Tips

Upcoming Topic-Specific Training Sessions The PERIS™ team will be offering the below topic-specific training sessions. Registration is required to participate in these Zoom sessions. Progress Reports and Continuations / July 24, 2020 / 9:30-11:00 AM Registration Link Proposals In Detail / July 31, 2020 / 9:30-11:00 AM Registration Link

As a reminder from the tip that was released on January 19, 2018, Departments are required to update the status of their proposals in MyFunding when proposals are submitted by the Department directly to the sponsor.

The new Sponsored Projects Facilities and Administrative (F&A) indirect cost rates for fiscal years 2020 -2023 are now reflected in MyFunding and should be used immediately in proposal applications. MyFunding displays a blended (average) indirect cost (IDC) rate when the budget period crosses fiscal years (FY) that have different indirect cost rates. In the example below, Period 3 crosses fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The IDC rates for FY22 and FY23 are 56.5% and 59%, respectively.

Funding proposals that have more than one Principal Investigator (PI) require a PI Certification from each PI. A ‘PI Certification Request’ is sent to all individuals with the role of PI/PD when the below steps are completed. PI Certification is the only component of a funding proposal that must be completed by a Principal Investigator (PI).

MyFunding is the University’s legal file of record for sponsored projects. As a result, deleting files from proposal and award records in MyFunding is typically not allowed. However, there are times when there is a valid reason to delete attachments in MyFunding. Examples include, the uploading of a document to the wrong record or uploading of duplicate documents to a record.

Many federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have multiple centers, institutes, and divisions that fall under their umbrella. For example, the National Institute of Mental Health is an institute of NIH. When an award is created in MyFunding, the Direct Sponsor defaults to the sponsor that was selected when the funding proposal was created. However, for activation and reporting purposes, it is important to update the Direct Sponsor to reflect the center, institute, or division as listed in the Notice of Award (NOA).

Indirect costs (also known as IDC, F&A costs, or overhead costs) are those costs associated with the conduct of sponsored projects that are incurred for common or joint objectives and therefore are not readily identifiable with a specific project. The University has a federally negotiated rate agreement that outlines the approved IDC rate for use in sponsored research, instruction and training, and other sponsored activities.

Changing the Specialist on a MyFunding award record has many ramifications that may negatively impact an award record or notification if done incorrectly. Therefore to request the change please contact the current Specialist listed on the award record or the PERIS™ team at peristeam@pitt.edu.

When a sponsored project is finished (the Principal Investigator has completed the project), the award record must be updated in MyFunding to ‘Complete’ (Close) the record.

When the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) creates a new award in MyFunding, the department number indicated in the funding proposal is automatically mapped to the newly established award. The department can be updated while an award is in a ‘Draft’ state by following the below steps.