The CPH Office of Research and OSP assist the PI with co-management of externally funded grants. Co-management includes regular meetings between the PI and the GM to review the PI’s active grants and regular guidance from the SPO. These roles are outlined below.
Co-Management Role: OSP and SPO
OSP partners with faculty and staff to provide research administration at all stages of sponsored projects.
OSP reviews all grant awards and negotiates contract terms in accordance with the policies of the university and the laws of the State of Ohio as a land grant institution.
The SPO issues the NOA in Workday to the PI. The CPH Office of Research does not automatically receive notification of new NOAs or subsequent years of funding awarded to the PI. Thus, it is important that PIs share the NOA information with the CPH Office of Research upon its receipt.
Once an award is fully executed, the SPO sets up a grant number for the PI to begin expensing payroll and non-payroll expenditures (see “Expensing to Grant Funds” below). Project spending for expenses directly related to activities in the protocol cannot occur until any required approval from the Institutional Review Board is obtained.
OSP partners with university central regarding accounting, purchasing, and other administrative services to assist PIs in managing the financial aspects of their projects, obtaining the necessary goods, services, and personnel to conduct the research effort, and meeting sponsor requirements for fiscal reports. OSP provides financial accounting reports and billing to sponsors for the activity funded, which are subject to federal audit.
All sponsored projects are considered restricted funds. Thus, all charges to sponsored projects must be:
- reasonable, allowable, and allocable to the project;
- in accordance with program plans and objectives;
- clearly required for the project;
- consistent with the budget established for the project (in total, by category, or by line item, depending on sponsor requirements);
- incurred within the grant contract dates; and
- in accordance with sponsor regulations, university policy, and OSP procedures for implementing those regulations and policies.
Any deviation from the above requires justification and possibly additional sponsor approval. SPOs can provide information and guidance on what may or may not be charged to a sponsored project and they can assist in seeking required approvals.
OSP offers extensive information on their website, and PIs are encouraged to review appropriate spending of externally sponsored funds.
Co-Management Role: PI
The term PI refers to the lead researcher on a grant project or award. In the case of a subaward, the OSU PI is the lead researcher on the subaward grant. The PI has primary responsibility for achieving the technical success of the project while also complying with the financial and administrative policies and regulations associated with the award.
Post-Award Meetings
Annual Post-Award Meetings typically take place in November. This meeting is required for faculty with active projects and optional for those without active projects. In these discussions, the PI and GM review active projects and make plans to keep projects operationally and fiscally on track. PIs may request more frequent meetings throughout the year as desired to keep projects running smoothly.
Expensing to Grant Funding
The CPH Central Administrative Support team serves at the initial point of contact for division-based faculty and staff for the following areas of expertise: Payroll (Faculty, Staff and Students), Temporary Hires, Purchase and Travel, Administrative Assistance and Events, and Admissions and Graduate Associates or Fellows.
To initiate a request, college faculty, staff, and students email CPH-Support@osu.edu using the relevant keyword(s) in the email subject line: Payroll, Hire, Purchase, Travel, Event or Reserve, GRA or GTA.
University policies allow a maximum of two months off-duty salary from internal sources and a maximum of 2.5 months from external sources. Faculty with access to both internal and external sources of funding may fund three months of off-duty salary. Examples of sources of internal funds that could potentially be used for off-duty funding if budgeted and approved include the following: MOUs with other university units, start-up funds, seed grants, pilot programs, and endowments.
Per CPH policy: Faculty who have earned 2.5 months of off-duty salary from external sources, and who have sufficient funds in a discretionary account may elect to receive up to 0.5 months of off-duty salary by using funds from that account.
PIs consult with their GM if they have questions about the grant budget plan or sponsor budget compliance.
Workday and PI Portal
PIs are responsible for frequently checking their Workday inbox for notifications and reviewing and approving transactions in a timely manner. PIs work with the Central Support Team to initiate purchasing (goods and services including consultant and vendor setups), travel, hiring, and payroll transactions for staff and students. Note: if a PI does not act on an item in their Workday inbox, it will become “stuck,” and progress will be stalled until the PI completes the action.
PIs are responsible for reviewing payroll and non-payroll expenses in Workday, alerting their GM if anything looks incorrect, and working with their GM to problem solve and take appropriate action to make corrections. The PI’s frequent review of grant financials allows corrections to be made in real time rather than being delayed. It is recommended that PIs review project financials on at least a monthly basis.
PIs are responsible for reviewing award restrictions, required reporting, effort certifications, and financial reports. If the PI has questions, they consult with their GM for guidance or set up a post-award meeting.
Effort Certification Reports
Investigators complete Effort Certification to confirm that payroll expenses (salary, stipend, effort) to the sponsor are reasonable in relation to the work performed, and the effort provided to the sponsor is at least as great as the effort promised to the sponsor.
Effort certification reports are generated when someone receives any portion of their payroll expense (salary, stipend, effort) from a sponsored project (i.e., external funding that is contractually administered through OSP).
Effort certification reports are generated and sent in Workday to the individual’s Workday inbox in January, June, and September for the prior semester’s effort; they also are generated anytime a payroll correction is made. Data in the effort certification report is obtained from payroll data in Workday.
Investigators review and certify if the effort certification reports reasonably represent how effort was expended on a monthly basis. Expended effort is reported as a percentage of time spent working on a grant during each month. This percentage should reasonably reflect the average number of hours actually worked by the investigator on the grant during the month assuming a standard 40-hour work week. For example, if an investigator worked 4 hours per week on a grant for the entire month, the effort associated with that grant would be 10% for that month (4 hours/40 hours per week).
In the circumstance where an investigator works on a grant before the assignment of a GR# by OSP, the investigator may certify their effort for the months worked on the grant before the GR# is assigned. After the GR# is assigned and effort is corrected to assign it to the appropriate GR#, the updated effort will need to be recertified.
If an investigator determines that an administrative error has occurred or that their reported effort is not reflective of the average actual effort expended on the grant during time period, the investigator consults with their GM for guidance in resolving this. After consulting with their GM for guidance, if corrections to effort are needed, the investigator submits a request to the Central Support Team. Effort corrections must be requested within 60 days and must be reviewed and approved by the faculty member’s Division Chair before the correction can be processed in Workday. PIs are responsible for reporting and verifying their effort on grants and for responding to any audit inquiries regarding it from sponsors or the university’s audit team.
Overruns, Disallowed Costs and Residual Funds
Expenditure allocations listed for each cost center on the ePA-005 are used to split the financial responsibility for any overruns or disallowed costs on an awarded proposal. OSP transfers overruns and disallowed costs to CPH. The CPH Business Manager reviews the cost centers and the percentages listed in the award and identifies the CPH investigator on the award. The Business Manager then transfers the cost to the faculty’s discretionary funds account automatically. If the faculty member determines that the overrun should be paid by another funding source, the faculty member should work with the CPH Business Manager to discuss and resolve this issue.
Eligible residual fund balances may be requested by the faculty member after the grant is fully closed. Faculty should work with their GM to discuss this process and submit a request. Residual fund balances will be transferred to the faculty member’s discretionary fund.
Electronic Conflict of Interest and Outside Activities Forms
University policy requires researchers complete the e-COI disclosure form annually or when they have a new item to disclose and the Outside Activities Form before engaging in any outside activity. The ADR reviews the disclosed conflicts to identify those that might need further consideration and possibly the creation of a conflict management plan.
Grant Reporting
The PI is responsible for all technical reporting, compliance updates, publications, and any justifications for changes in the scope of work, changes in collaborators, and major budget changes. The GM and the SPO guide the PI on reporting requirements and the process for submitting reports. The PI notifies the GM in advance of any required reports.
Publications
The PI is responsible for tracking publications related to their sponsored research grants and making sure all publications are compliant with the sponsor’s award publication terms. PIs can request guidance on publication compliance from the CPH Health Science Librarian.
OSU has entered into agreements with some large academic publishers to cover the open access fees for publishing.
Disclosures of Inventions
In the case of a possible invention to disclose, the PI refers to the guidance of the Office of Corporate Engagement.
Trainings
Researchers are responsible for completing required and recommended research trainings, which include the following:
REQUIRED: Institutional Data Policy (renew annually)
Those with access to S4 data must complete university-approved institutional data training annually. All others must complete institutional data awareness training annually.
REQUIRED: Human Subjects Protection Training
All investigators and key personnel at OSU who participate in research must be trained in the protection of human subjects. The university uses the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) for this requirement. CITI training can take 4–8 hours to complete.
Ohio State also requires all faculty, staff and students who are eligible to conduct research at the university to be trained in the Responsible Conduct of Research. RCR is also completed in the CITI system and is in addition to the human subjects protection training. This training usually takes less than 45 minutes to complete. The exception is that individuals who have completed the CITI RCR course within the last five years at a previous institution do not need to retake the course.
Recommended: Being a Principal Investigator: Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources
This BuckeyeLearn training provides an overview of PI responsibilities and how to work with OSP and the college’s GMs.
Recommended: Workday: The Grant Management Dashboard for Principal Investigators (Recorded Session)
This one-hour BuckeyeLearn training orients PIs on how to effectively use the Workday Grant Management Dashboard, providing examples of commonly encountered situations.
Co-Management Role: CPH Office of Research
Liaison between the PI and the SPO
The CPH Office of Research serves as a liaison between the PI and the SPO. PIs do not contact the SPO directly; instead, PIs work with their GM, who involves the SPO as needed. The Office of Research works with the PI to help them complete their research project successfully, while remaining in compliance with the specific requirements of a given project. The CPH Office of Research helps to ensure the project is compliant with purchasing, payroll/personnel appointments, faculty effort management, travel, subawards, cost share, reporting, export controls, human subjects, animals, and any conflicts of interest.
Workday
The GM initiates and submits the requests to set up new subawards and subaward amendments in Workday. These actions workflow to the PI for approval and then on to the SPO to review and initiate the contract to be sent to the other entity. The Office of Research uses a tracking system – following up with the SPO as needed – to monitor progress until the contracts are fully executed.
Grant Reporting
The GM provides guidance to the PI on reporting requirements of the sponsor and assists with any financial and effort reporting that is not automatically submitted by OSP in relation to a grant contract.
Project Closeout
The GM provides guidance to the PI based on sponsor and OSP requirements for project closeout. The PI consults with their GM 3-6 months before the end of an award to discuss a spend down plan, review any questions or issues about project closeout and, if needed, plan for a project extension.
