CALS Business Operations Newsletter
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Get CBO Help at:
919-515-4226 or cbo_help@ncsu.edu
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University-Sanctioned Travel to 2019-nCov Impacted Areas - Applies to All Ledger Projects
As of January 27, CDC considers
all of China a Restricted Travel Area.
Therefore, NC State is
prohibiting University-sponsored travel by faculty, students, and staff
to the entire country and may further restrict travel based on CDC recommendations.
Accordingly, NC State University will not authorize, award credit or funds, nor reimburse travel expenses for any activities involving travel to or in the affected areas.
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Upcoming Business Partners Meeting
Join us for our upcoming Business Partners meeting on
Tuesday, March 17
from
10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
in Williams Hall Room 2405, or online at
www.go.ncsu.edu/cbo-partners
as we live stream the meeting.
Please note that this meeting was originally scheduled for March 18, but was rescheduled for recording purposes.
If you missed the January meeting, you can view the meeting recording and slides, along with the 2020 meeting schedule on our
Business Partners webpage
. Please be sure to share any pertinent information from these meetings with your departments.
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How Can We Contact You?
Please keep your phone numbers and emails updated in the campus directory and encourage other faculty and staff to do so as well so we can contact folks when questions arise. To update the information, please select the “Update My Directory Listing (Faculty/Staff)” on the
NCSU Directory page
.
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Business Purpose Needed on ALL Marketplace Orders
A detailed business purpose must be provided on ALL Marketplace orders to ensure accurate processing and correct account codes are used. The AP Approver team has had to push back a high volume of orders because there is no business purpose.
Effective January 1, 2020
once the approver has contacted the submitter to add a business purpose (when not provided) the approver will hold the requisition for 48 hours. If the requisition has not been updated with the business purpose, the approver will deny the requisition back to the submitter.
A denied requisition CANNOT be edited
, a new requisition will need to be submitted.
An acceptable business purpose will explain how the item is used. For example, “Purchasing X for purpose of Y” or “Purchasing paper towels for rodent lab cages.”
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Purchase Authorizations (PA) versus Purchase Orders
At times vendors may ask for a purchase authorization to satisfy an order of any value. CALS has a purchase authorization system. This system provides quick access to a purchase authorization number, however,
it is not the same as a NCSU Purchase Order
. The NCSU Purchase Order is required when a supplier/vendor will be providing goods or services over a twelve month (fiscal) period greater than $5000. The purchase authorization system (PA system) will be under construction in January 2020, because the PA is not officially approved by NCSU Procurement Services, however, is a resource for providing a vendor a purchase authorization number. The purchase of goods or services must still be an allowable expense, please refer to the
Basic Spending Guidelines
, prior to making purchases, or contact the CBO Helpline for assistance at (919) 515-4226.
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Why Do I Need a Purchase Order?
As you consider the large-scale purchases (greater than $5,000) that you may need to make over the upcoming year, it is important to understand why it is necessary to submit a purchase order, and how the college and university offices work together with suppliers to negotiate the best prices, delivery expectations, and invoicing options. By informing the CBO of your purchasing needs and decisions, we can work with the university to ensure you are receiving great quality goods and services at the best prices.
Read more to understand how we can work together to meet your purchasing needs
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Why do I need to provide both a project and phase for expenditures?
The college receives funding allocations from a variety of sources, including federal capacity funds and state funds to name a few. Annually we must report to the federal government and other entities on our uses of these funds. When we report on our activities, having both project and phase information helps us to accurately align the expenditures to effort. Hatch funding is an example of federal formula-based funding we receive because of our land grant status to support agricultural research. Any faculty member with a research appointment of at least 15% is required to submit a Hatch project and is assigned a "Hatch Phase". This "Hatch Phase" is a phase number assigned to a specific faculty member that allows for efficient and effective annual reporting of their financial expenditures across all funding sources. A Hatch project is active for 5 years and upon expiration must be renewed. As faculty and staff make purchases (MarketPlace, PCard, travel, purchase vouchers, etc.), they may be asked by CBO staff to provide additional phase information if a project number is provided without a phase. For additional information about our college use of phase numbers, please contact
Sean Munday
at
scmunday@ncsu.edu
.
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PCard Updates and Deadlines
Please take a moment to review the deadlines and reminders below to help ensure PCard policies and procedures are being followed and transactions are processed in a timely manner.
January Billing Cycle (Past Billing Cycle)
- The January billing cycle (December 21 - January 17) statement deadline is 5 p.m. on February 20.
- To allow cardholders and supervisors adequate time for approval, reconcilers will approve statements by February 5 unless additional information is required.
- If additional information is required in order to approve a statement, cardholders will receive notification by February 5 from cals_cbo_pcard@ncsu.edu. Please be on the lookout for these communications.
- Additionally, cardholders who did not have their receipts uploaded for this billing cycle into the PCard Center as of 3:30 p.m. on January 21 would be required to submit a JV request via ServiceNow if the transaction was not charged to the appropriate project.
February Billing Cycle (Current Billing Cycle)
- The reconciliation deadline for the February billing cycle (January 18 - February 20) is February 24. However, in order to guarantee reconciliation of transactions, receipts should be uploaded by 3:30 p.m. on February 21.
- Anything uploaded after the February 21 deadline will be reconciled for this billing cycle only if time allows and the cardholder will be responsible for submitting any JV requests via ServiceNow if necessary.
As a reminder, to ensure deadlines are met, cardholders should do the following:
- Upload receipts within 1-3 days of the transaction date and avoid uploading all receipts the day before or on the day of the reconciliation deadline.
- Be sure receipts have written on them the project phase to be charged, a detailed business purpose, and the travel authorization number (if applicable).
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University C&G Financial Reporting Update: Pulling Back Closeout Forms
Effective March 1, 2020, University C&G will utilize the Closeout System to pull back Closeout Forms, which are not fully routed to their office, 5 business days prior to the Agency's Due Date. Please note this routing includes the completion of the PI Certification Form and, if applicable, Uniform Guidance Certification.
When pulling back the Closeout Form, University C&G will either utilize the information inputted into the Closeout Form to report final numbers, OR they will run WRS (Wolfpack Reporting System) and use the budget end date or project end date to report only those expenses occurring prior to that date. For example, if the budget end date is 10/31/2019, then expenses as of the end date will be used to determine the final costs.
Therefore, any costs that are not included in the closeout once the final expenditures have been reported to the Sponsor, will be the department/college's responsibility to cover.
Please note each Principal Investigator is assigned a Post Award Consultant who communicates with them at least quarterly about the status of their ledger 5 projects. This includes specific notification 90 days prior to the project ending.
We strongly encourage faculty to review the information shared and set-up regular dialogues with their Post Award Consultants, to ensure their grants close-out on time and without deficit.
Additionally, please note timely completion of both the PI Certification and, if applicable, Uniform Guidance Certification will assist in meeting the closeout deadline.
CALS C&G has already begun to revisit and update our closeout processes and notifications. Please note the goal is to work towards decreasing the amount of transactions, both salary and non-salary, performed within the last month of the grant, as these impact the timeliness of the grant's closeout.
To look up your Post Award Consultant, you can utilize the Grant Account Managers link on the CALS
C&G Website
under Get In Touch.
Please see below the original communication shared with CALS C&G on January 24 from the Associate Director, University Contracts & Grants:
Financial Reporting Update
Closeouts are due by the C&G due date to the Office of Contracts and Grants (C&G). Beginning March 1, 2020, if a closeout is not received 5 business days prior to the Agency Due Date, C&G will proxy approve the closeout from the Grant Business Officer (GBO) level. If the closeout has not reached the GBO level or if the closeout is proxy approved, C&G will report the following either criteria in the final report:
- If the closeout contains figures, C&G can use those figures to report final costs. A comment must be made in the closeout letting the department know what figures were reported.
- WRS (Wolfpack Reporting System) will be used as of the budget end date or project end date. For example, if the budget end date is 10/31/2019, then expenses as of the end date will be used to determine the final costs.
Any costs that are not included in the closeout once the final expenditures have been reported to the Sponsor, will be the department/college’s responsibility to cover.
As we move toward these new and/or updated processes, we strive to continue to increase efficiencies and streamline our procedures. We want to thank you for all that you do for NC State. We appreciate your hard work and your continued support.
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NSF to Require SciENcv Biosketches and Current & Pending Support by June 1, 2020
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has designated the National Institutes of Health’s SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) as an NSF-approved format for submission of biographical sketch(es) and Current and Pending Support.
The University is reviewing the Current and Pending Support requirements and will be sharing guidance within the coming months.
Effective June 1, 2020, NSF will only accept PDFs for biographical sketches and Current and Pending Support that are generated through use of an NSF-approved format. Please note this will apply to all key personnel who are required to submit a biosketch and current and pending support.
Currently the SciENcv Biosketch is available through the below ORCID ID process. Per the PAPPG, below is the timeline for Current & Pending Support SciENcv templates:
- February 2020: NSF will release a fillable PDF format for current & pending support for optional use.
- March 2020: SciENcv will produce an NSF-compliant PDF version of the current & pending support format for optional use.
- June 1, 2020: NSF requires use of an approved format for current & pending support upon implementation of the PAPPG (NSF 20-1), for all proposals submitted or due on or after this date.
If you plan to submit or participate on an NSF submission, please follow the below steps to first create an ORCID ID, then a SciENcv biosketch. If there are any questions regarding the process, please contact the NCSU librarians for assistance at
group-lib-citations@ncsu.edu
.
Please f
ollow the instructions below to complete this task as soon as possible:
- Create or link your ORCID record to your Unity ID by clicking "Get Started" at this link: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/
- Add your publications to ORCID by following these directions: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/user/search-and-link
- If you need help importing publications into your ORCID record, send your CV to the Libraries through this link: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/user/cv-service
- Log into SciENcv: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/ and select "Click here to start"
- Select "See more 3rd party sign in options" and choose "North Carolina State University"
- Log into SciENcv using your Unity ID
- In the upper right corner, go to Settings by clicking on your username
- In Settings, scroll down to "Linked Accounts" and click the "Change" button
- Search for "ORCID" in the "Search for account name" box and select "ORCID" from the results (you should now see your ORCID record in the "Your Linked Accounts" section above)
- Click on "MyNCBI" in the upper right corner to go back to the main dashboard
- Proceed to the "SciENcv" section to start creating biosketches
Additional Information Regarding the SciENcv requirements:
If there are any questions regarding the SciENcv biosketch process, please contact the NCSU librarians for assistance.
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NC State Libraries Introduce New Membership to Data Management Support Repository
Please see the announcement below from NC State Libraries regarding new and updated resources to support research data management and data sharing for NC State researchers. Please also share this information with your colleagues.
From NC State Libraries:
The Libraries is excited to announce a new institutional membership to
Dryad
, a nonprofit, community-governed research data repository that allows NC State researchers to make their data discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. Dryad is one of
many data repository options
that we recommend, and our institutional membership to Dryad means that any researchers associated with NC State University can deposit datasets at no cost - the data package cost is covered by our membership.
Also, please visit our
updated
Research Data Management guide:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/do/data-management
.
This guide provides support across the research data life cycle including data storage, creating data management plans (DMPs) and data sharing agreements, selecting disciplinary and general data repositories, and data curation guidance.
If researchers need help with data management and data sharing plans, we offer the
DMPTool and our DMP Review service
. For research projects that are already underway, our
post-award checklist
can help researchers implement their DMPs and data sharing plans and keep data safe and available for sharing and reuse.
The NC State University Libraries works with OIT and SPARCS, as well as college research officers and research administrators, to support best practices for managing and sharing research data. If you or your colleagues are interested in a one-on-one consultation or a group workshop, please let us know. We'd be happy to customize a presentation or a hands-on workshop to meet your needs.
Please get in touch with questions and to set up a consultation or workshop:
library_datamanagement@ncsu.edu
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Welcome
Andrew Rattanavong, Business Services Approver
Please join us in welcoming Andrew Rattanavong to the Business Services team as an Approver. Andrew previously held an accounting position with NC State and brings with him additional accounting experience. Andrew received his Bachelors in Accounting from NC State. We're excited to have him on our team!
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Farewell to Jacob Ray, Contracts & Grants Pre-Award Consultant
Please join us in wishing Jacob Ray farewell as he moves forward with continuing his research administration career. Jacob's last day with the CBO will be February 21. Jacob has made great contributions to the CALS C&G Pre-Award team and we wish him all the best with his new position. Jacob's departments have been notified of who their
interim pre-award consultant will be while we work to post and fill the position. Any questions may be d
irected to Wes Winkelman (
wwinkel@ncsu.edu
) or Holly Lipkovich (
hklipkov@ncsu.edu
).
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