – JUNE 30, 2016

2. Graduate College Staff
Introductions
Introductions
Your Name
Department you are with
How long have you been at UNI
Graduate College Staff
Kavita Dhanwada
Barbara Cutter
Susie Schwieger
Janet Witt
Rubina Chowdhury
Lisa Steimel
Introductions around the room – Your Name and department you are with and how long have you been at UNI
Introduction of Graduate College staff

3. Enrollment Eligibility Requirements
The student must be enrolled in 9 graduate-level credit hours before PAF is submitted for a Graduate Assistantship and/or the Graduate College releases the Graduate College Tuition Scholarship hold (not required for submission of offer form).
See student’s offer letter(s) for detail on courses that do not count towards the 9 credit minimum load.
PAF Preparer needs to review each Grad Assistant’s Academic Advisement Report BEFORE submitting PAF.
Department needs to contact student immediately if this requirement is not being met.
Student and department need to work together to register for appropriate classes. This is ultimately the student’s responsibility.
DO NOT submit PAF until YOU have reviewed the student’s current Academic Advisement Report and YOU see enrollment of 9 qualifying graduate-level credit hours.
Enrollment of 9 graduate-level credit hours (Dept should be contacting student as soon as possible if this requirement is not being met)
Do not submit PAF until YOU review AAR and see enrollment of 9 graduate-level credit hours.
There are some individuals in non-academic departments with GA’s that don’t have access to the AAR. If that is the case for you then contact the academic department your GA is majoring in and ask that secretary to run a current AAR report for you and send to you so you can review. (or ask student to print for you)

4. Degree Requirements
The following degree requirements must be met before PAF is submitted for Graduate Assistantship and/or the Graduate College releases Graduate College Tuition Scholarship hold (not required for submission of offer form).
Master’s student must possess an official final bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution prior to the start of the semester and it must show in SIS.
Doctoral student must possess an official final bachelor’s degree and official final master’s degree from an accredited institution prior to the start of the semester and they must show in SIS.
Verification of degree(s) can be found in the Student Information System under the Admissions Tab and looking under “External Education”.
Look for Transcript
Type of “Official”
and Transcript Status
of “Final”.
Do NOT submit PAF until YOU verify the degree requirements are showing in SIS.
If you don’t have access to SIS then contact the academic department your GA is majoring in and ask that secretary to provide you a print screen of the student’s External Education.

5. GPA Requirement
The student must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher before PAF is submitted for Graduate Assistantship and/or the Graduate College releases Graduate College Tuition Scholarship hold. (Make sure all prior semester grades have posted to do this verification and before submitting PAF)
Verify student’s “Plan GPA, Total” located on Student’s Academic Advisement Report
If 1st semester as graduate student, use final undergrad cumulative GPA (see slide 4 on where to find this under External Education).
If 1st semester as a doctoral student, use Master’s Plan GPA
If student does not have a Plan GPA and is not a 1st semester graduate student, then use the cumulative GPA of at least 8 credit hours of graduate- level courses taken.
Do NOT submit PAF until YOU review AAR and verify GPA.
There are some individuals in non-academic departments with GA’s that don’t have access to the AAR. If that is the case for you then contact the academic department your GA is majoring in and ask that secretary to run a current AAR report for you and send to you so you can review. (or ask student to print for you)

6. Timing of Graduate Assistant PAFs
Fall PAF’s submission timing:
PAF has to be approved through the Graduate College by August 15th and new hire paperwork must be completed in HRS by August 19th in order for student to be guaranteed an August paycheck. (August 17th at 5:00 pm is the HRS cutoff date for August PAF’s .)
PAF’s can be created July 2nd, or after, but cannot be submitted until all requirements are met. (See slides 3, 4 & 5 for requirements)
If student decides they don’t want assistantship after you process their PAF, or they don’t show up for work, you need to notify me immediately. August payroll production run will most likely be on August 23rd-24th which gives us a very small window of time to pull a student’s August paycheck before it is disbursed.
Spring PAF’s submission timing:
will be sent out by Graduate College in late October with details.

7. How to Prepare a Grad Assistant PAF
You can create the student’s Personnel Action Form (PAF) for the fall semester on July 2nd or after. Do not create until after July 1st so that the PAF workflow brings in any changes effective July 1st.
Important: Do not submit the PAF until you have verified the student meets the requirements.
My Universe > UNI > My Administrative Access > Personnel Action Form (MW04)
Personnel Action Type:
New Appointment (additional information will be requested by PAF system)
Reappointment/Change Appointment
Effective Date:
Use first day of semester (unless a late start)
UID
Proceed
Note:
Grad Assistant PAF examples are available through HRS website under PAF Resources.
Samples for Grad Assistants is under “New Appointment” and also “Change/Reappointment”.
How to Prepare a Grad Assistant PAF
My Universe > UNI > My Administrative Access > Personnel Action Form (MW04)
If this is first time individual has worked as a Grad Assistant then you should select “New Appointment”
Note: New Appointment will ask you additional information
If this individual has worked as a Grad Assistant prior to this then select “Reappointment/Change Appointment”
Effective date: Use the first day of semester, unless individual starts later.
GA PAF examples are available at HRS website
Very Helpful website

8. Preparation of GA PAF (continued)
Labor Distribution
Start Date: “New” PAF-Actual date student
begins work (22-AUG-2016) or
“Reappointment” PAF-Use 1st day of
month student begins work.
(01-AUG-2016) or (01-JAN-2017)
End Date: 31-Dec-2016 or 31-MAY-2017
Effective date: The date student starts their GA position. Typically the 1st day of classes
Appointment Status Date: The date student starts their GA position. Typically the 1st day of classes
22-AUG-2016
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR EACH TAB
If a reassignment then a screen will come up to select the student’s Assignment.
Effective Date: The date student starts their Graduate Assistantship position (typically the first day of classes 22-AUG-2016 or 09-JAN-2017)
Organization: Select your Organization that the individual will be working for
Org/Title Tab
Position Title: Six Options (this is due to IPEDS federal report for Graduate Assistants)
Grad Assistant.Research (Use this option if departmental funded and primary tasks is research)
Grad Assistant.Teaching (Use this option if departmental funded and primary tasks is teaching)
Grad Assistant.Other (Use this option if departmental funded and primary task is NOT teaching or research)
Grad Assistant.Other (Grad College) (Use this option if funded by the Graduate College and primary task is NOT teaching or research)
Grad Assistant.Research (Grad College) (Use this option if funded by the Graduate College and primary tasks is research)
Grad Assistant.Teaching (Grad College) (Use this option if funded by the Graduate College and primary tasks is teaching)
Service Status: Temporary
Person Tab (automatically fills in)
Service Status Date: The date student starts their Graduate Assistantship position (typically the first day of classes 22-AUG-2016 or
09-JAN-2017)
Location: Provide location where student will be working
Assignment Information Tab
Appointment Status Date: The date student starts their Graduate Assistantship position (typically the first day of classes 22-AUG-2016
Appointment Status: Temporary
Supervisor: Provide name of person that will be supervising student
“Reappointment/Change Appointment” PAF –use the date their Appointment Status becomes effective Assignment Category: T Fall (or T Spring)
“New” PAF’s will default from the Effective date entered
or 09-JAN-2017)
Appointment Length: 5.0
Assign Status Tab
Additional Assignment Information: This field is optional but appreciated if preparer provides information about the assignment
Assignment Status: Active Assignment
Appointment salary: Use full amount of salary (do not reduce this salary if student begins work after the first day of classes).
Appointment Expiration date: Last day of semester (16-DEC-2016 or 05-MAY-2017)
Specific Tab
On returning GA’s make sure you change dollar amount since system will bring up last year’s dollar amount.
Additional Information: If student starts working after first day of classes use this section to provide start date information and salary amount.
Hours per Week: 20 for full-time (10 for half-time)
Salary Change Reason: If this PAF is a Change/Reappointment you will need to make selection in this field.
Contact Lisa Steimel in Grad College when you have this situation before processing PAF. Lisa will calculate salary reduction amount and provide to you. This amount will be deducted from next pay check and then the remaining pay periods will be at the correct rate.
“Reduce salary by $xxx.xx due to late start date of mm/dd/yy”.
Grad College Funding
LD Tab
“Reappointment/Change Appntmt” PAF-Use the first day of the month the student begins working (01-AUG-16
Start Date: “New” PAF Use actual date student begins working. (Typically this will be 22-AUG-2016 or 09-JAN-2017)
Department, Fndn or Grant – use acct number funding Grad Assistantship
End Date: Dec (Spring is 31-MAY-2017)
or 01-JAN-17)
Not applicable for Grad Assistants-you can skip this tab
Education Tab
If you want additional Notifications and/or Approvals you can enter these under this tab
Workflow Tab
Finish Tab
If PAF is correct and student meets eligibility requirements then click on “Submit Personnel Action Form”
Review PAF. Make changes if needed
Attachments
Notes
Extra Tab
HRS will indicate in this section if paperwork has been received by this individual if a new GA
Attention
Appointment Expiration Date should be
last day of the semester (16-DEC-2016, 05-MAY-2017)
Use Additional Information section to provide information if student starts working after first day of classes.
Indicate:
“Reduce Salary by $xx.xx due to late start date of mm/dd/yy”
Appointment Salary should always be full amount (do not reduce if student does not begin work on 1st day of classes)
Based on primary duty select appropriate Position Title (e.g., teaching, research, other)
Attention

9. Common Errors on PAF
These are the most common errors that result in rejected PAF’s. Review your PAF’s for these common errors before submitting.
Dates. There are several dates required on PAF’s so make sure you are providing correct date in correct fields. (use HRS examples for help with this)
“New” Appointment PAF submitted when a “Reappointment/Change Appointment” PAF should have been done. Do not use “New” PAF if student was a GA in prior semester. (doesn’t matter if same department or not)
The GA’s supervisor listed incorrectly. Need to provide name of individual supervising the student, not the department head or program coordinator, unless they truly are the supervisor
Assignment Category. For this next semester select “T-Fall”
Salary amount for Fall is not changed from spring semester on Reappointment PAF
Wrong funding account code combination provided
Submitted GA PAF but the student has not been sent an offer
PAF’s are submitted before grades are posted and Plan GPA can’t be verified. Do NOT submit PAF until summer semester grades are posted (if student took summer class)
Student is not enrolled in 9 graduate-level credit hours
These are the most common reasons a PAF is rejected. Review your PAF’s for these common errors before submitting. See Slide 10 for helpful tools.

10. Helpful tools to avoid rejected PAF’s
Numerous PAF’s are rejected each semester. Below is helpful information and tools to avoid rejected PAF’s in the future.
Use the HRS website samples to help you prepare your PAF’s.
me if you are not sure, or if you want me to look at a PAF before you submit. Send student’s name, UID and PAF number in the .
Preparer should review PAF in full before submitting. Click on “Print Preview” which will bring up the full PAF.
If PAF is rejected look under “History” tab to find comments on errors that need to be corrected. (Only make corrections that are listed in comments.)
Be aware of where your PAF’s are at in the process. Make sure to check your notifications for any rejected PAF’s.

11. When can a Grad Assistant begin work?
Grad Assistants are eligible to begin work after:
Grad College approval of PAF by Lisa Steimel and Graduate College Dean
All paperwork is turned into HRS for new hires. The PAF system will send s to the preparer, supervisor and Grad Assistant indicating status
Cannot start prior to the first day of classes
To find out if paperwork has been turned into HRS by a new hire you can review the information in the “Extra” tab on the individual’s PAF

12. Graduate Assistant Supervisors
If the student’s supervisor changes send an to with student name, UID and the name of the new supervisor and effective date and effective semester. In the subject field of the provide UID, student name and “change in supervisor”. Note: Make sure PAF is completed with the correct supervisor’s name.
An from Graduate College will be sent to GA supervisors approximately 2 weeks before the start of the semester providing the name of their Grad Assistant and the number of hours the student will be working for the semester. This will also provide a list of the supervisor’s responsibilities, which include review of job description/duties with student on their first day, tracking/be aware of student’s hours and required performance appraisals.
If you become aware that there is a change in a supervisor please send an ASAP to so we can change our records before sending out the letter to GA supervisors and also verify the GA’s supervisor is correct on their PAF.

13. Miscellaneous
Don’t forget that there is a Graduate Assistantship handbook for student and departmental use. Refer to it often.
Offer forms should be received by the Grad College by July 1st. Any forms received after that date will be done as time allows since priority will be given to processing of PAF’s.
Graduate Scholarship Hold is a hold on the student’s scholarship until GPA and enrollment can be verified for the semester. This hold does NOT affect the student in registering for classes.
Students receiving a scholarship, no matter what the funding, should not be working for the University for the scholarship funding. Any work being provided should be processed through payroll, not as a scholarship.
If a student decides against their Grad Assistantship and/or Graduate College Scholarship the Graduate College will need something in writing from student declining their offer(s). Inform the GC immediately when you become aware of this.

14. Questions or Concerns
Questions or concerns