internal
Authority Manager
Overview
Authority Manager [log in] is a web application that gives Stanford managers a central location to manage the systems authority their employees need to do their jobs. Authority Manager maintains the master record of who is authorized to do what, and notifies participating business systems of any changes to an employee's authority or status, so the business systems can allow or prevent access to the employee as appropriate.
Authority Manager allows an authorized person to grant privileges to a staff or faculty member for a specified organization, and to limit those privileges to specific populations, careers, approval limits, projects, awards, and so on. As long as the person meets the prerequisites and conditions of the authority, s/he will be able to access the affected systems within the specified limits.
Acting approvers and Designated Drivers
As of August 16, 2007, acting approvers are no longer managed in Authority Manager. (They were formerly one type of "Designated Driver", along with authority-granting proxy.) This feature has been enabled in Oracle Financials, so you can manage acting approvers as part of your workflow. See Delegating Your Approval Worklist for more information.
The authority-granting proxy feature is on the Home page of Authority Manager, in the My Authority section.
Authority prerequisites
If you have been granted authority, you may have received an email indicating that there are training or qualification tasks you need to complete before the authority can be activated. The prerequisites you need to complete are listed in the email; or to look up your current prerequisites status:
- Login to Authority Manager and view your own authority.
- Look in the status column for: pending prereqs
- Click the icon to see a list of prerequisites and their current status.
» How to complete prerequisites
Enroll in all training via STARS in Axess (see the STARS Learning Center for instructions). If you complete a tutorial without enrolling via STARS, you may not be credited for the course, and your authority will not be activated.
| Most common prerequisites | Enroll in... | |
|---|---|---|
Cost Policy Training |
 |
» Cost Policy and Chart Of Accounts (ORA-1101) Required for most Approvals, Self-Service, and Student GFS privileges |
Confidentiality Statement |
 |
» Print and sign the Confidentiality Agreement and return to the Controller's Office as instructed on the form. Required for most Labor Distribution and Financial Reporting privileges. |
Student Administration Training |
 |
» See the PeopleSoft Training Requirements page Required for all Student Administration privileges. |
| iSpace prerequisites | ||
iSpace Confidentiality Agreement |
|
» sign the iSpace Confidentiality Agreement online (in STARS) Required for Space Management privileges |
| Oracle Financials prerequisites | » see also Fingate - Resource Center: Training | |
Cost Policy Training |
|
» Cost Policy and Chart Of Accounts (ORA-1101) Required for most Approvals, Self-Service, and Student GFS privileges |
iBudget Training |
|
» see Training By Application in the Gateway to Financial Activities web site for information about Introduction to iBudgets
Required for iBudget Manager and iBudget Administrator privileges |
iOU Training |
|
» iOU Reimbursements & Advances (FIN-0460) Required foriOU Public privilege |
Labor Distribution Training |
|
» Labor Schedules (FIN-0510) Required for Labor Distribution Adjustment privilege |
Labor Distribution Adjustments Training |
|
» Labor Distribution Adjustments (FIN-0520) Required for Labor Distribution Coordinator, and Labor Schedule and Update privileges |
PCard Training |
|
» PCard Policy and Procedure (FIN-0450) Required for PCard privileges |
Sign Confidentiality Statement |
|
» Print and sign the Confidentiality Agreement and return to the Controller's Office as instructed on the form. Required for most Labor Distribution and Financial Reporting privileges. |
| Peoplesoft HR prerequisites | » see also HR Admin Training | |
Manage HR Records Training |
» Follow the instructions here: Manage HR Records Role/Web Forms Expert User Required for HR specialist (update employee records) privileges |
|
| Peoplesoft SA prerequisites | ||
PeopleSoft Training Requirements |
|
» Follow the instructions here: PeopleSoft Training Requirements |
| STARS Administrator prerequisites | ||
Enrollment Administrator Training |
|
»STARS v9 Certification (Enrollment Administrator) |
| Learning Administrator Training | |
»STARS v9 Certification (Learning Administrator) (STAR-PROG-0005) Required to perform the learning administrator role for training programs administered through STARS. See Instructions for Enrolling in this training. |
» When will my prerequisites status be updated?
This section gives an overview of how your prequisite status flows through the University business systems, and how soon you can expect your authority to be activated.
If it's taking significantly more time to activate your authority than the guidelines below indicate, contact HelpSU to let them know that processing may be stalled.
| During this step in the process... | Authority Manager status is: | |
|---|---|---|
in your Authority view |
in popup window |
|
1. You complete the prerequisite. You can complete prerequisites before or after the authority is granted. You will receive a reminder email if you haven't completed a prerequisite after 14 days. (After 300 days, any pending authority for which you still have not completed prereqs will be invalidated.)
Register in STARS to complete most training; refer to the list above for specifics. |
pending prereqs |
Incomplete |
2. A person or an automated process records your status.
In most cases, STARS updates your "completed" status automatically. » Updates are posted 4 times daily, between 9:30am and 9:30pm.
On receipt of your certificate of completion, AS staff updates your "completed" status. » Allow 1-2 business days for inter-office mail. » Allow 1-2 business days for staff to update your status. |
pending prereqs |
Incomplete |
3. Authority Manager is notified. Background processes run continually to check for status changes and update your information as needed. » For about 15 minutes (to a maximum of 2 hours), your status will display as "pending" but "complete". |
pending prereqs |
Complete |
4. OracleFinancials, PeopleSoft, ReportMart, etc. are notified. Authority Manager sends a message to the business systems to let them know your authority can be activated. » For about 15 minutes (to a maximum of 2 hours), your status will display as "active" in Authority Manager, but is not yet effective in the business systems. |
active |
|
Frequently Asked Questions
These questions have been collected from Authority Manager users in training presentations, usability tests, and help desk transactions.
- When I assign authority in Authority Manager, what happens in Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, and other business systems?
- How can I find out what authority I have?
- Can anyone see what authority I have?
- Who can give me the authority I need?
- How do prerequisites affect authority?
- What are the "Stanford academic and administrative communities", and where do sponsored SUNet IDs fit in?
- What happens when someone leaves the University?
- Why can't I edit or revoke an assignment?
- Why are some organization names in italics?
- How can I find an inactive organization when it's no longer listed in the hierarchy?
- How can someone get authority for a project that's shared by two or more organizations?
- Why is the "can grant" choice sometimes unavailable when I assign authority?
- Why can't I specify an award/project/task?
- How can I find out who has approvals authority for a specific project or task?
- How can I change a person's spending limit for one project without affecting their other projects?
- Why are some assignment rows all in italics?
- Where is the "grant-only" feature?
- If I am re-organizing my department and changing people’s assignment org codes, will I have to restore all their authority?
- I have an employee who has more than one job (multiple assignments). What happens if the assignment org or status changes on the other job?
- What happens to someone who is on disability or maternity leave - is their authority automatically revoked?
- When someone is laid off is their authority automatically revoked?
- If someone has an authority limit with more than one value (say two specific projects) and I only have one of them, can I restore or revoke that authority assignment limit?
- How does someone know his/her authority has been revoked due to a department or status change?
1. When I assign authority in Authority Manager, what happens in Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, and other business systems?
When you make any authority change in Authority Manager, an event is posted to a queue. Consumers of authority information check the queue periodically. If a new event is of interest to the consumer system, it will collect the authority document referenced by the event, and update the authority in their system to match it.
Example:
Jane Doe is given financial approvals authority for a new project. Authority Manager posts an event to the queue, and updates Jane's authority document. All consumer systems can see the event in the queue, but this particular event is of interest only to Oracle Financials, which collects Jane's authority document and updates her Oracle authority.
Depending on the consumer system, changes take effect in near real-time (ranging from a few minutes to an hour) to next business day.
2. How can I find out what authority I have?
On the home page of Authority Manager, in the My authority section, click your name link. Your Person view lists the authority that's been granted to you.
3. Can anyone see what authority I have?
Anyone in the Stanford academic and administrative communities (i.e. anyone who is eligible to receive authority) can access Authority Manager and view authority for any person or organization. The authority itself is not considered private information, though it is restricted to the Stanford community.
4. Who can give me the authority I need?
Authority is granted by delegation from other people in your organization or its parent. To get authority, you need to find someone who both:
- has the same or more authority, and
- is able to grant it.
Look at the Organization view for the organization for which you need authority. Look for the privilege(s) you need in the first column, then check the right-most column to see which of the people listed can grant that privilege.
If no-one in the organization has the privilege you need, or no-one is able to grant the privilege, click on the name of the parent organization (at the top of the view), and so on, until you find someone who both has, and can extend, the privilege.
5. How do prerequisites affect authority?
Some privileges require that you complete specific training, sign a confidentiality agreement, or meet some other condition before you can actually use the privilege. Authority Manager holds the privilege in a "pending" state until it is notified that the prerequisite has been completed. Once you've completed a given prerequisite, any other privilege that has the same prerequisite can be activated as soon as it's granted.
When you are assigned a privilege that has unmet prerequisites, you'll be informed by email which prerequisite(s) you need to complete, and your Person view will show a "pending prerequisites" status for that privilege. Click the icon to see the status of the specific prerequisite(s).
A list of people who have completed each prerequisite is maintained in Workgroup Manager. When you are added to a list, it may take up to a day for the privilege to be activated.
>> More about prerequisites...
6. What are the "Stanford academic and administrative communities", and where do sponsored SUNet IDs fit in?
The Stanford academic and administrative communities define the group of people who can:
- log into Authority Manager, and
- have active authority
The communities include:
- all regular and visiting faculty
- all regular staff
- casual/temporary staff
- instructional staff
- department-sponsored ids (contractors, consultants, temporary help, etc.)
- all current students
If a person's status changes so that they are no longer a member of these communities (they leave Stanford; their SUNet ID sponsorship expires; etc.), their authority will be automatically revoked.
7. What happens when someone leaves the University?
When their PeopleSoft HR status changes, the authority registry will be notified, and their authority will be automatically revoked. The affected business systems will be notified in turn, and the person's access to those systems will be closed. The person(s) who granted the now-revoked authority will be notified by email. (If the original grantor is no longer available, the notification will be sent to the Help Desk to determine whether any further action is required.)
8. Why can't I edit or revoke an assignment?
Generally speaking, you can edit or revoke any assignment that you could also grant. Even if you were the original grantor of an assignment, if you cannot now grant the same privilege, for the same organization (or its parent), with the same (or more) limits and conditions, you will not be able to edit or revoke that assignment.
9. Why are some organization names in italics?
Inactive organization names are shown in italics. Inactive organizations continue to be accessible in Authority Manager, because they may have outstanding accounting or reporting needs that require authority.
10. How can I find an inactive organization when it's no longer listed in the hierarchy?
To find an inactive organization in Authority Manager, it helps to know its 4-character org code (also called Admin ID). Use the Find an Organization tool, or the search box in the Grant wizard to search for the organization by its name, or its 4-character code.
Inactive organizations that have existing authority assignments will appear in Person and Business Function views, in italics.
11. How can someone get authority for a project that's shared by two or more organizations?
Someone in each organization must grant authority for the portions of the project owned by their organization. This will result in two or more separate assignments that can be edited and revoked separately. All the assignments will appear in the Person view; the assignments specific to an organization will appear in its Organization view.
12. Why is the "can grant " choice sometimes unavailable when I assign authority?
If you grant a financial privilege that's limited to a selected principal owner, the "can grant" choice will not be available. Selecting a principal owner means you're granting authority for all current and future projects and tasks owned by that principal owner. Only people who have "all projects & tasks" authority can extend authority limited to a principal owner.
13. Why can't I specify an award/project/task?
Awards, projects, and tasks are owned by leaf-node organizations in the hierarchy. When you scope an authority assignment to an organization that has children, you cannot limit it more precisely than "all projects/awards", which includes all current and future projects/awards for the organization and its children. If you scope the assignment to a leaf-node organization, you choose between "all projects/awards" or limiting it more precisely to one or more awards, projects, or tasks.
14. How can I find out who has approvals authority for a specific project or task?
If you know which leaf-node organization owns the project or task, find its Organization view, which lists the people who have specific privileges in that organization. The details column lists the projects to which each privilege applies - either "All projects & tasks" or a list of specific projects and/or tasks. If the Organization view is very long, use the browser's Find feature (Ctrl-F or 
-F) to search for the project or task number.
People with "all projects" authority in the leaf-node organization, and people who have authority scoped to the parent organization, all have implicit authority for any project or task owned by the leaf-node organization.
15. How can I change a person's spending limit for one project without affecting their other projects?
Each authority assignment is handled as a unit. An assignment is created by one pass through the grant wizard, and results in one white or gray row in an authority view. If an assignment includes more than one project (or task, or award), the same limits and conditions apply to all the projects (or tasks, or awards) in the assignment. If you need to set different limits or conditions for specific projects (or tasks, or awards), create a single assignment for each one.
16. Why are some assignment rows all in italics?
Privileges with "grant-only" status are shown in italics. The person who has a grant-only privilege is not authorized to actually use the privilege in any business system, but only to grant the privileges to others - so the privilege is effectively inactive.
For example, if a person has a "grant-only" approvals privilege, s/he is not actually authorized to approve transactions, and will not be selected as an approver in the workflow. S/he can, however, designated other people as approvers, by granting the approvals privilege to them.
17. Where is the "grant-only" feature?
"Grant-only" appears on the "conditions" (final) step of the grant wizard. It's a third choice in the drop-down selector: can grant, cannot grant, or can only grant.
However, the grant-only option does not appear for all privileges - the option is made available for specific privileges at the discretion of the business owners.
18. If I am re-organizing my department and changing people’s assignment org codes, will I have to restore all their authority?
If you are only moving a few people around the Restore All feature should allow you to easily reinstate their authority. However, if you are moving a large number of people we can help restore them for you. Submit a HelpSU ticket describing your planned changes before you make the changes in PeopleSoft. Request Category - Administrative Applications, Request Type - Authority Manager, you will need to provide a list of the effected SUNet IDs and the planned date for the change.
19. I have an employee who has more than one job (multiple assignments). What happens if the assignment org or status changes on the other job?
Any change will trigger the revocation of all authority. You, or someone with granting ability, will need to go to the person’s “recently revoked authority” screen and click “Restore All”. All the authority for which you have granting ability will be restored.
20. What happens to someone who is on disability or maternity leave - is their authority automatically revoked?
Yes, when a staff member goes on disability or maternity leave their affiliation changes to "staff: onleave". This new status will cause their existing authority to be revoked. In order to retain their authority, someone with appropriate granting ability should review their "recently revoked page" and "restore all" authority. This must be done within 60 days of them going on leave, as the recently revoked authority retains the information for only 60 days. When the individual returns, their status will again change, and the same process must be done.
21. When someone is laid off is their authority automatically revoked?
Yes, when a staff member goes on terminal vacation leave their affiliation changes to "staff: onleave". This new status will cause their existing authority to be revoked. Since the 60 day notice period that precedes terminal vacation does not automatically revoke authority, it is recommended that authority be manually revoked at the beginning of the notice period.
22. If someone has an authority limit with more than one value (say two specific projects) and I only have one of them, can I restore or revoke that authority assignment limit?
Currently, this is not possible. You must have grantable authority that matches completely the limits on the other person's authority assignment. You cannot revoke or restore the authority assignment if you do not match. If it was revoked by someone else you can make a new authority grant for the one you have, but not for the other. If the authority needs to be revoked you will need to request someone with sufficient grantable authority to do it.
23. How does someone know his/her authority has been revoked due to a department or status change?
An email notification is sent to the individual indicating that authority assignments have been revoked due to an affiliation change.