Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Office of Finance & Administration

Position Management

Below are details on the Feinberg Position Management processes.

Request Process

As noted in the Feb. 12 community message “Immediate Measures to Address Financial Challenges,” hiring, compensation increases, additional payments and other related staff actions are now subject to central review. The newly-established NU Hiring and Compensation Consideration Group (HCCG) is reviewing justifications for posted, backfill, and new positions going forward. 

The University has created a website which outlines HCCG’s review criteria. Note that faculty positions, incremental 100% grant-funded positions, student workers, postdocs, research associates, and independent contractors are not subject to HCCG. Most of the information to be reviewed by HCCG overlaps with inputs already required as part of Feinberg’s longstanding position management process. HCCG requires, however, additional justifications for staff actions.

Feinberg has developed a new SmartSheet for position management, which will flow into the HCCG process. This new solution requires the relevant inputs for each request type, collecting all information necessary for Feinberg and HCCG review. It also provides departments with a dynamic view to track progress of requests.

Administrators and/or Associate Administrators will be responsible for submitting all requests via the SmartSheet, and access is restricted at this time to those designated individuals. Departments may access the new form by logging into your department’s dynamic view portal.

Departments must include the following documentation when submitting requests:

  1. Job description
  2. Organizational Chart
  3.  Budget Request Form

Requests without the required attachments included will be sent back to departments for resubmission with the appropriate supporting documentation.

While new 100 percent grant-funded positions do not require Dean’s Office or HCCG approvals, these requests are to be inputted online for processing.

Once the position request has been routed through all approvals, the requesting department will be notified with next-step instructions, if applicable.

Please note the following reminders:

  • Additional pays are still subject to HR guidelines and should be submitted online.
  • HR Talent Acquisition will continue use of Approval to Hire forms. Dean’s Office signature is required if the salary offered is above midpoint of the grade, and/or includes a sign-on bonus, and/or would necessitate equity adjustments for incumbents.
  • If you have not previously accessed SmartSheet, instructions on how to use Single Sign On (SSO) and/or to establish your SmartSheet account can be found here.
  • Please note that clinical DA’s will need to use their northwestern.edu identity for Feinberg Position Management.

For information on faculty and research staff requests, please see the Non-Merit Salary Increases information in Sharepoint (NetID required).