Chef User Guide

Chef has two purposes:

it collects information from resource administrators (or their delegates) about a new person joining RRU and then facilitates the creation of a computer account and email address for them
it is a user-friendly interface to RRU’s resource management system, which is called Unit 4. Individuals can update their own personal address information. Hiring managers/resource administrators can also use CHEF to update existing records for people in their team.

Log into Chef: https://chef.royalroads.ca
using the long form of your RRU Login (like bsmith@royalroads.ca) + your usual password

The big picture: information about Unit4, Chef, and computer accounts

1 Chef functionality
2 Chef role definitions
- 2.1 More about the ‘delegates’ and ‘delegates for contractors’ roles
- 2.2 Role based permissions to functionality in Chef
3 Workflow in Chef
4 Computer accounts
5 Notifications from Chef
- 5.1 Notifications from the computer account creation process

How to use Chef

Chef functionality

This is a list of functions in Chef. We expect that Chef will be evolving for some time so this list may change often.

Menu Options

Menu Options
Create Resource	add a new resource record for an employee, contractor, or other
Directory	find a colleague to see their location on campus and phone number; connect with them on Teams
My Profile	edit your record to change your home address, see your position number and description/title
My Team	view your team’s records in one place
Permissions	assign roles to people in Chef
Position Approvals	approve submissions from hiring managers for new employees
Resource Lookup	find information about a person using their name or resource ID.

Chef role definitions

Each person who uses chef is assigned a role. Some roles are decided based on your position at RRU, as defined in the resource management system. Others are assigned based on operational need. All roles determine what you can do/access inside the system. One person can have more than one role.

Roles	Purpose

Roles	Purpose
User	This person is responsible for keeping their own record up to date (everyone is a ‘user’). This is a Chef role.
Resource administrator	This person is responsible for maintaining records for their team. They will add records for new resources (employees and contractor) and edit existing records. Settings in the resource management system will determine who is in their team, but the role is assigned in Chef. The resource management system must be aware of the positions that this resource administrator can hire into or else, they cannot.
Delegate	This person can act as their resource administrator. Therefore, they can access records for everyone in their team (except the hiring manager’s record). The relationship between this person and their resource administrator is defined in the resource management system but this role is assigned in Chef. A resource administrator can assign the role of delegate to someone in their team.
Delegate for contractors	This person can act as their resource administrator. Therefore, they can access records for contractors in their team. The relationship between this person and their resource administrator is defined in the resource management system but this role is assigned in Chef. A resource administrator can assign the role of 'delegate for contractors' to someone in their team.
HR	This person is responsible for reviewing and approving submissions made by resource administrators (in this case, hiring managers) or their delegates.
IT Support	This person can look up individuals in Chef to see limited information related to their computer account and department/department contact.
Superuser	assigned in Chef, this person is a system administrator in IT who can manage permissions in the system. The superuser cannot add records for employees because they

More about the ‘delegates’ and ‘delegates for contractors’ roles

Find out more about delegates and delegates for contractors in this dedicated page.

Role based permissions to functionality in Chef

Chef uses roles (see above) to provide access to the functions available. The following table illustrates which roles have access to tasks completed within Chef.

Menu Options	You	Hiring Manager / Resource administrator	Delegate	Delegate for contractors	HR	IT Support	Super user

Menu Options	You	Hiring Manager / Resource administrator	Delegate	Delegate for contractors	HR	IT Support	Super user
Create Resource				for contractors only
Directory
My Profile
My Team				for contractors only
Permissions
Position Approvals
Resource Lookup

Workflow in Chef

Although the processes used to hire employees differ from those used to hire contractors, both involve receiving financial approvals, job postings, interviews, and offers. This is what happens when someone accepts an offer from RRU.

Employee types	Contractor types

Employee types	Contractor types
Hiring manager/resource administrator enters information about a new employee in Chef HR receives a notice HR reviews and approves the record & the hiring manager/resource administrator receives a notice Chef adds a new personnel record and a new employment record to Unit 4 (this is the system of record) Chef sends information to the account creation process	Resource administrator enters information about a new contractor in Chef (no approval checkpoint) Chef adds a new personnel record and a new employment record to Unit 4 (this is the system of record) Chef sends information to the account creation process

Computer accounts

(are not created by Chef)

The computer account creation process runs every 2 hours form 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. There has been no change to the computer account creation process as of September 2024. The next step in the workflow applies to all records entered into Chef.

Both employee and contractor types

Both employee and contractor types

Chef sends information to the computer account creation process and on the next run, a computer account is created for the new person. This includes an RRU email address.
1. The hiring manager/resource administrator receives a notice when the computer account is ready for an employee so that they can:
  - communicate this to the new person at the right time, providing them with their username, email address, and temporary password
  - visit the provisioning page in Our People to ask for things the new person needs, like access to shared mailboxes, O: drive folders, elevated permissions in corporate software, etc.
2. Contractors of all kinds receive the ‘computer account is ready’ notification directly. Resource administrators will (for now at least) need to check back in Outlook to see if the computer account/email address has been created yet. Then, they can visit the provisioning page in Our People to ask for things the new person needs, like Moodle access, CTET related development etc.

The computer account creation process runs 3 times each weekday. A computer account can be created soon after a record is entered into chef, or 16 hours later, depending on timing.

Notifications from Chef

Chef sends the following notifications via email:

When a hiring manager or delegate submits a new resource record for an employee, P&C receives an email notification that something is waiting for their review.
When P&C approves, the hiring manager receives an email notification that the next step will be taken, which is a computer account will be created.
IF P&C declines a submission, the hiring manager receives an email notification.

The end

Notifications from the computer account creation process

(these might feel like they are from Chef but they are not)

As outlined in the workflow section of this user guide, computer accounts are created using the existing computer account creation process. There will be notices resulting from this. These will come from the computer account creation process, not Chef.

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