New Fund Request System
Fund Attributes & Naming Conventions
The New Fund Request System allows departments to submit requests for new fund codes to be set up, reviewed and approved in an online format. It allows departmental users to start a new fund request, review the status of a new fund request, resume completion of a new fund request, and review the history of a request. Departmental approval, functional review, and final approvals are managed through the Approval Tracking System (ATS). After review and approval the New Fund Request System will update Banner with the new fund information and the fund is ready for use. The New Fund Request System and the ATS can be accessed from the WebRaider portal, F&A Work Tools tab, Finance Channel under Accounting Services.
To start a new fund request, the department must first select the proper chart, whether the fund is research related, and the fund class. The major determining factor in the New Fund Request System, for the flow of form completion and routing for approvals, is the selection of the proper fund class. The fund class identifies the primary funding source of revenue and identifies if the funding is unrestricted or restricted. See Attachment A for all fund class definitions. Based on the fund class selection, whether the fund is research related and a few answers on the HSC Main Fund Form, the new fund request may be routed to additional forms to gather information related to the following areas: Scholarships, Research, Foundation/Endowments, Grants, and Service Departments. The information line at the top of the HSC Main Fund Form shows which forms will need to be completed for that particular new fund request. When each form is completed and the “Next” button is clicked, if there are any invalid responses or missing required information, the user will receive an error message in the “Notification Center” at the top of the page. Also based on the fund class selection, whether the fund is research related and a few answers on the HSC Main Fund Form, the new fund request may be routed to additional functional administrative areas for review and approval including: Student Business Services (SBS), Financial Aid, Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Institutional Advancement, Research, Accounting Services, and Finance Systems Management (FSM). If a new fund request is submitted with an incorrect class, the request may be rejected and the fund class can be corrected, which will correct the forms to be filled out and the routing. The new fund request may be rejected to any level of approval, rather than only back to the original submitter.
HSC Main Fund Form
The HSC Main Fund Form will be completed for every new request. Questions on the HSC Main Fund Form that are bolded are required and must be filled out. Below are the questions/information on the HSC Main Fund Form.
Organization: Provide which Organization (ORGN) should be used as the default ORGN. The ORGN code is the budgetary or departmental unit and indicates who earns and spends the funds. New ORGN requests must be submitted to the Budget Office and set up prior to submitting a New Fund Request, if needed.
Fund Name: Provide the name for the new fund. This is the name that will be populated for the grant name on the FRAGRNT Main tab (only for MY funds), which has no character limit. This field is alpha-numeric and must not contain any special characters except / and - . See Attachment D for fund numbering scheme and naming conventions.
Fund Name, Abbreviated: The fund name has a 35 character limit; this allows the departmental user to choose which 35 characters to include. The fund name should be descriptive of the anticipated activity of the fund or name of the grant. This field is alpha-numeric and must not contain any special characters except / and - . The fund name does not need to include the campus name (Lubbock) as there is a campus attribute that is added to the fund. The third digit of the fund number also identifies the respective campus for each fund.
Prior Year FOP: The prior year FOP should be provided if the new fund is for a new year of an ongoing grant. This allows for tracking of multiple grant years for grant reporting.
Fund Objective/Purpose: Provide the objective or purpose for the fund, why is the new fund needed?
Use of Funds-Expenses Not Allowed: Provide the use of funds, are there any unallowed expenses?
Fund Manager TechID (R#): Provide the name of the person who will be financially responsible for the fund. See HSC OP 50.03 for fund manager responsibilities. To search for an R #, click on the “Search” button, enter the persons last name, and “Select”.
Source of Funds: Select whether the source of funds is revenue coming in or a transfer from an existing fund. If revenue is selected, provide the primary account type and secondary account type (if needed). If transfer is selected, provide the FOP(s) that will provide the transfer in of funding.
Further Explanation: Provide any further explanation needed about the new fund being requested.
Campus: Select the appropriate campus. Use drop down boxes to select from a list of allowable values. The options are Lubbock, Amarillo, El Paso, Odessa, Dallas or Abilene. The campus selected must match the campus associated with the selected ORGN.
Alternate FOP for Overages: Provide the FOP that should be used in the event the fund balance goes negative and the deficit isn’t taken care of. This is ideally an income plan fund (13, 15, 16 or 17), but can be a general designated fund (18). If the new fund being requested is a research fund (program code 20) the backup FOP should also be a research fund so that all research expenditures are captured for institutional research reporting. If the department doesn’t have a research fund to use for backup, understand that one may have to be created if the backup FOP ever has to be utilized.
School/Division: Select the school or division the fund management will fall under. This is based off the orgn hierarchy. See Attachment B for the orgn structure.
Department: Select the department the fund management will fall under.
Program: Select the program code, which is the NACUBO function classification of expenditures. If the fund is marked as research related when the new fund request is started, program code 20 will be the only choice. Please see Attachment C for program code definitions. If the new fund request was submitted as a research program, but needs to be corrected, the new fund request may be rejected and the program corrected, which will correct the forms to be filled out and the routing.
Will there be any sale of goods or services to people outside of TTU/HSC? If this question is answered “Yes”, a fund attribute (HTAXUBIT) will be created so that TTU’s Financial Services and Tax (FST) office can track for unrelated business income tax.
Is this fund being created due to the establishment of a new student/course fee? If this question is answered “Yes”, the New Fund Request will be routed through SBS for review and approval.
Is this a cost share fund? If this question is answered “Yes”, the New Fund Request will be routed through the Office of Sponsored Programs for review and approval. Cost share are funds that are provided by the institution to help support a grant or project funded by an outside sponsor. Cost share funds are generally set up in the General Designated, E&G and Permanent Health fund areas.
Sponsored Project Type: A value should be selected if the fund is a sponsored project, clinical trial, or cost share fund. A sponsored project is an externally funded activity in which a formal written agreement (ex. grant, contract, or cooperative agreement) is entered into by TTUHSC and the sponsor. A sponsored project may be thought of as a transaction in which there is a specified statement of work, with a reciprocal transfer of funding. The correct attribute selection is very important for research reporting. The type selected will create a fund attribute (HSPONSOR) on FTMFATA so that reports can be run by Sponsored Project type, to provide information on the type of cost share fund it is, and this attribute also assists in the approval routing for the online Budget Revision System. Below are the value choices and when they should be selected:
CS – Mandatory/Voluntary Committed Cost Share
· This value should be chosen if the new fund is being set up to track either cost share required by the sponsor (mandatory) or cost share that has been voluntarily committed by the institution to support the grant (voluntary committed). Both must be set up in separate cost share funds for ease of reporting to the sponsor. Currently TTUHSC sets up a new fund for each year of a grant for ease of reporting, so a new cost share fund must also be set up for each new year of the grant.
CT – Industry Sponsored Clinical Trial
· This value should be chosen if the new fund is being set up to account for a private industry sponsored clinical trial that is administered through the Research Integrity Office (RIO).
SC – Salary Cap Cost Share
· This value should be chosen if the new fund is being set up to account for a researcher’s annual institutional salary that is above the NIH/HRSA or CPRIT salary caps. This is considered voluntary cost share, but must be accounted for in a separate fund for ease of effort reporting through the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECrt) system. One salary cost share fund can be used for the duration of the grant, a new one for each year of the grant is not necessary.
SP – Sponsored Project
· This value should be chosen if the new fund being set up is to account for the actual sponsored project/grant.
VC – Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Share
· This value should be chosen if the new fund is being set up to assist the department in tracking voluntary uncommitted cost share. This is cost share that has not been committed to the sponsor, but that the department decides to utilize to benefit the project/grant. It does not have to be tracked in a separate fund or reported, however we do offer this option if needed by the department.
Special Instructions: Provide any special instructions or additional information.
Attach forms: Attach any necessary forms, such as email correspondence, donor agreements, grant awards or contracts to help justify the need for a new fund. Large attachments (over 4MB) may need to be split into multiple documents for upload.
HSC Research Form
If the new fund is identified as being research related when the New Fund Request is initiated, the HSC Research Form will be required to be completed and the only program code available for selection will be 20. Research is systematic study directed toward fuller scientific knowledge or understanding of the subject studied. Development is systematic use of knowledge or understanding gained from research, directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods including design and development of prototypes and processes. Research and Development (R&D) also includes activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the instruction function. The HSC Research Form will route the New Fund Request through the Research Office for review and approval to ensure that the new fund is indeed research related. All questions must be answered.
The first six questions are designed to help determine if the new fund is considered organized research for purposes of the F&A Cost Study that helps determine TTUHSC’s indirect cost rate. Below are the questions, which should be answered with a “Yes” or “No”:
Is research funding awarded to/received by TTUHSC based on a competitive award process?
Is research externally funded (i.e. funding received from a source outside of TTUHSC)?
Is there a budget that requires specific accounts for spending, for example payroll, supplies, etc?
Is there a specified period of time during which research/spending should occur (i.e. project period)?
Is there a specific commitment regarding deliverables and/or level of personnel effort required?
Is a report required at the end of the project that summarizes results and/or conclusions?
If three of these six questions are answered “Yes”, a fund attribute (HORGRSCH) will be created to assist in the F&A Cost Study. These questions must be answered based on the type of research being done. If the new fund is being set up as a cost share fund (all types except voluntary committed) and the associated grant has the HORGRSCH attribute, the cost share fund should also have the HORGRSCH attribute.
Is this fund subject to Peer Review? Peer review is an assessment of scientific or technical merit of applications by individuals with knowledge and expertise equivalent (peer) to that of the individuals whose applications for support they are reviewing, that is, reviewers who are the professional equals of the PD/PI for the proposed project and who often are engaged or were previously engaged in comparable activities. If the question is answered with a “Yes”, a fund attribute (HRPEERRV) will be created.
Research Type: The National Science Foundation (NSF) research report requires TTUHSC to report research numbers by a research type. Below are the types and definitions:
· Applied – research is conducted to gain the knowledge or understanding to meet a specific, recognized need.
· Basic – research is undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge without any particular application or use in mind.
· Development – is the systematic use of the knowledge or understanding gained from research directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including the design and development of prototypes and processes.