Bridges Advisory #71 – August 05, 2005
Printable versionThe University of Florida is committed to keeping you informed as we continue our transition to the new myUFL systems. To help you with the transition, each week you will receive a Bridges Advisory.
PROJECT AND DEPARTMENT REPORTS. The project and department final June 2005 reports will be available in Enterprise Reporting > Project Reports or Department Reports early next week. Select your college or unit and department and PI (in project reports) to view the delivered PDF reports. There is no need to click on Access Reporting and run the reports yourself. If you have questions about specific data in your final 2005 reports and have not already been contacted by Purchasing, please contact the appropriate core office.
GRANTS: CAS EXEMPTION SYSTEM FOR PERSONNEL DISTRIBUTIONS. According to OMB Circular A–21 and the University of Florida policy on Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), expenditures for Clerical & Administrative Salaries should not generally be charged directly to federally–funded sponsored agreements.
Beginning tonight, UF Bridges will implement a modification to the HR module to prohibit direct charges for specific Clerical & Administrative personnel costs to Federal projects that do not have an approved CAS Exemption in place. UF had a similar process in place prior to PeopleSoft.
Contracts and Grants maintains a table in myUFL used to verify job codes during the payroll distribution process. Job codes that normally would not be allowed as direct charges <http://fa.ufl.edu/cg/capolicy/jobcodes.html> to a Federal project may be direct charged if the project has been granted an exemption by the Division of Sponsored Research, or if the granting agency prohibits the charging of indirect costs.
This new modification will prohibit a payroll distribution to a Federal project for any job code that normally would not be allowed as a direct charge unless the job code has been specifically approved on the CAS Exemption Form. If a department attempts to distribute a person with a job code that generally is not allowed on a Federal project, the program checks to see if an exemption has been entered into the CAS Exemption table. If an applicable exemption is found, the distribution will be permitted to proceed. Otherwise, the distribution will be rejected and a CAS error message will be displayed.
If a distribution is rejected and an exemption has been granted for the project, please contact Beverly Streib or Brian Kuhl of Contracts and Grants at (352) 392–1235 to verify the exemption. If an exemption has not been granted and the project can meet the necessary criteria, a CAS Exemption Form <http://rgp.ufl.edu/research/pdf/casexemptionform.pdf> should be processed as soon as possible through the Division of Sponsored Research.
If the project is not eligible to receive an exemption, the payroll should be distributed to an unrestricted project in the 211 or 212 Fund or to some other cost center. It may also be necessary to distribute the position to an unrestricted project or other cost center if a CAS Exemption Form cannot be processed in time. There is no reason a person should NOT be paid because of a distribution rejection, as the option to distribute to an unrestricted project will always be available.
Contracts and Grants will continue to work with UF Bridges to identify potential salary CAS violations occurring prior to implementation of this modification. Departments with projects in violation will be instructed to move the charges to an unrestricted source or to request an exemption from the Division of Sponsored Research.
NEW INSTRUCTION GUIDES. Two new or updated instruction guides are available this week on the Bridges Web site for the following services:
- General Ledger and Budgets > ChartFields – Understanding Accounts (New)
- Hiring and Job Actions > Additional Pay (Updated)
NEW RESOURCES. Four new resources are available this week on the Bridges Web site for the following services:
- Enterprise Reporting > Report Publication Request (New)
- Enterprise Reporting > Report Request Specification (New)
- Grants > UF Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Exemption Form (New)
- Grants > PeopleSoft Job Codes Not to be Direct Charged to Federal Awards (New)
For frequent updates about the project, subscribe to the UF Bridges pagelet in the myUFL portal. For a quick tutorial on how to use myUFL, please sign on to the portal and click on Help > How to Use myUFL.
For more information about myUFL systems, visit the Bridges Web site.
For help or support in using the new systems, including the portal, contact the UF Help Desk at 392-HELP or helpdesk@ufl.edu.
