Greetings Colleagues,
The 12/14 MRAM materials are published for your review along with a list of links shared during the session. Q&A from our session are included here for reference and will be available with the other meeting materials shortly.
Within a week or so following every MRAM, an email like this one typically goes out with Q&A from the session and a link to the meeting materials.
Jump to section on:
- PAFC: Hot Topic - Salary Over the Cap
- Changing Grant Worktags on Purchase Orders
- GCA Update
- SAGE Search Tips & Upcoming Release
PAFC: Hot Topic - Salary Over the Cap
Please contact effortreporting@uw.edu if you have a specific salary cap instance that you wish to discuss.
Q1: Has the SOC calculator been updated? In prior version from September, it was telling us to input more than a total of 100% FTE into Workday, which is clearly an error.
A1: The current calculator will work when the percentage of effort on the sponsored awards is equal to or less than the proportion of REG pay to IBS. When the level of effort is greater than the proportion of REG pay to IBS, then the calculator will display greater than 100% FTE, hence it will not work for the allocations. As mentioned at MRAM, the current calculator assumes ADS is not being charged to the Award. There is not yet a resource that provides an overview of charging an ADS to sponsored awards in these situations.
Q2: What if ADS is paid by hospital for clinical duties, for example? Should hospital ADS be excluded from IBS?
A2: At the UW, ADS and Clinical pay are considered part of the Institutional Base Salary, all of which must be represented on the Effort Report in ECC.
Q3: Is there a place we can go to find out how to adjust for ADS when faculty are not over the cap? I assume we need to adjust costing allocations when faculty have ADS because, oftentimes, that ADS is paid 100% by the school.
A3: You can use the standard REG, ADS, Clinical calculator. If the faculty's IBS is under the cap, the calculator will still determine the payroll allocation required to ensure the correct effort commitment. https://finance.uw.edu/pafc/calculatorstools.
Q4: I'm confused. I was under the assumption that we no longer needed the calculator as we were to enter the effort attributable to the work on the grant and Workday would automatically adjust between the grant and SOC.
A4: If a faculty has only REG pay as part of their IBS, then a calculator is NOT needed and the committed effort percentage is entered into Workday. If the faculty has clinical, ADS, or ENS pay components, then an adjustment must be made in the Workday payroll allocation to ensure the correct level of effort is charged to sponsored awards.
Q5: What if an ADS is specifically for a grant?
A5: There would need to be a costing allocation of the ADS to the specific grant. Workday will perform the salary cap calculation for the ADS if the faculty member's IBS exceeds the salary cap limitation.
Q6:Where can we find out if ADS can be used for grants or not?
A6: An ADS is considered part of the IBS; under the federal regulations, IBS may be charged to awards in proportion to the effort expended to benefit the objectives. The determination to use an ADS to cover effort on sponsored awards would need to be made at the unit level.
Q7: Workday wants one budget to cover over the cap. If we need more than one budget (ADS plus RCR) how do we do that?
A7: Based on our knowledge, Workday will allow multiple sources to be used to cover the over-the-cap portion. If you are experiencing issues using multiple funding sources to cover the over-the-cap portion, please see your unit's payroll SME.
Q8: What specifically did Jesse outline as the solutions? With so much turnover, we have no idea who got that notification.
A8: Please see the links on this PAFC webpage regarding the fixes for the over-the-cap issues with Hourly Employees and use of Salary Cap Fund.
Q9: Can you please explain how Workday calculates salary over the cap for clinical faculty whose X + Y is over the cap, but X is under the cap?
A9: Workday doesn't perform the calculation in this scenario because the Clinical Pay data is not in Workday to allow for the system to calculate the cap amount. The REG, ADS, Clinical pay calculator must be used in order to determine the Workday payroll allocation and the amount of shift necessary in ECC to adjust to the level of effort.
Q10: What is the earliest review date for FECs that are 7/1/23-12/31/23?
A10: Pre-Review is anticipated to begin on January 24th, 2024 for Effort Statements for the period 7/1/23 - 12/31/23. It is anticipated that certification will be due on April 19th, 2024.
Q11: Why doesn't the calculator just use the current cap and percentage of FTE to calculate the allowable salary $, and and charge the remainder to the Worktag that's been used for cap? It doesn't make sense that two over the cap faculty members with the same FTE commitment, have different amounts of salary charged, if one has ADS.
A11: The same calculation can't be used for the situation with or without an ADS; ADS is part of the IBS and must be included in the calculation to determine compliance with the salary cap. REG and ADS represent two different pay components in Workday. If two faculty have the same effort commitment, but one has only REG and the other has REG+ADS, allocating the same level of REG pay will result in undercharging the awards with the faculty with REG+ADS. The calculator mimics what's occurring in Workday and determines the REG allocation to have a specific level of effort charged to a sponsored award.
Q12: I believe I heard that grant budget planning must use the IBS for budgeting purposes and NOT use reg pay. But this seems to only make sense if the plan is to charge the ADS proportionately against the award, yes? The latter slides suggested that charging the ADS proportionately is one option to address over the cap issues, but not the only way to fix it. This seems contradictory?
A13: Effort in the proposal should always reflect the committed level of effort based on IBS. The issue of whether or not to charge the ADS directly to a sponsored award comes into play when a faculty member has a high level of effort in relation to their IBS, and a significant portion of their pay from an ADS. Charging the ADS to the sponsored awards can be used in this specific instance when there is not enough REG to cover the over proposed level of effort.
Changing Grant Worktags on Purchase Orders
Q1: If a subaward is in the wrong cost center and we are planning to submit a request to correct the cost center, what should we do?
A1: Follow these steps:
1) Check your purchase order to see if any invoices are applied to the PO. If they are in Approved or In Progress status, the worktag on that line cannot be changed. Ensure that those in-flight invoices are paid before moving to the next step.
2) Send a GCA Only Award Modification Request (GCA Only MOD) to request the update to the grant Worktag.
3) After GCA updates the grant Worktag, submit a request to ospsubs@uw.edu for a change to the PO to add a new PO line with the updated Grant Worktag number. Include “PO modification - New PO Line” in the subject line and include the following details in the email:
- UWSC#
- New Grant Worktag (GR#)
- PO Start and End date
- Advance Payment - Yes or No
- Main PO Amount (less Advance, if applicable)
- Advance Amount
- PO Grand Total
- Campus point of contact
4) When that change order is complete, check the grant Worktag on the new line to ensure payments on future invoices can be made successfully.
Q2 :Is there a way to configure Workday like Ariba where a change in funding WT would be from that point forward (not retroactively) without a separate line being created which has its own downstream problems?
A2: Unfortunately there is not. Procurement has had extensive discussions with the IT team and consultants over the last few months before providing guidance.
GCA Update
Q1: Is GCA still not processing close outs? If not, how do we get closeouts done for sponsor required close outs?
A1: GCA will begin working on closeouts in January 2024. There is a significant backlog to work through but our first priority will be processing sponsor refunds. If there is an upcoming sponsor deadline, please communicate this to GCA through their Urgent Request process.
Q2: Would it possible to provide reports and status updates related to security role requests submitted via Workday?
A2: GCA does not handle Workday security role requests. It would be better to work with your Shared Environment on any pending security role requests.
Q3: Will the advance extension process be re-implemented? As Mods are slow to be approved, we’re coming close to the end of our advance budgets.
A3: The advance extension process resumed last month so you should be able to submit requests as normal through SAGE. If you run into an issue, please email sagehelp@uw.edu. Review the instructions for extending an Advance.
Q4: Is there a status similar to status 3 where we can process transfers but have NO expenses post?
A4: There currently is no Workday status that prevents new expenses from posting but allows expense transfers.
Q5: May we please have an update on the status of ONR invoicing.
A5: ONR invoicing is current, but please contact GCA at gcahelp@uw.edu with a specific award or concern.
Q6: Can you please update on temporary extensions?
A6: GCA is prioritizing modification requests related to extensions or temporary extensions. Please use GCA's Urgent Request process to escalate a specific SAGE MOD.
Q7: When an award set up or a mod is processed it is still not showing up in SAGE to complete a subaward creation or advance request. I think I've been told that part of the process has to be done manually. Is this being worked on and how long until that's implemented?
A7: With the 12/20 release, ORIS will be automatically syncing awards from Workday to SAGE, and we should not see this issue any longer. ORIS has been running weekly data syncs manually this past month to catch things up in the meantime.
Q8: Please clarify if the standard recommendation is to submit an ADV request if the mod to activate an award is caught in the backlog.
A8: We realize GCA's backlog are impactful. One option is to route an ADV if you need an award/award line established for a new award period and an ASR or MOD is backlogged. Please note that an ADV is not used to simply establish an award line for an existing award period. Another option is to route a GCA Urgent Request to escalate a specific SAGE ASR or MOD in GCA's processing queue.
Q9: What is the UW's plan for situations where closing deadlines are not met and final invoices are disallowed? How will those expenses be covered?
A9: Each situation involving nonpayment from a sponsor is analyzed on a case-by-case basis by GCA staff and leadership.
Q10: In regards to closing, does Award Portal have the transfer button functionality, like Grant Tracker, for a closing award that is in deficit to transfer the deficit to a non-sponsored project?
A10: Award Portal does not have the deficit transfer functionality that Grant Tracker did. GCA requests you submit an Award Portal ticket to GCA with an appropriate Worktag to transfer the deficit to and GCA will prepare and submit a journal in Workday.
Q11:What security role is required to edit budget dates and what is the pathway for that particular security role request?
A11: The Workday security role needed to edit a transaction's Budget Date is the Shared Environment Accountant. For more information about how to change a Budget Date, please see the UW Connect article Update Budget Date on Transaction.
Q12: Can we have more flexibility with changing Cost Centers like with award portal? Instead of a MOD since it's important for payroll?
A12: GCA is currently reviewing the cost center Worktag change process in light of the downstream impacts to payroll and purchase orders, as presented by Lynn Magill from Procurement Services. GCA will take this suggestion under advisement.
Q13: Any update on backlog of MODs?
A13: GCA's backlog of SAGE Modification Requests is hovering around 1,100 items. GCA has seen an increase in the number of requests that have a SAGE Budget worksheet but still return a significant volume to campus for correction. GCA encourages campus partners to use their SAGE Modification Request Checklist as a guide for what is needed for each type of request. It is available on the GCA Modifications webpage.
Q14: Regarding deficit transfer. I've done this and have been told by GCA that they can't make any transfers - departments need to do it. Should we still submit an Award Portal ticket to GCA with an appropriate Worktag?
A14: GCA is currently working out an issue with the Workday security role needed to process journals. They expect to have a resolution soon so their work on closeouts can begin next month.
Q15: Are there any updates on when grant residual balances from prior awards (previously closed out) will be sent to departments by GCA? At launch, I had thought that the entire remaining balance in our fixed price surplus budgets would have the indirects removed and the remainder distributed to campus departments for individual allocation to faculty. I realize there are a lot of higher priority items to process, but an update would be much appreciated.
A15: GCA treats residual balances transfers as a high priority and will begin working on them in the next three months. The residual balance transfer process (formerly known as Fixed Price Surplus Transfers) will now involve transferring only the direct cost portion of the unspent cash balance from the sponsored program to a department's residual balance Worktag. GCA will provide updates at upcoming MRAMs as they make progress on closeouts.
SAGE Search Tips & Upcoming Release
Q1: SAGE Searches: have there been any updates on implementing search by PI?
A1: The 12/20 release includes the ability to filter your award request list by PI. It will be the last option in your filter list.
Q2: If we have a MOD currently in review, but we know we plan to submit another MOD later… do you recommend we edit the budget outside of SAGE temporarily, e.g. a spreadsheet, so that the current SAGE budget is not confusing to reviewers when looking at the current MOD? Just not sure the best practice.
A2: SAGE Budget is designed to use snapshots to capture changes over the life of an award, so you should make those changes within the SAGE Budget. There is not a need for a budget outside of SAGE budget.
For MOD #1 – enter budget data. Go to History. Click Add Snapshot when ready with the mod #1 changes. This will capture what’s in the budget at that time and no changes can be made within a snapshot, once taken. User provides the snapshot #1 URL in MOD #1 request.
For MOD #2 – make changes as needed in the same SAGE budget. Click Add Snapshot, when ready with the mod #2 changes. Provide the snapshot #2 URL in the MOD #2 request.
Note: You can change the snapshot name, so you could enter the MOD# to help distinguish between the snapshots.
Q3: Will we be able to access an exportable list from SAGE for eGC1s again soon?
A3: This feature is not part of ORIS's near-term priorities, but is in the backlog. Near-term priorities will focus on expanding integrations to Workday and other award section enhancements that help whittle away at the existing backlogs in award processing.
Q4: Is there a way to get email notification when there is a comment on the award set up/mod request? OR even notice of "new comment" in the search list?
A4: ORIS will add this suggestion to the data collection currently happening for SAGE notifications.
Q5: For SAGE Awards or SAGE Budget: Is there a plan to or could this be added to the "wishlist" to add in fields that both prompt us and allow us to add in the other Worktags we want associated with the AWD (e.g. PI-specific Worktags such as Program, Assignee)? As of now, need to remember to add this in as a comment in SAGE Awards.
A5: Thanks for this suggestion. Great idea. ORIS will add it to the backlog.
Thank you,
MRAM