Our form is available at:
http://views.vcu.edu/views/ospa/forms/grnintro.htm

Comments are interspersed.

At 03:57 PM 9/17/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Subject:      Internal Approval Forms for Sponsored Projects
>
>We are in the process of revising our Internal Approval Form.  Several
>questions come to mind as we go through this process once again.
>
>  How often do you make changes/modifications to your form?

Seldom, as needed to incorporate/eliminate information.

>  What people are involved in making the decisions for the changes?

OSPA, with a little informal input from dpeartments/deans.  The primary
purpose of the form is to gather needed information as easily as possible,
and to get certifications upon which the Authorized University Official can
rely when making a binding commitment on behalf of the institution.  Look,
for example, at the "small print" of the certifications by academic line
managers.

>  Whose approval is sought in the final version of the form?

Director, OSP  -- the person who must rely on the certifications.

>  Do you involve faculty/administrators(outside of Sponsored Projects
>   to have input in making the changes in your form?

Only informally, but we assume they want to spend as short a time as
possible dealing with it.  Early on, we made changes based on common errors
faculty made in completing the form.

>  Do you include a budget worksheet with your approval form and if you
>   do, what purpose does it serve?

Summary only, with emphasis on items academic managers want to see: TDC,
F&A, Total, and cost sharing, for year 1 and for total project.

>  Finally, when all is said and done, how much success do you have in
>   having the faculty complete the form and is it done correctly.?

We've been refining this form for over 15 years, and the combination of
improvements and educating users has made completing it accurately a common
occurrence.  The cost sharing figures are a new addition, and are tied to a
system for recording cost sharing that is complex and arcane, but the best
we could overlay on a two decade old accounting system that was inadequate
when first bought -- they baffle everyonene, including the prople who wrote
the policy!

Will
>   you submit a proposal at the last minute if the form is not complete?

Of course -- with the stipulation that we will withdraw it if we do not get
the approvals of the academic managers in a couple of days.  Haven't had to
do that yet, but still willing to.  Sometimes we do stop/delay it if there
is something egregiously wrong that we know the chair or dean would not
like, or that seriously offends our professional sensibilities.

>
>I look forward to your responses.

Keep it as simple as you can -- but there are more and more checks,
clearances, and approvals needed to meet both internal and external rules
for which the information must come from some other source than OSP, so
more and more needs to go onto it.

As we move to ERA, it will be good to look at how such an internal form
(which will be electronic) can be "built" using information already in the
proposal, so it never has to be keyed twice.

Chuck

>
>Eleanor Cicinsky
>Temple University
>
Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Director, Sponsored Programs Administration
Virginia Comonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
Richmond, VA  23298-0568
Express Delivery Only:
        Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-073
        11th & Marshall Streets
        Richmond, VA  23219
Voice:  804-828-6772
Fax     804-828-2521
OFFICE e-mail   xxxxxx@VCU.EDU
Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu
http://views.vcu.edu/views/ospa/