Office of Sponsored Programs Data Dictionary

An internal university tracking mechanism that allows credit to be assigned to individual investigators when there are multiple investigators involved on sponsored program awards. The percent allocations are decided among the lead PI and all co-PIs are and entered into Cayuse as part of the proposal and award routing and on-boarding process. The final agreed upon allocation of credit establishes two things: academic unit distribution of the recovered SRO and the allocation of proposal and award amounts among the participating academic units and research centers in which the PIs hold their academic appointments and is reflected in the reports generated by RADAR. The mechanics and business rules built around this process are a primary tool to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration.

The comprehensive business solution deployed by the Office of the Vice President for Sponsored Research and managed by the Office of Sponsored Programs. The Cayuse System (Cayuse Proposals and SP) handles the entire sponsored programs lifecycle management from proposal creation to sponsored program award close out by providing a centralized system with cloud storage for all sponsored program records with easy access for research administrators as well as for principal investigators.

Clearly identifiable costs related to a specific project or activity. General categories of Direct Costs include but are not limited to salaries and wages, fringe benefits, supplies, contractual services, travel and communication, equipment and computer use. This does not include any Facilities and Administrative Costs.

Consists of sponsored program awards received by Kansas State University from an external sponsor in response to a university or university employee proposal/request for funding or originating from appropriations, formula driven allocations, grants, contracts, cooperative agreements or other agreement formats. These include faculty-initiated competitive grants, and state and federal support for university-wide projects and initiatives, such as federal formula funds (Hatch, HEERF, etc.), along with State of Kansas appropriations for specific projects and initiatives (BTEC, GFS, K-State 105, Water Institute, etc.).

Costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored program award or proposal, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. F&A costs are synonymous with Indirect Costs or Overhead Costs.

Sponsored program awards received by K-State for a faculty member or a team of faculty members from an external source — extramural funding — resulting from the submission of a faculty-initiated competitive proposal.

Proposals submitted by a faculty member or a team of faculty members for the purposes of securing extramural funding for a research, instruction or public service purpose.

Any 12-month period for which annual accounts are kept — at K-State, July 1 through June 30; federal fiscal year is October 1 through September 30. Extramural funding, as reported by the Office of the Vice President for Research, is based on sponsored program awards received and sponsored program proposals submitted during K-State’s fiscal year.

A method of funding grants, agreements and contracts that provides specific spending limits below the total estimated costs. These limits may be exceeded only at the grantee’s/contractor's own risk. Each increment is, in essence, a funding action that obligates funds for a certain sponsored program award budget period.

Costs related to expenses incurred in conducting or supporting research or other externally funded activities — extramural funding — but not directly attributable to a specific project. General categories of Indirect Costs include general administration (accounting, payroll, purchasing, etc.), sponsored project administration, plant operation and maintenance, library expenses, departmental administration expenses, depreciation or use allowance for buildings and equipment, and student administration and services.

See also Facilities and Administrative Costs.

Facilities and Administration Costs are calculated on MTDC, which is Total Direct Costs minus tuition, equipment and subcontract costs in excess of the first $25,000.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) HERD Survey is an annual census of U.S. colleges and universities that expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted-for research and development (R&D) in the fiscal year. The survey collects information on R&D expenditures by field of research and source of funds and gathers information on types of research, expenses and headcounts of R&D personnel. The NSF HERD Survey is the primary source for information on R&D expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities and is universally accepted and used as the primary metric for comparisons with peer and aspirational institutions. The NSF HERD data consists of the total of an institution’s multiple sources of research expenditures expended during the university’s fiscal year, including extramural research expenditures; non-grant research expenses; cost share from non-grant, non-research accounts; and unrecovered IDC.

The actual sponsored program award funds authorized by the sponsor for expenditure during a particular period of time. The Office of Sponsored Programing Accounting adds obligated funds to account(s) in the university’s Financial Information System (FIS) for spending purposes, based on the internal budgets provided by the project team. The annual reporting of sponsored program awards through RADAR includes only the obligated funds received for a sponsored program award during the K-State fiscal year reporting period and does not include sponsor commitments for future incremental funding.

The named individual primarily responsible for the development of the technical/programmatic components of a proposal and the conduct of research or other activity described in the subsequent sponsored program award, also known as lead PI. There can be multiple PIs for a proposal and sponsored program award (sometimes referred to as co-PIs), each receiving an allocation of credit. This normally includes a congruent allocation of the Direct Costs, accordant to their respective intellectual/scholarly contributions and the mutual agreement of the project team.

Research and Discovery Activity Reporting. The data solution developed and utilized by K-State is a Power BI-driven resource to report sponsored programs proposal and award activity. RADAR also provides important proposal development tools, including data for the development of current and pending reports, certification of research protocols, required trainings, international activities, and non-funded agreements, and other facilitated requirements.

A creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge —including knowledge of humankind, culture and society — and to devise new applications of available knowledge. Activities which meet this definition constitute research, whether or not they are supported or funded under a program that is considered research for other purposes. For example, some demonstration and service programs may include research activities (Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 46.102).

Research encompasses:

• Basic research: Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.
• Applied research: Original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective.
• Experimental development: Systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes.

Consist of the total external and internal funds expended for research during a fiscal year and reported to the NSF HERD. These expenditures occur when sponsored program awards are spent, along with any university funds spent in support of research activities like matching funds and investments, research infrastructure maintenance, and human resource contributions required for the performance of sponsored program award research activities. For a unit to receive credit for research expenditures, unit business officers must ensure that research expenditures only occur within accounts that have been properly coded with the correct Program Cost Account (PCA) code. The establishment of properly coded research expenditure accounts also applies to the institutional funds expended for research, such as faculty research tenths, cost sharing/matching, internal seed grants, start-up, services in support of research, etc. Data on university research expenditures is reported through the annual NSF HERD Report. K-State submits expenditure data through the NSF HERD Survey roughly seven months after the completion of each university fiscal year.

Research expenditures, as defined by the NSF HERD include:

• Sponsored research — federal and nonfederal sponsored program awards.
• University research — institutional funds that are separately budgeted for individual R&D projects.
• Startup, bridge or seed funding provided to researchers within the institution.
• Other departmental funds designated for research.
• Recovered and unrecovered indirect costs.
• Equipment purchased from R&D project accounts.
• R&D funds passed through to a subrecipient organization, educational or other.
• Clinical trials, phases I, II, or III.
• Research training grants funding work on sponsored program award projects.
• Tuition remission provided to students working on research.

The governmental agency or other external organization that makes a sponsored program award directly to the university.

Number of sponsored program awards received by the university or university employees in response to a request, announcement, call for proposals, or similar funding opportunity that results in the issuance of a sponsored program award to K-State by an external funding sponsor.

Distinct count of number of researchers who received sponsored program awards — grants, cooperative agreements or other agreement formats — from an external funding sponsor in response to a proposal for funding. A researcher is only counted once, even if they receive multiple awards. Used to track the number of faculty engaged in a funded sponsored program award.

Number of sponsored program proposals submitted by the university or university employees in response to a request, announcement, call for proposals or similar funding opportunity that results in the issuance of a sponsored program award to K-State by an external funding sponsor.

Distinct count of the number of researchers who submitted a proposal to an external funding entity. A researcher is only counted once, even if they submit multiple proposals. Used to track the number of faculty engaged in the submission of proposals.

Refers to the funds accumulated or earned and fully recovered by the university from a project sponsor’s reimbursement of the federally negotiated Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) or Indirect Costs (IDC) and subsequently distributed to university units, in accordance with K-State’s SRO Distribution Schedule.

Distribution schedule for Manhattan campus as of July 1, 2022:

SRO returned to central administration	50.0%
SRO returned to the academic unit(s) generating the award 1,2	41.5%
SRO returned to the Office of the Vice President for Research	5.0%
SRO returned to K-State Libraries	3.5%
	Total: 100% of realized SRO on a project

¹Distribution to the college(s), department(s), and other administrative units of the pertinent investigators will follow the credit distribution entered in the Cayuse SP system for the project.

²The above distributions apply to Manhattan campus units only. Campus-specific SRO arrangements apply for the Salina and Olathe campuses and will be periodically reviewed.

The total of all Direct Costs of a project.

The total allowable Direct and Indirect Costs incurred by the institution to carry out an approved project or activity.