COINS Quick Start Guide for Prior Approval Requests

Use this Quick Start Guide to log in to COINS and submit your Prior Approval Request. For more detailed guidance and step-by-step instructions, please visit the COINS Learning Path webpage.

Start Your Request

  1. Navigate to coins.psu.edu. 
  2. Log in using your Penn State Account email address (e.g., abc123@psu.edu) and password. NOTE: College of Medicine and Penn State Health users should review the following webpage to locate and use their Penn State Account credentials to log in to COINS: Log In to Penn State Systems.
  3. Click the COI tab. (DO NOT click the Requests tab in the blue submenu.) 
  4. On the left side of your Disclosure Profile Workspace, click the Request Pre-Approval button.  NOTE: Prior Approval Requests are labeled as Pre-Approval Requests in COINS.

Fill Out Your Request Form 

  1. Enter a name in the Request name/title field. TIP: Include the semester, year, and your first or last name in the Request name/title field (ex: “Fall 2023 Outside Teaching-Smith”). The name field appears in listings and reports and will help you and your department/unit head to more easily identify the request.
  2. Select the type of pre-approval request that you want to submit. NOTE: You can only select one type of request at a time. If you need to submit more than one request type, complete the first request and then create additional requests.
  3. Click Continue to move through the form, answering the required questions. 
  4. IMPORTANT: Be sure to complete the Entity field. Even though this field is not required, your request will be returned by the reviewer if you do not fill out this field. 

Submit Your Request 

  1. On the final page of your Pre-Approval Request, click Submit in the upper middle of the page.
  2. Click OK to agree to the terms.
  3. The Requests Workspace appears showing that the pre-approval request has been submitted and is Under Review.
  4. To submit another request, click Disclosures in the light blue navigation submenu to return to your Disclosure Profile Workspace.

What Happens Next?

The form is first routed to the COI office who will verify that prior approval is actually needed for the activity, and if so, check it for compliance against U.S. Federal regulations and University policy. Then, the request is routed to your Department Head for final review and approval. You will receive an email notification upon approval/denial. 

Add Approved Requests to Your Disclosure Profile

After your request is approved, you must add the outside activity to your Disclosure Profile within 30 days of starting the activity. See this webpage for more information: Add Approved Requests to Your Disclosure Profile.

Questions?

Contact the COI program at coinsadmin@psu.edu.