Individual Awards and Discretionary Funds are intended to help the University of Chicago manage and track expenses incurred on internal funding provided to faculty members.  This awarded funding could be for start-up funding, retention funding, gift funding, or could be internally awarded funding given to a faculty for their research initiative.

The way UChicago manages and tracks this spending is by creating a Project and Award using Oracle’s Project Portfolio Management subledger. This subledger is designed to provide a granular view of transactions, manage allowable expense types, and establish a proper budget. The subledger rolls into the General Ledger by aligning a Chart of Accounts segment to the Project and Award during the set-up process. When funding this award, a Journal Entry will need to take place. To learn more about this process, see Initiate General Ledger to fund an IADF.

To incur expenses against these funds, transactions will use project cost collections segments known as POETAF. These transactions can be for general purchasing, payroll, or for internal billing. The POETAF segments are assigned during the Project and Award creation process.

The following guide is intended for IADF Administrators who are looking to view or complete any of the following actions:

Action

• Create an IADF Project
  • Using the Project Template to Create Project
  • Create Project Tasks
  • Adding Project Resources
• Create an IADF Award
  • Creating Award from Award Template
  • Using the General Tab
  • Using the Financials Tab
  • Using the Personal Tab
  • Associating Project
• Budget an IADF Award
  • Associate Project Resources to Project Budget

Terminology

• Modules: Modules are the components or business process subsystems of our Oracle Cloud platform.  They provide specific functions to enhance overall service delivery, which integrates with and supports our need for highly detailed project reporting including PPM, Workday, Concur, Procurement, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Assets.
• Project Portfolio Management (PPM): A module that houses aggregated information on Sponsored Awards, Capital Projects, Individual Award & Discretionary Awards (IADF), and Clinical Research Studies.  Integrates with other modules to collect costs and fee accounting to GL.   
• Project: a primary unit of work that can be broken down into one or more tasks. It's a fundamental structure used to organize, track, and manage various types of work within an organization, often relating to financial or operational goals. Each project is connected to an award.
• Award: An award is a contractual agreement with a sponsor that provides funding for one or more projects. It includes details such as award templates, funding sources, terms and conditions, and roles assigned to personnel involved in the project. Each award is connected to a project.
• POETAF: Most granular level of detail within a project.  Combination of value segments that describe a PPM expenditure (Project – Expenditure Organization – Expenditure Type – Task – Contract/Award, Funding Source). 
• Individual Discretionary Fund: Institutional funds promised to an individual (not function, organization, or role), at any point in their tenure (startup, retention, incentive, etc.), regardless of fiscal year alignment to use at their discretion.
• Internal Awards: Institutional funds awarded to an individual usually as a result of call for proposals, with defined scope and time limit.
• Budget Period: All PPM awards must be set up with Budget Periods, which are periods of time in which funds can be assigned and budgeted. The recommendation for IADFs is to set up Budget Periods along fiscal years.
• Award Funding: Award Funding is the total dollar amount promised to the PI over the course of the award.
• Award Budget: The Award Budget is the amount of money that the Principal Investigator (PI) can spend on a project in a given budget period.
• General Ledger (GL): The University’s central accounting structure, which houses all financial information (i.e. assets, liabilities, fund balance, income, and expenses) across the organization.  Each transaction is represented in the GL through a 10-segment value string combination called the Chart of Accounts (COA). 
• Chart of Accounts (COA): Oracle’s string of numbers that will house all financial activity for the University within the General Ledger (GL).  The COA is comprised of 10 segments and categories in three buckets:  Primary (Entity, Organization, Account, Fund, Purpose); Secondary (Program, Activity, Site), System-Populated segments (Affiliate, Future).  
• Resource (Expenditure Category): In PPM, all projects must be budgeted to a specific Resource (e.g. MAS: Materials and Supplies or EQU: Equipment). Budgets can be as detailed as you want with these resources, but since IADFs are discretionary, the recommendation is to budget to one resource -- OGC: Other General Costs if no specific terms of award restrict expenditures to certain categories.

Create an IADF Project

1. Select Company Single Sign-On to log into Oracle.
2. Navigate to the Projects Module and select Project Financial Management.

      

Using the Project Template to Create Project

3. Select the “+”   

4. Complete the Create Projects Screen
   1. Use the dropdown to select either the University Individual Discretionary Funds or University Individual Internal Awards Source Template.
   2. Enter the Project Name, Project Description, Project Start Date, Project Finish Date, and Project Organization.

1. 1. 1. Discretionary Project Names format “[PI Last Name], [First Initial]. [Organization code] IDF Project.”
      2. Discretionary Project start date should be 90-days before initial start date.
      3. Discretionary Projects end date will be 6/30/2099.

5. Select Save and Continue.     

Create Project Tasks

6. To create additional tasks, select the “+” and select Subtask.

Note: Most IADFs will not need additional tasks. Tasks allow administrators to budget to specific COA secondary segments.         

 

7. Enter a unique Task Name and Task Number.
8. Select the icon under Additional Information.

 

Note: if the Additional Information column is missing, select the View dropdown, then select Columns, and select Additional Information.

9. Review or update the COA Secondary Segments under the IADF Task Details Context Segment.
10. Ok.         

11. To optionally add a Task Manager to a task, select the icon under Details.

12. Search for the appropriate Task Member.
13. Select Save and Close.          

Adding Project Resources

14. Select the Taskbar and select Manage Project Resources.      

 

15. Select Add Resource.

16. Add all Project Team Members with the correct role (Project Manager, Principal Investigator, and IADF Project Support).

Note: You must add yourself as the IADF Administrator.  If you miss this step, you will not be able to perform certain actions on the Project or Award.

17. Select Save and Close.

18. Select Save and Close.        

You have now completed the process of Creating an IADF Project.

Each Project must be associated with one or more IADF Awards.  To do this, you must create the IADF Award.

1. Select Company Single Sign-On to log into Oracle.
2. Navigate to the Grants Management Module and select Awards. 

3. Select the Taskbar and navigate to Manage Awards

Creating Award from Award Template

4. Select Create Award from Template.

5. Use the dropdown to select either the University Individual Discretionary Funds or University Individual Internal Awards Source Template.
6. Complete the following fields in the Create Award from Template (some fields are pre-populated).
   1. Award Name
   2. Primary Sponsor
   3. Start Date
   4. End Date
   5. Principal Investigator details

Note: The Primary Sponsor field should be the same Fund found in the COA.  This tells us where the money is coming from.

7. Select Save and Continue.

8. Select 'OK.'       

Using the General Tab

9. Update the Organization, Purpose, Institution, and Type.

10. Optionally add a Keyword to the Award by selecting on the ‘+’ icon.
11. Optionally add Attachments (i.e. PI Contract, supporting documentation, etc.)    

12. Scroll Down to the Additional Information Section and update the following fields:
    1. IADF Award COA 1: Enter the COA that is funding the award.
    2. IADF Award COA Transfer Type 1:
       1. Upfront – total funding amount will be transferred at the start of the award. This transfer is done through a Journal Entry.
       2. Cost-Reimbursement – the funding amount will be transferred as expenses are distributed.  It is a recommended practice that if this option is selected, you perform the cost reimbursement transfer monthly. The cost reimbursement will be completed through a Journal Entry.
    3. IADF Contribution Percent – the amount funded by each funding source

     Note: you can include up to three COA account strings per award.

Using the Financials Tab

13. Scroll up and select the Financials tab. Uncheck Expanded Authority if funds should not roll over between budget periods.

Note: If Expanded Authority is enabled, funds can roll over into budget periods and you will not need to rebudget; unless you add additional budget to that fiscal year. If it is disabled, PI will lose their funds if they don’t spend them that year. Expanded authority can only be selected during the award setup.

14. In the Budget Period section, select the pencil icon.

      

15. Select the '+' icon to add a new row for a Budget Period. 
16. Update the Name of the Budget Period row to FY(Year) (e.g. FY2024) and update the End Date to the last date of the current year, (e.g. 6/30/2024). Add additional entries as applicable using the ‘+’ icon.

Note: If the project is ongoing, create a budget period labeled ‘Future’ with 6/30/2099 as the end date

17. Select Save.     

Using the Personal Tab

18. Navigate to the Personnel tab.
19. Select ‘+’ icon and fill in the details in the Person, Role, and Start Date. Add all IADF Administrators and IADF Viewers.

Note: You must add yourself as an IADF Administrator to perform actions on the Award. 

20. Select Save and Next 

Associating Project

21. Select the “+” icon.
22. Search for the associated Project.  
23. Review that the project has been added to the award. Select Save and Next.

24. Select Add funding

25. Complete the Funding Issue Details
    4. Type should always be Base
    5. Number
    6. Direct Funding Amount
    7. Date
    8. Description
26. Select Save and Close

27. Review total funding for the award.
28. Select Next       

You have now completed the process of Creating an IADF Award.

To complete the steps for the Manage Project Budget, you must be listed as the IADF Administrator.  Return to step 18 in the Create an IADF Award section.

1. After completing the steps in Setup an IADF, select Manage Project Budget.

2. On the Manage Budget Versions screen, select the '+' icon.

3. Enter the information for the following:
   1. Name
   2. Financial Plan Type
   3. Description.
4. Select Save and Continue.

Associate Project Resources to Project Budget

5. Highlight the row with your project. Select the '+' icon to add a Resource to which you want to budget.

Note: To budget at the task level, highlight the task and select the ‘+’ icon.

6. Use the drop-down to select the appropriate resource. 

 

7. While the row with the resource is still highlighted in blue, select Actions and select Edit Period Amounts. 

8. A window will appear titled Edit Period Amounts, select the first row with the FY(Year) period listed and enter the Raw Cost (USD).
9. Select Save and Close.        

10. Verify that the amount under Cost Budget says the total amount you want to budget.
11. Select the Create Baseline button in the top right of the screen.   

12. A popup window will appear summarizing the new budget. Select OK.        

Note: Always select Create Baseline when finalizing a budget.

13. The status of your new budget version has changed to 'Submitted.’       
14. Select the refresh icon to refresh your budget (you may have to select it a few times). The status of the budget version you just created should now say 'Current and Original Baseline.'

Notice, that the system automatically creates a new budget version called Version 2 and it is in a 'Current Working' status.    

15. Select Done.

16. Select Submit Contract.       

17. A warning comes up telling you that the contract line details will be updated. We need these details to be updated to be able to submit requisitions for this award. Select Yes.      

 

18. The summary of the updated contract line details comes up. Select OK.

19. Another warning will appear asking if you want to submit the contract for approval. Select Yes.
20. A confirmation message telling you that the contract lines were updated (as desired). Select OK.       
21. Select Done (top right corner).         
22. Notice, that the project is in the first grey box and the budget amount is in the field called Budget Amount.        

You have now completed the steps to Create a Budget for an IADF