December 19, 2008

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In this issue:
• Grants 2.0 Status Update
• Departing Project Holders
• New Attestation Functionality in PeopleSoft Travel & Expense
• Premium Deduction to TABS Fund
• Happy Holidays!

Grants 2.0 Status Update

On December 11th, the Grants 2.0 project team met with a focus group of researchers and administrators. The group was given an opportunity to test drive the new Researcher Home Page and Flash Report. The Home Page provides key information on a researcher’s proposals and projects, and the Flash Report is a quick concise project summary on one page. The group was not given any prior training and found the solution intuitive to use and navigate. The test drive was followed by an hour-long debrief in which the focus group provided feedback on what they had tested. Their detailed feedback will be reviewed and, where possible, incorporated into the next version of the Home Page and Flash Report. The next Focus Group is tentatively planned for February 2009 once more of the Grants 2.0 solution is built and tested.

Departing Project Holders

The Research Services Office has developed an automated PeopleSoft routine that will remove Project Holders from research projects if they are no longer employed by the University of Alberta. Since every research project must have a Project Holder, we will default to add the respective Department Chair or Dean as the holder. If the Faculty wishes to assign a new Project Holder, RSO will amend the Project if the applicable granting agency is in agreement.

New Attestation Functionality in PeopleSoft Travel & Expense

There is no longer a need for a separate attestation form for reimbursements in CAD funds; however, you still have to fill out the old form if reimbursement is in foreign funds, e.g. USD, because these claims aren’t entered in PeopleSoft T&E.

What’s changed online? Project ID is a new field. One field has been renamed from Comments to Details. Tabbing or clicking out of the Project ID field populates some data into the Details field, which will require the user to add some additional details (e.g. claimant’s relationship to research project, trip description, etc).

What’s changed procedurally? When the expense is related to a research project, the Project ID must be entered online whether for travel or for expense reimbursement.

Premium Deduction to TABS Fund

The Trust Academic Benefits Stabilization (TABS) fund was created to help offset the cost of unforeseen, emergency expenses. In 2006, careful analysis was undertaken by the University to determine an initial premium cost for the fund. It was determined the fund required a three per cent premium to be viable. The mandate of the fund is to come as close as possible to balancing premiums assessed to expenses paid while maintaining a small reserve.

On November 12, 2008, the Executive Planning Committee (EPC) voted to decrease the TABS premium to 1.5 per cent. This decrease in premium cost became effective December 1, 2008. The fund balance and premium will be reviewed yearly by EPC. Changes in demographics, economic circumstance or academic bargaining have an impact on this fund, which may impact the level of premium.

Happy Holidays!

All the best to you and your loved ones for a safe and happy holiday season. See you in 2009!

RSO Management Committee

Contacting RSO

Research FUNDamentals is RSO's research administration eNewsletter.
It is delivered by e-mail subscription.

Volume 4 Issue 5

Editor

Cindy Lieu
Communications Coordinator

Contributors

RSO Management Committee

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www.rso.ualberta.ca
Research Services Office
Research Services Office | University of Alberta | 222 Campus Tower | Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1

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