CALS Business Operations Newsletter |
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Get CBO Help at:
919-515-4226 or cbo_help@ncsu.edu
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COVID-19: CBO Updates Webpage
Keep up-to-date on business operations updates and guidance related to COVID-19 on the CBO Updates – COVID-19 webpage.
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Business Partners Bi-Weekly Meetings
Bi-weekly meetings with primary business partners and HR coordinators will continue in the new year beginning on January 12 to answer questions and provide updates surrounding the COVID-19 situation.
Recordings of each meeting along with the agendas are posted to the CBO Business Partners webpage as they become available. If you have questions regarding these meetings, please contact Molly Bradshaw, Process Efficiency and Training Manager, at mqbradsh@ncsu.edu.
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FY2021 - Shop the Marketplace First Initiative Version 2.0
As of 7/1/2020 NC State requires faculty, staff, and the CALS community to shop the NC State eProcurement Marketplace first for supply orders $1,000 or less and follow the Decision Process for Purchasing Goods. Shop MarketPlace First is a university initiative to reduce costs by purchasing all low dollar supplies from NC State MarketPlace.
PCard Impacts: If the supplies are not available in Marketplace then a PCard may be used to purchase from a non MarketPlace vendor. If the supply is available in MarketPlace or if the cardholder purchases from a MarketPlace vendor, supply purchases $1,000 or less paid on a PCard will require justification explaining why MarketPlace was not used.
General Accounting Impacts: Also in alignment with this initiative, supply purchases $1,000 or less can only be paid using a voucher if 1) the vendor does not accept visa/mastercard (will be confirmed by Procurement), or 2) an invoice that is below $1,000 is a portion of a larger PO (totaling over $1,000). Please note: A voucher cannot be submitted to pay a vendor listed in MarketPlace.
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Detailed Business Purpose Required for Financial Transactions
A detailed business purpose is required for the following financial transactions: PCard, MarketPlace requisitions, invoices, and personal reimbursements. A detailed business purpose answers the following questions: who benefits from the transaction, where the purchased item is located (if applicable), and why the transaction was necessary. When the type of transaction may inherently imply a business purpose (e.g., toner, paper, pens, lab supplies etc.), it is still necessary to provide a business purpose that describes which location or project within the department the item was purchased.
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COVID-19 Testing Requirements for University Approved Travel
All faculty and staff planning to travel, please ensure you read the email sent on November 13 from NC State University with the subject: COVID-19 Testing Requirements for Spring 2021. In particular, please note the following:
All travelers on approved university travel to out-of-state or international locations must submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to returning to campus. For employees who cannot get a test elsewhere, testing will be available on campus to fulfill this requirement. More information will be provided by NCSU in regards to the testing locations on campus.
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Accounts Receivable - Deposit Drop-Off
CBO Business Services will continue to be available to retrieve deposits from you in-person per the following schedule:
- Monday (Missy Grissom, 919 513-1749, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
- Wednesday (Paul Ballance, 919-515-2747, 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.)
- Friday (Tiffany Bryant, 919-515-7919, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Deposits can also be mailed to the CBO, CBO Accounts Receivables, Campus Box 7644, Raleigh, NC 27695-7644.
If you are dropping off a deposit, please call the person listed above upon arrival and they will retrieve the deposit from you.
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PCard 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.
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December Billing Cycle (Past Billing Cycle)
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The December billing cycle (November 21 - December 18) statement deadline is 5 p.m. on January 20.
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To allow cardholders and supervisors adequate time for approval, reconcilers will approve statements by January 8 unless additional information is required.
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If additional information is required in order to approve a statement, cardholders will receive notification by January 8 from cals_cbo_pcard@ncsu.edu. Please be on the lookout for these communications.
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Additionally, cardholders who did not have their receipts uploaded for this billing cycle into the PCard Center as of 3:30 p.m. on December 21 would be required to submit a JV request via ServiceNow if the transaction was not charged to the appropriate project.
January Billing Cycle (Current Billing Cycle)
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The reconciliation deadline for the January billing cycle (December 19 - January 20) is January 22. However, in order to guarantee reconciliation of transactions, receipts should be uploaded by 3:30 p.m. on January 21.
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Anything uploaded after the January 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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Mandatory Training for CALS PCard Holders - Revised Date
All CALS PCard holders will be required to complete a CALS CBO cardholder training module online by February 26, 2021. The training aims to improve CALS’ PCard program compliance, focusing on CALS CBO PCard processes, purchasing guidelines, travel guidelines, and documentation requirements.
Please note the following:
- Cardholders must pass the end of training assessment with 90% or higher and complete the cardholder acknowledgment form before training is marked complete.
- Cardholders are required to complete the training by February 26, 2021. The training is estimated to take 1.5 hours and can be completed in multiple sessions.
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REMINDER: Ending Grants Early - New Option per Uniform Guidance Updates
In August, the Office of Management & Budget revised Uniform Guidance (terms and conditions governing the majority of federal awards) in several areas. One of these areas was the ability for Federal awarding agencies to terminate Federal awards.
OMB is revising §§ 200.211 Information contained in a Federal award and 200.340 Termination to strengthen the ability of the Federal awarding agency to terminate Federal awards, to the greatest extent authorized by law, when the Federal award no longer effectuates the program goals or Federal awarding agency priorities. Federal awarding agencies must clearly and unambiguously articulate the conditions under which a Federal award may be terminated in their applicable regulations and in the terms and conditions of Federal awards. The intent of this change is to ensure that Federal awarding agencies prioritize ongoing support to Federal awards that meet program goals. For instance, following the issuance of a Federal award, if additional evidence reveals that a specific award objective is ineffective at achieving program goals, it may be in the government's interest to terminate the Federal award. Further, additional evidence may cause the Federal awarding agency to significantly question the feasibility of the intended objective of the award, such that it may be in the interest of the government to terminate the Federal award.
As shared by SPARCS, potential indicators utilized by the federal agencies may be burn rate and progress reports.
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Upcoming Changes to Ability to Charge to Ledger 5 Projects Post Close-Out
It is anticipated that within the next month or so, University C&G will roll-out changes to the Financial System that will impact ledger 5 projects. One of these changes is the system’s ability to update a grant from “active” to “pending”. The distinction is that charges can post to an “active” grant, while charges cannot post to a “pending” grant. This status update will occur, based upon an algorithm, approximately 30 days after the Final Financial Report has been submitted to the Sponsor. The Final Financial Report is typically due 30 to 90 days after a grant has ended. Therefore, it continues to be important that faculty work closely with both their department contacts and Post Award Consultants to timely and successfully close-out their ledger 5 project. As more information is shared with the colleges, we will share it with the CALS Community.
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New CALS EHRA Non-Faculty PI and Co-PI Eligibility Guide
In collaboration with NCARS, NC Cooperative Extension and CALS Research Committee, the CALS EHRA Non-Faculty PI and Co-PI Eligibility Guide has been created to provide eligibility guidelines for those EHRA Non-Faculty individuals, who do not fall within the University’s “Research Matrix”, to become Co-PI and PIs on sponsored projects (ledger 5 projects). Please note for those individuals who fall within the Research Matrix, that will continue to be utilized as part of Co-PI and PI requests.
For those individuals who meet the requirements of the new EHRA-Non-Faculty guide or the Research Matrix, the process starts with the supervisor of the individual reaching out to either the Department Head or District Director, with the individual’s CV and recommendation of a Co-PI or PI role. Please note, typically an Non-EHRA individual will need to be in a Co-PI role prior to moving into a PI role. If approved, the Department Head or District Director would forward the request to cals_preaward@ncsu.edu. CALS C&G will then work with NCARS or NC Cooperative Extension on the request. If approved, the request will be forwarded to SPARCS for final approval.
We are working to create a webpage in the near future with this and other information associated with the Co-PI and PI process. If you have any questions, please reach out to cals_preaward@ncsu.edu.
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Reminder: Effective October 1st - NSF Biosketch and Current Pending Forms Required
NSF requires the use of NSF-approved formats for the biographical sketch and current and pending support sections of NSF proposals starting October 1, 2020.
ORCID ID and SciENcv Biosketch Information and Steps:
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 follow the instructions below to complete this task as soon as possible.
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Create or link your ORCID record to your Unity ID by clicking "Get Started" at this link: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/
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Add your publications to ORCID by following these directions: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/user/search-and-link
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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
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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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