Grant Information

Congratulations! Your grant has just been awarded and you are the proud Principal Investigator. Now what?

While the process of managing sponsored project awards is a shared responsibility between the Principal Investigator and Grants & Contracts, both have unique areas of primary responsibility. It is the intent of the Office of Budget and Finance to outline those specific responsibilities and provide Principal Investigator's with Oklahoma State Universities documentation and forms needed to successfully manage a sponsored project award.

Role of the Principal Investigator

The Principal Investigator or PI has primary responsibility for achieving the technical success of the project, while also complying with the financial and administrative policies and regulations associated with the award. Although PI’s may have administrative staff to assist them with the management of project funds, the ultimate responsibility for the management of the sponsored project award rests with the PI. The fundamental responsibilities of the PI during the post-award phase of a sponsored project award include:

• Execute the project as outlined in the funded proposal, using sound management techniques
• Carry out the project's financial plan as presented in the funded proposal, or make changes to the plan following a prescribed set of policies and procedures
• Maintain an accurate record of project related expenses and initiate reimbursement invoicing
• Report project progress to the sponsor as outlined in the terms of award
• Comply with all Oklahoma State University and OSU-OKC policies and procedures related to project management and personnel practices
• Comply with all applicable sponsor rules, regulations and/or terms and conditions of the award

The PI’s responsibilities may be divided into two related but distinctly different sets of activities: those activities involving the management of the work of the project, and responsible spending of project funds. While the work of the project should drive the financial activities, sound management practices in both arenas are required.

To help facilitate the PIs’ successful fulfillment of their financial responsibilities, the Office of Budget & Finance has complied a general guideline to help the PI understand the various internal grant process and confidently navigate the financial activity.

Externally Funded, Agreements or Grants:

New Grant Fund Request

To obtain a fund number for an approved new grant the Office of Budget & Finance requires the following documents: Proposal, narrative, signed contract or award, grant budget and Stillwater budget pools. Upon receipt of grant documents an OSU Routing sheet is compiled which begins with assigning it a routing number. The remainder of the form is assembled based on the backup documentation submitted when applying for the grant. The second Stillwater budget requested is to enable Grants and Contracts to identify what types of purchases have been approved by the grantor and how this translates in Stillwater’s purchasing system. Without this component, Stillwater may require grantor approval for “budget changes” that are simply a reallocation of funds due to differing interpretations of the grant.

Once Budget and Finance has completed the OSU Routing sheet it is returned to the Principle Investigator (PI) for review. If no changes are needed it begins the signature process: PI, PI’s Supervisor, and the VP of Budget & Finance. After completion of the signature process on the OSU-OKC campus copies are made and the original plus one copy forwarded to the Office of University Research. There it is reviewed and begins the Stillwater signature process: Office of University Research, Grants, Accounting and back to grants. The routing process of obtaining a new grant fund number requires approximately 3 - 4 weeks to complete.

A new grant fund includes the following: Fund number, Grant Code (ties a multiple year grant together), and Organizational Code (reflects the hierarchy and allows it to feed to the correct approvers).

Grant Modifications

For changes made to existing grants the OSU Routing Sheet is completed as a modification and the original routing number utilized. The required backup documentation is based on what changes were requested from the PI and approved by the grantor: budget changes, PI changes, start-end dates, etc. The routing modification is assembled based on the approved grant changes and will only reflect changes made to the grant MOU. If the budget has been changed either by increase or decrease, not only will the new proposed grant budget be needed but also an updated Stillwater budget showing which account codes will be utilized for future expenses. By translating the proposed grant budget into the account codes purchasing utilizes we are trying to avoid unnecessary “grantor approvals” on budget changes simply due to different interpretations.

Once Budget and Finance has completed the OSU Routing modification sheet it is returned to the PI for review. If no changes are needed it begins the signature process: PI, PI’s Supervisor, and the VP of Budget & Finance. After completion of the signature process on the OSU-OKC campus copies are made and the original plus one copy forwarded to the Office of University Research. There it is reviewed and begins the Stillwater signature process: Office of University Research and then Grants. The routing process of modifying a grant requires approximately 1 - 2 weeks to complete.

Retroactive Cost Transfer Form - Retro:

The retroactive cost transfer form is used to make corrections to the grant accounts when a charge has either been applied to the wrong fund, account code, or is an unallowable cost. The completed Retro form along with the supporting backup documentation is then channeled through Budget and Finance. Once the retro and backup documents are received from the PI it is scanned and forwarded on to Stillwater for final processing.

Monthly Billing for Grant and Contract Accounts:

Stillwater Grants & Contracts is responsible to prepare and submit invoices, cash requests, and letters of credit as required to secure funds from sponsoring agencies; however, the PI is responsible to initiate the reimbursement process and furnish them the backup documentation to support the request for reimbursement. Here are the following reports Grants & Contracts utilize for the reimbursement process and they are found in Banner Finance under e~print and are only available in arrears:

1. Budget Status Report (FGRBDSC) – This report shows a summary of a fund account codes for a specific month and provides the net effect to the fund rather than an available balance.
2. Transaction Detail by Account Code (FGRODTA) – This report shows the individual transaction detail(s) by purchasing account codes and is used to reconcile the expenses paid during that month with the backup documentation needed for Grants & Contracts.
3. Detailed Payroll Transactions by Organization (PAYORGN). Shows the labor distribution by fund and identifies the salary period paid. The PAYORGN reports are supplied to the PI by the office of Budget & Finance and are typically available prior to the 10th of the month. Once received, the PI is responsible to verify that the payroll information being reported is being paid on the correct fund and that the time worked is correct. After verification has been made the PI signs the Time & Effort Certification Statement located on the last page of the report; however, if the payroll information is incorrect it is the responsibility of the PI to notify HR of the corrections needed. For convenience the Time & Effort Statement has been added to the last page of the Payroll Transactions by Org report but this statement can be added by the PI if omitted. In most grants, this is a mandatory component and the PI may be randomly selected to pull these for verification so a copy should be kept in the PI’s office or close at hand.
   • Time & Effort: Certification:
     I have firsthand knowledge of the activity described above. I certify that it is a reasonable estimate of the work performed. PI’s Signature & date

The e~print reports should be available around the beginning of the month with the PAYORGN taking the longest to be reflected. The PI will print the required reports for the previous month and attach the mandatory backup documentation to send to Stillwater. Stillwater will attach this information to their invoices when requesting reimbursement for OSU-OKC from the grantor. The required documentation is: the PAYORGN report reflecting the signed time & effort certification and the FGRODTA with copies of the invoices reflected: p-card invoice, OK Corral invoices, CVI’s, etc.

Resources

Grant Proposals Website

Account Number Request Form (doc)

Retroactive Cost Transfer Form (xls)

For any questions on the process or locating the required information please contact:

Brenda Smith
Office of Budget & Finance
Budget Development Coordinator
405-945-8632