UT Department System Glossary
A department that exists on the current date.
Primary office address and location of the department, including mailing address, mail code, and building code. If a department has more than one location, choose the address where the department head resides. Two lines are provided for the mailing address. For Web site, use the URL of the home page of the department. Sub-departments may have different address information. Address history information is not kept, and only current information is available.
A department at the same level that is associated with another department. For example, affiliated departments may have similar missions, support similar disciplines or perform closely related functions. Affiliated departments are usually peer-level, like siblings or cousins, and are usually within the same portfolio. Not every department is affiliated with other departments, and affiliations between every department under a college or vice president may not be appropriate. A typical example is an academic department affiliated with one or more closely related organized research units. Examples: the Department of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory, Intercollegiate Athletics for Men and Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
A person who has the ability to review, update and approve a department document. To be an approver, you must be placed on a desk that is in the routing sequence for the document. Approvers can update the data in a document and route it forward to the next desk in the routing sequence.
Description or category that provides more specific information about the purpose or functions of a department beyond its overall type. A department may have a variety of attributes, as opposed to limited types. Attributes may be especially useful for sub-departments or administrative departments. You can search for attributes to produce a list of departments fitting that description. Some attributes are subsets of types, such as a "Non-Departmental College" attribute within type "College or School." Other examples of attributes are Career Services, Alumni Relations, and Publications.
The date on which the department was created or came into existence. For older departments, this date may not be known and is not required. A Begin Date is required, however, for all new departments.
The four-character, alphanumeric code that represents a department. A department code should begin with an alphabetic character. Special characters are not allowed. Sub-departments are designated by the code for the official department, followed by three additional alphanumeric characters (ABCD-XYZ). Each department and sub-department code combination must be unique. This department ID will exist in many authorizations and applications; therefore, it must be stable. Do not embed hierarchies, sequences, or specialized data into the code, as these can change over time. (Other fields exist for those purposes.)
To create a department or sub-department, please complete the Signature Desk Request Form.
In this context, an organizational unit in the department tree of the university. This organizational unit does not imply a particular level or title; it is an organizational entity that represents the structure of the university at any level and could be placed in a university organization chart. Departments are different from funding units (unit codes), instructional units (course abbreviations or fields of study) and other department structures, but correlate to them.
A department should always be an organization that continues regardless of the people associated with it. It should be an office and not a person. Departments are classified as either:
- Official Departments -- Included in the reports generated for regulatory agencies or legislative bodies.
- Sub-departments -- Considered by your organization to be a "node" in your departmental tree structure.
Sometimes the distinction between official department and sub-department is not clear-cut. The processing offices for department data can help determine whether or not a department belongs in the official university organization chart. Some general guidelines follow:
Official Department
An Official Department is an official organizational unit that reports to the President either directly or through the hierarchy and is represented on an official university organization chart. An official department may report only to another official department. A department closely associated with the university but not in the official reporting structure (for example, an affiliated agency) must be set up as a sub-department and sponsored by an official department. Other department types MUST be official, such as academic departments, organized research units, or colleges. (For more information, see Type.)
When do I create an Official Department?
Create an official department when the organizational unit needs to appear in the authoritative organizational charts for the Legislature and the Coordinating Board.
Other attributes may also indicate this is an Official Department:
- Purpose or mission serves the university as a whole instead of the department itself.
- Maintains a separate budget.
- Appoints people directly and tracks jobs.
- Located apart from the Official Department to which it reports.
What is NOT an Official Department
An official department is NOT a:
- Committee or special assignment.
- Field of study or degree program.
- Source of funding.
- Project.
- Job title or position.
Things to keep in mind about Official Departments:
- The system is about offices, organizational entities, and departments. It is not about individual people. If you have a single person leading initiatives, you must refer to "The Office for ___________" and list the individual as being in charge. For example, The Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.
- Departments can be reported to by departments, sub-departments, or a mixture of the two.
- The criticality and accuracy of the data on a Department is reviewed closely by the data managers because this is the official information about the university that will be sent to those to whom we report.
Sub-Department
A sub-department is an organizational unit or division within an Official Department that represent the organizational structure of the entity or its specific functions. Sub-departments may appear in a department's organization chart, but not in the official organization chart for the university. A sub-department may report to an official department or other sub-departments in the department portfolio. A sub-department always has the same department code as its official department, but also includes a distinctive tag of three additional characters (for example, ABCD-XYZ).
hen do I create a Sub-department?
Create a sub-department when there are divisions of your organization which the university does not need to recognize in their organizational charts but you would want:
- The group or program to appear in your internal organizational chart.
- The group or program to appear in the Directory.
- To create different contacts for some time portion of your organization.
- To route documents through group "leaders" if they were created by a staff member.
- To document work groups or programs in your organization.
Things to keep in mind about Sub-departments
- Sub-departments can have other sub-departments reporting to them. You can have a deep structure defining your organization, even if the university does not find the details valuable at the university level.
- Information about sub-departments can be used on internal reports. Accuracy of that information should be monitored.
- The system is about offices, organizational entities, and departments, not about individual people. If you have a single person leading initiatives, you must refer to "The Office for ___________" and list the individual as being in charge. For example, The Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.
The department head defaults to the unit head. If more than one official head exists in a department -- such as co-directors in an organized research unit -- both should be designated. If an incoming future department head is sharing duties with the current head, that person may also be designated as a head. To assign a second department head, complete a Signature Desk Request Form. Department officials below the head, such as associate director, should not be designated as department head. Sub-department heads may be determined by the official department.
Date on which new or changed department data in an electronic document takes effect. Department documents can be created and approved at any time up to a year in the future. But the data will not appear until the effective date arrives, although it will appear immediately in the semester logs. Effective dates are frequently the first date of an academic year or semester, but they can be any appropriate date.
The date on which a department ceases to exist. It may no longer exist at all or may be transformed into another separate department. See more information in Next Department.
Date on which department data expires. If the data extends indefinitely into the future, no expiration date is required. This date determines which semester logs are updated with the information. However, even if an expiration date exists, department data will not change until new data is processed through another department document (unless a department has ceased to exist).
State of an electronic document when it has been approved and routed completely through the department, hierarchy, and processing office. The date of the final approval may be called the processing date or last review date.
Entire reporting chain for a department, including all departments below or above the department, from sub-departments through the President.
Codes that identify the department in a different structure or application. Departments at the university are represented by other schemes that serve different purposes, such as funding or instruction. These codes should be linked to departments in this application so that different types of data can be connected. Identifiers maintained in this application include Accounting unit codes and DPUSER department prefixes (mainframe logon ID). For sub-departments, please list identifiers applying specifically to that sub-department if they are available.
Term or word that aids in the search of a department or sub-department. Current titles and names of heads are automatically included in a search and do not need to be entered as keywords. Examples of keywords include: safety, federal, counseling, oil, language.
An authorization role that can assign authorizations or roles to other users in a department, including updaters and other managers. Managers can:
- Update informational contacts
- Set up document routing, including routing for departmental electronic forms not based on accounts.
- Assign other managers and updaters
New departments created when this department ends. If a department or group of departments is converted into one or more new departments, the new codes should be entered as the next department. The original department(s) will cease to exist and will need an end date. If the original department will continue to exist in some way, do not fill in a next department. Sometimes departments change titles and reporting hierarchies. If reorganization is involved, such changes may require the creation of a new (next) department. If the staff and purpose of the department remain the same, however, a new department may NOT be necessary.
The primary higher-level department to which a department reports, excluding intermediary departments in the hierarchy. Portfolios are maintained by vice presidents, colleges or schools, and individual departments in relation to their sub-departments. For example, Section of Molecular Genetics reports directly to Biological Sciences, but is in the portfolio of Natural Sciences.
Departments that were converted into this department when it began. Many departments are newly created and are not based on a previous department. However, sometimes a department or group of departments is converted into a new department (or departments). The previous departments may cease to exist when the new department is created, but may continue if only a portion of the old department is converted into a new department. Previous department history for older departments is not necessary since codes will not exist for those previous departments. Previous department codes, if available, provide a full history of the department. See also Next Department.
The office or department that oversees the official university organization chart and has expertise on department issues. This office may be different for different institutions.
Sub-departments may choose whether or not to publish their hierarchy information in the organization chart. If a department wishes to create sub-departments for its own internal purposes, this information may be published at the discretion of the department. If a sub-department serves other departments, publishing the information is highly recommended. Any sub-department that appears in the official university directory should enter "yes" to publish its information. Users can see any sub-department in the department screens, but it should not show up in public listings, publications, or reports if Publish Sub-Department Data is "no."
The official department to which a department reports. Every department (except the President) directly reports to a department that oversees it and to which it is responsible. Department reporting relationships are hierarchical, so that the lower-level or reporting department is an organizational subset of the higher-level department. Most departments report to a single department. Occasionally a department may report officially to more than one department, especially if it crosses different portfolios. The order in which the higher-level departments are entered determines the order in which they will be processed for approvals or appear in a listing. If one of the higher-level departments houses the department or provides business or administrative functions, that department should be listed first.
An authorization role allowed only in the university department that acts as a steward or processing office for department information at the university. Stewards can act as managers in any department, if necessary, and they can set up new departments. They can create documents as a proxy for another department and route them within their office without routing through the department and its hierarchy. Stewards cannot be assigned as a Manager or Updater in the system. See more information in Processing Office.
See Department.
An informal title or any title that differs from the Official Title, but is commonly used to designate the department. For example, "Division of Recreational Sports" is often referred to as "Rec Sports." A familiar title is optional. See Naming Standards Help.
The complete, official, administratively-approved title for a department. This title should be suitable for use in official publications or screens. Do not include abbreviations (except standard initials in a person's name). For more information see Titles, Department. See Naming Standards Help for additional information.
A 22-character title designed to take up limited space on screens or reports. Include only terms that are most significant or commonly used. If the title is long, abbreviations may be necesssary. Avoid them if the title is short. To maximize space, use slashes (/) or ampersands, and avoid the use of periods. Avoid the use of Department, Center, Office, abbreviations of those terms, or other words indicating department type. For a complete list, see Sort Title. Type indicators or abbreviations may be necessary to distinguish official department titles with the same name: for example, Accounting administrative office vs. Accounting as an academic department. Put any type indicators at the end to make the title easy to find in a list. See Naming Standards Help for additional information.
Same as Full Title, but written so that people can find the department easily in a list. Put the term most likely to be used for sorting or searching at the beginning and the remainder of the title at the end, after a comma. For example, "Employee and Campus Services, Office of the Vice President for" or "Fine Arts, College of." Most terms indicating type should be put at the end, including: Department, Center, Office, College, School, Vice President, Section, Division, Program, Institute, Bureau, Foundation, Laboratory. The official university directory is a good source for sort titles. See more information in Titles, Department. See Naming Standards Help for additional information.
Title of the official department associated with a department or sub-department. All titles for official departments should be unique. However, titles for sub-departments do not have to be unique since they are a subset of an official department. The title of a sub-department, therefore, should always be shown along with the title of the official department. For example, a variety of departments may have a sub-department named "Administrative Services" or colleges may have a sub-department named "Admissions," but they can be distinguished by the title of the official department. Sub-department titles should be unique within the official department. All department titles (of any kind) should use mixed case and be kept up-to-date. See Naming Standards Help for additional information.
Classification indicating the overall purpose or mission of a department at the university. Occasionally, departments fulfill more than one purpose or mission and have more than one type. For example, School of Architecture, which does not have academic departments reporting to it, is both a College or School type and an Academic type. Types are limited to the primary classifications within the university structure and include the following:
Academic: Official disciplinary department in which faculty teach resident instruction courses to students enrolled at the university. This type includes official academic departments (for example, Physics) and academic programs (for example, Center for Mexican American Studies). Academic programs should also select the attribute Academic Program.
Affiliated Agency: An organization outside the university which receives services or administrative support from the university. Affiliated agencies must be sub-departments sponsored by an official department, since they are not part of the official university hierarchy. Some affiliated agencies have "41" accounts. Examples: Ex-Students Association, various journals.
Auxiliary: A self-supporting unit that provides goods and services to the campus community and general public and charges fees related to the cost of the goods and services provided. Examples: Housing and Food, UT Press, Erwin Center.
College or School: Official administrative unit in charge of academic departments or professional schools, as well as organized research units and academic support operations. Examples: College of Education, School of Nursing.
Community Outreach: An organization that sponsors non-academic programs and services to the external community. Examples: University Interscholastic League, Neighborhood Longhorns.
Continuing Education: An organization that offers continuing education to participants external to the university. The department may also offer instruction to university students or employees, but will always be open to outside participants.
Foundation: An organization that maintains funds or endowments given for the permanent support of the university or its functions.
Internal to Department: A support activity or functional area of a department that provides administrative or infrastructure support for the department itself. This type applies to a sub-department which exists only to serve the official department.
K-12 Academic Education: An organization that provides or sponsors academic education for grade-level students from kindergarten through high school. Examples: UT Elementary School, Charter School.
Library or Museum: An organization that collects and shares resources for scholarly research by university faculty and students and non-university researchers. Serves the general public by providing access to university collections and holdings through exhibitions and other programs. Examples: General Libraries, Blanton Art Museum.
Organized Research: An organization that has an administratively approved organized research unit charter and performs activities related to the research mission of the university. Official departments only.
President: Office of the chief executive officer of the university.
University Administrative: An organization that provides administrative or infrastructure support for the university at large. This type is broad and includes business functions and support services for students, employees, departments and the university as a whole. Examples: Student Affairs, Office of Accounting, Physical Plant.
Vice President: Offices of vice presidents who are administrative officers reporting directly to and responsible to the President. Official departments only.
An authorization role with the ability to information contacts. Updaters may enter data only for their department.