Sponsored Research Fiscal Year-End Business Process
As we approach Northwestern's fiscal year end on August 31, 2024, Sponsored Research (SR) would like to help you prepare for a smooth transition into FY25 and make you aware of year-end business processes.
Award Modification Request Processing at Fiscal Year End
At the end of each fiscal year the volume of award activity spikes, and Sponsored Research (SR) must focus staff efforts on award set-up, award reviews, and sponsor award modifications. To accommodate the increase in awards, SR will be deprioritizing Award Modification Requests (AMRs) during the month of August.
What does this mean?
Like the business processes SR implemented at the end of last fiscal year, in order to focus on fiscal year-end action items:
- AMRs submitted by July 31, 2024, will be reviewed and processed as per usual.
- For AMRs submitted August 1 - 31, 2024, priority will be given to AMRs related to incoming awards and to urgent deadline-driven requests.
- Starting August 1, a Prioritization Request Form to submit prioritization requests for time-sensitive AMRs will be available on the Sponsored Research website. Please also look for an announcement via the Sponsored Research listserv.
- On September 1, 2024, SR will return to reviewing and processing all AMRs as per usual.
Other Fiscal Year-End Deadlines
If your SR-related transaction also requires corresponding action by Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs (ASRSP), be mindful of the fiscal year end deadlines outlined by the Office of the Controller.
Use CERES to Check Status
Please utilize the resources in CERES to look up the status of an AMR (or any other transaction) before reaching out to SR. With heavy volume during August, we want to dedicate as much time as we can to processing transactions, and “status request” emails, Teams messages, and phone calls delay processing time. If you must reach out to SR, use the “Send E-mail” feature within CERES as it provides a direct link to the record and provides the greatest transparency to SR staff if a request must be reassigned.
More Information
A job aid about checking status in CERES will be forthcoming shortly. We will also be discussing fiscal year-end business processes and using CERES to check status at the upcoming Summer Quarterly CLEAR Meeting.