Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Introduction to Management Series

Jun 4th, 09 / 0 Comments

Stephen Covey identifies eight traits found in effective leaders in his book Principle-Centered Leadership. Covey declares that the number one characteristic of a great leader is that they are continually learning. In this day and age, it can be a challenge to align ourselves with the right teachers who can provide us with the instruction and resources needed to maturate our leadership abilities.

Our hope is to foster your growth as an administrator and provide you with management tools from Asa Beavers, Solutions Provider and Coach. Asa has written our next series of blogs in which he offers teaching regarding successful leadership, management, and team building. The next series of articles includes:

1. A Formula for Success
2. Aligning Your Team with Vision
3. Best Leaders as Followers
4. Working like a Team

Many times as grant, research, or college administrators, we are placed in positions that require education not learned in our college textbooks. We at IT Works wish to inspire you and cultivate your abilities. Perhaps we can offer insight to an area in which you need to grow.

Posted by Jim Wrenn, June 4, 2009, blogger@itworks-inc.com

Management

A Formula for Success

Jun 11th, 09 / 0 Comments

Why does success appear to come so easy to some people and is so elusive for others? I believe that we all inherently strive to be successful in some area of our lives whether it is in our work, our relationships, our financials, our sports, our hobbies, or whatever. Yet for some it comes so naturally while others struggle their entire life seeking success. Is it the college or university we attend? Is it who you know? Is it that successful people are just luckier? Or is there a formula that anyone can follow that will lead to more success?

As grant management administrators, we will be challenged to lead within our organizations. Achieving success requires taking a look at what other successful people do.

People who strive for success, but have difficulty finding it are often focused on what they have or don’t have. They are in a hurry to get the fruits of their labor and if it doesn’t come quick enough they become frustrated and sometimes give up.

In our Formula for Success HAVE is about RESULTS. Results are earned only after doing something, and doing it right, sometimes over and over, until the desired result is achieved. So in order to have what we desire we have to do something in order to earn it.

In our Formula for Success DO is about ACTION. Not just any actions, but doing the right things right. Sometimes it takes a while to learn what the right things are, so we need to adjust our actions in order to achieve our desired results. But doing nothing, or being unwilling to change the things we are doing, will certainly limit our ability to find success. The most important thing that differentiates a successful person from one still seeking success is what lies between their ears. That’s right, it’s how they think.

In our Formula for Success BE is about THOUGHTS. In order to be a person of success you must learn to think like a person of success. You must develop the identity, beliefs and values of a successful person. We’ve all heard of the lottery winner who, within three years, lost the several million he won. He didn’t become the “millionaire.”

In order to have a strong organization, you must learn to think like great administrators think, do the things that great administrators do, and develop your identity, beliefs and values to mirror those of other great leaders. Then you will BE a great administrator yourself, DO the right things right, and HAVE the rewards that are due you. And by the way, the Formula for Success is a multiplication problem which means if BE or DO equals ZERO, then HAVE will equal zero as well. Being without doing, or doing without being will limit your ability to find success.
Posted by Asa Beavers, June 11, 2009, blogger@itworks-inc.com

Management

Aligning Your Team With Vision

Jun 18th, 09 / 0 Comments

When I work with administrators, I often hear that the main challenge stifling their organization is finding the right people and then managing them successfully. Consider this there are three C’s on the road to success: Clarity, Congruency, and Consistency. Now apply these to the vision and mission of your organization.

What is the vision of your college, university, or research institute? Is this vision clear, is it large enough, is it enrolling? Is the vision congruent with who you are and with your personal life vision? Finally, are your actions consistently moving you and your organization toward the fulfillment of that vision?

The first step in creating a team that is aligned with your organization’’s objectives is to make sure that you are clear as to what those are and you are powerfully communicating them to your team. We all want an organization that is moving forward in a leveraged way to achieve its goals and vision, and it is absolutely vital to have a team on board that shares in those objectives.

Do you know the goals of your individual team members? Having alignment between the goals of the individual team members and the organization will create synergistic results. You will be tapping into the full human potential of each member of your organization. You will spend less time fighting individuals to get them to deliver or perform, and have fewer internal employee conflicts. Results will flow with harmony and ease as the organization’s success furthers each individual’s success.

By investing time in the coaching and management of your team to gain clarity, congruency, and consistency around the vision and objectives for your organization, and aligning them with individual’s personal goals and visions, you can create a loyal team – committed to the mission of the organization.

Posted by Asa Beavers, June 18, 2009, blogger@itworksinc.com

Management

Grant Management Accountability & Planning

May 26th, 10 / 0 Comments

Last week, we looked at some of the initial steps involved in managing a grant from the planning process. This week, we continue with a closer look at the planning process as well as what is involved in designing a grant scheme for accountability purposes. The following is a list comprised of 15 questions to consider when planning a grant. [adopted from the Best Practice Guide for the Administration of Grants]

Grant Management Accountability & Planning Checklist [source]

  • Are the aims and objectives of the grant properly articulated?
  • Are the eligibility criteria clearly and easily understood?
  • Have appropriate input/output/impact performance measures been established?
  • Are the performance measures generally accepted, comparable and sufficient for users needs?
  • Are the performance measures quick and economic to produce?
  • Have the total costs been estimated?
  • Have administrative and other costs (as well as possible consequential changes) been taken into account?
  • Has sufficient time been allowed to set up the grant scheme?
  • Are there any special local circumstances or constraints?
  • Are there other grant schemes with are likely to conflict?
  • What consultation is necessary and what can be learned from other grant schemes?
  • Do the basic rules avoid waste and fraud?
  • Does the grant scheme comply with Government and agency policies?
  • Who is accountable for what, how and to whom?
  • Is there adequate access being provided to all interested groups?

Next week, we’ll take a look at how to better manage grant monies. If you have a topic you’d like to hear us discuss in depth or to voice your thoughts on grant management, leave a comment below. For more information about software for grant management, visit our website.

Management, Managing a Grant Pipeline

Managing Money: 10 Ways IT Works is Helping College Administrators

Jun 2nd, 10 / 0 Comments

As you can tell by looking at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) latest information on the federal funding of the research and development and R&D plant components of the US federal agency programs, you will find that managing money is a precise and sometimes complex job.  And especially where college administrators are involved, the scrupulous use and allocation of grant funds is often the backbone of successful research and development projects that are ongoing at colleges, universities and research hospitals around the United States.

Today, colleges and universities around the United States (as well as the world) are extremely dependent upon their college administrators to help keep the day-to-day campus functions running smoothly. College administrators have many responsibilities and often oversee budgeting issues that range from financial aid matters to employee compensation. With that said, IT Works offers university and college administrators the following highlights from their College Administrator’s Accounting Module:

10 Ways IT Works is Helping College Administrators

  1. Provide easy to interpret reports to faculty and senior administrators
  2. Obtain better control of account and project expenditures
  3. Increase office efficiency
  4. Set quality control standards
  5. Project and encumber personnel costs from multiple funding sources
  6. Manage special commitments & information unique to your department, with user-defined coding systems
  7. Electronically interface to your college or university financial system
  8. Allow simultaneous data access to multiple users
  9. Comprehensive, multi-level security system
  10. Obtain training, continuous user support, and software modifications to meet unique departmental needs

For more information about accounting and financial management, visit our website.

Management

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: An Introduction

Jun 9th, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will cover material which was outlined during the seminar.

Purpose of Seminar:

  1. To identify and monitor facility costs
  2. To identify problems that undermine standard business practices (such as inconsistent billing practices, delinquent payments, and inaccurate financial reports) and explain how to handle them.
  3. To develop and implement scheduling, billing, and collection systems for the facility.
  4. To design consolidated profit/loss and other financial statements to aid in the management of the facility.

Who is This Seminar For?

  • All levels of research administration professionals in research intensive institutions
  • Administrators in basic science departments
  • Specialized research labs and centers (i.e. cancer centers, marine biology labs & genome science institutes)

Re-Charge Centers Defined:

Also known as “Charge Back Centers; Cost Centers; Service Centers; and Research Service Facilities, Recharge Centers are defined as organizational units that provide goods and services to investigators and other users within the research community. Users are primarily other university operational units and secondarily external users. Services are often highly specialized and involve the use of capital equipment specifically designed for a particular research purpose. Some examples of Re-Charge Centers include the following:

  • NMR Scanners
  • Immunohisochemistry
  • Transgenic Mice
  • Confocal Microscope
  • And others

Uses for Re-Charge Centers

In addition to providing goods and services to investigators, a recharge center charges users for its goods and services and is frequently housed within a university department. Because recharge centers are usually funded by a combination of funds stemming from such places as infrastructure grants, and revenue collected from the services provided, the management of these facilities requires administrators to implement business practices that cover the following in order to ensure the successful operation of the facility:

  • Complex personnel
  • Quality assurance
  • Billing
  • Collection
  • Accounting Issues

For more information about questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: Justification and Requirements

Jun 16th, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.

Justifying a Re-Charge Center

In order to justify whether or not a recharge center needs to exist, the following questions must be addressed:

  • Does the service fit the mission of your organization?
  • Are there other units providing the same or similar services?
  • How long will the products/services be in demand?
  • What is the expected level of activity, and when will it be reached?
  • What is the financial plan for the center?
  • Can your organization survive without it?

University Requirements

  • Complex and specific services not otherwise readily available
  • Minimum annual billing requirements and charges to grants

Government Requirements

  • Billing rates should recover direct and indirect costs of providing products or services
  • Billing rates cannot discriminate between federal and non federal sponsors. Outside customers may be billed more.
  • Operate on fiscal year basis
  • Calculation and review of billing rates
  • Establishment of operating accounts

Operating the Center

  • Department administrator responsibilities (typically responsible for coordinating with Principal Investigators, the Department Head/Chair and other administrative personnel in order to provide financial and administrative advice on various projects.)
  • Preparing and administering budgets
  • Developing and supporting billing rate schedules
  • Record keeping
  • Determining allowable costs
  • Invoicing requirements
  • Support audit requests
  • Allowable working capital
  • Separation of multiple services (i.e. You cannot take the profits from one recharge center and use it to supplement losses from another one. You cannot merge one with the other.)

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management, Research Scientists

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: Billing Rates

Jun 23rd, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.

Establishing and Revising Billing Rates

  • Defining cost recovery: “The recoupment of the purchase price of a capital or qualified asset through depreciation over a prescribed period” [source]
  • How long would it take the work to reach its maximum level?
  • How much work will be performed by that facility? (This will depend on the type of research being done at the facility.
  • Look at what your budget expenses are (prior year under/over recoveries) divided by expected volume of work performed.
  • Billing units may be expressed in units of output, labor hours, machine time or other measurement.
  • Rates for external users may include costs associated with facilities and administrative (indirect costs).
  • Track internal versus external charges separately in order to avoid the perception of overcharging.
  • Use a separate Direct Charge account for subsidized users.

Standard Billing & Collection Procedures

  • Complete invoice only after work is completed.
  • Work is charged according to predefined billing rates: University Rates; Outside University Rates; Track Rates Historically.
  • A detailed invoice should be generated, including the following: Itemized list of charges and rates; Track who received the work; How to pay for it: info@b5media.com
  • A monthly billing cycle should also be generated.

Example of How to Track Billing Rates:

Item/Service | Rate Group | Rate | Start Date | End Date

Invoices Should Include the Following:

  • Billing address for facility
  • Date invoiced
  • List of items or services that were performed
  • Instructions on how to pay for invoice (which will vary from university to university, regarding how the accountant will pay for work that is charged)
  • Identifying direct account prior to purchase
  • Past due invoice collection: [Frequency; Who collects (better to have administrator collect because he has better access to the university accounting system, and  it also has to do with a quality assurance issue); Discontinuation of services

Dates to Monitor

  • Work scheduled, started, and completion dates (month that invoice is completed is what is going to drive the invoice)
  • Invoice date
  • Payment date
  • Past due date (Unpaid invoices are an audit problem!)

Managing money is a critical factor in any Re-Charge Center structure, and one which should not be overlooked. Establishing billing rates will assist recharge centers in retaining accurate documentation as well as assist them in processing any billings in a timely manner. Setting up a system that supports any charges that are made, including documentation of various expenses and uses should be retained by the recharge center in the even of an audit.

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management, Research Scientists

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: Center Rules

Jun 30th, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.

Understanding the Center

When discussing the recharge center and its overall role, it is important to remember that the recharge center is a business. According to recent statistics, businesses with fewer than twenty employees only have a 37% chance of surviving more than four years. Additionally, only four percent of businesses in the United States will gross above $1 million in revenue each year. That said, what is the main item separating the successful businesses from those that are unsuccessful?

Successful businesses have financial plans.

Other questions to keep in mind when thinking about recharge centers include:

  • What goods and services are being provided?
  • Who provides the service? (There are some self operating centers where people operate machines, but these people need to be trained, etc.)

Capital Equipment Needed

When discussing the type and quantity of equipment needed, the following items need to be taken into consideration:

  • Risks to the research project (to people..safety issues, HIPAA, etc.)
  • Seasonal (i.e. environmental labs, marine biology groups, etc.)
  • Identifying Costs (in order to set billing rates)
  • Production Costs (can be divided into time and materials)
  • Time (i.e. equipment operation, identifying the steps, accurate time estimates, preparation, training, scheduling issues, etc.)
  • Materials (i.e. supplies, losses, expiration, theft, non-billable work, etc.)

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management, Research Scientists

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: Financial Reporting

Jul 7th, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.

Accounting and financial management play an integral role in the overall management of a recharge center. Colleges, universities, research centers as well as other healthcare administrators operate in a complex and often demanding financial environment, which is why it is important that there be a solid accounting solutions program in place. Often, financial management reporting can be broken down by the following items.

Standard budget reports
  • Will have on the report: code, description, budget, encumbrances, expenses and balances
  • Once you’re beyond the purchase of the equipment, personnel costs are among the largest costs and are more difficult to manage especially when you get into centers where the salaries are split. Project the salary (in encumbrances) ahead of time.
P& L statements
  • Income based on different services that are provided (I.e. labor, etc.)
  • Expenses- (i.e. salaries & benefits, travel, etc.)
  • Current period versus prior period
All funds reports
  • This is a combination of the first two reports and combines the concept of a budget report with a P&L statement → allows you to merge different funding sources into one report
  • Three different types of funds can be used: Center, Dept. Funds, Core Grant
  • Department funds may be a shared source (may be used for something not related to the facility) → accounting system needs to have coding that will separate the funds
Projections of personnel costs
  • Changing rates of pay into amounts of money
Center utilization reports (by service provided and by principal investigators)
  • Broken down by: description | unit | quantity | amount
  • This allows you to see which service is generating the most amount of money
  • You’re looking at the analysis by service
  • Looking at the principal investigator: (investigator | amount ) → gives you an idea of who you are doing the most work for.  It is in your best interest that those people stay funded
Pending and Active Grants by principal investigator
  • This is broken down as follows: Investigator | Title | Sponsor | Start Date | Direct Req.

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management, Research Scientists

Managing Re-Charge Centers and Research Service Facilities: Quality Control

Jul 21st, 10 / 0 Comments

Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. This post will provide an outline of some of the final pieces of material that was covered during the seminar.

Quality Control

  • Understand the business of the center (What is the work that is being provided?)
  • Quality control impacts center costs
  • Records and stats
  • Returned work
  • Malfunctioning equipment (returned work/ canceled work)
  • Employee time
  • Cause and effect diagrams that influence a given situation

Invoice Generation and Collection

Computer Assisted Paper Invoice Generation

  • Collect PI Billing information when work is completed
  • Manually enter or electronically feed unbilled work into center invoicing system
  • Monthly invoice generation process → assigns billing rates for each service
  • Deliver invoice by mail or emailed PDF
  • Rely on other department administrators to initiate payment
  • Manually enter payments from GL reports into center invoicing system
  • Generate aging reports to identify past due invoices
  • Generate 2nd invoices and reminder letters to collect past due invoices
  • Payments typically received within 60 days
Electronic Billing
  • Collect PI Billing when work is completed
  • Deliver invoice via web site or emailed statement
  • Allow center clients to review and correct invoices
  • Upload center invoice file to GL to generate account adjustments
  • Correct invoices using invalid accounts
  • Download transaction file from GL and update center invoicing system with payments
  • Payments received in less than 30 days

Red Flags

More than 2 months total invoices outstanding

  • Increase collection efforts
  • Prepare to cut off services

Unexpected supply purchases

  • Theft
  • Quality control issues

Credits to other investigators

  • Invoices don’t match supply usage
  • Center director grants lack center charges

Excessive losses or profits

  • 60 day working reserve balance
  • Inaccurate financial reporting

Unexpected drops in pending grant pipelines

  • Invoices

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.

Management, Research Scientists

False ‘Obama Mom’ Grants Lure Students

Aug 4th, 10 / 0 Comments

According to the Carrer College Association, Mothers are an important market for the profitability of many educational insitutions as women account for approximately 65 percent of college students with more than half having dependent children.

However, recently, this same group of people have been targeted, “victimized” and insulted upon receiving notification of special college grants and scholarships that President Obama had created specifically for single mothers.  As it turns out, women were receiving ads via email where they would see a picture of the President as well as a link which, when clicked on, took them into a new window where they were then asked to enter their age as well as other specific information related to the kind of college degree they sought. This same website then produced a list of schools that matched up with the email recipients choices.

Within a short period of time, recruiters from popular universities such as Kaplan University and the University of Phoenix would send out emails and phone calls. In one case, a woman by the name of Nicole Massey, started asking these colleges about the Obama loans as well as money for single moms, in which recruiters responded that they would contact her with more information regarding her question. The only problem was that they failed to contact her.

When ProPublica attempted to follow up on this apparent scam by following several lead generators linked to the Obama mom ads, all either declined to comment or did not return calls/e-mails. That’s when they took matters into their own hands. Using volunteers from the ProPublica Reporting Network to click on the links and fill out the online forms, ProPublica hoped to determine which schools were buying leads. Just as Massey had it happen to her, all of the volunteers received dozens of emails and phone calls within no time from the following schools:

  • Walden University
  • Golden Gate University
  • Kaplan University
  • Ashford University
  • American InterContinental University
  • Capella University
  • Colorado Technical University
  • University of Phoenix
  • University of Southern California Rossier School of Education

Of the aforementioned colleges, only one was a non-profit university. When volunteers asked lead generators and college recruiters about the Obama grans or scholarships for moms, none of the recruiters claimed that these grants actually existed however, none disputed that they existed either.

(Via: ProPublica)

Management, News