Entering PTI Information and Requesting Letters
This guide covers reviewing and entering appointment information for your Part-Time Instructors (PTIs) in the PTI Database, and how to request that letters be generated once your records are ready.
📘 Instructions
Navigate to your database
Follow the guide for Accessing the PTI Database. Once open, you can search by Last Name, SUID, or PTI ID.
Letter Details tab
On the Letter Details tab, review the following information:
School/College
Rank
Letter type – if the appointment is a multi-year type, you need to fill in:
Number of years
Contract begin date (if before this year, give the date it began)
Contract end date
Multi-year description
Expected Union status – if unknown, the instructor will be treated as union in the letters
Department Description – can be left blank, but if filled in, it will show up on the letter exactly as written
Total Required Office Hours held per Week
Appointment Details tab
On the Appointment Details tab, review the following information:
The ID field is auto-numbered. You do not need to enter it and cannot change it.
Academic YR – autofills once you select the Term-Session Information.
Job posting number, if applicable.
PIN – this is a required field and the letter cannot be approved without it.
You may use the same PIN for multiple lines if the term and all course attributes are identical.
If you attempt to approve a line without a PIN, you will get an error message. There is no way to bypass this.
If you are unsure of the PIN, reference the Open and Filled PIN report, or request a new one using the online Position Evaluation Request form. Make sure to choose either job code 1764 – PTI Instructor (AU) or 1784 – PTI Instructor (Non AU) when creating or reusing a PIN.
Term/Session Information
Session Begin and Session End autofill based on the selected term.
If using flex dates, you must manually enter the Session Begin Date and Session End Date in mm/dd/yyyy format. You will see a prompt confirming this.
Appointment type:
For Quarter Term instructors, choose from three options (2U-Teaching, 2U Lead, 2U Residency) to differentiate the type of position.
Administrative – use this for any additional duty the instructor is performing and being paid for throughout the semester. It appears in the chart at the top of the offer letter (for example: "You will also receive 3 credits or $7,698.00 for your participation with the iConsult projects, each fall, spring, and summer semester.") Anything entered as Administrative will appear in that table; HR enters anything that appears there.
Class Number/Section and Appointment Description – these two fields are joined together as the description for this appointment in the letter merge.
Credit for course, if applicable.
Hours to pay – used to calculate the appointment compensation.
Rate per hour – for classes, this is the per-credit rate; for other appointment types, this is the number of hours being paid.
% Increase – autofills based on information from previous academic years entered.
Appt Comp – autofills based on Hours to Pay and Rate/Hour.
Additional Duties tab
Use this tab to include additional duties the School/College has the PTI performing, whether or not those duties carry additional pay. The first four bullets are for additional duties with no additional compensation. The second four bullets are for additional duties paid out on a RAP. Each entry becomes its own bulleted paragraph on the letter. Skip this tab entirely if your PTI is only teaching for your school/college.
Letter Messages tab
Review special messages for specific circumstances, including:
Supplemental teaching assignments
Supersedes explanations
Additional pay messages not related to work performed (for example, a travel allowance)
2U tab
If this letter is for 2U classes, enter any specific duties here that are not already outlined in the letter. Note: if a PTI is teaching both regular classes and 2U classes for your school/college, you must create two separate records for this person in your database, and you will produce two separate letters.
Letter Request tab
Use this tab to indicate that a draft letter is ready to be generated. Fill in the following:
Approver NetID
Approval Date – the date you plan to request the batch of letters from HROffers
Approved for Letter – must be checked
If requesting a supersedes letter:
Enter the date the first letter was created
Check the Supersedes Needed box
Enter the date the supersedes letter will be requested
Select the supersedes reason from the dropdown
Requesting letters
Once you have finished a batch of letters, email hroffers@syr.edu:
Subject line: your school/college name and that you want letters created (for example, "Letters Ready for Engineering")
State the approval date for the batch you want generated (for example, "letters ready to be generated for the approval date of 8/8/2025")
If the batch includes supersedes letters, say so in the email
If you are requesting 2U courses, include that in the email