Change Management Board Newsletter

What is the Change Management Board?

As part of the pursuit of quality and continuous improvement, changes and enhancements to existing ASU Research Operations processes and systems must go through a structured and formal change management review process. The KE Research Operations Change Management Board, or CMB, serves as the mechanism and forum to review, approve, implement and communicate changes and information that impact research operations.

Under the direction of Assistant Vice President, Heather Clark, and facilitated by Bris Mueller (Operations Project Management), CMB meets on a monthly basis and consists of representatives from all Research Operations teams as well as Research Advancement stakeholders. CMB members seek to represent their departments in these discussions, as well as to communicate updates and facilitate management of implemented changes within their units.

Are there members of the RA Community on the Change Management Board?

Yes, CMB has several representatives from the RA Community including:

• Howard Bergman, Director of Research Advancement, MLF Teachers College
• Vicki Krell, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, The College
• April MacCleary, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, IAFSE
• Dayna Molyneaux, Research Advancement Administrator, Psychology
• Sarah Montgomery, Research Advancement Manager, School of Molecular Sciences
• Joelina Peck, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, ECEE

I already subscribe to Research Operations News, why do I need to subscribe to the Change Management Board Newsletter too?

Subscription to the Change Management Board Newsletter is optional. The CMB Newsletter is recommended for members of the RA Community who want to get a first look at upcoming changes and improvements.

Research Operations News is the official method KE Research Operations uses to communicate process changes and improvements that are ready for implementation.

The Change Management Board Newsletter is a monthly feature that highlights improvements and other changes that are in the early stages of discussion, planning and/or review by the CMB. However, these items do not have an immediate impact on the RA Community as they are subject to change and are not ready for implementation.

This month’s CMB Newsletter Contributor:

Joelina Peck, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
Quarterly College Sponsored Scorecards - Notification Strategies of Exceptions	Due to the proposed easing of the in-depth review of cost transfers at the point of transaction, internal control will be quarterly meetings with colleges to discuss their sponsored cost transfer activity and testing results. This also provides an opportunity to provide other actionable information to colleges.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern We are leveraging access to data analysis to be able to help partner with colleges. A group of reports have been created in which a database is being built around. Hoping that eventually these reports will become like tableau reports. In the process of building queries that can identify awards that reflect no equipment, but equipment was purchased or awards that have no payroll,  but no payroll has been applied. Plan to release what is completed at this time to some of the colleges for testing and feedback. September will have finished expenditure monitoring for 2021 and sampling cost centers. Analysis will be done on how many errors and issues found. Possibly switching time to reviewer higher risk items. The status of receivables on sponsored projects will be added to the score cards.
International Remote Work Questionnaire and Process	Due to COVID-19, many faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs cannot return to ASU and are required to work remotely outside of the United States. PNT has developed the “International Remote Work Questionnaire” in an effort to implement a standard process which would assist in the decision making process of allowing the faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs to continue work on sponsored projects.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Heather Clark Collaborating with Lisa Grace in ASU Audit Advisory Services as well as directly with Engineering to review our international remote work request process. An advisory review was done looking as sponsored and non-sponsored to identify best practices and overlap. Areas discussed was where does the knowledge exist?  Who currently evaluates these requests? How do we evaluate these requests? Who evaluates these requests? And coordination of all review.  Based on current legislation this area is deemed to be an increasing area of scrutiny. This analysis completed will drive improved efficiencies to eliminate some of the scrutiny. Identifying who are the appropriate persons to do this review due to this being a more institutional compliance requirement as its not directly related to sponsored work and can be related to non-sponsored work. Goal is to hopefully communicate and streamline this process a little better.
Cost Transfer Project	A desire has been expressed to modify cost transfer policy and practices to effectuate a greater emphasis on internal controls and a reduction in administrative burden. Changes to the cost transfer process and practice for charges to sponsored accounts are being implemented to strengthen internal controls, to ensure compliance with applicable accounting principles, laws and regulations, to mitigate risk and to reduce administrative burden. The model relies upon strong internal controls and shared responsibilities. Under the new process, cost transfer transactions are categorized by risk then review and approval requirements are guided by inherent risk.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern The cost transfer training will be live on Career EDGE by June 30, 2021. Currently working on communication plan as soft formal launch is planned for July. No approval routing changes will take place for grant managers. The end goal is that we would like grant managers to be approved in workday until they have completed training in 20-minute allowability and cost transfer training.
Review of Budgeting Tool in ERA	Research Operations is planning on potential enhancements to the ERA Budgeting Tool.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Heather Clark  ERA is built around primary sponsors being federal however this is changing to be more Industry and nonfederal sponsors. Need to align ERA to provide budgeting ability for these sponsor types. Example limiting the amount of budget details provide to Industry sponsors. Looking for a team of 6-7 RA’s to test this enhancement. Planned to be a yearlong process. If interested in participating, please let Heather Clark know.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month’s CMB Newsletter Contributor:

Sarah Montgomery, Research Advancement Manager, School of Molecular Sciences.

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
Gas service’s Cylinder Process	There are multiple concerns regarding the processes with gas cylinders including the information made available for reports, the manual process of changing account numbers for cylinders, the paper process involved in returning the cylinders, accounts that are no longer active are being charged, and no review or approval by cost center or grant managers.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern The team is finalizing a proposal for approvals on ISDs. Internal Service Providers will choose from a menu of options to secure Grant Manager approval before charging grants. Gas Services is testing a new process to request a gas cylinder return in Workday.
Cost Transfer Project	A desire has been expressed to modify cost transfer policy and practices to effectuate a greater emphasis on internal controls and a reduction in administrative burden. Changes to the cost transfer process and practice for charges to sponsored accounts are being implemented to strengthen internal controls, to ensure compliance with applicable accounting principles, laws and regulations, to mitigate risk and to reduce administrative burden. The model relies upon strong internal controls and shared responsibilities. Under the new process, cost transfer transactions are categorized by risk then review and approval requirements are guided by inherent risk.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Currently beta testing Department Reporting and Department Reporting Roll worktags to describe the type of cost transfer. 20-minute training will be required for anyone with a Workday or PeopleSoft Grant Manager role. Welcoming more beta testers (message Sarah Kern in MS Teams to sign up) and aiming for a July rollout.
ERA Portal 10 Upgrade	The Enterprise system used to support Sponsored Research Administration, ERA, is currently on Portal 8.1.3. In order to align with the strategic decision to convert to SaaS support, as well as support the latest upgrades to SF424, ERA must be upgraded to Portal 10.0.0 in 2021. The following stores are in scope for the Portal Upgrade: - Phase I: MasterStore, Grants, IBC, Build store - Phase II: Agreements, IRB, and COI	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Jessica Robins Phase I (MasterStore, Grants, IBC, and Build store) is expected to be completed by July 2021, and Phase II (Agreements, IRB, and COI) is tentatively scheduled for December 2021
ERA/Workday Integration Errors	ERA is the system of record for Research Project data that is integrated to Workday. Data includes account setup, award roles, sponsor budgets, and more that needs to match in both systems. Over time, some data has moved out of alignment and needs to be corrected.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Davin Nathanson The final issue (role assignments) was fixed in February. In the past there were well over 1,000 ERA/Workday integration issues in a month; now they are well under 100 errors per month. New ERA function: GCO can send an award modification back to an RA if it’s missing attachments or information that needs to be recorded (look for a Research Operations blog post with further details). The RA will receive an email notification that the mod is in their ERA inbox.
RSP (Research and Sponsored Projects) Manual Policy Updates	The Research and Sponsored Projects Manual (RSP) policies are reviewed and updated as needed. Fiscal Oversight has updated some and they are ready for review.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Paul Medina 21 RSP policies have been completed and ready for submission to the OGC (Office of General Counsel). Two are being deprecated, and 27 are still in review. September 1 is the next target date for RSP submission to OGC.
Hiring a GSA (Graduate Service Assistant) vs. GRA (Graduate Research Assistant	Frequently faculty have students who are in their final year or semester and need to take only a minimal number of credits to graduate rather than the 12 credits that are typically required of Graduate Student Associates or GRAs.   In such last-semester minimal-credit situations, it makes sense for PIs to essentially hire the graduate student as a Graduate Service Assistants or GSA (this position does not provide tuition or health benefits) and then help out with the tuition and fees through direct credit to the student’s account for their cost of the one credit of tuition and the health insurance (i.e. compensatory scholarship).	Status: Update CMB Rep: Paul Medina The Grad College has met with their Dean and is working on official guidance.

  Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month’s CMB Newsletter Contributor:

April MacCleary, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, IAFSE

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
NEW ITEM! Quarterly College Sponsored Scorecards - Notification Strategies of Exceptions	Due to the proposed easing of the in-depth review of cost transfers at the point of transaction, internal control will be quarterly meetings with colleges to discuss their sponsored cost transfer activity and testing results. This also provides an opportunity to provide other actionable information to colleges.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Sarah is obtaining information from others (via French Toast Fridays, polls, etc.) to understand what communications and reports would be preferred.
Gas service’s Cylinder Process	There are multiple concerns regarding the processes with gas cylinders including the information made available for reports, the manual process of changing account numbers for cylinders, the paper process involved in returning the cylinders, accounts that are no longer active are being charged, and no review or approval by cost center or grant managers.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Almost done with Phase I (identify Uniform Guidance and ASU policy) to get approval. Next step is to connect with the Internal Service Providers to develop a process (if one doesn’t already exist) to obtain approvals prior to charging accounts.
Cost Transfer Project	A desire has been expressed to modify cost transfer policy and practices to effectuate a greater emphasis on internal controls and a reduction in administrative burden. Changes to the cost transfer process and practice for charges to sponsored accounts are being implemented to strengthen internal controls, to ensure compliance with applicable accounting principles, laws and regulations, to mitigate risk and to reduce administrative burden. The model relies upon strong internal controls and shared responsibilities. Under the new process, cost transfer transactions are categorized by risk then review and approval requirements are guided by inherent risk.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Currently in beta testing phase which includes training and testing.
HHS Salary Cap	The construction of the new sponsored data warehouse created the need to develop a new Salary Cap Monitoring Dashboard. In addition to the report, there is also a need for units to have access to tools to help calculate/monitor salary in excess of the salary cap.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Shirley Bowles No update as Shirley was out of the office.
RSP Manual Policy Updates	The Research and Sponsored Projects Manual (RSP) policies are reviewed and updated as needed. Fiscal Oversight has updated some and they are ready for review.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Paul Medina 53 RSP updates needed; 20 have been done, 30 are still needed, looking for owners of 2 (Heather to provide that). There is a May 1 deadline for a July 1 posting. Next deadline is Sept 1 for a Nov 1 posting.
ERA/Workday Data Alignment	The objective of this project is to align non-budget data between Enterprise Research Administration (ERA) and current Financial Management System (FMS) AKA Workday and to expand the tools (ERA activities) used to maintain data alignment between ERA and Workday. Also, to minimize workday integration data errors by aligning ERA and Workday validations.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Davin Nathanson Almost complete with items for initial project. Outstanding item: AMT GCO rollover to WD; developers have it in their queue but are held up due to the change freeze.
F&A Waiver SmartForm	The F&A Rate Waiver Request smartform in ERA currently asks only two questions: Why should ASU subsidize/invest in this project? What benefits will accrue to ASU as a result of this project? Responses to these questions don't help reviewers decide which requests to approve. PIs simply describe their proposed SOW and why it'll be amazing. That doesn't help reviewers determine whether the F&A waiver request should be approved. The request is to revise the F&A Rate Waiver Request smartform (ERA Proposals budget form 1.3) to better assess which requests should be approved.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Jessica Robins Jessica suggested putting help text with the questions that we are looking to get the answers to. Jessica is interested in feedback from people on that option. She’d also like to know if anyone would like in help developing the questions.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month’s CMB Newsletter Contributor:

Howard Bergman, Director of Research Advancement, MLF Teachers College

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
ERA/Workday Data Alignment & Award Budget Structure	ERA is the system of record for Research Project data that is integrated to Workday. Data includes account setup, award roles, sponsor budgets, and more that needs to match in both systems. Over time, some data has moved out of alignment and needs to be corrected.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Davin Nathanson In the homestretch of the “Data Alignment Project.” These changes will reduce errors between systems (ERA-Workday). The award role process has been updated; will identify users that are inactive (no longer at ASU) and remove; there will be a slight delay when changes are made so be patient; will lead to fewer errors and better alignment of data.
Person-Hours Per Month	Currently, the researchadmin website and ERA Proposals use a basis of 176 hours = 1 month of effort. As a result, hourly employees, including students, are budgeted for 1560 hours in the AY and 520 in the summer. Suggestions have been made for utilizing a different basis.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Jessica Robins Doing research for what others do. Discussion that ASU should be consistent.
ERA Portal 10 Upgrade	The Enterprise system used to support Sponsored Research Administration, ERA, is currently on Portal 8.1.3. In order to align with the strategic decision to convert to SaaS support, as well as support the latest upgrades to SF424, ERA must be upgraded to Portal 10.0.0 in 2021. The following stores are in scope for the Portal Upgrade: - Phase I: MasterStore, Grants, IBC, Build store - Phase II: Agreements, IRB, and COI	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Jessica Robins In process; adding search keywords and custom searches; easier to review multiple rows of data; ability to export History log to CSV; adding slide-ins instead of pop-ups; testing planned in June.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month’s CMB Newsletter Contributor: Joelina Peck Assistant Director of Research Advancement, ECEE

 During the December meeting, the CMB did a Year-in-Review with highlights of what was accomplished (items that impacted the RA Community) and what is coming for ERA in the new calendar year. To see the 2020 Year-in-Review slides, click here.

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
International Remote Work Questionnaire and Process	Due to COVID-19, many faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs cannot return to ASU and are required to work remotely outside of the United States. PNT has developed the “International Remote Work Questionnaire” in an effort to implement a standard process which would assist in the decision making process of allowing the faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs to continue work on sponsored projects.	Status: Approved CMB Rep: Clifton Fredericks The new questionnaire and process have been approved by CMB. See blog post for more information.
Subaward Invoicing	There is a need to more closely track the receipt and correctness of subaward invoices. In addition, the system of PI review and approval of invoices will be scrutinized and changes will be considered for a cleaner process. AMT will work with certain units to pilot invoice approvals by PI or fiscal delegate in Workday.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Petersen The subaward invoicing pilot was launched on 09/22/20 with SESE. The initial process included adding the PI as an additional approver. Effective 10/23/20 the Workday business process was updated to automatically route to the PI and Fiscal Delegate after grant manager approval. Only one approval is needed from the PI or Fiscal Delegate, once applied it is removed from their Workday inbox and moves to AP. Additional departments are being added to the pilot (TPS and SBHSE) once testing is completed by AP. The goal is to roll this out in January. The new Workday roll allowing AMT to enter invoices in Workday is in the works and I will be coordinating testing with AP. Updates have been requested to the Subaward Supplier Invoice Tracking report which will allow searching for invoices by GRH or CC, Sarah Kern is tracking this ticket to ensure it is complete prior to our January roll-out. This change has been communicated to the RA community during the recent All Hands meeting and during French Toast Friday​
Gas Cylinder Process	There are multiple concerns regarding the processes with gas cylinders including the information made available for reports, the manual process of changing account numbers for cylinders, the paper process involved in returning the cylinders, accounts that are no longer active are being charged, and no review or approval by cost center or grant managers.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Our first project kick-off meeting happened on November 9th. Hina Baig and Dawn McClain are the project managers overseeing the project. Since kick off meeting, Susan Stephens has had regular meetings with the Gas Cylinders team, identifying gaps, strategizing on the next steps.
RSP Manual Policy Updates	The Research and Sponsored Projects Manual (RSP) policies are reviewed and updated as needed. Fiscal Oversight has updated some and they are ready for approval.	Status: Update CMB Rep: Paul Medina Additional RSP policies have been reviewed and updated. Policy updates are currently under CMB review.
Audit Management Guidance	External audits of sponsored projects are managed by the Fiscal Oversight Team. As management of audits has become more of a routine activity as the requests have increased, it was deemed advisable to document and refine the process for audit management and make the guidance available to the RA Community.	Status: Approved CMB Rep: Sarah Kern The research admin website has been updated and the audit management guidance documents are now available to the RA community. See blog post for more information.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month's CMB Newsletter Contributor: Samantha Munguia, Grant + Contract Officer, Principal - Research Operations

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
NEW ITEM! International Remote Work Questionnaire and Process	Due to COVID-19, many faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs cannot return to ASU and are required to work remotely outside of the United States. PNT has developed the “International Remote Work Questionnaire” in an effort to implement a standard process which would assist in the decision making process of allowing the faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs to continue work on sponsored projects.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Clifton Fredericks Members of CMB were provide with the draft of the “International Remote Questionnaire” for review/feedback. CMB members with suggested edits will be forwarded to Cliff. Final documents/process will be shared with CMB prior to implementation.
Subaward Invoicing	There is a need to more closely track the receipt and correctness of subaward invoices. In addition, the system of PI review and approval of invoices will be scrutinized and changes will be considered for a cleaner process. AMT will work with certain units to pilot invoice approvals by PI or fiscal delegate in Workday.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Petersen Work Instructions for the Subaward Invoicing Pilot have been completed. AMT will provide the WI’s to CMB for review.
Investigator Allocations Change (IAC) Feedback	New IAC workflow was implemented on January 27, 2020 as part of the Award Modification project. We are interested in feedback from the RA Community.	Status: Completed CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia Feedback from the RA Community was compiled and sent to the appropriate Research Operations Team for review. After RO review, the list of enhancement requests will be forwarded to ERA Governance. RAS will restart ERA Virtual Office Hours in September. Upcoming enhancements to ERA will be discussed via ERA Virtual Office Hours and RA Blog.
Process to Request Account PI	Currently there is not a standard process for units to request a child account where the account PI is different from the Award PI. Because of this, the child account PI may or may not have completed COI certification.	Status: On Hold CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia RAS was able to test the process of removing and adding senior key personnel in the ERA testing environment. It was found that senior key personnel are listed on two separate sections of the award Smart Form 1.0 "Award Set Up" and Smart Form 7.0 "Special Reviews." Processing an award change  request to make changes to senior key personnel updated Smart Form 1.0 but not Smart Form 7.0. Smart Form 7.0 is the one that actually triggers the RIC. A bug has been created (BUG 10336) and is currently being worked by the BA Team. RAS will bring the item back to CMB once the bug has been resolved.
Audit Management Guidance	External audits of sponsored projects are managed by the Fiscal Oversight Team. As management of audits has become more of a routine activity as the requests have increased, it was deemed advisable to document and refine the process for audit management and make the guidance available to the RA Community.	Status: Approved CMB Rep: Sarah Kern Documents were sent to University Audit and Advisory Services for feedback. No edits or changes recommended. Documents forwarded to Operations PMO. FOT will be posting documents to Research Admin website soon and will let the RA Community know via the RA Blog.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month's CMB Newsletter Contributor: April MacCleary, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, IAFSE

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
NEW ITEM! Workday: Update ERA Award Budget Crosswalk	Request from Fiscal Oversight Team to coordinate what is in Workday to match ERA budget travel categories.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Davin Nathanson Changes users will see: remove object codes to match Workday ledger accounts; ERA budget category amounts for travel to match ERA (in-state, out-of-state, foreign). No ETA for this change yet.
NEW ITEM! ERA Enhancement for Cost Share Module	This is an ERA enhancement request based on focus group back in January.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Davin Nathanson ERA Team is looking into what is needed to implement suggested changes. No timeline for this change yet.
NEW ITEM! Updating the I-129 Form	The I-129 Form - Petition for Non-Immigrant Worker Form is being updated.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Heather Clark CMB members have been asked to review the document and let Heather Clark/Jessica Robins know of any suggested changes.
NEW ITEM! Best Practices for Industry Sponsored Awards	Industry-sponsored projects can pose unique challenges in administration. They are often of short duration, develop quickly with little advance notice and allow only minimal lead time in advance of sponsor expectations for project execution and completion of deliverables.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Heather Clark Research Operations Leadership currently reviewing the process to identify key stakeholders before moving forward with changes to present to CMB.
Subaward Invoicing	There is a need to more closely track the receipt and correctness of subaward invoices. In addition, the system of PI review and approval of invoices will be scrutinized and changes will be considered for a cleaner process. AMT will work with certain units to pilot invoice approvals by PI or fiscal delegate in Workday.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Petersen Pilot still on hold. AMT is meeting with unit to discuss and agree process. AMT is working on draft RA Work Instructions for CMB to review.
Investigator Allocations Change (IAC) Feedback	New IAC workflow was implemented on January 27, 2020 as part of the Award Modification project. We are interested in feedback from the RA Community.	Status: Completed CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia RA Seminar was hosted on 07/28/2020. RAs can provide feedback through 08/11/2020 by completing a survey available here. After 08/11, feedback and ERA enhancement requests will need to be submitted via email at [email protected].
Process to Request Account PI	Currently there is not a standard process for units to request a sibling account where the account PI is different from the Award PI. Because of this, the sibling account PI may or may not have completed COI certification.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia There are some inconsistencies about how ERA triggers COI revies for PHS and non-PHS funded awards. Further testing is needed.
Gas Cylinder Process	There are multiple concerns regarding the processes with gas cylinders including the information made available for reports, the manual process of changing account numbers for cylinders, the paper process involved in returning the cylinders, accounts that are no longer active are being charged, and no review or approval by cost center or grant managers.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Sarah Kern There are other Internal Service Delivery (ISD) charges (such as iLabs, Amazon Web Services and will be looked at as well) that are auto processed in WD. The potential issues are that they are processed without grant manager review. While there is initial PI approval, still needs review and approval of being appropriate. FOT is working on a project to review policies that will be impacted by this and draft suggestions for the change in process and what that process looks like. There is a need for an inventory of cylinders in labs be done while FOT does the review. Sarah Montgomery will assist on the RA side. Sarah Kern to find out if a KE Operations Project Manager can be assigned to move this along.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month's CMB Newsletter Contributor:

Vicki Krell, Assistant Director of Research Advancement, The College

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
Process to Request Account PI	Currently there is not a standard process for units to request a sibling account where the account PI is different from the Award PI. Because of this, the sibling account PI may or may not have completed COI certification.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia Appropriate team has been doing some testing within ERA; exploring making it a requirement that any account PI needs to be named as senior key personnel on the award; the COI should be triggered when that person is added. More testing is needed, because everyone who is an account PI needs to complete COI. Hope to have some Work Instructions for CMB to review at the next meeting.
RSP Manual Policy Updates	The Research and Sponsored Projects Manual (RSP) policies are reviewed and updated as needed. Fiscal Oversight has updated some and they are ready for approval.	Status: Approved CMB Rep: Michelle Wrapp 15 polices were updated and reviewed by CMB members and some suggestions were made for edits. CMB approved updated to the existing policies and OGC will manage updated to the policy manual in the upcoming weeks. Once updates have been made, we will let the RA Community know via the blog.
Subaward Invoicing	There is a need to more closely track the receipt and correctness of subaward invoices. In addition, the system of PI review and approval of invoices will be scrutinized and changes will be considered for a cleaner process. AMT will work with certain units to pilot invoice approvals by PI or fiscal delegate in Workday.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Petersen On hold until in-person training may be available for PIs. AMT will create an efficient and visible method and work with certain units to pilot. Unit participating in the pilot is still working with Nick, who will be writing up processes in July, and looking at all feedback. Main topic for future discussion will be feedback from RAs and faculty. Training will be developed, and will include itemizing which stakeholders should be looking at/reviewing various pieces of the process because this is a big shift in the process and everyone will need to know specifically what they should be looking at/reviewing before approving or moving the action forward.
Expenditure Monitoring Plan	There is a need to develop more tools and processes to help Research Operations Teams & the Research Advancement Community proactively monitor expenditures on sponsored projects.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Sylvia Myers The Fiscal Compliance Team (FCT) has identified 21 units for Expenditure Monitoring Review. Tara Seaton and Samantha Munguia are completing the reviews, and four have already been completed. FCT members are developing expenditure monitoring processes and procedures. For FY21, FCT will primarily work on developing a strategy and tools for expenditure monitoring. The team is also looking at what current tools units have/use that will be useful to the wider RA Community - i.e. Workday or Analytic Reports that will be useful moving forward, including the forecasting tool which also allows for drilling down to specific expenditure levels.
Tuition Remission (change from 9 to 10 periods)	Currently tuition remission is collected on 9 pay periods; however there are 10 pay periods in a semester. This makes account forecasting difficult  and sponsor charges inaccurate. Sample of RA/BOM Community was polled and all in favor of 10 pay periods.	Status: Change Approved CMB Rep: Heather Clark Rollout expected in early FY21. Communications to follow. Financial Services will be moving from 9 to 10 pay periods once the TA/RA rates are formally approved by Financial Services, which will probably happen within the next 2-3 weeks.
Investigator Allocations Change (IAC) Feedback	New IAC workflow was implemented on January 27, 2020 as part of the Award Modification project. We are interested in feedback from the RA Community.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia Although the IAC process in ERA has been live in ERA 5 months, not everyone has been using it consistently. Now we are getting some more consistent feedback from the RA Community. Some of the issues reported to date: difficulty tracking outstanding approvals; ability to update requests made by reviewers on something already routing, etc. The plan is to have an RA Seminar in mid-July (6th month anniversary of going live with the process) to go over areas that aren't all working and show some workarounds, tips and tricks (i.e. incorporating requested edits/changes from those who have to approve, so it doesn't go back to the same people needlessly multiple times) as well as discussing the areas that are more functional.
Audit Management Guidance	External audits of sponsored projects are managed by the Fiscal Oversight Team. As management of audits has become more of a routine activity as the requests have increased, it was deemed advisable to document and refine the process for audit management and make the guidance available to the RA Community.	Status: Discussion/Approval CMB Rep: Michele Wrapp  Over the years, there has often been a need to search for information due to the lack of a repository. The plan is to add this guidance on the Research Admin website. Draft documents brought for approval for CMB are 1) guidance document; 2) job aid with links to specific instructions. Feedback for edits should be sent to Michele by 7/3. Language is such that it can be put online and auditors wouldn’t have concerns with it as written. FOT has reviewed everything at great length and refined. CMB has approved.

Feedback: If you have questions or feedback regarding one of the listed topics, please send it to the listed CMB representative. For general feedback, kudos, or a topic to submit to the CMB please complete this brief form.

This month's CMB Newsletter Contributor:

Howard Bergman, Director of Research Advancement, MLF Teachers College

CMB Agenda Item	Background	Status & Contact
Process to Request Account PI	Currently there is not a standard process for units to request a child account where the account PI is different from the Award PI. Because of this, the child account PI may or may not have completed COI certification.	Status: Discussion >CMB Rep: Samantha Munguia  This change will ensure the child account PI completes the COI.
RSP Manual Policy Updates	The Research and Sponsored Projects Manual (RSP) policies are reviewed and updated as needed. Fiscal Oversight has updated some and they are ready for review.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Michelle Wrapp Policy Manuals should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis as a regular part of standard operating procedure.
Migration from ACC to GR IDs in ERA	The “ACC” prefix was utilized when ERA was released, but Workday uses a GR prefix. Current activation notice includes ACC number and creates confusion.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Peterson  Expected to go from 8 digits to 5 digits. No release date yet. This is expected to provide consistency and more accurate reporting .
Subaward Invoicing	There is a need to more closely track the receipt and correctness of subaward invoices. In addition, the system of PI review and approval of invoices will be scrutinized and changes will be considered for a cleaner process. AMT will work with certain units to pilot invoice approvals by PI or fiscal delegate in Workday.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Nicholas Petersen  On hold until in-person training may be available for PIs. AMT will create an efficient and visible method and work with certain units to pilot.
Expenditure Monitoring Plan	There is a need to develop more tools and processes to help Research Operations Teams & the Research Advancement Community proactively monitor expenditures on sponsored projects.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Sylvia Myers Tara Seaton has been hired as a consultant to study the present state and develop a more robust and sustainable process in order to identify risks and create stronger compliance standards.
Salary Cap Monitoring	The construction of the new sponsored data warehouse created the need to develop a new Salary Cap Monitoring Dashboard. In addition to the report, there is also a need for units to have access to tools to help calculate/monitor salary in excess of the salary cap.	Status: Discussion CMB Rep: Shirley Bowles  Spreadsheet tool to be utilized. In development.
Tuition Remission (change from 9 to 10 periods)	Currently tuition remission is collected on 9 pay periods; however there are 10 pay periods in a semester. This makes account forecasting difficult  and sponsor charges inaccurate. Sample of RA/BOM Community was polled and all in favor of 10 pay periods.	Status: Change Approved CMB Rep: Heather Clark  Rollout expected prior to new fiscal year. Communications to follow.

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