UATA External Equivalency Approval Guide

This page contains step by step instructions for approving external equivalency records uploaded by employees in your Unit. For information on what A courses those employees will receive as an equivalency please review the IAT Equivalency Timeline page or the IAT External Equivalency Quick Reference Document. You may also want to review the IAT External Equivalency Guide created to assist students with uploading certificates. If you have any additions to this documentation please feel free to contact Louise Bruck or the IAT Admin.

Login & Choose UATA Role

"Login" to your IAT account.

Choose the "Unit Aviation Training Administrator (ATA) Role"

If you manage more than one Unit, select the Unit you wish to manage. If you only manage one Unit you should now be on the Overview tab for that Unit.

Scroll down the overview page until you see the Pending External Equivalency Verifications section. This section contains all external equivalency submissions that have recently been submitted for this Unit.

To approve a submission, click the button labeled Verify located in the Action column.

Edit/Verify External Course Equivalency Request Form

At the top of the page you will see the student's contact information; Name, Phone, E-Mail and their current primary Unit.

The top section of this form contains all the information the student filled out when they submitted the request. These fields are editable by the verifier should you need to make any corrections.

Click on the attachment the student uploaded to validate the certificate/document against what the student entered in the form. (In addition to certificates, students are allowed to upload IQCS Training History documents.)

1. Does their name match what is listed on the certificate?
   
2. Does the delivery method match what was chosen on the form? Most often a course will be Residential Classroom, if you see the student has chosen Webinar or Online you may need to contact them to get more information.
3. Does the name of the course on the certificate match what was chosen on the form in the External Course field?
   The External Course Name field may differ from what is listed on the certificate. e.g. S-271 was titled “S-217 Interagency Helicopter Training Guide" up until 2004. The students are instructed to enter the actual certificate course name in the Course Name & Training Description field on the form.
4. Does the date match what was entered on the form?
   Students are instructed to enter the date for the last day they attended of a multi-day course.
5. Does the certificate list a location and if so does it match what they entered on the form?
   
6. Does the certificate show hours and do they match what was entered on the form?
   The IAT External Equivalency Quick Reference Document lists all the courses and hours, the students are instructed to leave this field blank or refer to this document if they are unable to recall the number of hours.

UATAs Responsibilities for Approval of Completed Task Books/Sheets Include:

1. On Pages 1 and 2:
   1. Verify the applicant's name is correctly listed and that a valid home unit/agency or duty station is provided on page 1.
   2. Attempt to verify that the task book/sheet was initiated by an official with the appropriate credentials on page 1.
   3. Verify the position and applicant's name on the Evaluator's Verification section, then verify the final evaluator's name and signature in an attempt to ensure that verifier has the appropriate qualifications to serve as final evaluator on page 2.
   4. Verify the applicant's name on the Agency Certification section, then verify the certifying official's name and signature in an attempt to ensure that the official has the appropriate qualifications to serve as an agency certifier on page 2.
2. Check that evaluation records are included as the final pages of the document (there should be at minimum two or three evaluation records). Evaluation records should each be completed with little or no information missing.
3. Verify that the final evaluator has completed an evaluation record on which the top (#1) line is initialed indicating that all tasks have been completed under their supervision and recommending the trainee for certification.
4. If the above items are satisfactory, approve the task book/sheet. If there is something significant missing or incorrect, you may
   1. Check with the applicant, or
   2. Check with the names and phone numbers included on page 2 for follow up, or
   3. Check with the Unit Aviation Officer or Unit Fire Management Officer, or
   4. Reject the task book/sheet and provide the issue you have spotted to the applicant so they may attempt to have it corrected.

Task Books were not required in some NPS regions for All-hazard/Resource Helicopter Crewmember (HEAC) and All-hazard/Resource Helicopter Manager (HEAM) prior to 2015. The forms below can be used to provide equivalency for those employees who became qualified prior to 2015.
Task Book Equivalence: All-hazard/Resource Helicopter Crewmember (HEAC)
Task Book Equivalence: All-hazard/Resource Helicopter Manager (HEAM)

Validation Section

Record Originally Submitted By : This will show the students name in most cases, however the IAT Admins also have the ability to submit requests on behalf of a student.

Verifier's Name:: Once the form has been submitted (saved) this field will contain your name or the name of the person who validated it. Until it has been submitted it will show as Unverified.

Validation Status: Currently there are three types of status for this request. (Required Field)

1. Accepted - choose this status to accept a submission
2. Denied - choose this status to reject a submission.
3. Remove - choose this status if a submission was made in error or as a duplicate, this will not delete the submission, it only changes it's status.

Certifying Organization: In the case of an NWCG certificate, you would enter NWCG. Commercial Water Ditching courses would show the name of the company that presented the course, these types of courses will not be routed to the UATA, instead they will be routed through the IAT Admin to the appropriate Bureau/Agency for approval. In the case of a Task Books/Sheet please enter the agency of who certified the Task Book/Sheet.(Required Field)

Certifying Org Contact Name, Certifying Org Contact Phone & Certifying Org Contact Email: If any of these are listed on the certificate/document please enter them, e.g. Instructor Name would be the Certifying Org Contact Name. In other instances like M-410 or A-312 Water Ditching and survival where the document requires Bureau/Agency approval, the names of those authorizing the equivalency will be listed in this field. In the case of a Task Books/Sheet please enter the name of who certified the Task Book/Sheet and their phone number.(Optional Field)

Verifier Supporting Document: Click "Add Attachment" to attach a supporting document to the form. (Optional Field)

Remarks: This field is used to explain to a student why you "Denied" the submission. These remarks will be sent to the submitter in an email if you choose "Yes" to send a notification to the submitter. You can also use the field to make notes about approvals or removals but those will not be sent to the submitter if you choose "Yes" to send a notification to the submitter. (Optional Field)

Submit: Clicking Reset will clear the Validation section of the form and any corrections you made to the submitter's section of the form. Submit will submit and save the status of the form. Once submitted a confirmation box will appear and give you the option to notify the submitter that the status of the request has changed. If you select "No", the user does not receive a notification. If you select Yes the student will receive an email stating the status of their submission.

Viewing/Changing Previous Submissions

Go back to the UATA Home Base - Overview tab.

Scroll down the overview page until you see the Pending External Equivalency Verifications section. At the bottom of this section you will see three links. View All Approved, View All Rejected & View All Removed. These links each provide a listing of all the requests that have been submitted to your Unit.

To edit/correct a previously approved, denied or removed request go to any of the listings (View All Approved, View All Rejected & View All Removed) and click the View Details button in the Action column. If you made an error or missed anything on one of the requests you validated you can re-edit the request to make corrections. The same process you followed on validating a new request can be followed to edit a previously saved request. When you have completed your changes submit the form again to save it. You will again receive a confirmation box that will give you the option to notify the submitter that the status of the request has changed.

If you need assistance or have questions please feel free to contact louise_bruck@ios.doi.gov or the IAT Admin.

Privacy | Disclaimer | Notices | Accessibility | Vulnerability Disclosure Policy | DOI.gov | USFS | Contact Us | Help