Grant Management
On this page:
- Administrative Responsibilities
- Check Grant Balance
- No Cost Extension Request
- Reporting Responsibilities
- Budget Revisions Requests
- Documenting Cost Share
- Invention Disclosures
- Invention Reporting
Administrative Responsibilities
When the grant is awarded and has been entered into Banner, an award notification letter from the Interim Vice President for Research will be sent. This letter defines the PI’s responsibilities of the sponsored project.
The PI’s responsibilities are defined as follows:
Please note that as the Principal Investigator of a sponsored project, you are responsible for:
- Reviewing the notice of award including all terms and conditions. Please contact RSP about any discrepancies or questions on reporting requirements and other deliverables if information is not clear.
- Executing the technical aspects of the project, including all technical report requirements.
- Adhering to all requirements for human subjects, lab animals, biohazards, safety and security.
- Reviewing the Wright State University Research Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure Policy (University Policy 6110) and the Wright State University Administrative Procedures for Allegations of Research Misconduct (University Policy 6120).
- Initiating forms for expenses that are necessary for the conduct of the sponsored project.
- Requesting and/or renewing procards prior to project anniversary date.
- Reviewing Banner, at least monthly, to determine that all charges and credits are appropriate and are consistent with the terms of the contract or grant represented by the account.
- Contacting RSP to begin initiation of any required subcontracts
- Contacting RSP to initiate invoicing (applicable to projects that require submission of invoices upon completion of tasks).
- Notifying RSP of the absence for more than three months, or a 25% reduction in time devoted to the project, of the approved project director or principal investigator.
- Documenting amount of effort expended on external awards Effort Reports, certified each semester.
Also please note that all equipment/supplies purchased with these funds are the property of WSU (unless otherwise specified in the sponsored agreement).
For a more complete designation of PI’s responsibilities, view Wright State University Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) Responsibilities (PDF).
Check Grant Balance
The grant balance can be accessed in WINGS Express.
Once you have accessed Wings Express at the above link, select the finance tab. If the finance tab is not showing, obtain assistance from the administrative personnel in your department office or from the Business Manager of your college/unit.Additionally, RSP can assist you with reading your grant activity.
In order to see the grant budget, expenditure history, and available balance click on the Finance Tab once again and select Query Budget, create query (budget status by account). Select only Accounted Budget, Year to Date, Encumbrances, and Available Balance, and click continue. Enter parameters as follows:
Fiscal year: current FY
Fiscal period: 14
Comparison fiscal year: None
Comparison Fiscal Period: None
Commitment Type: All
Chart of Accounts: W
Fund: blank
Org: blank
Grant: 6xxxxx
Click submit, and the screen that will be displayed is the current financial status of your grant. A more complete guide to viewing your grant in Wings Express can be found in the Grants Administration Workshop (PDF). For additional information view the Wings Express Finance module support page.
No-Cost Extension Request
Requests for a no-cost extension (NCE) should be submitted to the sponsor by Post Award. Please contact the grants accountant for your project if you would like a no-cost extension for your grant. You will need to provide the new end date that you would like to request and the justification for the extension (e.g. additional time needed to complete the project due to the grant being awarded late). In most cases, additional time to expend all of the funds is not an acceptable justification. The grants accountant will contact the sponsor and request the extension. You will be notified once the approval has been received from the sponsor. In the case of grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Health and Human Services, National Science and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a one-year NCE is automatic; subsequent requests for NCE need justification.
Reporting Responsibilities
PIs are responsible for submitting the technical reports to the sponsor. The frequency of the reporting requirements is documented in the award agreement and reiterated on the Project Administrative Summary (budget sheet). System generated emails are sent out 30 days before the report is due, on the due date, and when the report becomes 30 days past due. When the report is submitted to the sponsor, Post Award is to be copied on the email that submits the report so that proof of submission can be documented and allow the grants accountant to satisfy the reporting requirement in Banner. (If the report is submitted by US Mail, a copy of the cover letter that accompanied the report is to be sent to RSP.)
NOTE: Failure to submit technical reports in a timely manner can delay payment of an invoice, delay closeout of the grant, cause an audit finding, or could result in loss of future funding.
All fiscal reports are to be submitted by Post Award and are based on the information that is documented in Banner, the system of record. If a technical report has a fiscal component to it, the PI is to forward that part of the report to the grants accountant for the project. The grants accountant will prepare the information, which will be certified by the Director of Post Award, and forwarded back to the PI to be submitted as part of the technical report.
NOTE: This is necessary because other institutions have received an audit finding for failure to review and certify financial information that was submitted on technical reports, whether the information was accurate or not.
Budget Revisions Requests
Requests for a revision to the budget should be submitted to the sponsor by Post Award. Please contact the grants accountant for the project for this request. Please provide the amount of budget that you would like to revise, from which account line, to which account line, and the justification for the revision (e.g. additional effort to be performed by the GRA in lieu of supply or travel expense). The grants accountant will review the grant file and determine if sponsor approval is required; if required, the grants accountant will contact the sponsor to request the revision. Once approval is obtained, or if sponsor approval is not required, a budget revision entry will be generated by the grants accountant. You will be notified of the approval at that time.
Documenting Cost Share
The budget is broken down into two parts:
- The first part is the budget as awarded by the sponsor.
- The second part is the cost share budget. Cost share or match is the portion of the budget that is covered by another source other than the sponsor such as:
- The University general fund (FOAP 19000x-2xxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx).
- The Foundation (FOAP 5xxxxx-2xxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx).
- Another grant that is allowed to be matched (i.e. federal funds matching state funds.
- Another source that is external to Wright State
If the cost share is mandatory (i.e. specified in the award agreement), WSU must report to the sponsor how much of the cost share has been incurred. This information is captured by adding the grant number in the “Activity Code” field of the FOAPA if the cost share is being expensed to a University Fund or a Foundation Fund.
NOTE: The sponsor may withhold payment of an invoice if the University is not sharing the cost of the project in proportion to the cost that the sponsor is being invoiced.
Invention Disclosures
There is a difference in “invention disclosure” and “invention reporting.” An invention disclosure, or invention disclosure report, is a confidential document written by a scientist or engineer for use by a company's patent department, or by an external patent attorney, to determine whether patent protection should be sought for the described invention. It may follow a standardized form established within a company
An invention disclosure within a company may go through the following stages:
- Submission of the invention disclosure details by the inventor.
- Review of the disclosure by business and technical reviewers. The reviewers grade the idea as 'pursue' or 'do not pursue' based on its perceived novelty or business importance. They might also decide to publish it as a defensive publication if the idea is novel but not aligned with the business interests.
- If the disclosure is accepted to be pursued further, a patent attorney is assigned for preparing a patent application.
For more information, please contact the Office of Technology Transfer.
Invention Reporting
At the end of the research project WSU may be required to submit the sponsor’s form to report to the sponsor if there are inventions or patents that are a result of the research. All inventions must be reported, regardless of whether they are patentable. In addition to tangible products, other examples of inventions include new software, new reagents, new uses for existing reagents, new cell lines, and new animal models. If, as PI, you believe you may have created something commercializable, such as an invention for patenting purposes, useful software, or research materials that you envision sharing with others (either for free or for a fee), please contact the Office of Technology Transfer.
