Award setup is completed through Award and Account Set-Up and Expediting Team  (AASET). For details, visit the AASET website.

New or modified awards are

• reviewed by the Senior Contract Negotiator
• reviewed by the Interim Director, Post-Award Services
• assigned a project number, and when
• finalized and fully-executed

Once these steps are completed, the documentation is tasked to the Post-Award Services unit and the Project Administrator for set-up.

The award information is entered into MAESTRO:

• award type,
• the period of performance,
• award amount,
• award budget,
• project title,
• the scope of work,
• sponsor type,
• sub-contractor (if applicable),
• cost-share budget (if applicable),
• terms and conditions,
• personnel, FCOI compliance,
• export controls,
• reporting,
• deliverables,
• billing requirements, and
• equipment/intellectual property.

MAESTRO transfers the data to FAMIS and the Project Administrator enters the budget and IDC data into the FRS and SPR applications in FAMIS.

A Costing Allocation form is required for every employee paid from restricted awards. The form denotes:

• the individual’s name,
• employee number,
• job title,
• job number,
• start and end dates,
• pay rate,
• funding source, and
• total encumbrance for that employee for the duration of the costing allocation.

Costing allocation is completed at the department level COSTING ALLOCATION REQUEST FORM

All restricted award accounts at the university require an Account Profile Form requesting the university set-up of the account. The Principal Investigator (PI) must complete an Account Profile Form for the grant, the cost-share, the IDC, and all sub-awards associated with the award. The form is logged into the Academic Affairs online portal ACCOUNT PROFILE FORM PORTAL

Every research project has a scheduled structure for progress, technical, and financial reports as deliverables in MAESTRO. As the due dates approach, MAESTRO notifies the Principal Investigator (PI) and the Project Administrator. The PI completes the report, sends it to the sponsor, and uploads it into MAESTRO where the deliverable changes from “pending” to “completed.”

The PI has the capability to monitor project expenditures via FAMIS, Canopy, and MAESTRO. Expenditures must be “allowable, allocable, and necessary” to the project.  They must be identified/itemized in the approved budget and occur within the active dates of the project including salary/wages, benefits, travel, procurement, equipment, supplies, capital expenditures, and scholarships.

All expenditures must be posted to the correct account (grant, IDC, cost-share, etc.) in order to generate the monthly invoice to the sponsor for reimbursement.

Time & Effort reports are an “after-the-fact” record of how research-funded employees were compensated by the university. A Time & Effort certification document is automatically generated each pay period by the FAMIS system.

Supervisors with “direct and first-hand knowledge” of an employee’s work are required to certify the Time & Effort record. If the document cannot be certified due to a payroll error, the error must be corrected by the department.

The correction requires a revised costing allocation and a cost transfer form because the payroll disbursement already occurred. Payroll will process a cost transfer for the period in question and a corrected Time & Effort can be certified.

COST TRANSFER REQUEST FORM

When the research project ends, MAESTRO notifies the PI and the Project Administrator. The project changes from “active” to “closing” and the PI confirms that all project expenditures have been charged to the appropriate account and existing encumbrances are released. The account is frozen to prevent any subsequent transactions.

The financial accountant balances the account to zero and initiates the Final Invoice to the sponsor. When the final reimbursement payment is sent to the university, the project is formally closed and terminated when the payment is received and cleared.

If the project timeline is delayed, and the PI would like more time to complete the deliverables, a No-Cost Extension (NCE) can be requested of the sponsor. The PI should complete the internal request for approval by the Interim Director, Post-Award Services. Once approved, the Project Administrator will forward it to the agency for the official no-cost extension. NCE is a request for an extension for project completion.  It is not a request for an increase in funds. In some instances, the sponsor will require a revised Statement of Work (SOW) and revised Budget.

NO-COST EXTENSION REQUEST FORM