PrintAnnouncements
1) 3 upcoming workshops in July & August: FASSPAR Projections, CREW Sponsored Basics, and CREW Beyond the PER-- see the workshops page for more information and to register.
2) There are several ARRA (stimulus fund) reporting and implementation webinars offered next week on Recovery.gov. Click here for more details: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/schedule-and-registration-webinars-recipients-reporting-recovery-funds-announced
Organizational Changes at the Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP)
Ethlyn O'Garro, Director, Sponsored Programs Administration introduced a new organization chart for OSP. In the past year, OSP has lost eight staff members due to attrition and retirement. Given the inability to fill these positions, and given the current financial climate, OSP determined it was necessary to review service levels, services provided, and organizational structure, to make sure they are appropriately positioned to provide services to clients. Changes include the creation of two new Lead Sponsored Specialist (LSS) positions authorized to submit proposals on behalf of the university, the shrinking of Lifecycle teams to two: Life Sciences/Education and Physical/Social Sciences, and the re-assignment of some Grants & Contracts Specialists to new portfolios. Goal: to maintain and, in some cases, improve service levels to departments.
Using GMAS for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Awards
Simone Alpen (OSP's QA and Business Process Manager) and Veronica Surrette (Sr. Systems Operations Analyst) spoke about what Harvard has been doing to prepare to administer ARRA Awards. So far, FAS has submitted 104 ARRA proposals and has received word that eleven of them (totaling about 3.8M) will be funded. There is also an ARRA Steering Committee, made up of school and university leadership, with subcommittees on Training, a Reporting, and GMAS.
A list of GMAS enhancements can be found at:
http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/fss/docs/pdfs/gmas_release_notes.pdf
New releases are publicized in the Administrative Systems E-news at:
http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/training/enews.html
Briefly, GMAS can now be searched for ARRA Proposals and Awards, and Award Notices, Action Memos, and Segment Home pages note when the award has been made under ARRA.
New Invoicing Procedures at the Office for Sponsored Programs
Judy McSweeney, OSP's Director of Financial Services, talked about how Harvard's Office of the Controller will now be collecting on all invoices Harvard sends to sponsors. This means that departments must be sure to review expenses monthly, as OSP Financial Analysts will no longer be checking all expenses before they are invoiced. If there are issues with collecting on a sponsored invoice, the Controller's Office will contact the OSP Financial Analyst and the Analyst will continue to be the contact with the department.
Preparing for ARRA at Harvard
Pat Fitzgerald presented "Preparing for ARRA at Harvard," originally shown at the NCURA Region 1 RADG meeting. Download a copy of the slides here.
