Otter.ai


Information Technology Services (ITS) has established a licensing program with the transcription and note-taking application provider called Otter.ai. Any active UH faculty, staff or student may participate this annual site license program via departmental or personal funds. This is an annual site license, which provides the user with the "right to use" the Otter.ai software for the duration of the contracted year, beginning November 1st through October 31st of the following year. First year licensing costs are prorated, then renewable on an annual basis. Renewal notification will be sent to the contact person via email after the new fiscal year begins. This site license is equivalent to the Business License from Otter.ai.

Otter.ai and Protected Data

Users of Otter.ai must be mindful when it is used to transcribe/caption content that may include protected data, such as HIPAA, FERPA or PII data. It is the responsibility of Otter.ai users to ensure that the appropriate precautions are taken to handle protected data that may be captured when utilizing the Otter.ai service. If protected data is collected through Otter.ai, it is the responsibility of the user to immediately remediate any data as is required by policy or law. Note, deleting any protected data from just the transcript saved in Otter.ai would not fully remediate the data; you must also delete the associated audio/video recording as well.
Otter.ai Annual License: $96.00 each
Valid: November 1st to October 31st

First Year Pro-rated Costs:
November: $96.00
December: $88.00
January: $80.00
February: $72.00
March: $64.00
April: $56.00
May: $48.00
June: $40.00
July: $32.00
August: $24.00
September: $16.00
October: $8.00

FAQs

What happens if I mistakenly record protected content, such as HIPAA/FERPA/PII?

If you mistakenly record protected content, it's your responsibility to ensure that this data is permanently deleted immediately. To do this, you must delete the entire recording, as deleting the content from just the transcript would not remove the audio recording. HIPAA violations could result in significant financial fines. For more information, refer to the Data Related Regulations and Policies.
Note: deleting items in Otter.ai's system moves the files to a trash folder. Be sure to empty the Otter.ai trash folder to ensure full deletion.

Meetings which include PII/Protected Data

If you have a meeting that requires discussion of PII/Protected data, do not share the transcript or recording unless absolutely necessary. Do not retain the transcript or recording locally or in Otter.ai's cloud storage. If you must share/retain the transcript or recording, redact the PII/Protected Data prior to sharing. Restrict access to the transcript or recording to only those who require access. When discussing PII or other Protected Data, do not give Otter.ai permission to use and share the transcript with third-party service providers for training and product improvement purposes.

Should I have Otter.ai automatically join my meetings?

No, best practices are to set your OtterPilot to join meetings you manually select. Utilizing this best practice can help prevent Otter.ai from recording meetings that may contain protected data. To adjust/confirm your settings, login to Otter.ai, click on your name in the upper left and select Account Settings. Next, click on the Meetings tab at the top. In the OtterPilot section, ensure the "Default auto-join settings" is set to "Meetings I manually select." Note: the meeting host will have the ability to disallow OtterPilot from joining the meeting.

What are the recommended setting for UH Otter.ai accounts?

UH ITS has put together a general listing of recommended settings once your account has been established.

What if I already have an Otter.ai account and want to join the University of Hawaii workspace?

If you are an individual user with an account under your UH email address, then your data will be available to you in the University of Hawaiʻi workspace once your license is provisioned under the UH Otter Site License program. However, if you are currently part of another workspace, your data would need to be migrated to the University of Hawaiʻi workspace. If this pertains to you, be sure to check off that you have an existing Otter.ai account on the order form. ITS will contact Otter.ai on your behalf to have your account and existing data migrated from your current workspace over to the University of Hawaii workspace.

What if I already purchased a license from Otter? Can I still purchase a license under the UH Otter Site License program?

If you have an individual, annually paid subscription, you may be able to receive a credit towards your next Otter.ai invoice.
If you have a monthly paid subscription, it's recommended that you cancel your subcription with Otter.ai towards the end of that licensed month. Then you can accept the invite from ITS to be licensed under UH.
If you are a member of an existing team, then Otter.ai will reimburse the remaining term of your license.

How do I cancel my subscription that was purchased from Otter?

Follow Otter's steps to cancel a paid subscription.

Can a UH departmental email address be licensed for Otter.ai?

Licenses are assigned to an authorized UH user's email address (non-UH email addresses are not permitted). UH Departmental email accounts are generally not permitted, however they may be granted depending on the nature of its usage. Please contact itsada@hawaii.edu or sladmin@hawaii.edu to request the use of a departmental email address and provide your use case for the departmental email address for consideration.

What if I have an Otter account under my personal email address?

All accounts under this program must be registered under a user's UH email address. Personal email addresses can not be used.
  • If you would like to migrate this account to the UH workspace, you will first need to change the email address in your current account to your UH email address. Once this has been changed, you can accept the invite sent to you by UH ITS.
  • If you do not want to migrate this account over to the UH workspace, nothing further is required. Your personal account will remain active as is, and your UH Otter.ai account will be created as a separate account.

What will happen to my UH Otter.ai account if I am no longer an active member of UH?

Generally, UH Users that are no longer an active member will be notified via email. They will have approximately two weeks to download any data that needs to be retained. We reminder users to be cognizant on any protected content that you will be keeping. For UH students, their account will be unlinked from the UH program and all data will be retained in their account. UH Faculty and staff members will no lose access to their account and data.

If I leave UH can I get a refund for the remaining time on my purchased Otter.ai license?

For accounts purchased by personal funds, a refund will not be provided. For accounts purchased by departmental funds, the department may contact the ITS Site License Office to transfer the license to another user, valid for the remaining period.

Helpful Links:

Ordering Instructions:

  1. Complete the UH Otter.ai Order Form (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    NOTE: The point of contact for this order should complete page 1. Each licensed user is required to complete Page 2 of this form.

  2. Payment:
    • UH Interdepartmental Order (FSO-30)
    • RCUH Purchase Order
    • UH Foundation Purchase Order
    • Check (personal check, money order, cashier's check)
      • Checks should be made out to: University of Hawaii ITS
        Returned Check Fee: $25.00 fee for each returned check that has been returned from the maker's bank for any reason (e.g., insufficient funds, closed bank account, incorrect bank information).
    • Cash and credit card purchases are not accepted.
    • Do not add tax to your order.
    • Please use the address below for the UH IDO, RCUH or UHF PO Vendor Address.
  3. Submit the completed UH Otter.ai Order Form and payment to the UH ITS Site License Office either by email, mail or by campus mail:

    EMAIL (Departmental payments only):
    Send both the payment and UH Otter.ai Order Form to: sladmin@hawaii.edu.

    MAIL OR DROP OFF TO:
    University of Hawaii - ITS
    Attn: Site License Administrator
    2520 Correa Rd., ITC 5th Floor
    Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822

  4. After ITS receives and processes your payment, the contact person listed on the order form will be sent an email confirmation. Licensed users will be contacted via email regarding their account.
If there are any questions regarding this program, please contact the Accessibility at UH team at itsada@hawaii.edu.