and DGSOM Department of Psychiatry

Finance Office

Funding Distribution Change Requests

Staff DCR

Main Objectives
  • Progress tracking. Form Preparer (Administrator) and approvers will have the ability to track the progress of this form from start to finish, once the Staff DCR Processor begins routing via DocuSign.
  • FAU/Fund Manager Streamlining. Staff DCR Processor will review the FAUs and assigned Fund Managers (FMs) before the form is circulated for approval.
  • Less emails, faster signatures.
  1. Administrator. Administrator emails completed Staff DCR to staffDCR@mednet.ucla.edu.
  2. Staff DCR Review. Staff DCR Processor reviews DCR for accuracy and makes necessary
  3. DocuSign Creation. Staff DCR Processor uploads DCR to DocuSign and initiates the signature collections process. Administrator is copied in the process.
  4. Fund Manager Approval. Staff DCR is routed to FMs for signatures. FMs will complete the review in two business days.
  5. Staff DCR is complete. All parties, including Administrator and FMs will receive an email notification from DocuSign.
  1. Fill out the SDCR Template PDF. Please make sure you are filling out a fillable version of the PDF. This is so that all text fields remain editable after the Staff DCR Processor uploads the form into DocuSign to begin the signing process.
  2. PI and Administrator must sign, print name, and date in the PI Signature and Center/Division Administrator signature fields at the When complete, send the PDF over to staffDCR@mednet.ucla.edu for Staff DCR Processor to review.

Subject line should include office name, employee last and first name, and effective dates. For example: OES_Last Name, First Name_Eff 9.1.25

  • If only finance-managed funds are involved, the subject line should state “Finance”.
  • If only C&G or C&G AND finance-managed funds are involved, the subject line should state “OES”.
  1. All FM signatures will be collected later via DocuSign – leave this blank for (Do not obtain approvals prior to submission to staffDCR@mednet.ucla.edu.)
  2. You will be a CC Recipient on the DocuSign so that you can track your form as it progresses through the workflow. DocuSign will send out an email notification the moment the DocuSign is You will also receive another email notification when the document is completed.
Important Guidelines
  • Administrators must submit requests at least 3-4 weeks prior to the “Due to UCPC by 3 p.m. for EE data changes” date as shown in the CRU Pay Processing chart here to be processed for the corresponding general ledger month.
  • Requests received after the Semel due date, or issues involving DCR resolved after the due date, may be subject to processing in the following cycle, subsequently changing the effective date of the request to the following month or biweekly start date.
  • Please use the new DCR form and ensure all information is accurate and All fields are required, and incorrect or incomplete details will delay processing. DCRs will be returned for the following reasons:
    • Use of an old DCR form
    • Current or proposed distributions not totaling 100%
    • Current distribution not matching the payroll ledger
    • Altered form fields
    • Missing PI or Admin names, signatures, or dates
    • Missing or incorrect employee information (name, ID, position number, department code, job title, compensation rate, FTE)
    • Missing justification for retro DCRs
  • Only ONE change/quarter/staff employee is allowed. Exceptional situations include changes that affect multiple periods within the quarter (i.e. moving staff onto different sources temporarily then moving back to original distribution). However, the multiple DCRs must be submitted all together.
  • Retro-activity is NOT allowed except under exceptional circumstances*.
  • Payroll cost transfers requested prior to the closeout of a contract or grant fund must be submitted more than 60 days from fund closing date. Staff DCRs requiring payroll cost transfers, requested within 30 days of the fund end date, will only be processed on an exceptional basis*.
    • *Exceptional circumstances include new or late award setup, new/late interdepartmental transfer, and new/late transfer from Dean’s Office. Question 1-3 need to be completed for all retro requests. Question 4 -5 need to be completed if over 120 days after the original transaction date and/or over 90 days after the fund closing date. For federal funds, cost transfers will not be processed after the fund closing date.
  • If central offices have follow-up questions to the submission, the administrator should respond to these queries within 2 business days. If no response is received, the DCR will be returned. Administrator will need to address concerns and resubmit corrected DCR.
  • After all the signatures are obtained, the Staff DCR processor will process the request.
  • Estimated turnaround time is based on complexity of DCR and number of funds involved and could take from 5-12 business days. Financial or system issues could delay processing time.
How to track your DCR on DocuSign:
  1. If you have a DocuSign account:
    • Just log in and you should be able to view the progress on the Agreement Activity section on the Home page. You will see the status on the right side of the screen. If you click the “Waiting for…” text at bottom, you will be able to see where the document is and for how long it’s been pending at that stage.
  2. If you do NOT have a DocuSign account:
    • Refer back to the first email you received notifying you that you were sent a copy. It should look something like this

Do not delete this email. You can click the REVIEW DOCUMENT button at any point** in the DocuSign process to track the document.

              **DocuSign links expire after 120 days

  1. Staff DCR Reviewer (Staff DCR Processor) receives DCR from the StaffDCR mailbox as
    • Review and edit per current
    • Complete receiving confirmation by entering Received by OES/Finance section at the bottom of the page or add timestamp (All tools / Add a stamp / Stamp / Dynamic / Received by) if today is the date DCR form is received. (see screenshot below)
    • All comments and edits must be made prior to uploading to DocuSign
  2. Drag and drop the DCR into the Start box on the DocuSign homepage. The uploaded file should automatically match the existing SDCR Template. Click APPLY. Using template is optional.

Please note DocuSign may not recognize scanned DCR or DCR in outdated versions. If the form does not match automatically, you can direct it to Use a Template [Select Staff DCR Template ] instead of automatically matching via drag-and-drop.

  1. In “Advanced Options” on the top left, check the following two boxes. This is already set up in the template.
    • “Recipients can change signing responsibility or assign a delegate” in case the recipient is not the correct fund manager.
    • “Recipients can edit documents” so they can mark up the The recipient making the changes and previous signers who already signed the document will be prompted to initial the changes. When the document is fully signed/completed, the notification email to all recipients will include a note “The envelope was completed with markup. All changes were initialed by all signing parties”.

  1. After matching, assign the recipients of the DocuSign by entering the names and emails of the administrator and fund manager(s). The current template has five recipients (four fund manager signers and one administrator copied) without signing order (each recipient can view or sign at the same time). You may delete the extra recipients by clicking the trash bin on the right or add additional fund manager signers.
    • In the fund manager approval field, drop off name and signature
  2. Click Next. Select ◉ Keep PDF form data. Click CONFIRM.
  3. Click SEND. (See Fund Manager section)
  1. Follow up if the staff DCR form is not signed within two business

You will receive an email notification that you have a document to sign when it is your turn to sign. Click REVIEW DOCUMENT to interact with the form. Please review and sign the document in two business days.

  1. Review the FAUs (and the rationale sections, if retroactive and fields apply to you). If this is not your fund, please do not decline.
    • Assign it to the correct fund manager if Click the drop-down arrow next to “Finish”, then select “Assign to Someone Else.”
    • Or notify the sender
  2. Sign next to the FAU lines associated with you to indicate approval of the listed FAU(s). If you need to make changes to the FAU or have a comment, you can use the Mark Up tool to leave a note. Click the drop-down arrow next to “Finish”, then select “Mark Up”
    • The Fund Manager signer who makes changes to the document will be asked to initial the section they modified.
    • If you make changes to the document after other fund manager(s) have signed, the previous signers will be prompted to review and initial the changes

Drag “Mark Up” on the left panel to where you would like to make corrections.

Faculty DCR

Please contact Academic Payroll at FacultyDCR@mednet.ucla.edu.

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