Approval Requirements

Chair or Director approval is required for all one-time expenditures, including UW Reimbursements, UW Travel Reimbursements, UW Advances, and Guest Payments and Reimbursements. Divisional Dean approval is required for longer-term initiative spending. 

Chair or Director approval is also required for all Central Travel Account (CTA) transactions as well. Please attach approval when you reconcile your CTA. 

If your expenditure is funded by a research grant (as opposed to a Stand-Alone grant), you do not need to attach Chair or Director approval.  

• For the Administrative Support Team (AST)'s Pay/Pro supported units: When you indicate that the expenditure is funded by a research grant in your submission to AST, AST will note in Workday: “Justification for this research grant expenditure is included in documentation maintained with the department.” 

• For the five units not included in AST’s Pay/Pro portfolio: Please add the following statement to the comments box on your Workday transaction: "The benefits of this transaction to the research grant are documented in documentation available in the department." 

Contact teamcas@uw.edu to if you have any questions. 

As of 7/22/2025, the following HR/Payroll actions have been granted blanket approval from the Dean (effective immediately):

• All hires and compensation changes supported fully on sponsored grants and Royalty Research Fund awards 
• All hires and compensation changes supported fully on start-up funds and retentions funds (also known as stand-alone grant tags which are funded by core funds) 
• All hires and compensation changes supported fully on fee-based degree program operating plans (in other words not net revenue, hires required to teach ourses etc.) 
• All hires and compensation changes supported fully on course-fees 
• All hires and compensation change supported fully on fees such as ticket sales, recharge sales 
• All one-time payments to students, faculty or staff less than $500 on any resource 
• Hourly appointments whose duration is less than three months and less than 20 hours per week on any resource 
• TA appointments for the 2025-2026 academic year on any resource 
• Reader/grader appointments for the 2025-2026 academic year on any resource 
• Temporary instructional hires for the 2025-2026 Academic Year can proceed, but should not exceed the number of such hires for a given unit in 2024-2025. 

For actions that fall outside of the listed blanket approvals, continue to use the Hiring/Compensation Change Request form to acquire approval, outlining why the position or compensation is essential and the funding arrangement. If approval is granted, please include a note in Workday or in the comments when submitting to AST that the dean’s level approval has been obtained. 

These approvals will remain in effect until we receive further guidance. Contact teamcas@uw.edu if you have any questions.