At the core of UCSB's new financial system, Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC), is the Projects & Grants Management (PGM) module. This will be used to manage all funds allocated to faculty, organizing and tracking funding from both sponsored and internal sources.

What's New at a Glance 

  • All funds allocated to faculty (sponsored and internal) now follows a common Award → Project Structure 
  • Standardized administration of sponsored projects across campus 
  • A new dashboard that provides an integrated view of your funding portfolio (coming soon) 
  • Award-level and project-level roles drive approval workflows in systems like Gateway and Concur 

Roles & Responsibilities 

Award-level roles: 

  • Principal Investigator (PI), co-PI, key personnel - responsible for research integrity and overall financial stewardship of the funds. 

Project-level roles: 

  • Project Manager (PM) - day-to-day management of spending activities; monitors financial status; participates in transaction approvals. Can be reassigned when appropriate. 
  • Project Analyst (PA) - financial operations, compliance monitoring, projections, and transaction support/approval.

Important Considerations 

  • Approval Workflows: Gateway purchasing and invoices, Concur travel booking and reimbursements, subaward invoices, and cost transfers will be routed for approval based on roles
  • Proactive Planning: Timely payroll funding changes help avoid delays near reporting and end dates.

Recommended Best Practices 

  • Review new awards/projects to confirm initial budget projections and spending 
  • Meet monthly or quarterly with your Project Manager and/or Project Analyst to review expenditures, projections, restrictions, upcoming award/project end dates and pending invoices/payments
  • Discuss compliance/financial risks and mitigation 

Points of Contact 

The Research Financial Analyst (RFA) is your primary resource for post-award financial management of sponsored projects. Each RFA manages a portfolio of medium to high-volume, complex awards and works closely with faculty, departmental staff, and central offices to ensure strong fiscal stewardship in support of UCSB's research mission. 

The RFA's main roles are: 

  • Providing guidance on the financial management of your sponsored projects 
  • Monitoring expenditures, encumbrances, and the overall financial health of awards 
  • Coordinating financial confirmation during the closeout of awards 

RFAs are assigned to specific departments or Financial Reporting Units (FRUs), and departments with large research portfolios may have multiple RFAs. Here is a list of all RFAs and the departments/FRUs they support. 

The Project Analyst on Faculty Funds is your primary resource for the management of Faculty Funds (i.e. faculty start-up, gifts, discretionary, etc.) Here is a list of all PAFFs by department. The PAFF's main role is to monitor expenditures and provide guidance on the financial management of your Faculty Funds projects. 

New: Faculty/PI Dashboard

The Faculty/PI Dashboard provides an integrated view of your funding portfolio, with financial reports showing award and project balances, details, and other reports to promote transparency and collaboration by enabling faculty and administrators to monitor financial status in near real-time. 

All current PIs or co-PIs in the Oracle Projects & Grants Management (PGM) module have been provisioned access to the Faculty/PI Dashboard in FinHub.

Impacts to Sponsored Projects Administration

Important Considerations

  • Award Setup & Spending Readiness: Some projects may experience longer lead times for initial spending readiness after notice of award; your Research Financial Analyst (RFA) can advise on prioritization requests where appropriate. 
  • New Location for Subawards: These are now managed in Gateway to align invoices and commitments with the project workplan. 
  • Proactive Planning: Early setup of subawards/MCAs helps avoid delays near reporting and end dates.

Recommended Best Practices 

  • Meet monthly or quarterly with your Project Manager and/or Project Analyst to review effort management 
  • Monitor subcontracts, document key personnel changes, and track specialized or routine reporting and prior-approval requirements 
  • Plan and initiate no-cost extensions (NCEs), carry-forward requests, and closeouts on time 

New: Reassignment of Responsibilities Framework 

A PI may designate a Project Manager to monitor financial status on sponsored projects, approve transactions, and authorize expenditures on the PI's behalf within policy and funding limits. If a PM lacks sufficient context to approve an item, the PI will need to be added into the approval flow for additional review. 

Who can serve as a PM? 

  • No form required: Co-PIs and named Key Personnel 
  • Form & mutual consent required: Others (i.e. lab managers, center directors, assigned Research Financial Analysts) with agreement from the post-award services lead

Access the PGM Project Manager Reassignment Form, which includes details on the new approval workflows and policy for reassignment of the Project Manager role. Instructions for completing this form are listed here. 

The Post-Award Services Lead is responsible for ensuring that RFAs receive the support they need to successfully manage sponsored project funding after an award has been made. They help RFAs navigate systems, troubleshoot issues, clarify policies, and provide training and resources. They work closely with RFAs, Extramural Funds, and the Sponsored Projects office to ensure post-award processes are consistent and well-coordinated across campus. 

Please review this matrix for detailed information about post-award roles and responsibilities for sponsored projects. We recommend you verify your current Project Manager (PM) and Project Analyst (PA) with your research finance contact.