Research Finance Administration FAQs

• Congratulations!  Email your notice of award, proposal, budget and ethics certification to jdowhani@ucalgary.ca for project account set-up
   
• If your project is funded by CIHR, email your notice of award to rsogrants@ucalgary.ca . RSO will set-up the project account on your behalf.

The following delegation can be processed, all or just one: Human resources, Financial, eFIN viewing: 

1. From the MyUCalgary portal, select My Work, under Access and delegation select, Finance/project delegation
2. Create New Project Delegation
3. Add project number you wish to delegate access, leave the end date blank (the project end date will be used to end access)
4. Select the appropriate tab for delegation and enter the staff UCID, save for each tab.
5. eFIN, access to all expenses or just non-salary expenses can be delegated
6. Review and Submit tab, select Submit.

• All researchers and their research teams should be familiar with the UCalgary Travel and Expense Handbook, to ensure project expenses are compliant and justified using project funding.  This will also ensure payments are processed efficiently and without delay.
   
• UCalgary invoice requirements: Billed to “University of Calgary” which is the legal entity to collect and administer research funding, invoice date, invoice number, payee information, description and the date(s) services were rendered.
   
• The DFM Administrator is assigned to project teams to process invoices and reimbursements.   Email them the invoice or Expense Claim Form with supporting documentation with the project clearly identified for processing.

1. New Supplier Request Form and process.
   • This form can be completed before the invoice is available for payment.  This will reduce the invoice processing time so the supplier receives payment within 30 days. The new supplier or project team member can complete this form and forward to the Administrator, with the EFT form, to submit for ID set-up.
   • If this form is not submitted before the invoice is received, the Administrator will complete this form when the invoice is received.
   • Project team members should advise individuals/business of this process.
2. EFT Form – the project team is to send the form to the supplier to complete based on the payee information on their invoice (if a business the EFT must match) and email the completed form and EFT information directly to uofcsuppliers@ucalgary.ca. UCalgary staff are NOT to receive or forward confidential banking information. https://www.ucalgary.ca/finance/sites/default/files/teams/5/SCM-eft-form.pdf
    
3. For non-employee supplier ID set-up, a SIN will be required if payment is more than $500 in a calendar year. UofCsuppliers@ucalgary.ca will email the supplier directly for their SIN. UCalgary staff are NOT to receive or forward confidential SIN’s.

Procedure: from the MyUCalgary portal, select “My Work”, under Access & delegation select “Expense entry delegation”. In Authorized User ID field enter the UCID of the delegate or search by name, select “Save”.

Note: these timelines assume the appropriate supporting documentation and UCalgary compliance guidelines are met prior to processing.

• Invoices – payments are Net 30, 30 days from invoice date.
• Employee reimbursements – 5 business days
• Non-employee reimbursements – 5-10 business days.  Allow an additional 5 days if a new supplier ID is required.

• UCalgary has Dell product available on their IT website and will direct bill your project account. https://ucalgary.service-now.com/it 
   
• Apple product are available from the Education Apple store. Please contact the Manager, Business Operations to purchase.

Create your poster using the size specifications provided by the conference.

The DFM has 2 poster templates you can make use of:

Landscape - 36x40"
Portrait - 36x40"

If you need assistance with formatting, contact DFM's Communications Coordinator. If the Communications Coordinator is assisting with your poster, please confirm if you have project funds to support the printing expense. If not, the DFM has limited funding available.

Printing can take up to 5 business days for delivery. Please allow sufficient time for assistance with formatting and printing.

Contact the Manager, Business Operations to initiate transfers between projects. 

UCalgary uses eFIN for project financial viewing and reporting.  eFin can be accessed via the MyUCalgary>My Work>Direct Access – eFIN.  Project numbers in BLUE are hyper linked to the financials.  Contact the Business Manager for training and questions.

Project reporting deadlines are uploaded to project accounts in eFIN so that Research Accounting can automatically generate these reports. PI’s should expect signature request for these reports 2-5 business days prior to the reporting deadline.

April 1 to March 31 annually is the financial reporting year, a.k.a. Fiscal Year.

The Administrator can assist by forwarding the PI the Job Profile Template and examples of similar profiles to create a new profile for HR classification. They can also assist with the job opening request (posting) recruitment process.

Contact the Administrator for the UCalgary job profile template and examples of similar profiles. After the profile is created the Administrator will send it to HR for formal classification. After classification the profile is to be posted for:

• 14 days
• A minimum of 7 days if a strong internal candidate identified.

1. Create a job profile,
2. HR profile classification,
3. Job Opening Request (JOR) profile posting (7 days if strong internal candidate or 14 days),
4. PI reviews applicants and select 3-5 that meet minimum requirements and experience for the role, internal applicants must be interviewed if on redeployment AND meet the minimum requirements of the role,
5. Schedule interviews, interview, reference check for chosen applicant,
6. Verbal phone offer to confirm salary and start date, complete the Request for Offer Form with the verbally accepted salary/hourly rate and start date to generate an official offer letter, PI to sign the offer letter and email the offer to the successful applicant.
7. The applicant must accept the offer within 3 days, the accepted signed offer letter is emailed to HR to activate the hire,
8. Project and department relevant onboarding to commence on employee start date.

• HR has interview questions available on their website: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/career-services/interviews
• The Administrator can also provide examples of previous used interview questions for similar positions.

At least two people, one of which is the project PI or out of scope employee (non-union), should be on the interview panel. AUPE staff can be on the interview panel as long as the other interviewer is out of scope (PI or Manager).

Salary hires with FTE 0.4 to 1.0 are eligible for benefits, if their contract is more than 6 months. FTE less than 1.0 will receive a prorated benefits package based on their FTE.

Refer to https://www.ucalgary.ca/hr/benefits-pension/group-benefits/support-staff/benefits-glance

No, they are not eligible for benefits.

Research staff fall under AUPE support staff.  FTE 1.0 = 35 hours per week.

• Shifts are a minimum of 3 hours, maximum of 7 hours per day worked. 
• Total maximum of 35 hours per week before overtime rates apply (hours x 1.5)

• This hire is paid hourly for time worked, minimum 3 hours increments, maximum 7 hours per day to 35 hours per week.  Hire limited to a maximum 30 shifts in a calendar year.
• Hours over this shift limit are charged a premium of 25% higher rate per hour reported.

• If a UCalgary student, a hire can be processed for student hourly hire or a monthly stipend payment.
• Students from outside UCalgary are only eligible for a monthly studentship stipend or a casual hourly hire (non-student hire).
• Forward the student name, address, phone, email, start and end dates, and monthly or hourly rate to the Business Manager to process.

Technically no minimum exists as studentships are an education experience. The DFM tries to align with the tri-council studentship minimum of $1500 per month.

Contact the Manager, Business Operations with the student name, UCID, graduate program, Start and end dates, monthly stipend rate, and project account to process this payment.

Graduate stipends are paid monthly on the 25^th or the business day before this date if it falls on a weekend.

Contact the Administrator with the project account and new end date to submit the extension. Staff extensions are tracked internally. Reminders will be sent to the PI to extend staff the month before expiry.

The Administrator will provide all hew DFM hires an onboarding specific to their hire type. This onboarding includes: IT email registration, EFT set-up, HSC parking forms, links to the DFM website, general office information if staff will be working at HSC, procedure for office access

Resignations should emailed to their supervisor (PI).  The Supervisor can then forward the resignation to the Administrator to process the termination in Peoplesoft and notify HR.

The Supervisor should encourage the resigning staff member to consume any vacation balances before their resignation date, if applicable.  All equipment should be returned to the supervisor on their resignation date.  All DFM access will automatically expire at 4:30pm on their resignation date.

If an employee’s contact is not being extended, due to project end, at least two weeks emailed notice of non-renewal is required.  HR will also email the supervisor to advise the required notification, if more than two weeks notice is required.

Employee vacation balances will be paid out from your account, if the employee is not transferring to an internal UCalgary position.  Ensure your project can accommodate this expense.

HR requires performance issues to be formally documented (i.e. in writing). This documentation should include the date of the issue, describe the situation and any direction for correction is requested from the supervisor.

If behavior is not being resolved, the DFM HR advisor should be contacted for next steps: Kaleigh Mogenson, Kaleigh.morgenson@ucalgary.ca .