Overview
Upon receiving a sponsor award notice or update to an award, a Grants and Contracts Specialist in OSP initiates the account set-up/modification process. New accounts are set up/modified in GMAS (Grants Management Application Suite; the official record for all sponsored accounts at Harvard University). Once the account(s) and award information has been completed, an Action Memo is generated and all account information sent to the General Ledger (GL). An Action Memo is the official communication regarding a sponsored award notice accepted by the University. The award terms and conditions, dates and dollars, and accounts activated for the award are included. The Action Memo is also used to communicate authorized internal requests and administrative changes. Since the release of GMAS-in October 2004-all Action Memos are stored in the system.
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The sponsored Chart of Accounts (COA) Business Rules provides the rules and guidance needed to establish an account string to be used to represent the transactions of a sponsored award in the Harvard General Ledger. This document is recommended reading if you perform or oversee the financial administration of sponsored awards. It is written with the understanding that the reader has a basic knowledge of the University's Chart of Accounts (COA) structure and segment use. This document is divided into 3 parts: Part One, Sponsored Accounts - an Overview; Part Two, Chart of Account Segments; and Part Three, Other Helpful Information. Part One assists the reader in setting up a sponsored account. Part Two covers the COA segments and the specific rules used to determine the structure of an account. Part Three contains other related information that may be useful when establishing a sponsored account.
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If you require access to grant information or reporting in GMAS (Grants Management Application Suite) or CREW (Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse), you must contact the appropriate Authorized Requestor for your school or area to request access.
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Cross Validation Rules (CVRs)
Cross validation rules are used within the Harvard General Ledger to prevent the creation of invalid GL accounts. Each cross validation rule specifies ranges of values that are permissible to use together, and, optionally, ranges that are not permissible to use together. Thus, for example, a very simple rule might specify that only Org values 23200 through 24499 may be used with Tub 275 (SPH).
Rules are defined system wide and apply to all system users. Whenever any component of the Oracle Applications attempts to create a new 33-digit value (a combination of segment values that has not previously been used), Oracle checks all the cross validation rules to ensure that the combination is valid. If the combination fails to pass any rule, the error message associated with that rule is presented. Whatever transaction was in process is not allowed to continue until it has a valid 33-digit combination.
The local Authorized Requestor for each Tub manages CVRs.
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Within Tub/oOrg ranges, CVRs are not in place to prevent invalid fund, activity, and sub-activity associations.
Therefore, although a combination of segment values may be valid according to CVRs, it may not be a valid sponsored fund/activity/sub-activity combination as recorded in GMAS.
See your action memo for valid sponsored combinations.
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Part-of Accounts Under a Different Tub
If two or more Tubs have accounts under an award, cross validation rules must be "relaxed" in order for the part-of account(s) to become valid.
Example:
An award is issued to Harvard University and both Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health will work on a portion of the project. One school "owns" the award, in this case it is HMS. The Main account is created with an HMS Tub and Org as follows:M 520-46530-112332-256437-0001-65007 (Root of HMS PI)
An account is also requested for the School of Public Health portion as a Part-of account:
P 275-23645-112332-256437-0001-54825 (Root of SPH PI)
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The owning Tub (HMS in this case) or OSP must notify the part-of-school (SPH in this case) to "relax" their CVRs.
The Authorized Requestor at the part-of school (SPH in this case) would request through Applications Administration to relax cross validation rules for the fund and activity in order to use the HMS string.
Please contact your Authorized Requestor for more information about CVRs.
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Subagreement Accounts
Subagreements issued by the University can generally be defined as funding to an outside vendor under an agreement (subcontract or sub-grant) received by the University that may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- A distinct amount of funding that may be modified during an award period.
- A defined period of time that may be modified during an award period.
- Terms and conditions that may include but are not limited to:
- scope of work
- line item budget
- reporting requirements
Each subagreement issued by Harvard requires a subagreement account. A subagreement account is a special part-of account identified by the letter "S" on the Account section of the Action Memo.
A subagreement account may not appear on its own without the "Main" award being set up. While the subcontract(s) is under negotiation, funds for the subcontractor held in reserve until the subcontract is fully executed. When the subcontract is fully executed, accounts will be established and an Action Memo issued.
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