Prerequisites

Permanent Staff

The general process for onboarding staff of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) can be found here: Onboard@Penn

This page is specifically for joining our lab as a researcher and catalogues any hitches that may not be explained through the above resource.

Virtual Tasks: Part 1

After receiving the offer letter through email and signing it, there are a few tasks ahead of you.

The first is that you will need to contact your reference to send a recommendation letter on your behalf, as this may take some time depending on your references’ availability.

You will eventually receive an email to approve a background check on you. If it takes more than a week to arrive, reach out to Dr. Cheng (yuyan.cheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu) to investigate.

You will also shortly receive a prompt to set up your PennKey (Penn username). Choose wisely, as there is limited ability to change it in the future.

However, some tasks are immediately available to you. Through the Penn Workday (https://www.workday.upenn.edu/) website, submit your SSN and birthdate. Within the day, you should have a list of virtual paperwork to complete through Workday:

  • Setting up my Pennkey
  • Demographic and Contact data
  • Part 1 of the I-9
  • Disability Self-Identification
  • Payment Election Enrollment Event
  • Payroll Payment Acknowledgement
  • Preferred Name Changes
  • Personal Info Changes
  • Veteran Status Identification

Workday will also present you with other documents enumerating your employee rights that require acknowledgment to proceed.

Once here, you wait for the results of the background check. Assuming everything is good, you may now go to Onboard@Penn (https://www.onboard.upenn.edu/) to schedule an appointment to complete part 2 of the I-9 document. This appointment will require identifying documentation, but US citizens only require a passport as identification.

In-Person Tasks: Part 1

The Onboard@Penn appointment for completing your I-9 location will be on the second floor of the UPenn bookstore at:

3601 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104

When you attend your appointment, remember that you will need documentation to identify yourself. If you are a US citizens, you may only be required to submit a passport.

Virtual Tasks: Part 2

Request a Penn Medicine email account through the Penn Medicine website (https://www.med.upenn.edu/pmacs/request-a-pennmedicine-email-account.html). Use Dr. Cheng’s information as your manager:

Yuyan Cheng
305-778-6357
yuyan.cheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
PennKey: ChengYu

You or Dr. Cheng should receive an email with your new Penn Medicine email name and a temporary login. You should log into it through idp.pennmedicine.upenn.edu and choose a more permanent password. That password will be distinct from your other accounts. Make sure to commit all of your password assignments to memory. After you set up your Penn medicine account, your pennkey@upenn.edu email will lose all information when your pennkey@pennmedicine.upenn.edu is added and all future email to pennkey@upenn.edu should forward to your Penn Medicine account.

From here, you can use your Penn Medicine account to request a PMACS account to work on the High Throughput Computing (HPC) cluster. You should also bookmark this website as it is a useful resource for properly using the HPC cluster.

You should also be able begin your virtual Workday onboarding lessons. For this lab, HIPPA and blood/sharp exposure are necessary. Each lesson could last up to 30 minutes.

Your next responsibilities will become available to you on your first official day of employment as specified in your offer letter.

In-Person Tasks: Part 2

On your first day of official employment, you should go to the card office neighboring the Onboard@Penn office in the bookstore. Unless there are unfinished tasks on your Workday (besides the lessons) or you have paperwork that needs corrections, you should receive your PennCard.

Take a photo of your PennCard and email that picture to Dr. Cheng. She will use that to grant you access to the building. If you don’t have your card for any reason, contact us and we will let you in.

Connect to the school wifi here: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/connect-airpennnet-and-joinnow

Connect to the lab printer, an HP Color LaserJet Pro M478f-9f with an IP address of 130.91.197.113

Onboarding Video Lessons

Begin the virtual onboarding video lessons. There are quite a few of them lasting several hours, and they cover a wide variety of topics about life at Penn and responsible conduct. Including the lessons available before your first day, there will be several CITI-training lessons for you. When you finish these, there will be an in-person onboarding session that will last around 4 hours that you will sign up for and must attend within the first few months of hiring. Schedule that appropriately.

Final Tasks

There are some tasks from this point that depend on your employed role. Please use the navigation pane of this site to find the appropriate one for you.

Temporary Staff

Send the following information to Dr. Cheng to initiate the temporary hiring process:

  • Social security number
  • Home address
  • Date of birth
  • Preferred email
  • Preferred phone number

PennKey Set-Up

You will receive an email from UPenn (noreply@upenn.edu) to set up your PennKey username and password. Follow the given instructions, and keep track of your given Penn ID number featured at the end of the email.

PennCard

For recent graduates and temporary employees, Dr. Cheng will need to submit a PennCard Request Form.

Apply for your first PennCard online. Then, make an appointment at the PennCard Office to pick up your card. Here is the PennCard center’s information:

Address: Penn Bookstore
	3601 Walnut Street, Room 219, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3895
Phone: 215-417-2273  
Email: penncard@upenn.edu
Web: https://www.upenn.edu/penncard

There is no charge for your initial PennCard or renewal if it expires; other fees may apply for replacement cards.

Onboarding Appointment and Task Completion

After receiving your PennKey, log onto Penn Workday https://www.workday.upenn.edu/ and complete all dashboard tasks before your onboarding appointment. This includes further onboarding procedures such as Section 1 of the work authorization I-9 form.

Before your starting date, create an appointment at the campus’s onboarding center, it is directly next to the PennCard office and is located at the following address on the 2nd floor:

3601 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Use the following website URL to access appointment booking: https://www.onboard.upenn.edu/

This appointment will complete Section 2 of the 1-9 Form.

Creating Penn Med Email

Submit a UPenn email request on the following website: https://www.med.upenn.edu/pmacs/request-a-pennmedicine-email-account.html

Use the following information to complete the Manager Information section:

Yuyan Cheng
305-778-6357
yuyan.cheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
PennKey: ChengYu

Workday Training Modules

Before beginning work, UPenn requires completion of several training modules.

Please refer to one of the following to view all trainings for your respective work:

  • Wet lab
  • Dry Lab: Protecting Patient Information (HIPAA)
  • WIP

We advise you to make a copy of the sheet to keep track of the modules as you complete them.

Access the learning tab in the Workday menu, and input the module name into the search bar. Click More Categories and then Learning, and open the training module.

Some training, such as the Hands-On Mouse training, will be an in-person course1. To schedule a training session, utilize the link at the end of the prerequisite digital module to choose a date.

You will receive a physical copy indicating the completion of the training. Provide it to Dr. Cheng.

After finishing all training, notify Dr. Cheng so she may add you to the appropriate protocols.

Slack Set-Up

Slack is the lab’s primary form of communication. All lab members will use the platform to message one another, along with providing updates for the entire lab when needed.

Create a Slack account using your UPenn email address. Request an invite link to the workspace from Jeff, Cass, or Dr. Cheng. This will register you as a member of the lab’s Slack workspace.

To access the workspace, sign into it using the following URL: yuyanchenglab.slack.com

Postdocs

WIP Possibly Gabrielle

Students

WIP Olivia

Fellowship Students

  • Complete necessary forms regarding the fellowship.
  • Inform Dr. Cheng of the requirements of the fellowship.
  • Establish regular communication regarding timesheets/progress checks.

  1. The in-person training may take up to four hours. Please plan accordingly. ↩