Roberta,

At Northwestern, we do not require a detailed budget, but do require a
"Modular Grant Tabulator."  This is an internal spreadsheet we devised to
help PIs and departmental staff identify the correct number of modules to
ask for as well as identifies exclusions to the MTDC base (which allows us
to verify the checklist).  It is fast, easy to use, and we have had very
positive feedback about it.  NIH has also linked to it from their Modular
Grants page.   We've also created other guidance to help people do modular
grants.  The tabulator and guidance can be found at:

http://nuinfo.northwestern.edu/orsp/mod_items.html

At time of award, for both modular grants and other FDP awards, we open a
series of standard object codes in our financial system so that charges may
be lodged appropriately against those codes, but we only appropriate funds
via a lump sum direct cost amount (except for funds allocated for
subcontracts) into a single object code that we created for this very
purpose.   If a department prefers to have their modular grant (or other
FDP award) appropriated object-by-object, they submit a form to us with
that detail and we'll do it for them.  Otherwise, they are responsible only
for reconciling internally to the bottom line rather than object-by-object.

A few departments prefer to use the detailed budget (pre-award) and
object-by-object appropriation mechanism (post-award) to help them track
and manage their expenses, but most like the flexibility of the modular
grant tabulator and the lump sum appropriation scheme we have
devised.  Getting the payroll set up prospectively at time of award also
helps reduce a lot of the downstream reconcilation issues.   They can then
devote the majority of their staff time to oversight of the more
complicated or difficult projects that require closer scrutiny for budget
adherence.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  -- Pamela

At 12:30 PM 11/20/2001 -0800, Roberta C. Nary wrote:
>We are looking at our current procedure that requires PI's to submit a line
>item budget for internal purposes, when submitting a modular grant
>application. We are contemplating streamlining this process to eliminate
>the line item budget request at the time of application, but rather provide
>it at the time of the award.  At the time of submission they would be
>required to provide the modular amount for year 1 and the out years,
>identify costs that affect the amount of the module, that is if there is an
>increase/decrease in the modular request from one year to the next,  and
>identify costs that affect the F&A calculation.
>
>We be interested to hear from both sides, that is, those who do require an
>internal budget at the time of application and those who do not require an
>internal budget at the time of application.  For those of you who do not
>require an internal budget at the time of application,  I would be
>interested in knowing how it works at your institution.
>
>Thank you
>
>
>
>
>Roberta C. Nary, CRA
>Director
>Office of Sponsored Programs MS 116
>Brandeis University
>781 736/2119
>781 736/2123
>
>
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Pamela A. Webb, Director
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Chicago Campus
Northwestern University
Phone:  (312) 503-7955
Fax:      (312) 503-2234
Email:    xxxxxx@northwestern.edu

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