Funding Rules
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About this page
This page and sub-pages are used by RME administrators to configure
funding rules for the Costing and Pricing Tool (CPT).
The institution level rules display on this page. Other tabs provide
access to pages for different rule levels: AOU Level, Project Type Level,
Fund Scheme Level, Indirect Cost Recovery Variation, Consumable and Capital
Item Groups, Output Configuration and Alert Configuration.
This page supports the Costing and Pricing
Tool (CPT), which was implemented in version 7.7.0 in mid-2021. Research
Costing and Pricing (ReCaP)
is a separate tool.
Menu path:
RME menu > Projects > Funding Rules
Tab overview
There are a number of tabs in this page for different levels of funding
rules:
• The Institution
Level tab is used to set rules for the institution level,
including Consumable and Capital Item groups (on this page)
• The AOU Level tab lists rules that
have been defined for specific administrative organisation units (AOU),
often called departments, schools or faculties.
• The
Project Type Level
tab lists rules that have been defined for specific project types.
• The Fund Scheme Level tab lists rules
that have been defined for specific fund schemes.
For each funding rule level, a Consumable
and Capital Item Groups section allows you to define items specific
for that level. The default is to reflect those set at the institution
level.
• The Indirect Cost Recovery Variations tab
lists variations to Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) percentages for a unique
combination of fund scheme, AOU and Project type.
• The Consumable and Capital Items Guidelines
tab lists guidelines that display from a Help icon in eForms to guide
users about entering total costs for consumable or capital items.
• The Outputs Configuration tab displays
a grid if filters for Costing and Pricing Tool (CPT) outputs. You configure
filters based on the Project Type,
Fund Scheme and/or Org.
Unit and select outputs for the filter so that only relevant outputs
are shown for selection in a project in CPT. You can also set outputs
to display for all projects.
• The Alert Configuration tab displays
the common heading that displays for the alert list, and allows you to
select the Costing and Pricing Tool pages on which the list of applicable
alerts display.
The Applied Rules
button on the toolbar allows you to view the funding rules that will apply
based the selected AOU, project type and/or fund scheme level.
Institution level rules
This page is used to define default funding rules used by your institution
so that project costing and pricing can be generated from a standard definition
in CPT. It allows you to define indirect cost recovery, cost-based pricing
percentages, whether to apply GST, and consumables and capital items,
which are divided into groups.
The institution used in CPT will be the organisation marked as Primary
in the Organisations page in RME.
To define institution level funding rules, follow the steps below:
1. From the RME
menu, go to Projects > Funding Rules.
2. Use the following
field table and sections as a guide when configuring your institution
level funding rules.
3. In the toolbar, click Save. To
go back to the previous page, click it in the breadcrumb trail or use
your browser Back button.
Result: Institution level rules will be applied unless there is an applicable
rule for a specific AOU, project type or fund scheme (or fund scheme and
organisation, if relevant). To view the rules that apply for a given combination,
click the Applied Rules button
in the toolbar. See: Applied Rules and Rule precedence
Institution Level: Fields
|
|
|
Staff
On-cost Percentages |
The
fields in this section are displayed when the CPT
Configuration for On-Cost
Method is Employment Type.
|
Employed 12 Months or Less |
Default percentage of salary
to calculate the on-cost value for those employed for 12 months
or less
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Employed More Than 12 Months |
Default percentage of salary
to calculate the on-cost value for those employed at the institution
for more than12 months
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Casual Staff |
Default percentage of salary
to calculate the on-cost value for staff employed on a short-term
or temporary basis (Employment
Type in the Personnel record = Casual)
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Indirect
Cost Recovery Percentages |
The
fields in this section are used to capture rules for indirect
cost recovery (ICR) to recover indirect costs for the institution.
If the CPT Configuration Use
Project Location for Indirect Cost Recovery? option is Yes, two sections display to
define ICR percentages for both lab and non-lab project locations.
Note that you can also set separate ICR variations
for specific combinations of AOU, fund scheme or project type
in the Indirect Cost Recovery Variation
tab.
ICR is not applied to in-kind
amounts. |
Method * |
Indicates
which option to use to apply indirect cost recovery for the institution:
• Mixed: Select this to apply
indirect cost recovery on both total direct cost and total salary
cost
• Total Direct Cost: Select this
to apply indirect cost recovery on the total direct cost
• Institution Direct Salary Cost:
Select this to apply indirect cost recovery on the total salary
cost
When you select an option, the corresponding field/s
in this section will be enabled.
|
Institution
Direct Salary Cost |
Enabled
and mandatory when Institution
Direct Salary Cost or Mixed
is selected in the Method
dropdown
Percentage for cost recovery based on the total
salary cost for the project
Must be a number between 0 and 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal places.
If the method is Mixed,
set a percentage for this field as well as in the Other
Direct Cost field. |
Other Direct
Cost |
Enabled
and mandatory when Mixed
is selected in the Method
dropdown
Percentage applied to non-salary costs of the
project to calculate the ICR amount
Must be a number between 0 and 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal places.
Set a percentage for this field as well as in the Institution
Direct Salary Cost field. |
Total Direct
Cost |
Enabled
and mandatory when Total Direct
Cost is selected in the Method
dropdown; 0 by default
Percentage for cost recovery based on the total
direct cost of the project
Must be a number between 0 and 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal places. |
Other |
These
fields capture contingency, cost multiplier and work hour details.
If the for On-Cost
Method is On-Cost Pattern,
this section displays after the
Step Progression sections. |
Cost Multiplier Percentage |
Percentage to apply to the total
cost to take into account the true cost of research
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Contingency Percentage |
Percentage applied to account
for the potential risk that the project may not be undertaken
as planned
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Work Days per Calendar Year |
Default:
365 (all days per year; cannot be set for a leap year)
Number of days per calendar year to use in calculating
the daily salary rate
The value must be a number from 1 to 365 inclusive,
with no decimal places.
As an example, you can set this to only include
work days - usually 260 days - to exclude Saturdays, Sundays
and public holidays. |
Work Hours per Day |
Default:
7
Number of work hours per day, which can be used
to calculate the daily salary rate
The value must be a number from 0 to 24 inclusive,
with up to two decimal places (for example, 6.25) |
Pricing
(in alphabetical
order) |
The
fields in this section are used to capture rules to ensure that
projects are priced based on your institution's policies.
These fields display
in a different order based on the On-Cost
Method applied in CPT
Configuration. As such, these are listed alphabetically to
aid discovery. |
Allow Indirect
Cost Recovery Waiver? |
Indicates
whether users are allowed to enter an ICR waiver value on the
pricing page in CPT, as either a percentage or an amount, to
reduce the ICR from the project price |
Include Competitive
Neutrality Charge? |
Default:No
Indicates whether you want to allow eForm users
to enter a Competitive Neutrality Charge (CNC) that is added to
the price of the project for a funder
|
Include GST? |
Indicates
whether to include additional totals with GST calculated in the
price
If Yes,
GST will be applied and an additional line with the total price
including GST will be displayed in both the Project Cost and Project
Price pages in CPT. These additional totals are also available
in reporting views for reporting purposes.
GST is not applied to internal fund schemes.
The GST percentage value is set in the GST%
field in System Preferences in RME. |
Margin Percentage |
Percentage
applied to calculate the margin amount on the project
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
User Can Markup
or Discount? |
Indicates
if users can enter an amount in the CPT Project Price page to
either increase the price (markup) with a positive value, or decrease
it (discount) with a negative value |
User Can Override
Margin Percentage? |
Indicates
if users can override enter a different margin percentage in CPT |
Step Progression for Existing Staff |
These fields are used to apply
salary step progression in calculations for staff that already
exist in RME.
Step progression is where employees automatically
move up a salary step level every year. Category items are set
up for the different step levels. The progression
order can be defined for each category item so the system
can identify the next step. |
Apply to Salary Calculation? |
Indicates if step progression
is to be used in salary calculations of existing staff on the
project
If Yes,
the other fields in this section are enabled. |
Applied On? |
When progression will begin
to be applied based on the setting, either a person's Employment
Anniversary Date or a Yearly
Fixed Date defined in the
Month/Day field.
• If
Employment Anniversary Date,
the system will use the Held
From field from the Personnel - Employment Details related
item record marked as Primary
as the base date. If no record is marked as Primary,
or if the Held From field
in the primary record is blank, step progression is not applied
in salary calculations.
• If
Yearly Fixed Date, complete
the Month/Day field. |
Month/Day |
Only
if the Applied On? value
is Yearly Fixed Date
Month and day for each year when progression will
be applied. |
Step
Progression for New Staff |
The fields
in this section are used to apply salary step progression in calculations
for staff that do not exist in RME and are newly added to the
project.
Step progression is where employees automatically
move up a salary step level every year. Category items are set
up for the different step levels. The progression
order can be defined for each category item so the system
can identify the next step. |
Apply to Salary
Calculation? |
Indicates
if step progression is to be used in salary calculations of new
staff added to the project
If Yes,
the Month/Day field is
enabled. |
Month/Day |
Month and
day for each year when step progression will be applied.
(progression cannot be set to apply on an Employment
Anniversary Date for new staff). |
On-Cost
Percentages |
This
grid displays when the CPT
Configuration for On-Cost
Method is On-Cost Pattern
in place of Staff On-cost
Percentages.
It
is used to capture on-cost recovery percentages related to institution
staff.
The grid is populated with all category items
set up for on-cost patterns in Categories
under RME > Setup > Categories >
Person related categories > On-Cost Pattern.
|
Code |
Read only
Category item code,
as defined in Categories |
Description |
Read only
What the category
item represents, as defined in Categories |
Current |
Read only
If the category item
is available to be used, as defined in Categories |
On-Cost
Percentage |
Default: 0
Percentage of salary
to calculate the on-cost value for institution staff
Cannot be blank.
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
On-Cost
Percentage Excl. Annual Leave |
Default: 0
Percentage of salary
to calculate the on-cost value for institution staff that does
not include annual leave
Cannot be blank.
Must be a number between 0 to 100 inclusive, with up to two decimal
places. |
Consumable
and Capital Item Groups |
Consumables
and capital items, divided into groups
These items and groups will be available in eForms
and CPT so that researchers can select relevant items for their
project, unless there is an applicable overriding rule at the
AOU, project or fund scheme level that has different consumables
and capital items defined.
You need to save the rule details first before
you can add or edit items in this section.
For details, see: Consumable
and Capital Item Groups below.
|
Consumable
and Capital Item Groups
Institution level consumables and capital item groups and items that
are defined in this page will be auto-populated in all other level rules
by default. They can be overwritten for each rule level if needed.
Groups and items defined in this page will be available in eForms and
the tool, unless a rule set at another level applies (AOU, project or
fund scheme level).
To create groups for consumables and capital items at the institution
level, and define items for each group, follow the steps below:
1. Click Add above the Consumable and Capital Items Groups
grid. The Create Consumable and Capital Item Groups popup displays.
2. Enter a name for the group of similar items in the Name
field (mandatory). Examples: Travel, Facilities/Buildings
3. In the Display Order field,
enter a number to indicate the sort order of the group in the grid. 1
is at the top.
4. For the Outward Expenses?
slider, indicate if the new group is for expenses that are related to
sub-contract work, other services or costs that will be paid out for the
project. Any costs for items in this group will be deducted from the total
price received from an external funder (not including: a) salary of externals,
b) cash consumable and capital items identified as outward expenses, and
c) disbursements to external organisations) to calculate the amount
of funding remaining with the institution in a Staying
with the Institution field in an RPR eForm used for CPT.
5. In the Items field, click
the down arrow to display a list of items. Select one or more items to
add to the group, then click Close
to close the list.
6. If you want to create a new group after saving, click the Create
another checkbox.
7. Click Save. If creating another
group, repeat steps 2 to 4 above. At any time if you change your mind
and no longer want to create a group, click Close.
Edit a group
You can edit a group however changes will not be applied to existing
projects that have had a costing initiated.
• To delete an
entire group, go to the Consumable and Capital Items Groups grid, select
the checkbox to the left of the item and click Delete
at the top right of the grid.
To change the details for a group, click the linked item in the first
column in the grid for the group to open the group and make one of the
following changes:
• To change the
group name, place your cursor in the field and edit it directly.
• To change the
order of the group in the grid, place your cursor in the field and edit
it directly.
• To remove an
item from the group, click the cross (x)
at the top right of the item.
• To add items
to the group in the Items field,
click the down arrow to display a list of items. Select one or more items
to add to the group, then click Close
to close the list.
• To re-name
or add new items that do not appear in the Items field list, go to the
Finance Category Types category
under RME > Setup > Categories > Common
Categories > Finance Category Types.
• You can enter
guidelines for an item that display in an eForm from the Help
icon (?). See: Consumable and Capital Item Guidelines.
Export consumable and capital item group details
To export Consumable and Capital Items Groups grid details,
click Export at the top right
of the grid. The grid contents will be exported into a .csv file.
AOU Level
This tab displays rules that have been defined for specific administrative
organisation units (AOU), often called departments, schools or faculties.
Rules to apply for defined administrative organisational units (AOUs)
when marked as Primary for a project. See: AOU
Level
Project Type Level
This tab lists the funding rules that have been defined for specific
project types. See: Project Type Level
Fund Scheme Level
This tab lists the funding rules that have been defined for specific
fund schemes. See: Fund Scheme Level
Indirect Cost Recovery Variations
This tab lists variations to Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) percentages
for a unique combination of fund scheme, AOU and Project type. See: Indirect Cost Recovery
Variations
Consumable and Capital Item Guidelines
This tab lists guidelines that display from a Help icon in eForms to
guide users about entering total costs for consumable or capital items.
See: Consumable and Capital Item Guidelines
Outputs Configuration
This tab lists the defined filters for Costing and Pricing Tool (CPT)
output reports. See: Outputs
Configuration
Alert Configuration
This tab displays the configuration options that apply for all CPT alerts,
as outlined in the table below.
Alerts notify chief investigators, project managers or office staff
when specific conditions arise so that issues can be addressed. For example,
a rule could be defined to display when the institution is providing cash
and in-kind in excess of 30% of the project cost.
Manage Alert Rules
To delete one or more alert rules, select the rules
and select Delete. See: Delete
a record.
To export details from the grid (Current?, Alert Message
and Rule Name), select Export.
See: Export record details.
Change funding rules
When you configure funding rules, they are stored as a master copy in
RME. When a costing record is created for a project, the system determines
the applicable rules based on the project details, AOU, project type and/or
fund scheme, as relevant. The rules that are applicable are collated and
copied as a kind of “snapshot” from the RME master and saved as an internal
copy to that individual costing record in CPT. The saved internal rules
are then used for all costing and pricing calculations for that project.
Once a costing has been initiated for an existing project in CPT, changes
to the master funding rules are not updated in the internal copy in the
record unless new rules are applied
to a project in the Funding Rules page in CPT, or the Primary
AOU field, Project
Type field and/or Primary Fund
Scheme field has been changed, for which different funding
rules may now apply.
• If new funding
rules are applied to a project in the Funding Rules page in CPT, previous
funding rule values will be replaced with new values noted in the page.
The project costing and pricing is recalculated based on the new rules,
which is confirmed with a message.
• If a primary
AOU, Project
Type or primary Fund Scheme
field is changed, internal funding rules are updated and changes are applied
to all existing records, except for changes to Consumable and Capital
Items.
• Changes to
the configuration of the Consumable and Capital Items in RME (rename a
group, add a new group or item, delete a group or item) will not be updated
for existing costing records in CPT.
• If there are
no changes to the Primary AOU, Project
Type or Primary Fund Scheme
fields, changed funding rules will only be applied to newly-created Project
records in CPT.
Related topics
• Alert
Configuration
• AOU
Level
• Applied
Rules, including rule precedence
• Changes
to costing details
• Costing
and Pricing Tool
• Fund
Scheme Level
• Indirect
Cost Recovery Variation
• Outputs
Configuration
• Project
Type Level
Product
Key: Costing
and Pricing Tool
Page ID: CPT001.htm
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