Fiscal Panther: Grants Administration

Owned by Sarah Vinski (Unlicensed), created
Last updated: Oct 24, 2024 by Brandi Belleau
11 min read

Description

Fiscal Panther Grant Administration is a tool for reviewing and managing grant funding, spending, and projections for active grants. It pulls together data across PRISM, PBCS, and PERIS to provide account administrators a unified view of their budgets vs. actual spend and encumbrances at the RC, Department, and individual project level.

Key Business Questions

This dashboard allows tracking of 05 grant account balances, spending, and projections from PBCS Grants Forecasting. Balances and spend can be view by department, grant, master account, and Primary Investigator. Individual transaction data can be viewed as well, including Panther Express Purchase Order data, credit card purchases, and Concur travel expenses. Answer questions like:

  • What is the current remaining balance on a PI’s grant? What is the remaining balance after PBCS projections?

  • Does my department have any projects that are over balance, or projected to be over balance?

  • What is the budget and actual spend on a grant by Subcode?

  • What SPAR distributions are on a grant?

  • How many awarded and proposed grants does a department or PI have?

  • What is the actual and projected spend of all Subawards in a project?

  • What are the invoice, check, PO or Concur details of a transaction?

  • What transactions have hit a grant, and which are projected to hit?

  • Which purchase orders have an encumbrance?

Usage Guide

To start using this dashboard, open one of the following three tabs: Department Overview, Investigator Overview, or Master Account Profile. Data on other tabs are populated based on selections made on one of these tabs. Those other tabs will show no data unless you navigate to it using one of the first three mentioned tabs. Navigation actions will be denoted with a icon.

There are several features that appear throughout pages:

Every tab has a filter to allow for PBCS Forecasting Projections to be incorporated.

Info buttons will navigate to pages with additional explanations and field definitions.

Some areas of this dashboard have export buttons, which will allow you to export the data to Excel.

Department Overview

The Department Overview visualization is the high-level view overview of grant spending and overall health of projects by assigned departments.  The top row of the visualization provides summary Budget, Actual, Encumbrance, and Balance information for all Departments selected in the filter. The Federated Authorization data model allows users to view only departments relevant to their work.

Click on a department row to navigate to the Department Profile tab.

The header at the top displays the following totals for all departments selected in the filter:

  • Projects:  total number of projects with an Active status

  • Total Budget:  total current budget period

  • Total Actuals:  total dollars posted to the general ledger*

  • Total Encumbrances:  total calculated encumbrances*

  • Balance Remaining:  total calculates dollars remaining in the current budget period

    • Budget – Actual – Encumbrances = Balance Remaining*

There is a unique line for each department, displaying the following

  • Total Budget:  total current budget period

  • Actual Spend:  total dollars posted to the general ledger*

  • Encumbrances:  total calculated encumbrances

  • Total Balance Remaining: total calculates dollars remaining in the current budget period*

  • Health Indicator icon:  green for funds remaining, red for deficits

Each column heading can be sorted by clicking on the icon to the right of the column name.

*These items will include projection data based on the selection in the ‘Include Grants Forecasting Projections’ drop-down menu.

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Investigator Overview

The Investigator Overview visualization is the high-level view active projects by Principal Investigator.  If the PI has projects across multiple departments, they will be displayed dependent on user security access. This can be used for a quick overview to see the status of PI grant spending. You can select one or more PIs from the filter to limit the data displayed.

Click on an investigator row to navigate to the Investigator Profile tab.

The header at the top displays the following totals for all PIs selected in the filter:

  • Projects:  total number of projects with an Active status

  • Total Budget:  total current budget period

  • Total Actuals:  total dollars posted to the general ledger*

  • Total Encumbrances:  total calculated encumbrances*

  • Balance Remaining:  total calculates dollars remaining in the current budget period

    • Budget – Actual – Encumbrances = Balance Remaining*

There is a unique line for each PI, displaying the following

  • Total Budget:  total current budget period

  • Actual Spend:  total dollars posted to the general ledger*

  • Encumbrances:  total calculated encumbrances

  • Total Balance Remaining: total calculates dollars remaining in the current budget period*

  • Health Indicator icon:  green for funds remaining, red for deficits

Within the investigator line, the Total Budget, Actual Spend, Encumbrances and Total Balance Remaining dollars are reported, along with a health indicator (green for funds remaining, red for deficits).

*These items will include projection data based on the selection in the ‘Include Grants Forecasting Projections’ drop-down menu.

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Master Account Profile

The Master Account Profile visualization is a high-level view of all the master accounts and their associated subaccounts.  Security is based on access to the master account.  Use the Department filter to select the department the owns the master account(s). This page is separated into two sections:

  • The Master/Sub Roll-up displays the account balances and aggregated spending across all projects associated with the master, including the master.  Click on the specific project to display the details of each project associated with the master project in the All Projects section.

  • When a specific master account is selected, the All Projects section will display summary information based on the Include filter selected.  This will include projects assigned to other departments outside your security profile. 

Click on one of the accounts under the All Projects heading to open the Project Profile tab.

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Department Profile

The Department Profile view offers a high-level view of all projects and proposals assigned to the department selected from the Department Overview tab. The page is separated into two distinct sections: Awards and Proposals.  The Awards section is for all active grants/projects that have been funded and created in RPA (PRISM).  The Proposals section contains proposal and award data from PERIS™ MyFunding, converted proposals and awards have been excluded (data converted from the prior system, InfoEd). The proposals section can also be further filtered by Primary Investigator, Proposal Status, and Award Status.

Click on a project in the Awards portion of this tab to navigate to the Project Profile. There is no navigation from the Proposal portion of this tab.

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Investigator Profile

After navigating to this page from the Investigator Overview, you will see data based on the PI selected from the overview page. This page is separated into two sections. The first is the Awards section, which includes all awards with an Active status in RPA (so awards that have passed their end date may continue to display here). In the bottom half of the screen, the Proposals section includes all proposals that were initiated in MyFunding (i.e., converted proposals are excluded). If a Proposal has been awarded, data from the Award will display. Proposals can be further filtered by Proposal Status and Award Status. Summary totals will adjust with the filter options.

Click on a project in the Awarded portion of this tab will navigate to the Project Profile. There is no navigation from the Proposal portion of this tab.

The Awards header displays the following totals for the selected department:

  • Projects:  total number of projects; all projects with an Active status

  • Total Budget:  total current budget period

  • Total Actuals:  total dollars posted to the general ledger*

  • Total Encumbrances:  total calculated encumbrances*

  • Balance Remaining:  total calculates dollars remaining in the current budget period

    • Budget – Actual – Encumbrances = Balance Remaining*

There is a unique line for each project, displaying the following:

  • Project Code: Project number assigned in RPA

  • Project Full Name: Project name as defined in RPA

  • Begin Date:  Begin date of the project as defined in RPA

  • End Date:  End date of the project as defined in RPA

  • Account Type:  Master, Subaward or Independent

Financial Health Visualization:  Encumbrances, Actual, Budget and Balance Remaining dollars for all subcodes.  The totals here are dependent on the Include filter selection.

*These items will include projection data based on the selection in the ‘Include Grants Forecasting Projections’ drop-down menu.

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Project Profile

The Project Profile will show a project overview based on the project selected from the Master Account Profile, the Department Profile, or the Investigator Overview. This view is split into two parts: general information about the project is at the top and the table at the bottom displays the totals by subcode and reference, along with a health indicator to show funds remaining or deficits.

Click on the Click here for SPAR Details button to navigate to the SPAR Details tab.

Click on a Subcode row in the Expenses by Type and Subcode section to open the Transactions tab.

To show graphs of project health click the Click Here for Summary Balances button.

 

 

The Project Overview header displays the following:

  • Project Number

  • Project Title

  • Principal Investigator

  • Award ID (defined by entry in MyFunding or by SPA entry at time of creation)

  • Project Period (total date range of the project)

  • Award Period (current budget period)

  • Funding Agency (funding sponsor)

  • Indirect Cost Method (1, 3, 5, 0) & Indirect Cost Rate (rate as defined in award letter)

  • Account Relationship (Independent, Master, Subaward)

Project financial health visualizations are available by subcode category, click on the colored sections to display the various dollar amounts.

  • Total: (subcodes 5xxx-9xxx)

  • Compensation:  subcodes 5xxx-5999

  • Non-Compensation:  subcodes 6xxx-9xxx (excluding indirect subcodes)

  • Indirect:  subcodes 8350, 8351

  • Calculated Directs Available:  total balance divided by 1 + indirect cost rate

The bottom section, Expenses by Type and Subcode, displays the totals by subcode and reference for Budget, Actualand Encumbrances, along with a funds remaining health indicator (green for funds remaining, red for deficits).

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SPAR Details

After navigating to this page from the Project Profile, you will see the current SPAR period allocations for the selected project (or the forecasted allocations from Grants Forecasting based on the selection in Include Grants Forecasting Projections). There a three defined SPAR periods in PRISM (JAN-APR, MAY-AUG, SEP-DEC). You will have the option to filter by Subcode and Reference code.

The SPAR details include the following:

  • Subcode/Reference

  • Employee Name/Number

  • Start Date:  start date within the period for the percentage amount

  • End Date:  end date within the period for the percentage amount

  • Award End Date: end date defined in RPA

  • Pay Year Type:  pay frequency, i.e., 12/12 – works 12 months, paid 12 months

  • Salary Amount:  from HR salary field, does not include summer salary, stipends or supplemental payments

  • Percent Effort: percent effort is not forecasted; only actual distributions

  • Actual Percent: actual percentage distributed to the project

  • Encumbered Salary:  based on Include filter (PBCS Forecasted amounts)

Each column heading can be sorted by clicking on the icon to the right of the column name.

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Transactions

The Transactions view is currently the high-level detail regarding actual transactions from the project viewed in the Project Profile tab, and the subcode row selected from that view. This tab includes a list of General Ledger transactions from the selected project and subcode. The items in included in the view can be further customized using the drop-down menus in the top row to create views to verify monthly activity across all subcodes to match the current levels, drill into specific subcodes across multiple months to view history or view encumbrances only.

These drop-down options include:

  • Record Type:  All, Completed or Encumbrance (completed are posted GL transactions)

  • Period: GL Period (use All when searching for Encumbrances)

  • Subcode/Reference: only subcodes with data will be displayed

Clicking on Click for more details to view more detailed information on the Transaction Details tab.

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Transaction Details

Based on the Transaction line selected in the Transactions tab, the Transactions Details tab will present details for applicable source application such as Payables, Purchasing, PCard and Concur. 

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What is the source of this information?

The data sources include:

  • PRISM (Pitt’s Real-time Integrated Solution for Management), which comprises:

    • General Ledger

    • Accounts Payable (invoice and payment information)

    • RPA (Research Proposal and Accounting information)

    • PCard (purchasing card transactions)

    • SPAR (Salaried Personnel Activity Report, which includes labor distributions for salaried staff)

    • Purchasing (includes PantherExpress orders)

  • PittWorx: Employee roster and TEAM

  • PBCS (Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Solution) Grants Forecasting data, which captures encumbrance forecasts for compensation and non-compensation expenses for those who use the tool. PBCS is also known as Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)

  • PERIS™ My Funding (Pitt Electronic Research Information System)

  • Concur, which captures travel & business expense reports

The data is refreshed with posted general ledger transaction information everyday around 9:30 am, such that changes made in the system today will not appear until the next business day. Many views contain current actual account balances, projected account balances and remaining amounts based on the budget period of the grant.  There are drill-down capabilities for multiple transaction types from the various sources. 

NOTE: Monthly payroll dollars are costed as part of the month end closing process and thus are not available until the beginning of the next month. 

How do I get access?

You will automatically have access to this dashboard if you have GL Mart Access. You will see all departments that contain an 05 grant account that you have access to.

You can request GL Mart access through the Federated Authorization form. More information can be found here: Federated Authorization Community.

 

Status

PRODUCTION

 

Need help? Contact the Pitt IT Helpdesk