Research and Cost Accounting Blog

RCA office hour for the month of September has been cancelled.  However, we will still be holding hands-on SPFF training.

SPFF Dashboard Virtual Hands-on Training

Join Teia Wright and the RCA Team for an on-line walk through of the SPFF Dashboard. Follow along on your own dashboard and ask questions along the way as you learn dashboard navigation and best practices for grants management.

If you would like a demo at your department faculty or staff meeting, please email iOEvolution@rice.edu and we will contact you to arrange a time.

Friday, September 29th 10:00 AM – 11:30AM

Zoom Link: https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/3133585535?pwd=T3RkenpjRVE4ZWJpUGpqZ3VYOGg1QT09

Meeting ID: 9313 358 5535 Passcode: 556994

The label for Faculty Funds on the various SPFF Dashboard views has been changed from “Default” to “Faculty Fund”.  This change allows faculty and administrators to more easily identify this fund.

Based on user requests presented to and approved by the iO Finance and Research Functional Committee, we are making a change to the Faculty Fund Types to facilitate department reconciliation.  

Starting on September 15, 2023, the General Ledger Fund Type for Faculty Funds will change from Fund Type 101 to Fund Type 109. This impacts Fund Sources 010000, 010010, 010020, 010030, and 010040. Because this is a General Ledger change, it will not impact Faculty Fund reporting in the Projects module or on the SPFF Dashboard. 

Why Are We Making This Change? Currently, both Faculty Funds and other departmental unrestricted designated funds fall within Fund Type 101, making management of both challenging. Adding an independent fund type for Faculty Funds:

• facilitates reconciliation between Faculty Fund projects and the associated GL transfers
• ensures that Faculty Fund projects are funded appropriately from GL accounts
• enables clear insight into tracking transactions between Projects and the General Ledger

Important Details: 

• This change will not impact the way FF balances and transactions are presented in PPM or on the SPFF dashboard; it only affects general ledger accounting. 
• Transactions from FY22 and FY23 will remain in Fund Type 101 as they are currently recorded and displayed. 
• Transactions from FY24 will appear in Fund Type 109. 
• Transactions between July 1, 2023, and September 15, 2023, will be moved to Fund Type 109 on September 15, 2023. Crystal Davis will monitor “in-flight” transactions that post the week of September 18-22 and make any necessary corrections. 

What Do You Need to Do? 

Finance and RCA are working to make all necessary transitions behind the scenes, but it is important for you review your funds for the following:

• If you have Faculty Funds pointing to fund sources other than 010000, 010010, 010020, 010030, or 010040, contact Crystal Davis before September 15, 2023, to ensure those transactions are included in the transition. 
• Between September 15 and September 28, review transactions in Fund Type 101 and Fund Type 109 and work with Crystal to resolve any unexpected results. 

We appreciate your cooperation during this system update, which will help streamline your financial processes and reporting. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Crystal Davis or the finance team.

Thursday, August 24 from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Wednesday, September 6 from 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Registration is required using this link due to limited space. You will receive additional information about the location after registration. If these times don’t work in your schedule, add your name to the Waiting List tab.

If you would like a demo at your department faculty or staff meeting, please email ioEvolution@rice.edu and we will contact you to arrange a time.

Co-Hosted by Research and Cost Accounting and the Office of Sponsored Projects

Wednesday, August 23 at 9:30 am
Farnsworth Pavilion in the RMC
Refreshments served at 9:00 am

Zoom Link: https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/97387862692?
Passcode: 665418

The new Faculty/PI SPFF Dashboard and new Administrator SPFF Dashboard will be moved to production starting at 5:00 pm on Thursday, June 1 and will be available on Monday, June 5.  In order to ensure sufficient time for the transition and testing, the SPFF dashboard will not be available during this time.

SPFF Dashboard Training

Via Zoom
Thursday, May 18  2:00 – 3 pm
– Intro to Enhanced Sponsored Projects and Faculty Funds Dashboard

In-Person, Hands-on Guided Workshops @ COB 4th floor OIT Office Suite
Friday, May 19  1:00 – 2:30 pm
Monday, May 22  1:00 – 2:30 pm
Monday, May 22  3:00 – 4:30 pm
Tuesday, May 23  1:00 – 2:30 pm
Tuesday, May 23  3:00 – 4:30 pm

Register for an in-person guided workshop using this link. 
Hands-on training will be conducted in a Test environment with data as of 5/8/23.

This is a handy guide to employee and student payments that covers which office pays, which tax forms the payee completes, and what type of IRS reporting (if any) happens afterwards.  The guide is a joint effort of Payroll and Procure to Pay that can be found on both websites and is also downloadable here: Rice Payment Reference Guide

If you would like to do further reading about payments to employees and students, you might like IRS Publication 525 on taxable and non-taxable income, which you can review here: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525

We had hoped to discuss the new Faculty/PI SPFF Dashboard during our next office hours.  However, the launch of the new dashboard has been delayed while some technical issues are worked out.  Therefore, the topic for the March 22^nd office hour will be Cost Transfers.  Office hour this time around will be at 10:00 am.

For those of you who had signed up for the in-person guided workshops on the new dashboard, please be aware that they have also been postponed.  The registration link has been deactivated and will go live again once we have new dates available.

As promised, the recording and transcript of the RCA webinar on 01/26/2023 have been uploaded to the iO Training Catalogue. Please search for the phrase RCA Webinar.

They can also be found here:
Recording – https://rice.app.box.com/s/huz0ohgmf05gcosimvncn06291slz04n
Transcript – https://rice.app.box.com/s/63sh0sihzz2tp1bggjddm5oj6na9nhrx