Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
Departments manage the request and set-up for Projects within PeopleSoft. Workflow moves requests through
Department and Control Point approval, then through final approval process by the Controller’s Office to complete the
Project set-up. This guide provides an overview of how Projects are set-up and general guidelines for the types of
activities that should be tracked using Projects.
Project Uses
Project Uses have been established in order to categorize Projects for various types of activities. If you are establishing
a new Project to track an activity, you should first choose the appropriate Project Use. Project Use can be used in
reporting to track the total revenues and expenses for that type of activity across UCSF. Projects with the following
Project Uses can be set-up by departments:
•
Affiliation Agreement / Contract
•
Faculty/PI/Owner Activity
•
General
•
Gift (Subproject of a parent gift Project)
•
Medical Center Activity
•
Programmatic Investment
•
Recruitment / Faculty Start-Up
Retention
•
Requirements for New Projects
•
•
•
•
•
To track a discrete activity, initiative, or Project that falls within a predefined list of Project Use categories
To allow a Faculty, PI or owner to segregate revenue and expenses to track balances and report revenue and
expenses
To track activities for contracts, grants, gifts and endowment income
Projects should not be confused with funds; the fund chartfield identifies the source, whereas a Project allows
tracking for a particular activity or purpose (how a department uses funds)
Projects should not be set-up for purposes that are redundant with accounts, funds, departments, or functions
General Guidelines
With regards to unrestricted funds, a maximum of three* Projects per PI – one under each of the following Project
Uses – is appropriate to provide a mechanism for a PI or faculty member to track his/her activity. For example, if Dr. Yu
has discretionary funds, a start-up package, and later has a retention package, she would have three projects in total,
one for each Project Use. These projects have no minimum dollar threshold requirements.
•
Faculty/PI/Owner Activity
•
Recruitment / Faculty Start-Up
•
Retention
In order to reduce the proliferation of Projects and minimize the administrative workload for creating and maintaining
chartfields, the amount of dollars being managed within a project should be a consideration in whether an additional
Project is needed. The need for additional Projects for an individual is justified if the initial activity meets a minimum
materiality of $25K. The request should be discussed with the Control Point so that the Control Point and the
Department can work together to identify the most efficient and consistent way to meet the business need.
*Note: It has been acknowledged that Faculty enrichment funds have been isolated and tracked separately in the past.
The Controller’s Office is working with Control Points to provide further guidance for this issue in the future.
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Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
Attributes
All applicable Project Attributes should be added when the Project is created. If Attributes need to be changed after
final approval, the change should be coordinated through the Control Point.
Required or Optional
Project Attributes
Recharge
Gift
Endowment
Loan
Other*
Project Use
Req
Req
Req
Req
Req
Parent Project
Req
Req
Req
Req
Req
Award/Parent ID
Req
Req
Req
Req
Req
PI/Manager/Owner
Req
Req
Req
Req
Req
Lab Type
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Lab Building
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Lab Room
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Federal Fund Allowed
Req
-
-
-
-
Gift/Endowment Type
Req
Req
Req
Req
Req
Project Nickname
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Lab Owner
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
UCSF Fund
-
Req
Req
-
-
Loan Program
-
-
-
Req
-
Planning Only
Opt
-
Opt
Opt
Opt
*Other consists of Projects in Project Use categories other than Recharge, Endowment, Gift, or Loan managed by departments.
Project Set-Up by Departments within PeopleSoft
Departments can set-up a new Project within PeopleSoft. The saved Project request is then reviewed by a Department
Approver and submitted for approval.
Log on to MyAccess at
http://myaccess.ucsf.edu (not shown).
Scroll down to locate and select
PeopleSoft from the applications
menu.
Click on Main Menu > Set Up
Financials/Supply Chain > Common
Definitions > Design ChartFields >
ChartField Values
On the ChartField Values page, select the
clickable link for Project
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Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
Select the Add a New Value tab to begin the
new Project set-up:
Enter or search (not shown) for SetID
The Project field is grayed out and should be left to the default
of Next. A temporary Project ID will be auto-generated with a
“Z” in the first position to indicate it is “temporary” until
approved
Click Add
Enter the Project Description.
Names for new Projects should
be meaningful and descriptive.
Check with your Control Point
to confirm any specific naming
conventions.
Select the Start and End Dates
for the Project
Select the UCSF Project Attributes tab and enter the Project information:
Project Use
Gift/Endowment Type
Requested Project ID
(optional), PeopleSoft will
generate the Project ID
Project Nickname and
whether this is On Campus
or Off Campus
Indicate if a Project is
Shared or Not Shared and
PI/Manager/Owner
Complete lab information for
research projects only
Based on Gift/Endowment
type selected, update the
following section as needed.
Once all details are entered,
select Save
Once the Project is saved, a temporary Project ID is
auto-generated with a “Z” in the first position to
indicate it is “temporary” until approved
Notify your Department Approver that the Project has been set-up in PeopleSoft. They must then log-in to review
and submit the Project.
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Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
Project Submission in PeopleSoft and Request Requirements
The submission of a Project is completed by a Department Manager or their delegates. Requesters must have
sufficient understanding of purpose and materiality in order to finalize and submit Projects for approval. Such
information must be included in the Requester Justification Comments. Preferably, the dollar amount of estimated
Revenues and Expenses for the Project should be included in the Requester Justification Comments.
Navigate to the Chartfield Values in
PeopleSoft and search for the Project (not
shown)
After reviewing the Project Attributes, click on
the Request/Approval tab and enter the
Requester Justification Comments
Select Submit For Approval to route the
request for review and approval.
A pop-up window will display. Enter or search
for the User ID of the person reviewing the
request
Update email text with any additional
justification or comments
Select OK to route an email to the Approver
Projects Not Set Up by Departments
Some Projects can only be established by central units. These include:
•
•
•
•
Sponsored Projects are created in the Research Administration System (RAS) and established in the
PeopleSoft Project module first, and upon saving, the Project information is synchronized with PeopleSoft’s
General Ledger Project chartfield table.
Capital Construction Projects are set-up by Capital Projects & Facilities Management (CPFM) Accounting.
Recharge Parent Projects are set-up by the Budget Office Recharge Operations Unit.
Gift and Endowment Parent Projects are set-up initially by Gift Accounting. Departments can set-up gift
subProjects.
Departments can use the Project Chartfield page in PeopleSoft to view Project data, and to maintain a limited number
of Attributes (e.g., nicknames for Projects) not created by them. The Controller’s Office will delete any Sponsored
Projects not in RAS, Capital, Recharge, Parent Gift/endowment or Loan Projects inadvertently set-up by departments.
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Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
Separate Project versus Shared Project
The Project Chartfield can be set-up as a Separate Project or as a Shared Project.
Separate Projects are assigned to an owner, which is typically the Faculty member or Principal Investigator. The
Employee ID of the owner is populated for tracking purposes, which can be later used for reporting:
EXAMPLES OF SEPARATE PROJECTS:
Project Use
Project ID
Project Description
PI/Owner
Employee ID
Faculty/PI/Owner Activity
2000354
Golden, G_Disc
Golden, Gate S.F.
999999999
Faculty/PI/Owner Activity
2000367
Coit, T_Disc
Coit, Tower S.F.
888888888
Recruitment / Faculty Start2001007
Baths, S_Recruit
Baths, Sutro S.F.
000001111
U
Shared Projects are not assigned to an owner, and can be used across multiple departments for common activities or
transactions. Shared Projects should be coordinated with your Control Point. Reasons to set-up a Single Shared Project
include:
•
Similar common activity is shared across multiple departments
•
Dept ID Chartfield can identify who is performing the activity
•
Projects that do not have owners and are not assigned to a person
•
Projects that have no end date
Shared Projects should not be modified as they are used by multiple departments, including “Project 1111111 – General”
as well as other clinical care, affiliation agreement or resident projects.
Project Use
General
Medical Center Activity
Affiliation
A
t/C Investment
t t
Programmatic
Programmatic Investment
EXAMPLES OF SHARED PROJECTS:
Project ID
Project Description
1000004
Fundraising development
1000000
MC clinical care
1000102
Hemophilia Program
2011295
PROG WEIGHT MGMT
2011294
PROG MED ETHICS
PI/Owner
Dept/Division
Dept/Division
Dept/Division
Dept/Division
Dept/Division
Employee ID
000000000
000000000
000000000
000000000
000000000
Roles for Requesting New Projects
PeopleSoft Roles
Capability
Chartfield Set-up
Permissions
Used to set-up new Projects or
Flexfields; automatically assigned
to any user who has a Journal
Preparer or Approver role.
Note: This role cannot submit a
new Project or Flexfield for
approval
Chartfield
Requester
Chartfield
Approver
Chartfield Set-up
and Validation
Revised March 2016
Procedure
Role for Department Managers or
their delegates to be used to setup new Projects or Flexfields as
well as review Project set-up by
other users
Role for Control Point delegates to
have final departmental review
Role for Controller’s Office for final
review
1. Navigation: Set-up Financials/Supply Chain > Common
Definitions > Design ChartFields > Define Values > ChartField
Values > Project or Flexfield
2. Set-up a new Project or Flexfield
3. Send an email notification to the Chartfield Requester with a link to
the new Project or Flexfield
1. Either click the link in the email from the Chartfield Set-up user or
navigate to Define Chartfield Values
2. Review the new Project or Flexfield attributes
3. Submit for Approval
4. For the email notification, select the “TO” address from a list of valid
Chartfield Approvers
5. For the “CC” address, include any additional desired email addresses
6. To deny the new Project or Flexfield, leave the status as inactive and
email the user who requested it to notify them
1. Same as step 1 above in the Chartfield Approver role steps.
2. Either Approve or Deny (providing comments) and click send for the
email notification to the Chartfield Requester
1. Same as step 1 above in the Chartfield Approver role steps.
2. Either Approve or Deny (providing comments) and click send for the
email notification to the Chartfield Requester and Approver.
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Guidelines for New Project Set-Up
The following diagram provides a visual to demonstrate the Project set-up and approval process using PeopleSoft
workflow roles:
Monitoring of Projects
Projects that have been set-up that do not meet the aforementioned guidelines are subject to review and closure
annually. For example, if a PI has multiple discretionary projects that do not meet the minimum threshold, the small
projects may have the balances consolidated into one Project for that PI.
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