Business Operations December Newsletter
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Upcoming Business Partners Meeting
Join us for our upcoming Business Partners meeting on
January 15
from
10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
in Williams Hall Room 2405, or online at
www.go.ncsu.edu/cbo-partners
as we live stream the meeting.
You can view the November meeting recording and slides on our
Business Partners webpage
. Please be sure to share any pertinent information from these meetings with your departments.
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How Can We Contact You?
Please keep your phone numbers and emails updated in the campus directory and encourage other faculty and staff to do so as well so we can contact folks when questions arise. To update the information, please select the “Update My Directory Listing (Faculty/Staff)” on the
NCSU Directory page
.
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Mobile Communication Device (MCD) Allowance Re-Certification for 2020
University Employees receiving 2019 MCD/Cell phone allowances, it's time to re-certify your Mobile Communication Device (MCD) allowance for calendar year 2020. The Mobile Communication Device Procedures and Allowance Request Form are posted on the
Controller's Office
website.
Please complete the following steps to re-certify your MCD allowance for calendar year 2020:
- Complete the Mobile Communication Device Allowance Request Form (Revised 11/2019) and obtain the required employee and approval signatures. This form must be completed to request an allowance for an employee-owned device and to document approval of a university-owned device.
- Copy your most recent cell phone bill. The phone bill must be in the employee's name and/or address and include the amounts billed for voice and/or data.
- Email the Mobile Communication Device Allowance Request Form and Cell Phone Bill to [email protected] by December 16, 2019.
The re-certification process is required. If you do not re-certify by
December 16, 2019
, you will not receive an allowance payment in January 2020.
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Business Purpose Needed on ALL Marketplace Orders
A detailed business purpose must be provided on ALL Marketplace orders to ensure accurate processing and correct account codes are used. The AP Approver team has had to push back a high volume of orders because there is no business purpose.
Effective January 1, 2020
once the approver has contacted the submitter to add a business purpose (when not provided) the approver will hold the requisition for 48 hours. If the requisition has not been updated with the business purpose, the approver will deny the requisition back to the submitter.
A denied requisition CANNOT be edited
, a new requisition will need to be submitted.
An acceptable business purpose will explain how the item is used. For example, “Purchasing X for purpose of Y” or “Purchasing paper towels for rodent lab cages.”
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Safety Shoe Allowance for State Employees
In compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Office of State Human Resources policy related to personal protective equipment, and to ensure that State employees are provided ample opportunity to purchase the proper and necessary safety shoes required by the job for adequate foot protection, the annual reimbursement allowance for the purchase of safety shoes is set at $125 per year. The Office of State Budget and Management and the Office of State Human Resources shall review the safety shoe reimbursement practice each biennium in order to adjust the allowance to reflect inflationary changes. Any exception to this policy must be approved in advance by the Office of State Budget and Management. You may view
6.1.5 Safety Shoe Allowance for State Employees
on the OSBM website.
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PCard Updates and Deadlines
Please take a moment to review the deadlines and reminders below to help ensure PCard policies and procedures are being followed and transactions are processed in a timely manner.
November Billing Cycle (Past Billing Cycle)
The
November
billing cycle (October 19 - November 20) statement deadline is
5 p.m.
on
December 20
. To allow cardholders and supervisors adequate time for approval, reconcilers will approve statements by
December 10
unless additional information is required. If additional information is required in order to approve a statement, cardholders will receive notification by
December 10
from
[email protected]
. Please be on the lookout for these communications.
Additionally, cardholders who did not have their receipts uploaded for this billing cycle into the PCard Center as of
3:30 p.m.
on
November 21
would be required to submit a JV request via ServiceNow if the transaction was not charged to the appropriate project.
December Billing Cycle (Current Billing Cycle)
The reconciliation deadline for the
December
billing cycle (November 21 - December 20) is
December 30
. However, in order to guarantee reconciliation of transactions, receipts should be uploaded by
3:30 p.m.
on
December 20
. Anything uploaded after the December 20 deadline will be reconciled for this billing cycle
only if time allows
and the cardholder will be responsible for submitting any JV requests via ServiceNow if necessary.
As a reminder, to ensure deadlines are met, cardholders should do the following:
- Upload receipts within 1-3 days of the transaction date and avoid uploading all receipts the day before or on the day of the reconciliation deadline.
- Be sure receipts have written on them the project phase to be charged, a detailed business purpose, and the travel authorization number (if applicable).
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Graduate Student Health Insurance (GSHI) Guidance
In September 2019, the Research Support Council (RSC) Executive Committee, The Graduate School, and the Office of Contracts & Grants collaborated to develop guidance on pro-rating Graduate Student Health Insurance (GSHI) on ledger 5 projects. Please
click here
to review the guidance document which includes calculation methods and frequently asked questions.
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3D Memo: Contracts & Grants and Student Fees - New Awards
Please note, as shared last month, proposals submitted in July 2019 and thereafter, followed the 3D Memo on Contracts & Grants and Student Fees, and
did not
budget for student fees within the proposal. The only exception was if the Request For Proposal (RFP) allowed student fees. Therefore, please keep in mind,
we anticipate these awards will start to be received next fall
. Please note the timing of the awards is dependent upon the sponsor, opportunity, and review cycle; therefore, we can only estimate when we will start to receive these awards. Thus, as departments are addressing the recommendation in the 3D memo to increase graduate stipends, please also ensure you are communicating with the graduate students who previously had their fees covered by expiring ledger 5 projects. If you have questions, please reach out to
[email protected]
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New Closeout Form - "Certification Tab" Questions
As part of a ledger 5 closeout, the University requires the completion of a “Certification Tab” within the PeopleSoft Closeout system. To assist in that process, CALS created an external form in 2016, due to the workflow of the system preventing PIs from accessing the system directly. The form included both the questions and a check-box for the answers.
Through dialogue with the CALS Research Committee (CRC), we are replacing the 2016 form with an updated form that mirrors the questions and content located in the “Certification” tab of the University’s system. One significant change is the removal of the Uniform Guidance (UG) Certification, which is only required for federal ledger 5 projects. The Uniform Guidance is completed electronically by the PI, via accessing the “Guidance Certification” tab of the Closeout form. This is typically prompted via a system notification to the PI. Similar to the previous form, the new Closeout form should be completed by the PI and sent to their Post Award Consultant. In lieu of an electronic signature, similar to other CBO forms, the PI can type their name and date. The new Closeout form can be accessed via the
Documents & Forms
page of the CBO website or directly by
clicking here
.
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Updated CALS Internal Budget Template
The CALS Internal Budget template utilized in CALS for proposals has been revised to include more cost categories, cost share, and other items. Additionally, the updated fringe and insurance rates are part of this revised budget template.
Please delete all previous versions of the CALS Internal Budget Template as they include incorrect fringe and health insurance rates.
The new template can be accessed via the
Documents & Forms
page of the CBO website or directly by
clicking here
. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Pre-Award Consultant or
[email protected]
.
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Q & A: Journal Vouchers Related to My Grant
Q:
When I need a journal voucher (J/V) processed for my grant, what should I do?
A:
Please note, J/Vs are processed through ServiceNow where Business Service initiators will create the J/V and Business Service approvers will approve the J/V. If it is related to tuition, then the Post Award Consultant will also provide review of the J/V.
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Staffing Changes Within the Business Services Team
We would like to wish PCard Reconciler, Ebony Stancil well as she takes on a new role within the Biochemistry department. We also wish PCard Reconciler, Tameka Evans well as she has accepted a new opportunity outside of the University. We have posted the position and recruiting for three full time PCard Reconcilers. In the meantime, we have brought on a temporary employee and are pending two more temporary replacements to the PCard team.
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