1. Q: Will we still receive NOGAs?
A: The NOGA will continue after Go-Live, but it will be produced from EFS Grants, Projects and Contracts modules rather than EGMSi. The NOGA will look similar to what exists today, but will have two key advantages. First, department administrators or other users who have access to the reporting environment will be able to re-generate a NOGA at any time. In addition, the NOGA will become cumulative for an award, so users will not have to manually compare documents from year to year. The cumulative NOGA will contain subsections which display key information on each transaction (e.g., dates, amounts, and transactional purpose) so that the history of the project can be quickly summarized.
2. Q:
How will we be able to match a new EFS project number with its former Area-Org in CUFS?
A:
In the sponsored conversion, the existing sponsored Area-Org will convert and be the "project number" in PS with a leading zero. For example:
Area-Org today = 635-8980
Project number tomorrow = 06358980
All new awards processed in PS will have the next available Project number. We will be supplying the entire Chart of Accounts mappings in an electronic format for anyone to view.
3. Q: How will ECRT work?
A: To the end user, there is no change to ECRT with the implementation of PS. Behind the scenes, we will need to change the interfaces coming in and going out of ECRT.
4. Q: We understand there will be no detailed transactions data carrying forward on the non–sponsored side, only rolled up balance detail. Is this also true on the sponsored side? To what extent will detail carry forward on the sponsored side?
A: All transactions that have hit a sponsored account as of the period 12 close (expense, budget, encumbrance, etc.) will convert into the Project Resource table in the Projects module. This is necessary for inception-to-date invoicing and reporting.
5. Q: On sponsored accounts, equipment is typically charged as a cash purchase. How will equipment purchases and depreciation be reported for sponsored accounts?
A: Assets purchased with sponsored funds follow the same processes as those purchased with non-sponsored funds, with two additional components; the original purchase of the asset also generates a billable and reportable transaction in the Project Resource table for SFR to include on an invoice/report and the deprecation will not hit on the sponsored project.
6. Q: If something is a suborg today, will it be differentiated in the future?
A: For conversion purposes, orgs are converted at the org level. If departments want to continue to use "suborg" type functionality in PS, they can accomplish it by utilizing the chart string to its full potential.
7. Q: What access to the GPC modules/reports/data will be provided to faculty without training?
A: Anyone with a Production role in PS will have access to the Reporting Instance of PS and access to view all modules and data that aren’t restricted (i.e., bank account numbers and HIPAA protected data) and delivered/custom reports & queries. Generally Faculty won’t have Production roles in PS and won’t be granted this access automatically. However, Faculty can request Reporting Instance access and view all modules, data, reports and queries. Currently, there is no training for view access. We are delivering an online Sponsored Projects Overview course to give non-central folks a general understanding of the GPC modules, reports & queries.
8. Q:
For sponsored rebudgeting, if I am a Certified Approver and want to initiate a budget adjustment between expense accounts on a sponsored project, can I just go into PS Projects and process the rebudget? Do I have to first enter the BPEL document, approve it and then go into PS Projects and process the rebudget?
A: The procedure for processing a sponsored rebudget is to first enter the BPEL document, have it approved by a CA and then the CA enters the rebudget in PS Projects. We created this process mainly because we wanted to have some approval point in the process - there is no approval in PS Projects, so we created one in the BPEL process. We also will have oversight reports to make sure that all the BPEL documents resulted in a PS Project budget adjustment and that all PS Project budget adjustments have BPEL documents.
9. Q: I haven't heard any mention of how "child" accounts will be handled in EFS--especially when the "child" is in a different area. What can you tell me?
A: Parent/child (or main/multiple) sponsored accounts will be set up as multiple Projects under the same Award in PS. Each Project can be assigned to a different DeptID and the budget lines for that project would be established with that DeptID.
10. Q:
Increasingly the University and sponsors are funding interdisciplinary and/or intercollegiate programs that include multiple “projects” across the enterprise. To what extent will PS functionality allow for reports that roll up and link together pieces that reside across different areas within a college and across different colleges, altogether, so the overall initiative can be better understood and managed at an aggregate institutional level?
A: Assuming we are talking about all sponsored projects, how the GPC modules interact and how an award is set up in GPC accomplish this rollup and link across areas and colleges. For example, let’s say we have an award from NIH that involves a PI from one college and a Co-PI from another college. The grant would be set up as one Award in the Grants module within PS. We would then set up at least two Projects in the Projects module - one for the PI and one for the Co-PI, both projects roll up to the one Grant. We can set up as many or few projects as we want. In the Contracts module (the billing is driven out of the Contracts module), we would set up one Contract for both projects. This set up allows for the departments to view the data at the Award or individual Project level.
11. Q: Pre-Award Reports: What specific reporting capability will be available for pre-award data (ie, proposals, PIs, Co-PIs, budget periods, grant amounts, etc.)?
A:
All the data will exist in the GPC modules and is available for query or reporting.
12. Q: Will PS Grants Module report post-award financial activity by grant year as well as University fiscal year?
A:
The modules store the data and the users build the reports. All the data is in the GPC modules and data is flexible enough to allow for this type of report.
13. Q: What sort of projection/forecasting capability is provided in the new system for grants management? Will we be able to encumber funds for payroll within a fiscal year, across fiscal years, non-payroll expenses?
A: The sponsored budget is created and maintained in the Projects module. How payroll is encumbered will not change with the new system. How non-payroll is encumbered will change, as how we purchase at the University will change, but the encumbrance will end up in the Project Resource table which is where the Sponsored reports and queries will pull from.
14. Q: How do I include committed cost share/unpaid effort in the PS/Sponsored Proposal Budget Worksheet?
A: The worksheet has been updated - now the revised section will collect the Cost Share/Match account string for all committed cost share (unpaid effort) as stated in the proposal budget, budget justification or award document. This section should also be completed to document the PI's 1% effort requirement per the University effort policy, as documented on the PRF.
Sponsored Reports Questions:
S1. I requested a fixed price project to be closed into a non-sponsored program. How do I determine whether the transfer has happened?
To look at the sponsored account, go to Commitment Control, Review Budget Activities, Budget Overview (see image 1 below – a job aid on this inquiry is forthcoming) and enter the project or on the Non Sponsored side go to General Ledger, Review Financial Information, Ledger (see image 2 below) and enter the nonsponsored program.
Image 1:
Image 2:
S2: I have a continuation proposal going in. How can I see whether the project is likely to have a large balance?
Navigate to: Commitment Control, Review Budget Activities, Budget Overview, or the sponsored report called Sponsored Award Overview (see job aid for instructions on how to run the report).
S3: How do I view a month end report?
Navigate to: Commitment Control, Review Budget Activities, Budget Overview or the sponsored report called Sponsored Award Overview (see job aid for instructions on how to run the report) NOTE: as of 8/21/08 this report doesn’t allow you to enter a date parameter, but a request has been submitted to make it an option.
S4: How do I determine what charges "hit" during a certain period of time?
Navigate to: Commitment Control, Review Budget Activities, Budget Overview and drill into the expense transaction all the way back to the source or the sponsored report called Sponsored Transaction Detail – Expense NOTE: as of 8/21/08 this report pulls other transactions and not just budget, the fix to only pull budget and make a few formatting changes should be ready in September.
S5: How do I locate non-Sponsored reports?
A handout called EFS Reconciliation Tools was distributed at the RRC manager meeting on 8/21/08 and will be put up on the web. The handout reviews the options for non sponsored reports. The inquiry in question #1 is one of the best online inquiries for non sponsored.
S6: How do I determine what accounts are set-up for each project, what is currently budgeted, encumbered, expended and what the unobligated balance is?
If you want to look at the sponsored account, go to Commitment Control, Review Budget Activities, Budget Overview or the sponsored report called Sponsored Award Overview.
S7: How do I find out what the actual revenue received for a specific project is?
It's contained in a sponsored report called Sponsored Award Overview. To view open or unpaid detail, go to UM Agin by DeptID and Contract (see job aid for instructions on how to run the report).
S8: What is the Run Control ID?
The Run Control ID is the information that tells the system what report you want to run. See the Sponsored Report job aid for a couple of tips related to Run Controls.
last updated 8/22/08 |
EFS: SP Forum
