• Enables users to view and efficiently manage academic staff allocations in one centralised and integrated online system, where they can see timetabled classes, enrolment and additional activities.
• Improves the processes of allocating the work of casual academic staff, helping ensure we keep accurate records to enable on-time payments.
• Provides real-time data, in-system notifications and a central dashboard (updated every 15 minutes), allowing colleagues to coordinate and communicate with each other centrally.
• Supports compliant and consistent practice related to work allocation, schedule management, and payment of casual academic staff.
• Helps ensure the University maintains its compliance obligations.

The OTA tool forms part of the Employee Payments Review controls package, which also implements a consistent process for maintaining casual academics’ work allocations, and a centralised timesheet approval process which reconciles all timesheets to the work allocations, as part of the approval process.  

It is recognised that additional effort is required across the University to use OTA and these processes, and additional staff have been put in place to supplement both work allocation maintenance and timesheet reconciliation (the Casual Academics’ Administration Officer (CAAO) and Casual Academics’ Timesheet Approver (CATA) teams).

The OTA tool supports and streamlines the work allocation process for casual academics, but this requires work allocations to be maintained through the semester (reflecting both operational changes and personal availability changes), and reconciliation of timesheets to this allocation. If they do not match, either the work allocation record in the tool or the staff member’s timesheet will need to be updated before their timesheet can be approved.

Training and support for faculties and University schools to help implement and embed the OTA tool and associated processes is available and will continue throughout 2024 and 2025.

The purpose of this process is to plan casual academic and fixed-term/continuing staff allocations to teaching/non-teaching activities (referred to as work allocations), enter these work allocations in OTA, maintain allocations, review casual academic timesheet submissions, and finally, pay casuals for the work they have performed.

Please see below for role specific information and resources, and see our Frequently Asked Questions section for further advice. 

Enters the planned allocations (e.g., Unit of study coordinators, Tutor engagement team, Admin support, Education support, Discipline exec officer)

Responsibilities

Note: Allocator role responsibilities may differ slightly based on processes and requirements in local areas, particularly in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine and Health.

• Monitor allocation progress and class coverage 
• Ensure allocations are updated in OTA as required
• Communicate local timings and deadlines to academic decision makers 
• Submit allocations for approval.

System access

• OTA portal – view reports to track allocations
• OTA tool – record allocations

Knowledge articles

• How to access the Online Teaching Allocations (OTA) tool
• How to enter work allocations and submit for approval
• How to add additional activities (scheduled, unscheduled)
• How to delete a row in OTA (work allocation)
• How to monitor the progress and status of unit of study allocations and activities (Reporting)
• How to update late classes in OTA for pre-approved staff allocations
• How to view casual staff profiles within the Online Teaching Allocation Portal
• How to export a report
• How to rollover semester scheduled and unscheduled activities in OTA
• How to use the comment function in OTA
• How to edit scheduled activity in OTA
• How to bulk add activities in OTA
• How to manage a discrepancy when allocating PhD rate

Video demonstration

View our video demonstration for allocators here.

Video snippets

• Create an unscheduled activity
• Delete an activity (ignore class)
• Create a sub-activity

Reminders and guidance

Work allocations and timesheets:

• From the start of Semester 1, 2024 work allocations need to be entered into OTA by Allocators in each faculty/school, and approved by the relevant faculty/school staff. 
• Each casual academic's OTA work schedule will be the formal record of the work the University has asked them to complete.  All work they are required to do needs to be listed in the schedule and if they have been asked to complete work not detailed in the schedule they will need to contact their work allocator, so that it can be updated. Timesheet approvals will be reconciled to the schedule to ensure we are paying staff accurately.  
• Work allocators will need to advise the casual academics’ administration officers (CAAO) team for their faculty/school of any changes to a casual academic's work allocation as soon as the change is approved so that it can be updated in their work schedule within OTA. Examples of changes include tutor swaps, if a staff member is sick and can’t work, or if a staff member is allocated extra hours. 
• From the start of Semester 1, all casual academic timesheets will be directed to the casual academics’ timesheet approver (CATA) team for review and approval, rather than locally within faculties/schools.   

Onboarding and CASS offer of work:

• The OTA tool does not replace the University's onboarding process for new staff. Please refer to the onboarding information on the staff intranet.
• At the beginning of each semester, and before the casual academic commences work activities for a unit, the CAAO team will create and send a Casual Academic Scheduling System (CASS) offer of work to the casual academic. The CASS offer of work includes a link to the casual academic's work allocations in OTA. 

Approval of allocations

Responsibilities

• Review and approve allocation of hours, including budget and paycodes 
• Reject allocations as required
• View allocation reports.

System access

• OTA portal – view reports to track allocations
• OTA tool – approve  allocations

Knowledge articles

• How to access the Online Teaching Allocations (OTA) tool
• How to approve or reject hours for work allocations
• How to check if I have any approvals
• How to monitor the progress and status of unit of study allocations and activities (Reporting)
• How to export a report

Video demonstration

View the approver video demonstration here. 

Review and approve allocations on behalf of an approver.

Note: It is important that delegated approvers perform these responsibilities correctly, as approvers remain personally accountable for their role in the process.

Delegated approvers must be familiar with the school teaching program​, have an in-depth understanding of teaching activities​, ideally be in a fixed-term or continuing role​ and have completed the mandatory training module ‘Work allocation and timesheet practices for staff coordinating casual academics’. 

Responsibilities

• Review and approve allocation of hours, paycodes and class coverage
• Reject allocations as required
• View allocation reports.

System access

• OTA portal – view reports to track allocations
• OTA tool – approve allocations.

Knowledge articles

• How to access the Online Teaching Allocations (OTA) tool
• How to approve or reject hours for work allocations
•  How to check if I have any approvals to approve
•  How to monitor the progress and status of unit of study allocations and activities (Reporting)
• How to export a report

Video demonstration

View the delegated approver/approver video demonstration here. 

Unit of study coordinators can view allocations in the OTA Portal using My Units

Responsibilities

• Work with allocator and academic decision makers to plan unit
• View work allocation reports.

System access

• OTA portal – view reports to track allocations

Knowledge articles

• How to access the Online Teaching Allocations (OTA) tool
• How to review work allocations (My Units) ensuring completeness and accuracy
• How to export a report.

Video demonstration

• Watch a recording of the latest compliance control briefing session for unit of study coordinators (includes an OTA reporting demonstration) here or download the presentation pack here.

Issues and maintains CASS offers of work

CAAO Responsibilities

• Monitors allocation approval progress (to prepare for issuing CASS offers of work)
• Issues CASS offers of work for approved allocations to casual academics before they commence work on a unit. (Note, CASS offers of work include a link to the casual academic's work allocations in OTA).
• Manages work allocation variation requests.

CAAO System access

• OTA portal – view reports to track allocations
• OTA tool – views and maintains allocations
• CASS – issues offers of work

Support

Knowledge articles

• How to access the Online Teaching Allocations (OTA) tool
• How to enter work allocations and submit for approval
• How to add additional activities (scheduled, unscheduled)
• How to view casual staff profiles within the Online Teaching Allocation Portal
• How to export a report

There is a summary of how you will use OTA, including information on how to view your work allocations, on the casual academics information page (in the 'Work schedules' section).

Grants and manages user access to OTA:

Faculty User Admin Responsibilities

• Receive an access management request.

• Action the request within a reasonable time of receiving the request. 

• Confirm with staff member that the request has been fulfilled and ask them to complete the Workday mandatory training module.
  
  Note: Unit of study coordinators and line managers of casual academics will automatically be assigned the mandatory training module. If the new user is NOT a unit of study coordinator or line manager of a casual academic, the Faculty User Admin must use this Human Resources form to request that the mandatory training module be assigned to the new user.

Faculty User Admin System access

• OTA portal – ‘My Access’ available in the portal.

• Access portal – Access Management Portal rights to the designated Faculty / University school the administrator resides. 

Support

***TO REQUEST ACCESS***

1. Advise your School Manager – of the role/s you require in OTA. 
2. School Manager submits request – to local administrator contact above detailing the name, staff email, school/department, role/s required, and type of request.
3. Email confirmation – provided to the individual staff member once the request has been actioned.
4. Complete your training – all users of OTA must complete Mandatory Training Module 2: Work allocation and timesheet practices for staff coordinating casual academics (30 mins duration)

Knowledge articles

• How to grant access/remove access for Online Teaching Allocation (OTA)

Provides general advice and guidance on the allocation, tracking and reporting of work allocations for casual academics in OTA.

Contact details

These questions address specific operational aspects of scheduling and modifying work activities for casual academic staff, encompassing a range of scenarios from the addition of personnel to existing activities, through to the nuanced handling of unscheduled or irregular work types.

How do I add an additional person onto a timetabled activity?

Select the activity line item by ticking the tick box on the left-hand side. Click create sub task and add additional person onto the activity.

When adding a once-off schedule or unscheduled activity, what do I put when it asks, ‘choose weeks to add’?

One week or it won’t come up as an allocation.

Should a one-hour meeting on campus be entered as a two-hour meeting in OTA if it can't be paired with another on-campus activity?

No, you should only enter the actual duration of the work required. This means a one-hour meeting should be recorded as such, even if it cannot be combined with another activity on campus

If a casual academic ends up not working for the entire duration of a scheduled long activity (e.g., 6 hours), how can I adjust the hours that are greyed out and can't be edited?

To adjust the hours for a long activity, you need to create a sub-activity and enter the actual hours worked by the casual academic. In the original row with the greyed-out hours, the Allocation Status should be set to 'Ignore class'.

How do I add unscheduled marking hours for certain weeks that have already been scheduled in OTA?

If the original marking activity was scheduled for specific weeks in OTA, you won't be able to edit hours for all weeks. Instead, add the marking as a new flexible (flexi) unscheduled activity without assigning it to individual weeks. In the original row with the greyed-out hours, the Allocation Status should be set to 'Ignore class'.

Can an activity be deleted?

You can delete activities you create (e.g. sub-activities, scheduled or unscheduled activities) but you cannot delete timetabled activities. These need to be removed from timetabling, or you need to mark it as ‘ignore’. Refer to the How to delete a row in OTA (work allocation) knowledge article for instructions.

What is the difference between Scheduled and Unscheduled Activity?

Scheduled activity generally has a date and time assigned to it e.g. a weekly meeting at 09:00 for an hour; an Unscheduled activity can be ad-hoc (like a meeting) or there is no specific date and time assigned to it e.g. marking.

What is a sub-activity?

A sub-activity refers to any additional activity that is required in conjunction with a scheduled main activity. For example, it could involve a casual academic attending a lecture or a tutorial. These sub-activities are supplemental but integral parts of the overall scheduled activities.

How do I enter an unscheduled activity in OTA when the exact start date is unknown?

Select 'Unscheduled Activity' and choose 'Yes' for 'Flex Time'. This option is used because selecting 'No' would require specifying the start date, which is not possible if the date is unknown. Refer to the How to add additional activities (scheduled, unscheduled) knowledge article for instructions.

These questions address various aspects of the approval process, including the distinctions between different types of approvals, handling rejections and amendments, and understanding the significance of different allocation statuses.

How do I know when a work allocation has gone for approval?

Allocation status has been updated to ‘Hours for Approval’

Can I withdraw or change an allocation that has been submitted for approval?

Yes. If an allocation is still at the ‘Hours For Approval’ status you can withdraw the allocation, amend it and resubmit it for approval. Please refer to this knowledge article (section 'Removing an allocation pending') for further instructions.

Does the rejection notification email include the reason for the rejection of hours submitted in OTA?

Yes. When hours are rejected in OTA, the reason for the rejection is included in the notification email sent to the Allocator. While you can see that hours have been rejected directly in OTA, the specific reasons for rejection are not currently viewable. This feature is under consideration for future OTA updates.

Is it better to save work allocations as drafts and send them for approval all at once just before the semester starts, or to send them for approval in real-time as they are created?

It's important to balance the efficiencies for allocators with the timely employment and scheduling needs of the casual academics. While it may be more efficient for allocators to accumulate all work allocations and submit them collectively for approval just before the semester begins, this approach may not be the most efficient for casual academics. This is because casual academics need to receive their schedules, confirm their employment, and start their work in a timely manner.

What is the procedure if someone rejects a submission during the approval process? Does it require going through the complete redo of the approval process if changes are made?

If a submission is rejected during the approval process, it does need to be resubmitted and go through the entire approval process again. Any necessary changes must be made to the submission before it can be resubmitted for approval.

Does every schedule or work allocation change require approval?

In the initial planning stages, yes. However, during the semester, the CAAOs handle changes, with 'approval' coming from instructions by unit of study coordinators.

What steps should I take if I’ve entered an incorrect pay code for a casual academic in OTA?

Follow these steps to correct a pay code error:

Navigate to ‘Approved Allocations’: Go to the approved allocations for the relevant unit of study.

Edit pay code: Locate the allocation for the staff member and update the pay code to accurately reflect their work activities.

Refresh the page: After making the changes, refresh the page to ensure the updates are applied.

What do each of the allocation statuses mean?

This table lists each allocation status and their purpose, and if they trigger an email to be sent and to which OTA role:

These questions touch on various facets of managing staff within the system, such as adding new staff members, handling schedules for multiple staff covering the same activity, managing absences or delegation of duties, and ensuring that the OTA system accurately reflects the work schedules and allocations for casual academics.

How do I see a new casual I have added?

Select Show non-onboarded casuals, then go to staff dropdown

What do I do if I can’t find an onboarded staff member in the dropdown?

It is best to search by last name or staff ID.

How do I remove a staff member from certain weeks of a timetabled activity?

Ignore class in Class View.

If multiple staff cover a particular activity throughout the semester, how do I do that?

In Class View, select staff member paycodes etc. by week.

Is it possible to delegate the data entry responsibilities in OTA if I'm unavailable e.g., on annual abs?

Yes, delegation is possible within OTA. There are roles within OTA designated as Allocators, and it is possible to have additional staff members assigned to these roles. This arrangement ensures continuity of data entry tasks during periods when the primary person responsible is unavailable., such as during annual leave.

Does the Delegated Approver have the authority to approve both the allocated hours and the appointment of the casual academic?

Yes, the Delegated Approver is responsible for approving both the hours allocated to specific tasks or roles and the appointment of the casual academic.

If I cover someone else's tutorial or lecture and this change is not reflected in my OTA work schedule, do I need to get it updated?

Yes. Your OTA work schedule is the formal record of the work the University has asked you to perform. Timesheet approvals will be reconciled to the schedule to make sure we are paying staff accurately.  If you need to make changes to your work schedule at any time during the semester you will need to first contact your unit of study coordinator or work allocator. They will review the request for change and if approved, contact the centralised casual academics’ administration officers (CAAO) team for your faculty/school to ensure the changes are made in OTA.

How should casual staff be recorded in OTA when they co-deliver units at different times (e.g., one teaches Weeks 1-5, another from Weeks 6-13)?

In cases of co-delivery by casual staff, initially, the class name should be used to create an itemized schedule. This schedule can then be adjusted to reflect the specific teaching periods of each casual staff member. The system allows for changes in staff members assigned to different segments of the unit.

How do I schedule replacement classes for public holidays in OTA?

Managing replacement classes for public holidays in OTA involves a few steps based on whether the class is already in the timetabling system:

• Replacement class already in timetabling: If the replacement class is already scheduled in the timetabling system, there's no need to manually add it to OTA as it will automatically be in the OTA system.
• Adding a replacement class: If the replacement class is not in the timetabling system, you will need to manually add it as a scheduled activity in OTA and assign the appropriate staff member to it.
• Handling original class on a public holiday:
  • If in timetabling: If the original class scheduled on a public holiday appears in the timetabling system, mark the specific week of the public holiday as ‘ignore’ in OTA. Remember to remove the staff allocation for that week to avoid scheduling conflicts.
  • If not in timetabling: If the original class on the public holiday is not listed in the timetabling system, there is no action required in OTA.

How should casual academics claim loading, and is it considered a scheduled activity in OTA?

Loading for casual academics can be claimed as an 'Unscheduled Activity' in OTA when the specific hours they will claim are not known in advance.

Does the OTA schedule also need to include any compulsory training sessions?

It depends if the compulsory training is mandatory University training in Workday or faculty/school specific. Mandatory University training in Workday - casual staff who are employed on a regular and systematic basis are eligible to claim up to 4 paid hours per annum for the completion of mandatory University training in Workday, including code of conduct and cybersecurity training. Only mandatory Workday training modules are considered work that is paid under Clause 68 of the Enterprise Agreement and there is no requirement to enter hours for the completion of this mandatory training in OTA. When submitting your timesheet you are required to select ‘GEN-EA CLAUSE 68’ in the 'Unit of Study' field when claiming the training hours. Other additional faculty/school/unit of study training needs to be entered into OTA as a scheduled/unscheduled activity and is paid for by the relevant school/faculty. Faculty/school specific training – work allocation for this training should be captured in OTA and you will see this on your schedule usually, but not always, with a ‘GEN’ unit of study code. Any queries about work allocations in your schedule should be directed to your unit of study coordinator or work allocator.

I know a staff member exists, why can’t I find them in OTA?

When searching for a staff member in OTA, the best option is to use their surname or staff ID. To do this, just click in the ‘staff’ field and type in their surname or staff ID.

What should I do if a staff member appears twice with the same organisation on the allocator screen?

You can select either entry as it does not affect the allocation process.

What is the process for adding a casual academic who is not currently listed in OTA?

If a staff member isn’t listed in OTA, it is usually because they have not been onboarded. Select ‘Add New Casual’ and input their details in the pop-up box. Make sure you have marked ‘Show Non-Onboarded Casuals’ for the new casual details to appear. This does not replace existing onboarding processes, and you need to ensure onboarding is also underway.

What is the difference between the OTA Portal and the OTA Tool?

The OTA Portal

• Tracks allocations
• Provides view only access
• Is beneficial for reporting, overseeing and reviewing allocations in OTA.

The OTA Tool:

• Is an online tool which records allocations
• Provides access to enter/update work allocations
• Gives the ability to capture all work that casual academics are requested to complete.