Budget Guidance

In 2019, NCSA first began establishing an annual budgeting process to attain both fiscal transparency and responsibility as well as produce data to enable strategic investments. In March 2020, the Budget Working Group (BWG), in conjunction with NCSA leadership and managers across the Center, was able to successfully develop NCSA’s first-ever Director-approved budget. Given the successful execution of the fiscal year 2020 (FY20) budget process, FY21’s budget process will remain mostly unchanged. Managers and associate directors (ADs) will continue to play a vital role by submitting both state and Center-earned indirect cost recovery (ICR) funding requests using a templated spreadsheet provided by the BWG.

Learn more about the budget process here.

Frequently Asked Questions

General      

How should I handle positions that are dependent on the acceptance of a submitted proposal?

TBD positions should be added to the budget request. This year there is the option to show how many months the position will be here for.  So, if the award is anticipated later then the budget can be adjusted to reflect that. For awards that have not yet been submitted, or come up through the year, that budget will be addressed as needed.

Should promotions and equity increases be entered, even before they happen/are approved?  Should they be listed at maintenance or growth?

Promotion and equity increases should be budgeted for as a lump sum on one line item in the group budget. This line should be discussed in detail with the AD. Note that the approval of the budget for the increase is not the approval that the promotion and equity will be approved. Mark as growth.  

Budget Spreadsheet

Is it possible to leave multi-year contracts on the form and put zero when there is no spend for that year?

Yes we will do our best to copy this type of information over.  However the manager should do a cross check as well to make sure all information is copied over as expected.  

A staff member left earlier this year and no longer has an appointment with NCSA. How should I input this position in the budget? 

For staff who have left, please mark “Expected Months Allocated” as 0.0,”Proposed SSFY21” as 0%, and “Staffing Status” and “Maintenance or Growth'' should be blank.  Do not delete the entry. The line item should be left  in so that the amount that was approved last year contributes to the calculation of what your total FY21 budget would have been.

One of the salaries listed in the budget is incorrect.  What’s the best way for me to fix that?  

If the field does not have a grey background you will need to ask Kaylyn to make the change.

I had a new hire last FY, who is listed as 0% for SFY21. I’m going to input 5% for the SFY22 budget — Is this considered Maintenance or Growth?  

If no allocation was approved last year then this should be marked as growth If there was allocation approved last year that is when you would mark it as maintenance. If there was a 5% allocation approved last year and it needs to be 10% this year then the person should be listed twice: one line will read 5% maintenance and the other line will read 5% growth.

Can we still access the FY21 budget requests and approvals? There are  those new to the role that were not involved last time.

Managers from the prior year should still have access to these sheets. The sheets are locked so no edits can be made just viewing rights.

Budget Process

With regard to projecting for Personnel requests for proposed state salary funding, do we need to account for fringe benefits when projecting state salary coverage?   

The University will cover all the extra costs for a person budgeted on state funds.  So you only account for 100% of the salary and no extra.

With regard to projecting for Personnel requests for proposed state salary funding, if the person is covered by an MOU, do we remove the amount from column F?

No, do not remove the salary amount from Column F.  Notating that they are covered by an MOU is a good idea in the comments and enter 0% requested.

What should be included at the group level and what is center level for professional development?

Strategic travel should be included at the group level for specific travel requests.  This travel budget will roll up to the Directorate level budget. Professional staff development is a pool of center funds that staff apply for by using the staff development tool in MIS.  Mission critical training or travel are paid for using directorate discretionary ICR funding.  Travel may also be paid for using PI ICR or Project ICR, or directorate discretionary budget for strategic travel for the groups

How should working group time be designated? Center/Directorate/Group?

If the working group was approved by the Cabinet/DO the time requested for the working group should be marked as a Center Level Activity otherwise it should be marked as a Directorate Level Activity

Some working groups directly impact the projects on which the staff is funded. Is it possible in this situation that the staff continue to be funded for this effort on project funds? (example: Puppet working group that benefits multiple projects) (edited) 

Absolutely! Time should only be requested when it cannot be covered by a fund an employee is already funded on, or exceed the 5% allocation that is already requested for non-project activities

ICI groups seem to have a need to buy things, like cables, etc. Last year these were budgeted at the group level, should this continue?

The appropriate category will be the Equipment/System Level and Equipment line for cables.

Where do we budget for small and miscellaneous  purchases? We see supplies at the center level, but how are those approved?

The NCSA Facilities team keeps a room full of office supplies for all staff. A special or unique supply need comes out of the discretionary directorate ICR.

Are interview travel and lunches to be scheduled at group, directorate or center level? 

Budget for interview travel at the group level it will then be rolled up to the center level where HR will manage this budget.  Interview lunches should be paid for from the directorate discretionary funding.

If staff want office items (e.g. standing desk converters), what budget pays for this?How do we request that for staff or are they requesting it for themselves?

The ergonomic office needs, such as Veridesk, are purchased using the directorate discretionary funding.  These requests should be sent through the AD for approval then sent to Tedra using the RTP Request to Purchase tool in MIS for purchase. There are standard choices to pick from so collaborate with Tedra early in the process. 

When considering budget items in the new Continuous Improvement and Innovation Division in ICI, it occurred to us that some of the CDDRs would coordinate with this area, especially if they revolve around improvements/innovations to operations at NCSA.  Should the coordination be budgeted in this activity, or as part of the Division itself?  

This should be included in the CDDR budget.

Can the budget spreadsheet be unlocked so we can start working on it?

The grey cells are unlocked, if you find a sheet where they are not please let Kaylyn Rogers  know.

I need more lines as not everyone is  listed

Send Kaylyn Rogers a list of the people you need to add.

I don’t see my admin or project manager listed as an employee on the budget sheet.

Office admin time was centralized last year so they are listed under the Admin coordination office. The state time for all Project managers have been listed under the PMCO in admin directorate budget. You see some project management time under other sheets because the request for state funding is over what the 5% will cover (coordination with the PMCO)