FAQs

A proposal record in the ROLA (Research On-Line Administration) system must be established for each research project at the time of grant application or contract approval. Electronic approvals from the respective department Chair, Faculty Associate Dean Research, and Western (through Research Development & Services - RD&S), and electronic retention of the related documents, are maintained within ROLA. Please contact RD&S at rolahelp@uwo.ca or at extension 83136 for assistance.

Once awarded and all conditions are met (including Ethics, Animal and Biohazard certifications), RD&S will provide authorization for Research Finance to activate the project in the financial system (PeopleSoft). Then the account holder and his/her department administrator will receive an email notification confirming the project number and speedcode, project dates, budget period(s) and budget amount(s).

Speedcodes and project numbers are assigned at the time a research project is activated in the financial system. The PI is notified of these via a system generated email.

A speedcode represents a larger combination of chartfields comprised of Fund, Department and Project number. Speedcodes are 4 digits in length and allow for easy use in data entry and placing orders with systems contracts, preferred suppliers and campus store operations. Speedcodes are used in conjunction with a 6 digit revenue or expense code, depending on the transaction type.

Project accounts are updated daily and Account Holders have access to view their account activity and balances in the PeopleSoft financial system.

• Log in to PeopleSoft Financials
• Navigate:
• Main Menu > UWO Menu > UWO Inquiries > GL Inquiry
• If this is your first time running Grant Detail by Researcher, set up a new Run Control as follows:
• Click on 'Add a New Value'
• Click on 'Add'
• If this is not your first time running Grant Detail by Researcher, click on ‘Search’.
• Input fiscal year, accounting period (May=1, June=3, July=3, etc), speedcode or project number)
• Drill down on 'view Details' twice to view the Research Summary, which includes Funds Availability.

Department administrators also have this same access for all project accounts in their departments.

This information is on the email notification that you receive when your project is activated. It is also available on your monthly research statements. See Project End Date.

No. This information is on the account activation email that the PI receives at the start of each project. It is also available on the monthly research statements.

Please view the training video "Print & Read a Research Project Monthly Financial Statement" available under the How-to section of the Training & Reference page on our website.

University recruitment practices must be followed when hiring staff and students. Department administrators are responsible for completing the payroll paperwork for any students or research staff paid from research projects. Contact your department administrator for assistance. Please be aware of any sponsor restrictions when hiring research team members (i.e. salary limits, length of award period).

Many sponsors require detailed reporting of how personnel funds are utilized. To facilitate this please use the appropriate salary expense codes when completing the payroll paperwork. The following is a list of valid salary accounts for research projects.

Where allowable by the sponsor, funding can be sent to co-applicants or collaborators at other institutions. Only the account holder can approve such a transaction and must provide the following information: name of co-applicant/collaborator and institution, amount, intended use of the funds and time period for utilizing the funds. Research Finance will facilitate the transfer of any Tri-Agency funds. For any other funding source the RD&S contracts group will draft a sub-grant agreement to be signed off by both Western and the receiving institution.

Overhead is applied as a factor of incurred expenses at the end of each month and is based on the overhead rate for the contract or funding program. For example, a contract with a 40% overhead rate that has incurred $2,500 in expenses in July, will have a $1,000 overhead charge applied to the project on July 31 ($2,500 X .40).

Revenues cannot be transferred between projects or co-mingled with other funds. A separate project must be established for each funding source. Revenue sources are tracked and reported each fiscal year so they must be kept separate.

In order for expenses to be moved from one project to another the expense being moved must be eligible and directly related to the project it is being moved to. The specific expenses must be identified to ensure eligibility and the account holder should make such a request in writing (or email) to his/her their department administrator. This provides supporting documentation for audit and review purposes.

Please see specific agency guidelines for additional information on expense eligibility. Contact your department administrator for the processing of a transfer of the expenses.

Please see the following for internal processing of transfer of expenses:

• Journal Entries Salaries and Benefits on Research projects
• Journal Entries – Transferring expenses (non-salary) between research projects

Research Finance is responsible for the invoicing on research projects, based on the terms of the contracts or funding agreements. In some cases invoicing may be dependent upon research activity, milestones or deliverables so it is important to inform your Financial Officer of the project progress. This will ensure that invoices include the pertinent information as required by the sponsor and that they are generated in a timely manner. If an invoice is needed for reimbursement of expenses, provide your Financial Officer with the project number or speedcode, a description of the services or work completed, the related time period, and identify the specific expenses already incurred that are to be reimbursed.

All invoices are processed through the Accounts Payable department and must be tied to a valid Purchase Order (PO). If you have received an invoice for which no Purchase Order was originally generated, please contact your Department Administrator on how to complete this process through Mustang Market. If a Purchase Order is already generated, ensure the number is on the invoice and forward to Accounts Payable, Suite 6100, Support Services Building.