I agree completely with Larry.  The "complexity" variable is particularly important.  All FTEs are not equal.  A person with lots of experience, especially experience in one institution, can probably make things work with little of no extra help at a school with a low level of grant activity.  Of course, people with experience generally like to manage and direct and serve on important committees.   :)

Charlie Hathaway

________________________________________
From: Research Administration List [xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] on behalf of Lawrence Waxler [xxxxxx@USM.MAINE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2014 8:33 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Pre- and Post-Award Staffing Metrics

Kristen,

While I'm sure that you will get some response to your query, what you probably will not get is the institutional context.

As you know there are many different models around which sponsored programs offices are organized:
> some sponsored programs management is highly centralized,
> some sponsored programs management is highly decentralized,
> some sponsored programs offices are soup-to-nuts operations,
> some sponsored programs offices are rubber stamp operations,
> etc.

Without that context, it is hard to compare yourself to others.

What we have done is develop a set of metrics by which we can track our work load and performance, i.e. we compare ourselves to ourselves over time. We have found that workload and performance - as you might expect - are inversely related.

As a simple example, when measures such as completing reporting requirements on time deteriorate, we may need to add staff (again, this is oversimplified).

While we have a couple of dozen measures that make some sense to us, one of the things that is difficult to assess is the impact of every increasing complexity.

Good luck.

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Waxler, Director
Office of Sponsored Programs
University of Southern Maine
1 Chamberlain Avenue
P.O. Box 9300
Portland, ME  04104-9300
Telephone: 207-780-4413
Telefax: 207-780-4927

>>> Kirsten Torguson <xxxxxx@KGI.EDU> 5/21/2014 5:41 PM >>>
Good afternoon friends,

I have been asked by my Faculty Director of Research to poll the group to find out the a) number of pre-award staff in your office and the number of proposals that you submit each year (proposals to federal, state, local, foundation and contract proposals to corporate entities); b) the number of post-award staff in your office and the number of awards managed each year; and c) the number of dedicated compliance staff in your office.  We're trying to build a case for adding new staff to the office (of one!) and would like to come up with some metrics.

If you have existing data that might be useful (e.g., ratio of proposals submitted to pre-award staff, or number of full-time FTEs in your sponsored research office versus the dollar volume of your awards) that would be appreciated as well.

I'm particularly interested in small- to mid-sized institutions' responses.

Please feel free to contact me offline.

Thank you!

Kirsten Torguson
Kirsten Torguson, MRA, CRA | Director | Sponsored Research Services

Keck Graduate Institute | 535 Watson Drive | Claremont, CA 91711-3978
Phone 909.607.9313 | Fax 909.607.9826 | xxxxxx@KGI.edu

[Description: Description: cid:image006.jpg@01CC76DE.CE7B0DD0]

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