Certifier Training

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Certifier Workflow Overview

  1. Preparers enter all hours worked and leave hours used for each employee on the certifier, then submit the certifier to the budget authority for final preparation
  2. Signature Authorities ensure all certifiers are prepared, review them for accuracy, and certify them before submitting to Payroll
  3. Payroll receives and processes all certifiers for employees to be paid

How to Access Your Certifiers

  1. Log in to eStaff
  2. Go to My Accounts (ACIM Web) - located on the left hand side
  3. Select Certifiers

This screen shows all the certifiers you are responsible for, either as Preparer or Signature Authority.

Information on the Main Certifier Screen

  • Your Name/SFID
  • Pay Date
  • Certification Period
  • Department Deadline
  • List of all certifiers that you are responsible for
  • Number of prepared, certified, and/or unapproved certifiers

Salary Certifier Process

Salary Certifiers list the Primary and Secondary Signature Authorities as well as you (the Preparer). To begin, select the employee you wish to key.

First: Enter hours worked. Use the Time Calculator tool to determine the decimal value of hours and minutes.

Next: Enter any leave taken.

  1. Choose leave type by selecting from the drop-down box
  2. Enter the number of hours used for that type of leave
  3. Enter any comments (optional)
  4. Select Add
  5. If changes are needed, you can Update the leave hours or Delete the leave type
  6. A message will appear indicating Leave Added Successfully
  7. You can enter as many leave types as you need.

Note: each time you use a leave code, it disappears from the drop down list. This is because leave codes can only be used once and consist of a total number of hours for that type of leave in the pay period.

When all the employee's hours and leave have been entered, you are ready to submit for final preparation.

Exceeding Leave Balances

If an employee exceeds their available leave balances, the system will still allow you to key the total hours used, and the employee will be unpaid for the number of hours by which they have exceeded leave. This applies to all leave types except for Personal Leave.

Example: If an employee has 39.8 hours of sick leave, but they have used 40 hours, they will be in unpaid status for 0.2 hours.

Personal Leave: When an employee attempts to use more than the allowed 32.0 hours of Personal Leave per calendar year, the system will not allow you to add the leave used. You will receive the following notice on the top of the page: Personnel Hours Exceeded...Add Bypassed. The remaining time will have to be taken from some other form of leave.

Hourly Certifier Process

  1. Key in hours worked for each employee on the appropriate appointment, using the one decimal place formula.
  2. When all hours have been keyed, select Update Page and then Submit for Final Approval.

IMPORTANT: If a certifier is more than one page long, be sure to click Update on EACH page BEFORE continuing to the next. After all pages have been keyed, then you can select Submit for Final Preparation.

Multiple Distributions

Distributions for an employee teaching more than one course will be connected to a course. On the certifier, you will certify hours worked teaching a course against that appointment number.

If a course number does not appear on that certifier, appropriate changes will have to be made to that employee's load sheet.

IMPORTANT: When entering hours worked on an hourly certifier, you must click Update before continuing to the next page, or your data will be lost.

When you have entered hours worked and leave for an employee, click the Back button at the top of the page. This will return you to the main certifier. Once all employees have been keyed, you are ready to submit your completed certifier to the Signature Authority for their approval.

Signature Authority Approval Process

Information on the Signature Authority Page

  • Your SFID and Name
  • Certification Period
  • Department Deadline
  • Your selection options
  • Total certifiers you are responsible for
  • Number of prepared, certified and/or unapproved
  • Summary of certifiers both hourly and salary including total hours worked and leave taken, if already prepared

Notes will indicate what actions need to be taken to each certifier, such as needs to be certified or needs to be prepared.

Certifier Process

  1. First, click Select to review the information submitted on a certifier
    • If necessary, make any applicable changes (see below)
  2. When you're finished, click Certify to approve individual certifiers or Certify All to approve all certifiers within your approval path

Note: The Primary Signature Authority can also prepare a certifier by using the Select button. Once data is keyed, they can Submit the certifier for final approval.

Making Changes

A change can be any of the following:

  • changing hours worked
  • changing leave hours used
  • adding an appointment after the certifiers have been created

Any of the above changes performed prior to the department deadline will cause a certifier to be un-certified/unapproved. This will require that additional action be taken at the department level. Then it will be necessary for the Signature Authority to re-certify.

Once all certifiers have been prepared and certified by the appropriate Signature Authority, they are then ready for Payroll to process for pay.

Payroll will be responsible for keying the pay vouchers for all substitute instructors and processing the part-time faculty absence reports (docks). Once complete, Payroll will ensure that all certifiers have been prepared and approved prior to processing payroll.

Additional Information

eStaff Tools

  • Certifiers Waiting on Preparer: Allows you to view all of your certifiers that have not been prepared
  • Certifiers Waiting on Signature Authority Approval: Allows you to view all of your certifiers awaiting Signature Authority approval
  • Certifiers That Have Been Certified: Allows you to view all of your department certifiers that have been certified
  • Certifiers That Have Been Unapproved: Allows you to view your certifiers that have had changes made, causing them to be unapproved and needing further attention
  • Time Calculator: This is a great tool that can assist preparers and signature authorities in converting hours and minutes to accommodate our one-decimal system. Simply enter the hours and actual minutes worked and click Calculate.

Documentation

In addition on online certifiers, Payroll needs the following documents submitted each pay period for processing:

  • Part-Time Faculty Absence Report (Dock)
  • Pay Voucher for Substitute Instructors

These documents require all attachments necessary for processing, which includes leave forms and travel information.

Questions

If you need assistance at any time in the preparation and submission of certifiers, please feel free to contact Payroll. Chris, Sally, and Tim are happy to assist you.