Center Administration Resource Guide

Timeline for Administrative Activities:

Certain center administrative duties are ongoing (and/or monthly) while other activities typically fall during a particular month of the academic year. Refer to the Research Center Administrative Timeline to assist in planning for requisite activities

Center Administrator Contacts:

University Research Center Management lists the university research center directors and administrative management for all University Research Centers

Pre-Award Administration

1. There are many steps in preparing a proposal for submission, but knowing where to begin can be one of the most daunting. Best Practices in Proposal Preparation provides a synopsis of the basic steps for the administrative management of the preparation and submission of proposals.
   
   
2. The starting point for providing preparation support for proposal submission is engaging in a conversation with the PI to understand all of the relevant facts and pieces that will encompass the proposal submission. The Proposal Set-Up Conversation Guide  is a tool to enable you to gather the relevant information to prepare a draft budget and to gather all of the supporting documents and materials necessary to complete the proposal submission.
   
   
3. The proposal budget is often the major responsibility of the administrator. Once the relevant information is gathered from the PI (#2 above), build the budget using one of the following suggested templates:
1. McCormick Budget Template –revised to facilitate salary calculations is a tool to enable you to build a budget  (you can also use the budget templates on the McCormick website at http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/ra/proposal_preparation.html )
2. IPR Budget Template- an alternative budget template to enable the building of a draft proposal budget.
   
   
4. CV’s (sometime known as biosketches) are typically requested as part of a proposal package for all senior key personnel at NU as well as their subcontractors. The format differs for major federal sponsors while many non-federal sponsors may accept cv’s with no format requirements. The CV Comparison provides guidance to the information required by NIH, NSF, and DOE (Department of Energy) including links to samples and instructions as well as resources available in Cognos for some of the award-specific information.  When in doubt, it is always advisable to refer to a sponsor’s website for specific requirements.

Post-Award Administration

The Sponsored Chart String Reconciliation presentation jointly sponsored by McCormick, WCAS, and the University Research Centers provides guidance and examples of techniques, tips, and resources to aid in the monthly reconciliation of sponsored and non-sponsored chart strings. While there are many home-grown methods for providing the information to the faculty, the Reconciliation Template is one example of a tracking spreadsheet that provides relevant information to faculty on a monthly basis.

Cost Sharing

Please familiarize yourself with the revised cost sharing policy (Feb, 2013) found at  http://www.research.northwestern.edu/policies/documents/cost-sharing-sponsored-programs.pdf

For all types of cost sharing on proposals in university research centers, please refer to the URC Cost Sharing Process. For all effort commitments, the Cost Share Effort Spreadsheet will be required.

The presentation given in February 2011 on cost sharing administration (primarily post award) can be found at: Cost Sharing Primer.

Effort Reporting

Tools for completing effort reports can be found on the effort reporting website (within ASRSP) at http://www.northwestern.edu/coststudies/effort.html   In addition, WCAS Research Administration has created a guide for administrators completing effort reports, which is available at: http://www.weinberg.northwestern.edu/research/documents/QuickGuidetoEffortReportsFINALDRAFTv2_001.pdf

NIH Salary Cap (updated March, 2012)

1. NIH has lowered the allowable salary cap to be charged to awards effective December 23, 2011. The Office of Cost Studies has published this table which provides guidance on when to apply which salary cap.
   
   
2. The Society of Research Administrators (SRA) sponsored a webinar/presentation in which the majority of the content was presented by Marcia Hahn, Director of Grants Policy from NIH.
   
   
3.   NIH Cap and summer salary: Faculty with salaries in excess of the NIH salary cap who have committed effort on an NIH grant and who charge summer salary from an NIH sponsored project in the summer months must identify a source of non-sponsored funds to cover the “cap gap”. Please work with the faculty home department to ensure that they are aware there is summer over the cap salary commitments on center grants to ensure there are funds to cover the “cap gap”. WCAS has posted their policy for handling this on their website at WCAS.

Processing Summer Salary: (updated March, 2012)

While most summer salary forms are processed in the departments, many of the centers are involved in the process at some point. There is an updated document “Processing Summer Salary through Multiple Schools” on the HR website at http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/policies-forms/forms/payroll-administration/index.html  that has been vetted by all of the deans’ offices. Please note that all summer salary forms for center directors will be required to be routed by the home deans’ office to Meg McDonald in the Office for Research for approval.

Responsible Conduct of Research:

Responsible Conduct of Research training is required for all undergraduates, graduate students, and post docs funded on NSF awards (proposed and submitted after January 4, 2010) and certain NIH awards (Training Grants, F32, NRSA, and certain K Awards). The university schools/ units have put processes into place for ensuring compliance and tracking (which will cover most of your graduate students).  Please refer to the process as outlined for RCR. Please also utilize the RCR Tracking Template for assistance in the ongoing tracking of the RCR compliance in the center. The MRC created a CITI training guideline for undergraduates that you may also find useful.