Current Argonne Joint Appointment Processing

As of April 10, 2006

JOINT APPOINTMENT

  • Sponsor requests that an Argonne or U of C employee receive a joint appointment.
  • Department Administrator begins the process.
  • At the request of the Director of the Center / Consortium the Department Administrator creates a letter of recommendation for each joint appointee (one letter per appointee). See details of this process in CI bylaws.
  • If the candidate is from the University of Chicago, the candidate’s home department (Chair) and division (Dean) must approve prior to sending the request to the Vice President for Research and Argonne National Laboratory (Thomas F. Rosenbaum).
  • Copy of candidate’s current CV must accompany recommendation letter to the Vice President for Research and Argonne National Laboratory.
  • The office of the Vice President for Research and Argonne National Laboratory obtains approval from Provost’s Office for ANF (Academic Non-Faculty) appointees and Staff Joint Appointments are forwarded to U of C Human Resources.
  • Approved recommendations are forwarded to the Argonne office of the University of Chicago for processing by Christopher Widmer.
  • Joint Appointee receives a letter co-signed by the VP for Research and ANL and the ANL Laboratory Director that a joint appointment has been granted which is prepared by Christopher Widmer.
  • The Department, PSD (Hank Way/Julie Irvin), BSD (to be determined), Social Sciences (to be determined), Comptroller’s Office (Carla Bucci) and VP Research & ANL Office (Christopher Widmer) maintain a copy of the joint appointment letter in the appointee’s file. Others to receive a copy of the appointment letter are ANL Assistant Chief Financial Officer (Betsy O’Connor); ANL Human Resources (John Hyzer); Center or Consortium Head and/or Assistant Lab Director as appropriate; University Dean or Chair.

JOINT APPOINTMENT SALARY REIMBURSEMENT FORM (JASRF)

  • Department Administrator processes the JASRF (Joint Appointment Salary Reimbursement Form).
  • For each joint appointee, one form is created for all projects.
  • Department Administrator contacts appropriate ANL contact for the following data: reimbursement period, effort percentage, salary rate, benefit rate, job title, fac/staff/fellow designation, project name. The department adds the UC account number.
  • Department Administrator signs the completed form and obtains signatures from the Principal Investigator, Chair, Dean and Joint Appointee.
  • Department Administrator sends the form to VP Research & ANL Office (Christopher Widmer) for approval and signature.
  • Christopher Widmer summarizes reimbursement details in a memo to Argonne.
  • Department Administrator, PSD (Hank Way), BSD (to be determined), Social Sciences (to be determined),Comptroller’s Office (Carla Bucci) and VP Research & ANL Office (Christopher Widmer) keep final copies of JASRF.
  • When reimbursement period expires, a new JASRF is created by the Department Administrator if reimbursement will continue.
  • March 1 salary increases are documented by a listing, not a new JASRF. The JASRF dollar figure does not change until another significant event occurs (ex. change in effort, accounts, reimbursement period, etc.).
  • In order for reimbursement to continue, the joint appointment must be current. If joint appointment has expired, Department Administrator initiates request to reappoint utilizing the same processes as initial appointment (letter to Vice President along with current CV).

SALARY AND BENEFIT CHARGES

University of Chicago

  • JASRFs are used to create an Excel spreadsheet (Carla Bucci) summarizing salary and benefit charges for the month.
  • Spreadsheet contains the following attributes:
  • Date (mo/yr)
  • Effort Period (mo/yr)
  • Transaction Type (regular, prior, adjust, etc.)
  • Name
  • ANL Task Number
  • Social Security Number
  • Department Number
  • Department Name
  • Job Title
  • PI Name
  • Project Name
  • Debit Account
  • Debit Salary Subaccount
  • Debit Benefit Subaccount
  • Credit Account
  • Credit Salary Subaccount
  • Credit Benefit Subaccount
  • Effort Percentage
  • Pay Rate
  • Salary Charge (effort % x pay rate)
  • Benefit Rate
  • Benefit Charge (salary charge x benefit rate)
  • Indirect charge (currently 26%)
  • Total Charge (salary charge + benefit charge + indirect charge)
  • Reimbursement Start Date
  • Reimbursement Stop Date
  • Joint Appointment Start Date
  • Joint Appointment Stop Date
  • Each month the prior month spreadsheet is rolled forward as a starting point and adjustments are made.
  • Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) sends out emails to PI’s and administrators asking if there will be any changes in the current month (and also meets with individuals at Argonne and on campus).
  • Any changes must be supported by a new or revised JASRF.
  • Changes may include:
  • New joint appointments
  • Expired joint appointments
  • Changes in effort percentages
  • Changes in salary and/or benefit rates (including one time adjustments)
  • Changes to project account numbers
  • The prior month spreadsheet is updated (Carla Bucci) to include all current month changes.
  • A separate spreadsheet is created for any prior period adjustments/corrections.
  • The files are compared to Argonne’s entries for the month (spreadsheet provided by Wei Zhou of Argonne).
  • The files are also reviewed by the Division (Hank Way and others once determined) before processing.
  • The final Excel files are copied to the ANL Database (which is an Excel spreadsheet that contains all of the final entries made each month).
  • The spreadsheets are formatted in Excel to conform to the upload specifications and then converted to CSV (comma separated value) files.
  • The CSV files are then uploaded to FAS using SSH Secure File Transfer.
  • Once the entries have been uploaded to FAS, a Business Objects program is run (Carla Bucci) to produce a report of all entries made that month and it is reviewed again by the Division (Hank Way and others once determined) for errors.
  • If any errors are found, they are corrected with the following month’s entries.

Argonne

  • Argonne books an entry that will be the basis of invoices sent to the University of Chicago.
  • Wei Zhou books the Argonne accounts receivable entry for salaries and benefits.
  • Data used to book the entry comes from the final JASRFs for the month.
  • If a JASRF cannot be finalized in time for the month’s entries, the entry will be made in the following month.
  • The general rule (per Betsy O’Connor) is that retroactive payments are allowed for one month only.

ANL INVOICE FOR UNIVERSITY PAYMENT

  • Argonne Accounts Receivable (Norm Rendon) uses data from Argonne entries to produce invoices for the University of Chicago.
  • Invoices to collect payment from UC for joint appointee salary, benefit and indirect expenses attributable to effort provided to UC projects.
  • Invoices are received by UC Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) the month following the effort period (usually mid month).
  • Invoices are produced by the ANL system but some are prepared manually if a special adjustment or additional data is needed.
  • One invoice per person per effort period.
  • Period of performance is one month but may include several months of retro payments and adjustments, which may not be broken out on the invoice.
  • Invoices should tie to salaries, benefits and indirect expenses charged to the UC accounts for the effort period. If they do not tie, the discrepancies may be due to:
  • Errors made by UC or ANL
  • Changes in salary or benefit rates not communicated to UC
  • Adjustments to effort not communicated to UC
  • Other adjustments to salary not communicated to UC
  • UC pays invoice and works with ANL to resolve discrepancies.
  • Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) does a reconciliation of invoices paid and salary & benefit charges.
  • Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) meets with ANL Accounts Receivable Contact (Norm Rendon) regarding aged invoices, if any, on a quarterly basis.

UNIVERSITY INVOICE FOR ANL PAYMENT

  • University Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others to be determined)) uses data from JASRF to produce invoices for the Argonne National Laboratory.
  • Invoices to collect payment from ANL for joint appointee salary, benefit and indirect expenses attributable to effort provided to ANL projects.
  • Invoices are received by Accounts Payable Contact (Lisa Gendeman) the month following the effort period (usually mid month).
  • One invoice per person per effort period.
  • Period of performance is one month but may include several months of retro payments and adjustments, which may not be broken out on the invoice.
  • Invoices should tie to salaries, benefits and indirect expenses charged for the effort period. If they do not tie, the discrepancies may be due to:
  • Errors made by UC or ANL
  • Changes in salary or benefit rates not communicated to ANL
  • Adjustments to effort not communicated to ANL
  • Other adjustments to salary not communicated to ANL
  • ANL pays invoice and works with UCL to resolve discrepancies.
  • Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) does a reconciliation of invoices paid and salary & benefit charges.
  • Division Point of Contact (Hank Way and others once determined) meets with ANL Accounts Payable Contact (Lisa Gendeman) regarding aged invoices, if any, on a quarterly basis.

EFFORT REPORTS

  • At year end, effort certification statements are produced by Argonne for joint appointees with Argonne as home department and by the University for joint appointees with the UC as home department.

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