COLA Offers Database

(When Using for New Hires)

Purpose: 

The offers database is a repository of commitments made during negotiations with faculty members, most commonly related to new hires. The database exists to store detailed explanations and supporting documentation for these commitments and serves as a source of action items for COLA HR and LA Finance. The database also provides a historical record of such commitments.

Here we specify procedures and expectations for submitting records to the offers database when processing a PAR for a tenure or tenure-track faculty hire. 

Relevant Definitions: 

Offers Database: FileMaker Pro database maintained by COLA Finance, recording commitments made in the context of a new faculty hire (for purposes of this article; it is also used to record faculty retention commitments)

Commitment: item promised to a faculty recruit and included in the contract 

TTT: Abbreviation for Tenured or Tenure-Track faculty job

PAR: Prior Approval Request; refers to both the *DEFINE (Mainframe) document and the documentation required to accompany the DEFINE document (PDF) that are needed in order to complete a faculty hire; final approval of this document is required before formally extending an offer to a faculty candidate for hire

Process: 

1. Department staff will need to be in contact with department chair regarding the various commitments being negotiated as part of a new TTT hire.  
2. Department staff clarifies confirmed terms of offer and collects documentation of the associate dean’s approval of commitments.
3. Log into the COLA Offers Database.
4. For each commitment, you will need to know/convey:
   1. What type of thing is it? e.g. salary, payment, funds, equipment, teaching load, course releases, etc.
   2. Where is the thing coming from/who is paying for it?
   3. Whenever possible/if known: what account number will be used to pay for the thing?
   4. When, and how frequently, is the commitment to be delivered? Once? Indefinitely? Every year for X number of years? Once within a certain period of time, TBD?
   5. Has it been approved by the required authority, and on what date?
   6. Are there any other important details related to this commitment?
      1. NOTE: Please include information about how the dollar figure was generated, where relevant.
      2. Relocation expenses: must include the rate and address used to calculate: e.g., "$6/mi. from 123 Sesame Street, New York, NY."
5. Hopefully all of the above (#4) are included in your supporting documentation, which you will upload under the Documents tab of the Offer record.
   1. Uploaded material may include, but is not necessarily limited to:
      1. Approval from the associate dean for academic affairs for all commitments being made in the offer letter.
      2. Any approvals/details re: uncommon terms, such as renovations, or endowment holder agreements, etc.
      3. A JCT showing how early start pay was calculated, when relevant.
6. Department staff enters commitments being extended to faculty recruit, replicating commitments entered in Section 2 of the Define PAR, but providing more detailed and comprehensive explanation. If any commitments exist that are not entered in Section 2 of the Define PAR, these must also be entered here (with approval documentation uploaded).
7. When the PAR is complete and ready to submit to COLA HR for review, the offer record is also submitted. 

Related Policies: 

Terms entered into the offers database must first be approved by the associate dean for academic affairs. The associate dean’s approval must be uploaded to the offer record.  

The offer record will be submitted only once final terms have been agreed to and approved and the department is ready for COLA HR to review the entire PAR. 

Other Related Links: 

Relocation Payments and How to Do Them

COLA Sample Faculty Recruitment Language: https://utexas.app.box.com/file/869425971945 

COLA PAR checklist (section on offers database begins at Row 197; also relevant, Section 2 – Commitments, beginning Row 23): https://utexas.app.box.com/file/869425964745 

Workday Job Costing Tool (scroll down to Summer Job Costing Tool): https://workday.utexas.edu/training/job-costing