Roles, Responsibilities and Accountability
 
Organizational Structure of Property Management
The Property Management Office (PMO) within the Office of Research Administration (ORA) develops and implements policies, procedures, and a system that enables effective property management for the University. PMO works closely with the Controller’s Office (CO) in the development and implementation of policies for capital equipment. Close communications are maintained with the Office of the Dean of Research in the development and implementation of policies for managing sponsor-owned equipment.
Property management issues are coordinated between the PMO and the local-area DPAs. The functional responsibilities of the DPA role may be distributed among several individuals within a department. The distribution of duties may vary depending on the size and complexity of the property management needs of the department or sponsored project. When distributing the responsibilities, the department must ensure that adequate checks and balances exist to ensure adequate process and data integrity are maintained. The DPAs carry out the day-to-day responsibilities within their respective departments and provide guidance to department personnel concerning property matters such as acquisition, coordination of transfers, equipment at subrecipient locations, maintenance, physical inventory, and disposal. The PMO will provide guidance and direction to departments where distribution of the DPA responsibilities is needed.
The Board of Trustees has delegated to deans, department chairs, directors, principal investigators and other University officers the responsibility for management of their funds (see Guide Memo 36, Authorizing Expenditures). On June 9th, 1997, the Provost and Chief Financial Officer issued a memorandum supporting effective property management from every member of the Stanford community, starting with the officers. These officers are responsible for ensuring that policies and practices applicable to the work of the University, including instruction, research and public service are carried out, and those standards, policies and regulations are consistent with sponsor and donor expenditure restrictions. The following organization chart shows how the roles and responsibilities flow down.
PMO provides guidance and training to departments on all property related issues, from pre-purchase considerations through retirement of assets. Departments involved in sponsored research should contact PMO for assistance with equipment issues at the time of proposal development, project performance, and at the conclusion of projects or the retirement of equipment. Property management information is disseminated at training, PACE meetings, and via email – all DPAs are added automatically to the dpa-distribution@lists.Stanford.edu distribution list; others involved in the property process may add themselves via @lists at Stanford.
Custodians and Asset Users
Custodians are Stanford employees responsible for a designated group of assets. Asset Users are the persons who use the equipment on a regular basis, and can help readily locate or provide information about it. A custodian may also be the asset user. Non-Stanford personnel may be authorized to use Stanford or sponsor owned property; if so, the Stanford University person they report to should be listed in the property record. There are various rules of thumb to follow when recording a custodian. Following are some common scenarios; work with your department management to determine what is best for your area.
- The actual asset user (Stanford University employee) is listed as the custodian
- The business manager is listed as the custodian and the individual employees or positions (i.e.: receptionist) are listed as asset users
- In lab situations, the Principle Investigator (PI) is listed as the custodian and research assistants or graduate students are listed as asset users
- For departmentally used items such as copiers, the key operator or business manager is listed as the custodian
Details on the specific roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of each person/group on campus are available on the web.
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MAJOR TOPICS 
