Access and Navigate Your Disclosure Profile

To access your Disclosure Profile, log in to COINS with your Penn State Account email address (e.g., abc123@psu.edu) and password. Your Disclosure Profile is an online form in COINS where you report your relevant outside professional activities and interests. Your Disclosure Profile is dynamic, allowing you to update it at any time. 

College of Medicine and Penn State Health users: You cannot log in to COINS with your Penn State Health credentials (e.g., abc123@pennstatehealth.psu.edu). You must use your Penn State Account credentials. See this webpage with detailed instructions for help: Log In to Penn State Systems.

My Dashboard and My Inbox

When you log in to COINS, you will see:

• Your Dashboard, which is the main landing page in COINS.
• Your Dashboard displays your My Inbox, which contains links to items that require action or updates, such as updates to your Disclosure Profile.

IMPORTANT: Clicking on a link in your My Inbox OR a link in an email notification will take you directly to the item requiring action. For example, if you receive an email notification that your Disclosure Profile needs updated, clicking on the link in the email will bypass the Dashboard tab and take you directly to your Disclosure Profile Workspace located under the COI tab.

Disclosure Profile Workspace

Your Disclosure Profile Workspace is your central hub in COINS, providing access to key actions and a summary of your disclosure information. It is located under the COI tab > Disclosures sub-tab.

NOTE: If you receive an email notification that your Disclosure Profile needs to be updated, clicking on the link in the email will take you directly to your Disclosure Profile Workspace under the COI tab.

Disclosure Profile Workspace: Key Action Areas

1. Disclosure Profile Status (top left): If it says Action Required, review the Instructions Center in the middle of the page for more information about actions you need to take.
2. Request Pre-Approval button: Opens a form where you can request prior approval for applicable outside professional activities. NOTE: This button will only appear if policy AC80 applies to you.
3. Instructions Center: Displays relevant instructions for items you need to act on.
4. Edit Disclosure Profile Button: Opens your Disclosure Profile, which is a form where you disclose information about your outside activities and interests.

Disclosure Profile Workspace: Informational Table

The lower part of your Disclosure Profile Workspace contains a table that displays the following tabs:

• Disclosures Tab: Displays a list of entities and activities/interests that you previously entered into your Disclosure Profile. Entities listed here may or may not have been submitted for review. If the status of your Disclosure Profile (in the upper left of this page) says Action Required, follow the instructions in the Instruction Center to complete the submission process.

IMPORTANT: If you exited your Disclosure Profile without clicking the Submit Disclosure Profile button on the final page of the form, the information that you entered will appear in the table under the Disclosures tab but is NOT officially submitted. To submit, follow the instructions in the Instruction Center in the middle of the page.

• Pre-Approval Requests Tab: Displays existing pre-approval requests. NOTE: This tab only appears if you have existing pre-approval requests.
• Training Tab: Shows the status of your required policy training.
• History Tab: Tracks changes and activities performed on your Disclosure Profile.

Disclosure Profile Form

What is a Disclosure Profile?
Your Disclosure Profile is a form where you will complete required training (if required) and add, change, or remove information about your outside professional activities and interests, and provide information about your related research (if applicable).

• Form Pages: The form is divided into three pages: Instructions and Policies, Entity Disclosure Information, and Complete Disclosure Profile.
• Navigation: You can use the menu on the left to quickly jump to each page or use the Continue button in the lower right. The system remembers your last viewed page, so be sure to check the menu options on the left to navigate to a different page in the form, if necessary.

Page 1: Instructions and Policies

Page 1 displays any training you are required to complete. Be sure to read the Training documents and check the checkbox to certify that you have read and understood the training materials before clicking Continue in the lower right.

Page 2: Entity Disclosure Information

On page 2, report your outside activities and interests on an entity-by-entity basis by clicking the +Add button.

For each entity, you will:

1. Add the Entity: Enter the name of the company, organization, etc. An entity is an organization that is not Penn State.
2. Select ALL Disclosure Type(s) for the Entity: Select ALL relevant activities or Disclosure Types (e.g. private equity, compensation, consulting, outside teaching, etc.) for the entity.
   • IMPORTANT: If you need to disclose more activities (or Disclosure Types) to the entity at a later time, be sure to update the existing entity instead of trying to add the entity again, as this will result in an error message.
3. Provide Details: Answer the questions that appear for each Disclosure Type (e.g., the amount of compensation received, the nature of the consulting work, etc.). Each Disclosure Type will display its own set of unique questions.
4. Repeat for each Entity: Add a new entity and repeat the steps above.
5. Related Research Question: If applicable, provide a general description of your research as it relates to your outside activities and interests.

Important Note about Entities: When disclosing multiple activities related to the same entity (e.g., consulting and equity ownership in the same company), be sure to add ALL relevant disclosure types under that single entity. Attempting to add the same entity multiple times will result in an error message.

Page 3: Submit Disclosure Profile

On page 3, you will see any remaining actions needed to finalize your disclosure profile.

Be sure to:

1. Click the Submit Disclosure Profile button in the center of the page. NOTE: You may have other actions to complete on this page, such as reviewing and accepting a management plan.
2. In the pop-up box that appears, review the attestations and provide information about your research projects (if applicable).

After submitting your Disclosure Profile updates, you will return to your Disclosure Profile workspace. To confirm successful submission:

• Check the Status of Your Disclosure Profile: The state of your Disclosure Profile (in the upper left) should display No Action Required.
• Review the Instructions Center: It should also say No Action Required.

 Changes Not Submitted: Action Required

IMPORTANT: If your Disclosure Profile still shows Action Required in the upper left, this means you exited your Disclosure Profile without submitting your changes.

While the information you entered in your Disclosure Profile will appear under the Disclosures tab in the table at the bottom of the page, your changes are NOT officially submitted. Follow the instructions in the Instruction Center to complete the submission process.