CALS Business Operations Newsletter
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Get CBO Help at:
919-515-4226 or cbo_help@ncsu.edu
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COVID-19: CBO Updates Webpage
Keep up-to-date on business operations updates and guidance related to COVID-19 on the
CBO Updates – COVID-19
webpage.
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Guidance for State Fiscal Year Close
We are approaching the close of our state fiscal year (
June 30
). At this point of the year and in light of recent
guidance
from the Office of State Budget & Management (OSBM) and the university, we are expected to limit our expenditure of state funds to purchases of goods and services that are mission-critical or COVID-19 related needs. Here is the link to the college’s
CALS State Fiscal Year Close-Out Deadlines
(Unity-wrapped) for financial activities and transactions that impact state and federal capacity funds in ledgers 2-, 3-, and 4-.
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May Business Partners Meeting Canceled
We have canceled the upcoming Business Partners meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, as we have been holding weekly meetings with primary business partners and the CBO leadership team during the COVID-19 restrictions.
You can view recordings of the weekly meetings on the
CBO COVID-19 Updates
webpage. If you have questions regarding these meetings, please contact Molly Bradshaw, Process Efficiency and Training Manager, at
mqbradsh@ncsu.edu
.
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University Travel Update
Travel restrictions are currently in place until further notice. Travel within North Carolina (NC) is the only location with limited restrictions. When traveling within North Carolina, social distancing should be practiced. Also, remember to follow all laws put into place by Governor Roy Cooper for COVID-19. You must submit a Travel Authorization (TA) and/or a Travel Reimbursement (TRs are only needed if for mileage only (using personal vehicle)). If and when a restriction is lifted, an official communication will be sent directly from the university. We have not been informed by the NCSU Controller’s Office of a date we can begin to review to approve TAs outside of NC. Travelers can submit a travel appeal for an exception to the Provost using the following link:
Travel Appeals Form
. The approval form must be uploaded to the TA and TR, otherwise the TA and/or TR will be denied back to the Traveler. Please use the following link to review the restrictions:
Travel Restriction Guidance
. This link also provides questions and answers that can assist you with cancelled, postponed and future travels. The travel guidelines for university employees can be found on the Controller's Office website:
Travel Requirements for University Employees
.
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Shop MarketPlace First- FY2021 Change
As of July 1, 2020 NC State is moving to require use of the NC State eProcurement MarketPlace for supply purchases of
less than $1,000
. The
3D memo
from Mary Peloquin-Dodd is available online. The Shop Marketplace First Initiative first kicked off in July 2017. NCSU Faculty and Staff should use NC State Marketplace to purchase all low dollar supplies. When making purchases for supplies that are available from MarketPlace catalogs*, the MarketPlace system should be the method used to purchase those supplies. Voucher payments for supplies must be greater than $1000. Procurement requires shoppers to pay via PCard for goods and services less than $1000 and cannot be found on Marketplace. Payments via voucher for any invoices less than $1000, must fall into one of the following, 1) does not accept visa/mastercard, or 2) Invoice that is $1000 and below is part of a larger PO, and the voucher is a portion of the payment on the PO.
The amount will change
as of 7/1/2020
, where voucher payments for supplies
$1000 or less
must be purchased through Marketplace or paid via a PCard.
*MarketPlace catalogs provide all vendors available in MarketPlace. You must use the vendors through MarketPlace, Business Services can not pay a voucher to a vendor listed in Marketplace.
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Purchases Over $5,000 - Reminder
Purchases for goods that total $5,000 or more that cannot be found in the MarketPlace may be purchased by submitting a Non-MarketPlace Requisition. The order must go through this process, and should not be ordered directly by the department for any reason. Instead, the department should submit a “Requisition Request” into ServiceNow. Also the department should never split the payment of an invoice over $5,000 through multiple PCard transactions as this is not allowable.
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Options for Uploading Supporting Documentation to ServiceNow or PCard Center
As we are all getting acclimated to working remotely we have to consider alternative options for uploading invoices and documentation to ServiceNow or the PCard center. There are a variety of apps for smart phones for scanning documents. Two examples of applications for scanning are Scanbot and Turboscan for forms. As it relates to receipts, you can take a picture with your phone and upload the image to the PCard center.
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MarketPlace Issues?
If you are having trouble checking out while shopping in the MarketPlace, this could be due to an error when using Google Chrome. Try Firefox or another internet browser and see if this corrects the issue. If not, reach out to the MarketPlace Help Desk at
help@ncsu.edu
or call (919) 515-HELP.
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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.
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April Billing Cycle (Past Billing Cycle)
- The April billing cycle (March 21 - April 20) statement deadline is 5 p.m. on May 20.
- To allow cardholders and supervisors adequate time for approval, reconcilers will approve statements by May 6 unless additional information is required.
- If additional information is required in order to approve a statement, cardholders will received notification by May 6 from cals_cbo_pcard@ncsu.edu. 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 April 21 would be required to submit a JV request via ServiceNow if the transaction was not charged to the appropriate project.
May Billing Cycle (Current Billing Cycle)
- The reconciliation deadline for the May billing cycle (April 21 - May 20) is May 22. However, in order to guarantee reconciliation of transactions, receipts should be uploaded by 3:30 p.m. on May 21.
- Anything uploaded after the April 21 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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Additional Compensation Training Reminder
The additional compensation training course is mandatory for all employees with additional compensation system access designated as the initiator, business office approver and/or research office approver. The May 11 class is fully booked, but there are still seats available for the June 2 course.
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Return to Base (RTB) SDC
This is a reminder to submit a
Return to Base(RTB) SDC
for all employees paid on funding
other than their base funding
. This would be for employees with a "Work Against" distribution panel in distribution set up
or
paid on account code 51118
or
paid on a temporary funding source - i.e., 5 project or 6 project. Please have the RTB SDC submitted into ServiceNow by
May 8
. Submit the SDC by selecting
Type of Employee
as either
Biweekly Return to Base or Monthly Return to Base
. The date on the SDC should be as of
June 30
. If an employee is to be put back on the alternative funding after June 30, you will have to submit a new SDC in ServiceNow with a date beginning July 1, 2020 (or respective date).
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Additional Compensation Submission
As a best practice, it is strongly encouraged to avoid entering additional compensation pay requests into the additional compensation system more than 30 days from the work begin date. Requests should be entered as close to the dates the effort is expended. CALS Budget Office will push back all requests that exceed 30 days. CALS Budget Office will review and process requests that have a work begin date that is within the current pay period.
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Summer Salary Training 2020
The Summer Salary Training course, provided through REPORTER, is required for
faculty members
receiving summer salary and
administrators
who process and/or approve summer salary. Training must be completed before summer salary actions are initiated and before summer salary payments are received. Please note, if training is not completed, summer salary payments will be delayed. Training should be completed by
May 15
. F
aculty and staff should have received an email with their registration link or they can log directly into Reporter (
https://reporter.ncsu.edu
). The course is listed under "Required Training and Professional Development" on their home dashboard after login.
CALS Budget Office will push back requests where the initiators, approvers or payee have not completed training. The department will need to resubmit the request after the faculty/administrators complete training.
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CALS C&G COVID-19 Information
CALS C&G has created the following webpage containing information regarding COVID-19 and research programs:
COVID-19: CALS Contracts & Grants Updates and Guidance
. The webpage contains federal guidance, non-federal guidance, NC State research guidance, as well as a Q&A section. The webpage is continuously updated as new information becomes available.
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NSF Mandatory Templates for Biosketch and Current & Pending Forms Released
Please see below communication from Jean Feldman, NSF Policy Office Head, Division of Institution and Award Support,
Office of Budget, Finance & Award Management.
Dear Colleagues:
We are pleased to announce the availability of both NSF-approved formats for the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support sections of National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals that fall under the revised
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide
(PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) (see the
February 6, 2020 webinar
for complete details on all revisions to the PAPPG).
Although use of an NSF-approved format for submission of these proposal sections is not required until implementation of the revised PAPPG (NSF 20-1) on June 1, 2020, NSF is encouraging proposers to begin using the NSF-approved formats now
. NSF values the feedback from the research community, and we would like to hear about your experience with the new NSF-approved formats. Information about how to provide feedback is included below.
Use of an NSF-approved format aims to reduce administrative burden and improve efficiencies by providing proposers with a compliant and reusable way to maintain this information for subsequent proposal submissions to NSF, while also ensuring that the information is submitted in a standard and searchable composition.
NSF-approved Formats:
- SciENcv: NSF has partnered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae as an NSF-approved format for use in preparation of both the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support sections of an NSF proposal. SciENcv will produce an NSF-compliant PDF version of the documents which proposers can save and submit as part of their proposals via FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov. Additional information about the NSF-approved SciENcv formats is available on the NSF biographical sketch and current and pending support websites.
- The SciENcv tool integrates with ORCID, enabling proposers to populate their Biographical Sketches by importing data directly from their ORCID records rather than having to manually enter all the required information. Additionally, Biographical Sketch data maintained in SciENcv can be quickly and easily updated on an ongoing basis for subsequent proposal submissions.
- NSF Fillable PDF: NSF is also providing a fillable PDF as an NSF-approved format for use to prepare both the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support sections of an NSF proposal. Proposers can download the respective fillable PDF form from the NSF biographical sketch and current and pending support websites and then submit the completed forms as part of their proposals via FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov. Note that the NSF fillable PDF for the Biographical Sketch does not integrate with ORCID.
It is important to note that beginning June 1, 2020, proposers will be required to use one of the NSF-approved formats for both the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support sections of NSF proposals. Proposals submitted via FastLane, Research.gov and Grants.gov will be compliance checked to ensure that the documents were prepared in accordance with this new policy.
We Want Your Feedback
Although not required for proposal submission until June 1, 2020, we hope that you will start using the NSF-approved formats for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support as soon as possible. If you have any feedback that would help us make improvements to the two formats in the future, please let us know. Feedback may be submitted by email to
policy@nsf.gov
or via the
Research.gov Feedback
page (select “Biographical Sketch” or "Current & Pending Support" under the Site Area dropdown menu).
Upcoming Webinars
To assist the community about these new requirements and to start using SciENcv now, NSF and NIH are planning to conduct a joint webinar that will include a walk-through of how to prepare the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documents in SciENcv. Information will be provided as soon as it is available, and we encourage you to
sign up for notifications
.
We also invite you to participate in the next
NSF Electronic Research Administration (ERA) Forum
on May 14, 2020 at 1:00PM – 2:30PM EDT where we will discuss the NSF-approved format requirements, as well as the new capability to prepare and submit separately submitted collaborative proposals in Research.gov.
To sign up for ERA Forum notifications including registration availability for the May 14 event, please send a blank email to
NSF-ERA-FORUM-subscribe-request@listserv.nsf.gov
and you will be automatically enrolled.
Training Resources
The following training resources are now available, and NSF will continue to keep the community informed as additional resources are released.
Biographical Sketch Resources
Current and Pending Support Resources
Questions? Policy-related questions should be directed to
policy@nsf.gov
. If you have technical or IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday except federal holidays) or via
fastlane@nsf.gov
.
Regards,
Jean
Jean Feldman
Head, Policy Office
Division of Institution and Award Support
Office of Budget, Finance & Award Management
National Science Foundation
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ORCID ID and SciENcv Biosketch Information and Steps
If you plan to submit or participate on an NSF submission, please follow the below steps to first create an ORCID ID, then a SciENcv biosketch. If there are any questions regarding the process, please contact the NCSU librarians for assistance at
group-lib-citations@ncsu.edu
.
Please f
ollow the instructions below to complete this task as soon as possible:
- Create or link your ORCID record to your Unity ID by clicking "Get Started" at this link: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/
- Add your publications to ORCID by following these directions: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/user/search-and-link
- If you need help importing publications into your ORCID record, send your CV to the Libraries through this link: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/user/cv-service
- Log into SciENcv: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/ and select "Click here to start"
- Select "See more 3rd party sign in options" and choose "North Carolina State University"
- Log into SciENcv using your Unity ID
- In the upper right corner, go to Settings by clicking on your username
- In Settings, scroll down to "Linked Accounts" and click the "Change" button
- Search for "ORCID" in the "Search for account name" box and select "ORCID" from the results (you should now see your ORCID record in the "Your Linked Accounts" section above)
- Click on "MyNCBI" in the upper right corner to go back to the main dashboard
- Proceed to the "SciENcv" section to start creating biosketches
Additional Information Regarding the SciENcv requirements:
If there are any questions regarding the SciENcv biosketch process, please contact the NCSU librarians for assistance.
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