We have received several inquiries regarding the correct expenditure type to use when paying for undergraduate fellowships.  This situation will be most prevalent on Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) projects, but can also arise for other types of projects.  These payments are processed through Payables and should use expenditure type ODC: Teacher / Trainee Allowance.

Please note that graduate fellowships are still processed through Payroll.  Information on graduate fellowship payments can be found on the GPS website: https://graduate.rice.edu/fellows-to-payroll.

Many of you have received emails from OnBase regarding old subaward invoices.  These emails are caused by a glitch in the system. The IT department has been notified and is working to solve the problem. Please disregard these emails.

Below are the changes happening with the Encumbrance calculation revamp:

• Encumbrance costs will be relieved when actuals are posted. They used to be relieved based on calendar days. The change addresses the issue of payroll costs being posted before the end of the pay period, which caused the remaining balance to be understated as both actuals and encumbrances were posted for the same pay period.

• The new encumbrance calculation now supports automatic calculation of fringe based on the assignment category. This eliminates the need to maintain a fringe line for all assignments. The Labor Distribution Administrator will be required to create a fringe rule only when the fringe costs do not follow the salaries and wages costing.

• The hourly employee pay period amount will now be correct. It was overstated.

• F&A on Tuition remission costs for the MTDC burden schedule projects will stop being calculated.

• The award overview page will stop duplicating projects with encumbrance costs.

• Added the LD comment field to the labor distribution details