Quarterly and Annual Project Reviews

Perform the necessary maintenance.  Keep that project running smoothly and it will take you where you need to go!

Departmental Research Administrator Action Items:

Quarterly

(Minor service:  change the oil, rotate the tires, check the fluids and battery)

• Building on what you have been doing through your monthly reviews - Confirm what you set up actually occurred over the quarter you are reviewing.
  • Make adjustments as needed.
• Review PI and Key Personnel effort.
• Alert your PI of any project deviations from that which was awarded that require sponsor prior notification or approval.  Timely prepare sponsor prior notification or approval requests, as needed.
• Look at expenditure burn rate and trends.  
  • For example, if the annual supply budget on a project is $60K, one would generally expect to see the project spend on average $5K/month in supplies.  Thus, if in reviewing a quarter, you observe an average monthly supply expenditure rate significantly above or below $5K/month you should discuss with your investigator to identify if this is a short term fluctuation that should even out over the budget period, or if this is cause for adjusting supply spending going forward that may include rebudgeting from other categories, as allowed by the award.  In short, ask early, ask often, and take appropriate action if project spending deviates from the sponsor approved budget.
• Make any who and what adjustments.
• If interim reports are required, check to be sure they are on track to be submitted.
• Review cost sharing, as applicable.
• Review subawards, as applicable.
• Communicate status of account to the PI(s).
• Review and certify expenditures in eCertification system.

Quarterly Review Checklist

Annually

(Major service:  tune the engine, replace the belts and hoses, change the air filter and spark plugs)

• Review PI and Key Personnel effort.
• Long range trend analysis - How do projections for the next year look based on how we spent in the previous year?
• Verify all reports and deliverables have been completed or submitted to the sponsor, as required.
  • In in SeRA refer to the NOA and associated T&Cs for award reporting requirements. Most awards require interim/annual technical and financial reports.  
    • Additionally, administrators with SeRA department level authority can from their SeRA My Dashboard landing page click on My Investigators and view by either single or multiple investigators the same information the selected investigator(s) see(s) on their My Projects page(s) including viewing and managing report deadlines for sponsored projects where the selected investigator(s) is/are the Principal Investigator(s) (PI(s)).  
      • Note: Nearly all federal research agencies require updated Current and Pending (Other) Support disclosures as part of interim/annual reporting.
      • Technical progress report – prepared by the PI
      • Financial progress report - prepared* and submitted by OSR Post Award
        • ** For awards that require non-standard financial reporting, OSR Post Award may need to partner with the department administrator to prepare financial reports. If you have any questions about this, reach out to your OSR Post Award Research Accountant.
      • Other reports may be required by specific awards - Refer to your award NOA in SeRA
• Alert your PI of any project deviations from that which was awarded that require sponsor prior notification or approval.  Timely prepare sponsor prior notification or approval requests, including carry forward requests.
• Review cost sharing (expenditures and funding), as applicable.
• Review subawards, as applicable.
• Submit subaward change orders, as applicable.

Annual Review Checklist