As of July 1, 2017, the office of Sponsored Award Accounting (SAA) merged with University Research Administration (URA). Since then, we have completed the business process redesign sessions and have begun to move forward with the proposed redesign.
Process changes and improvements will be summarized below as URA implements these changes.
December 2017- Account Create Pilot
Based on the results from the BPR sessions, the combined URA office formed an Account Create Team within the Post-Award Support Services group. The Account Create Team will be responsible for the intake and account creation for all sponsored awards across the University.
Before implementing a campus-wide change, URA rolled out a pilot impacting only those units whose accounts are created centrally.
The Account Create Team is currently creating advance accounts for units as requested, completing intake and compliance reviews for all awards, and creating accounts for all units whose accounts are created centrally. This pilot is ensuring a dual review of all awards processed and accounts created.
For more information, see Account Create Team (ACT)- Pilot.
January 2018- Closeout Process Changes
Upon a review of the current processes, we have drafted a new Account Closeout policy which includes both the responsibility and timeline for financial report submission as well as account closeout.
The draft policy emphasizes two key topics:
- Awards should be ready to close no later than 20 days before the Final Financial Report (FFR) is due
- FAS represents the official book of record supporting all required financial statements
When the policy is implemented, departments will be responsible for submitting a Closing Report to URA no later than 20 days before the FFR due date. If URA does not received closeout information from the department by that date, URA will submit the FFR based on current approved ledger information. This will occur after communication with the department and a response period lapse. Prior to submitting the FFR, URA will review for any unallowable expenses and report those to the department. These transactions will be transferred to the Guarantee Account.
URA has implemented an interim Closing Memo process to assist departments in preparing of the upcoming policy changes. Please see the details of the interim process here.
January 2018- Residual Transfer Policy
URA has drafted a residual transfer policy to allow departments to transfer unexpended funds from all sponsored projects to a departmental account if the following criteria are met:
- The award is Fixed Price (i.e., there is no provision for return of unexpended funds to the external sponsor)
- All payment required under the award have been received by the University of Chicago
- All proposed and required work is complete, and all reports and deliverables have been submitted to the sponsor
- All expenditures related to the project have been appropriately charged to the account
URA has developed a form to be submitted with closeout documentation if the departments wishes to transfer residual funds.
The draft of this policy is current under review by leadership.
February 2018- Advance Account Policy and Process
In order to streamline account setup upon receipt of an award, URA has drafted a new advance account policy and process. The policy, effective April 2nd, separates these accounts into two types: advance and bilateral advance.
The creation of the Bilateral Advance accounts allows Units to begin allocating expenses to the account prior to the distribution of the award. It also streamlines the process flow of awards and accounts within URA.
URA will be releasing an electronic form for units to request Advance accounts, replacing the form 70. The form will be available on April 2nd here.
We will also be releasing an Advance Account Visibility Report which will be used to review and monitor all Advance and Bilateral Advance accounts for compliance.
February 2018- Milestone Invoicing
Awards requiring performance/milestone-based payment currently are created and submitted by the department administrator without URA endorsement. In an effort to assist both departments and URA in managing outstanding receivables, URA will be updating the billing process to require department administrators to request these invoices through URA.
These awards are currently identified in FAS with a payment mode attribute of 5. They will be updated to a 7 to better identify these awards.
URA will be releasing an electronic form on April 2nd to allow departments the ability to request an invoice be submitted for these awards. The form will be available here.
This does not affect Clinical Trial billing.
April 2018- Outgoing Subawards & Sponsored Consulting Agreements
URA has implemented the Outgoing Subaward Team to better manage the outgoing subaward and sponsored consulting agreement processes.
For new awards and award amendments/modifications, URA will automatically begin the outgoing subaward process for any subawardees included in the award.
For sponsored consulting agreements, other modifications to existing subawardees, and the addition of new subawardees, the unit should complete the "E-mail URA-M" activity in AURA to initiate the process. The Post Award RA will review the request and ensure any prior approval requirements are met prior to sending it to the subaward team.
For more information and detailed instructions for the process, please see the Outgoing Subawards & Sponsored Consulting Agreements page.
May 2018- Account Create Form
Effective June 4th, URA will begin utilizing the Account Create Form through ServiceNow to initiate the award setup process.
The Account Create Team will initiate the form upon receipt of an award agreement. The Unit Administrator listed as the "PC-O" in AURA will receive an e-mail via ServiceNow containing details of the agreement. The award will be attached to the e-mail and will prompt the administrator to review and provide information that will be used to create the account, including administrator and signer information, guarantee account information, and a revised budget, if applicable.
The form will also allow the administrator to request associate accounts to be set up as well.
The ServiceNow form will allow for better communicationw ith the units and within URA, providing visibility into the dual review process and metrics for award setups.
Currently, this form only impacts units whose accounts are created centrally by URA.
June 2018- Amendment/Modification Process Change
Effective July 2nd, all amendments/modifications received from sponsors should be e-mailed to io-ura@uchicago.edu. This process applies to all amended award documentations.
Previously, unit administrators were instructed to route Concurrence Requests (CR) through AURA to process these modifications. In addition, some of these requests were e-mailed directly to Post Award Research Administrators in URA.
In an effort to ensure URA processes these awards in a timely manner, we are centralizing the award receipt process and initiating the CRs through URA.
The Account Create Team will initiate a CR in AURA upon receipt of an award modification. They will initiate the ServiceNow Account Create Form, review the award for institutional compliance, update the FAS account, update the AURA budget grid, and forward it on to the Post Award Research Administrator for a dual review.
Unilateral modifications will be reviewed by the Post Award Research Administrator, creating a dual review for data integrity. Bilateral awards will be reviewed as well, negotiated if necessary, and sent out for full execution. Once a fully executed copy is received, the Post Award Research Administrator will approve the CR.
The unit administrator will receive a notification when the amendment has been approved.
For additional questions about this new process, please contact your Post Award Research Administrator.