Opus tasks often occur in a repeating pattern each year. Understanding the work from an annual perspective can help administrators plan their activities by anticipating whether the workload will be heavier or lighter at a particular time.
Quarters vs. Semesters
Schools at UCLA operate as either quarterly or semester-based. Although administrators from both types engage in the same activities, these schedules have different impacts on the dates where personnel actions occur.
Check Ending/Starting Appointments
During certain times of the year, appointments are more likely to be starting or ending. At these times, administrators should review their appointment list (the Roster) to check for ending appointments, and review their Active and Completed tabs on the Cases page for appointments that will come into effect. This should occur:
Quarterly Schools: January, April, October
Semester Schools: January, September
Admins should contact Opus Help if appointments are ending which shouldn’t, or if the Effective Dates of cases are approaching but the cases haven’t been completed yet.
Begin Hurdle Cases
Minding the April 1 recruitment date for AAU hires, administrators from both quarterly and semester schools should begin their Hurdle cases in March/April.
Summer Tasks Cluster
There are several tasks that both types of schools should undertake in May/June:
Use the Request UID tool before entering new appointees into Path. For more info, see the article on requesting UIDs through Opus, linked below.
Update Service Clocks on Profiles. For more info, see the article on maintaining eligibility calculations, linked below.
Prepare Emeriti appointment cases.
Check for cases that should be closing but aren’t. Go to the Cases page and sort the Active Cases table by the Effective Date column, and let Opus Help know about any lingering cases.
Review Endowed Term Chairs
Quarterly schools should review their Endowed Term Chair appointments for expiration and advise their departments in September/October.
Fall Tasks Cluster
And finally, there are also several tasks that both types of schools should undertake in August/September/October (semester schools will start earlier):
Begin Merit cases.
Update committees and voting bodies in Interfolio.
Prepare for personnel recusals from committees/voting bodies for upcoming cases in Interfolio by evaluating potential conflicts of interest.
Visual Cycle
Here is a graphic representation of the above information:
See Also
What Do I Need to Do in Order to Ensure the Eligibility Calculations Are Correct?