Changes in process for project status (OK reports)
As part of project budget and actual spend review, our audit firm requires that Project Leaders (PL) approve budgets and actual cost for their external funding (DR4/5).
The process for this is that PLs are offered financial meetings with their Project Administrator at least twice a year, usually as part of ØR1 and ØR3 work. At this point, the projects are reviewed and budgets are adjusted. The PLs must approve the adjusted budgets in order to document that the PLs have followed up on actual costs and considered their (updated) budgets.
Previously, the approval process was done by sending an AURAP report by email, which PLs then had to return with an approval. With the implementation of PowerBI, we have decided to develop a digital tool to support the process better. The tool has been developed and tested in collaboration with PLs from both Nat and Tech. The following process will therefore be launched for the first time in connection with ØR1 2020. The process in PowerBI means that Nat-Tech Finance is able to follow up on PLs who have not approved the finances of their external funding. Each academic department or centre will receive a list of missing approvals after approx. two weeks from the deadline date given to the PLs. To make the new process a success we need your help to remind the PLs who have not yet approved their budgets.
Process ØR1 2020:
- End March: PLs receive an email with a link to a PowerBi report containing their budgets and actual costs linked to their external funding (DR4/5). This will provide them with an overview of their project portfolio, and they can approve the finances. PLs can approve their project status in the period from week 13 to week 17 (the exact dates will be notified later).
- Early April: About half-way through the approval period, Heads of Department and Centre Directors will receive a status report which can be used to approach those PLs who have yet to approve their project status.
- End April: When the approval period is over, Heads of Department and Centre Directors will receive an overall list of the approvals and they will then have to approve the remaining projects.
Note that if PLs do not approve their external funding, the Head of Department and Centre Director will have to make a decision due to their overall role as manager for the academic department/centre. Therefore, we hope you will support the process and that only very few PMs will fail to approve their budgets.
We would like to stress that this is not a new process but merely digitalisation of the existing process. As ØR1 is the first time the process is to be completed using PowerBi, we will make an evaluation afterwards and develop the tool further for ØR3.