PeopleSoft Grants Suite:
Planned Modifications/Workarounds/Reports
May 15, 2003
Research Forum – Atlanta
Anne Moffat
Director, Sponsored Programs
Ohio State University Research Foundation
Joy Walton
Manager, Huron Consulting Group
2
Anne Moffat
• Director of Sponsored Programs
• Project Sponsor for Grants Team
• Member, PeopleSoft Product Advisory Group for Grants Suite
Joy Walton
• Background in research administration and Higher Education
• Started working with PeopleSoft as a functional consultant
for the Grants module during 7.5 development and testing.
• Worked on first successful implementation of Grants suite
• Currently serving as the Grants Team Manager at OSU
3
Synopsis
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How are we going to fill the gaps?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
4
OSU General Information
• Ohio’s land-grant
university and flagship
institution of higher
education
• Teaching
– 57,271 students (13,278 grad/
professional) on 6 campuses
Research
– FY2002, $426.1M in awards
– Office of Research entities:
• Research Foundation
• Office of Responsible Research
Practices
• Interdisciplinary Research Centers
• Technology Licensing
5
OSU Research Foundation
• Separately incorporated 501 c 3 entity that manages
sponsored research activities at OSU
– Pre-award: proposal development and submission, award
negotiation
– Post-award: project and budget setup, compliance
monitoring, purchasing and payment, subcontracting,
award modifications, accounting, billing, fiscal and closeout
reporting
• Fiscal Year 2002
– $361.1M in research expenditures
– 53% Federal, 17% State, 13% Industry, 17% Other
Sources
• Tools – ancient legacy system
6
OSU Research Foundation
• ERA tools for investigators, departments
and colleges
– PI Portal
– On-line month-end Financial Statements
– On-line Project Digests (summary of project
requirements)
– On-line Time And Effort Reports (e-TAERs)
– On-line e-Activity reports (proposal, award and
expenditure information by individual,
department and college)
7
OSU Research Foundation
8
OSU Research Foundation
9
The OSU Integrated Financials
System Project
Research Foundation
Implementation Goals:
Research
Foundation
(Legacy System)
– Replace aging legacy systems
– Provide technology that will enable existing
staff to handle steadily increasing volume of
University
Health System
business
–
Streamline7.02)
business processes
(PeopleSoft
(PeopleSoft 7.02)
– Continue supporting current ERA applications
Integrated Financial
System
(PeopleSoft 8.4)
10
Discussion Topics
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How are we going to fill the gaps?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
11
The “Grants Suite” of modules in 8.4
• “Grants Suite” = Grants, Projects, Contracts, Billing
and Accounts Receivable
12
Discussion Topics
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How are we going to fill the gaps?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
13
Grants Suite - Division of Work
PRE AWARD
POST AWARD
Grants, Contracts, and
Commitment Control
Grants
Develop
Proposals,
Institutional
Clearances
Proposal
Submission
Proposal
Forms
AP, PO, GL, Time & Labor,
and Commitment Control
Spend
Money
Monitor
Spending
Negotiate
Award
Terms and
Conditions
Award and
Project
Setup
Reporting
and
Closeout
Contracts, Billing,
Accounts Receivable
Invoicing,
Letter of
Credit Draw
Collections
and Aging
14
Discussion Topics
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How are we going to fill the gaps?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
15
Our Methodology for Resolving Gaps
1. Research administration involves a set
of business processes
2. These processes do not necessarily
align with a specific “Grants” module
–
In fact, a process may involve
information entry, processing, or other
activity within several modules in the
“Grants Suite”
3. Evaluate functionality vs. business
processes
4. If delivered functionality is insufficient,
decide how to address the business
need
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Overview of Research Administration
Business Processes
MODULE
BUSINESS PROCESS
Create Proposal
Negotiate Award
Setup Award and Budget
Grants +
Projects
X
X
X
Modify Award and Budget
X
Track cost-sharing
Process F&A
Generate Bills and LOC
Award Closeout
Prepare Reports
X
X
Contracts
Billing
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
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Overview of Research Administration
Business Processes
MODULE
BUSINESS PROCESS
Modify Award and Budget
- Additional Time
- Additional Funding
- Continuation Award
- Addition of new project
- Change billing parameters
Grants +
Projects
Contracts
Billing
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
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Award Modifications: Additional Time
BUSINESS
PROCESS
MODULE
Grants + Projects
Contracts
Additional  Award End-Date on Award  Award end-date on
Profile Page
Contract Lines page
Time
 End-date for period on
 Notation on Contract
Award Modifications page
Amendments page when
 Project End-Date(s) on
amendment is processed
Award Funding page
 Milestone End-Dates on
Award Milestone page
 Notation on Award
Notepad page
 Project end-date on
Project Status page
 Project Budget end-date
(Commitment Control
setup pages)
19
Award Modifications: Additional Funding
and Continuations
BUSINESS
PROCESS
Additional
Funding
MODULE
Grants + Projects
Contracts
 Amount field for period on  Update limit amount for
Award Modifications
affected contract lines
page
on Related Projects
 Amount fields for affected
page
projects on Award
 Notation on Contract
Funding page
Amendments page
 Notation on Award
when amendment is
Notepad page
processed
 Update and post project
budgets on Project
Funding pages
Continuation Combination of Additional Time and Additional Funding
steps
Awards
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Award Modifications: Additional Project
BUSINESS
PROCESS
Additional
Project
under
Existing
Award
MODULE
Grants + Projects
Contracts
 Update dates and amounts for affected  Add new project
projects on Award Funding page
to contract line
 Enter and post budget for new project
using Related
using Project Funding page
Projects page
 Adjust and post budgets for other
 Notation on
affected projects using Project Funding
Contract
page
Amendments
 Notation on Award Notepad page
page when
 Enter information on Project General
amendment is
page
processed
 Enter information on Project
Department page
 Enter information on Project Resources
page
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Award Modifications: Additional Project
(cont’d)
BUSINESS
PROCESS
Additional
Project
under
Existing
Award
MODULE
Grants + Projects
Contracts
 Update information on Project Definition page
 Enter information on Project Manager page
 Identify the project location on the Project
Location page
 Enter information on the Activity Details page (in
the Project Activity page group)
 Set up the F&A profile on the FA Rates page (in
the Project Activity page group)
 Enter information for new project using Project
Status page
 Enter budget control information for new project
using Commitment Control pages
22
Discussion Topics
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How do the modules work together?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
23
Decision-making time…..
• Is the field necessary to efficiently
handle the business process at OSU?
• If there is more than one place to
capture similar information, which
place should be used?
– Information for processing purposes
– Information that needed to be “in sync”
throughout the system
– Pages that were used by different user groups
at RF
– Reporting requirements
• If delivered functionality is insufficient,
what course of action is appropriate?
– Training issue
– System edits/warnings
– System modification
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Decision-making time…..
Decision making process
• Analyze functionality for each business process (Analyze
Functionality or AF Docs.)
• Identify gaps
• Recommend options for filling gap (Rec. Docs.) – do
nothing, provide training, change business process or
modify system – goal was to minimize modifications
• Estimate time and cost to implement options and cost to
carry them forward
• Present to advisory team, which approved team
recommendation – or not
• Sent to system sponsors for additional consideration in
necessary
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Award Modifications: Additional Time
BUSINESS
PROCESS
MODULE
Grants + Projects
Contracts
Additional  Award End-Date on Award  Award end-date on
Profile Page
Contract Lines page
Time
 End-date for period on
 Notation on Contract
Award Modifications page
Amendments page when
 Project End-Date(s) on
amendment is processed
Award Funding page
 Milestone End-Dates on
Award Milestone page
 Notation on Award
Notepad page
 Project end-date on
Project Status page
 Project Budget end-date
(Commitment Control
26
setup pages)
Award Modifications: Additional Time
Start
Is the information required
for grants administration
business process?
YES, NEED TO RECORD
THAT THE END-DATE
CHANGED
YES
Is there more than one place
to record the information?
YES, THIS INFORMATION
CAN BE ENTERED AND
STORED IN BOTH THE
GRANTS AND CONTRACTS
MODULES
NO
NO
Do not use the field. Other
considerations:
- Training
- Queries
- Modification
Use the sole field provided for
this purpose.
27
Award Modifications: Additional Time
YES
Do we need to enter, store,
and maintain this information
in multiple places?
NO, WE ONLY NEED TO
USE ONE PLACE!
YES
Use fields necessary for the
business process.
Other considerations:
- Queries
- Modification
- Reporting
NO
Select the fields necessary to
enter and store the information
needed.
Other considerations:
- Training
- Queries
- Modification
- Reporting
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Steps in creating one type of Award
Modification: Additional Time
MODULE
PROCESS STEP
Grants+  Update award
Projects end-date on Award
Profile Page
SELECTED OPTION
 None - users will update this date
when the award modification is
processed
 Update end-date  None - users will update this date for
for period on Award the appropriate period when the award
Modifications page modification is processed
 Update Project
end-date(s) on
Award Funding
page
 New page - these data will populate
the new Award Funding page from the
Project Status page(s) for the affected
projects
 Update milestone  None - milestone end-dates will be
end-dates on Award revised since internal reports will be
Milestone page
derived from these data
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Steps in creating one type of Award
Modification: Additional Time (cont’d)
MODULE
Grants+
Projects
PROCESS STEP
SELECTED OPTION
 Notation on
Award Notepad
page
 None (not using) - since we will derive
the award history from the Contract
Amendments page, the award Notepad
page will not be used
 Update project
end-date on
Project Status
page
 None - the end-date for each affected
project under the award will be updated
on the Project Status page for the
project
 Update project
budget end-date
(Commitment
Control setup
pages)
 Modified system - updated end-dates
on the Project Status page will
automatically update the Commitment
Control information
30
Discussion Topics
• Introduction to OSU and the Integrated Financials
System project
• Look at core modules within the “Grants suite” of
PeopleSoft products
• What does each module help research
administrators do?
• How do the modules work together?
• Example: Analyze the Grants suite of functionality in
order to get the maximum benefit for research
administration purposes
• Other Areas of Planned Modification
31
Other Planned Modifications
• Proposals
– Process Workaround:
• Pre Award F&A Calculation – Rounding Issues
• Award Profile
– Process Workaround:
• Train users to understand navigation across modules.
– Modification:
• Synchronize the references between Contracts,
Projects, and Grants
– Search prompts
– Display of Award Reference Number
– Display of Award PI
• Capture Incremental Funding
32
Other Planned Modifications
• Project Budget
– Modification:
• Enhance Delivered Project Budget Inquiry to match OSU defined
budget categories versus resource ID and analysis type (similar to
“Review Pre Award Budget”
• Billing
– Process Workaround:
• Journal entry to a temporary billing adjustment account to address
partial defer functionality
– Resolved by PeopleSoft
• Splitting Over the Limit lines
– Modification:
• F&A split for Over the Limit
• Enhance prepaid functionality to account for different revenue
recognition method for scheduled bills
• Automatically put the Billing Plan on Hold when the Award End Date
has passed.
33
Other Planned Modifications
• Accounts Receivable
– Modifications:
• Add Award ID to the search criteria (not search prompt) on the
Collections > Customer Information Inquiry pages in AR
• Add Award ID and Award Reference Number to Collections >
Customer Conversations in AR
• Add Customer Name field in the Collections > Customer Information
Inquiry pages in AR
• Reporting
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Data Feed to PI Portal & e-Activity Reports
Time and Effort Feed
Proj_Resource Reconciliation Reports
Milestone Report
End Date Reports
Enhanced Invoice Layouts
Housekeeping Queries
Annual Reports
34
In Summary
• University-wide effort to integrate all Financials
activity
• Implementation of 5 modules for to manage the
research administration process
• Evaluation of each module to determine ability to
handle business processes
• Creation of a “roadmap” for each business process
in PeopleSoft
• Development of approved modifications
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Contact Information
Anne Moffat
Director Sponsored Programs
Ohio State University Research Foundation
moffat.1@osu.edu
Joy Walton
Manager, Huron Consulting Group
jwalton@huronconsultinggroup.com
OSU Financials 8.4 Project Website
http://www.oit.ohio-state.edu/hrfin/statuspage/design.html
36