Tag Archives: SAGE Budget

How can I grant somebody in a different department access to my budget?

For another person to view or modify your budget, you must assign them appropriate access. Review the Budget Settings user guide article.

Also, be sure to notify the person that they have been granted access to your budget. The system will not notify them.

How do I create a copy of my budget?

The following two scenarios explain how to adjust for personnel promotions between and during a budget period, so that the budget properly reflects the appropriate UW Sub Object Codes for position and benefits.

Add a Salary Increase for a Promotion between Periods

The Problem

When you add a person to a project, their appointment (or sub object code) is specified for the length of that project and cannot be changed.

So what do you do for a researcher who will get a promotion and a raise at the end of the first period, for example? Our researcher is currently a Senior Fellow for the first period and then an Assistant Professor for the second and subsequent periods.

The Solution

Use two budget line items: one for the current appointment and one for the future appointment. Each appointment will be used for a separate period.

The Implementation

Add a Salary and Benefits line item for the researcher in the first period with the current appointment, and with the appropriate amount of effort. For the second, and all future periods, change the salary to $0 and the effort or person months to 0%.

Add a second Salary and Benefits line item for the same researcher with the future appointment. Enter the salary as $0 for the first period and the new salary amount for the second period. The new salary will automatically cascade to the future periods.

Schematically, the salary changes look like this, with example salary figures.

2023 2024
Senior Fellow
(01-23)
$50,000
100% Effort
$0
0% Effort
Assistant Professor
(01-11)
$0
0% Effort
$85,000
100% Effort

SAGE displays the worksheet with the researcher’s salaries for the first and second periods of the project.

  • In the first period, the researcher will make $50,000 as a Senior Fellow. In the second period as a Senior Fellow, they will make $0.
  • In the first period as an Assistant Professor they’ll make $0 but in the second they’ll make $85,000.

Add a Salary Increase for a Promotion during a Period

The Problem

This time the researcher’s promotion from Senior Fellow to Assistant Professor will occur in the middle of the first period.

The Solution

Use two budget line items: one for the current appointment and one for the future appointment. The line for the future appointment will be adjusted for the one period in which the promotion occurs.

The Implementation

Add a Salary and Benefits line item for the researcher in the first period with the current appointment. Let’s assume that the promotion will take effect half-way during the period.

So, on the line item for the current appointment, you would indicate 50% effort. Then on the line item for the future appointment, you would also indicate 50% effort. Finally, on the following periods, you would adjust the effort on the current appointment to 0%, and on the future appointment to 100%,

2023 2024
Senior Fellow
(01-23)
$24,720
50% Effort
$0
0% Effort
Assistant Professor
(01-11)
$50,985
50% Effort
$105,029.10
100% Effort

Notes may have been added to your budget for line items or on the F&A tab. Notes will display on the print and exported versions of the budget.

There is a Notes field on the Line Setup page for the following line items:

  • (01) Salary and Wages
  • (02) Service Contracts
  • (03) Other Contractual Services
  • (04) Travel
  • (05) Supplies and Materials
  • (06) Equipment
  • (07) Retirement and Benefits (period entry pages only)
  • (08) Student Aid
  • (10) Capital Projects
  • (38) Unallocated
  • (25) Facilities and Administrative (period entry pages only)

There is also a Notes icon on the F&A tab. 

The notes icon will display an asterisk (*) to indicate that notes were added.

Budget notes icon with asterisk

Click on the icon to expand the notes box and view the text.

budget notes example

The Budget History section lists different versions of the budget with status, dates, and comments. The eGC1 History section displays if the budget is linked to an eGC1, showing the approval history.

Budget History

The Budget History table includes an entry for each status change and for any “timestamp” versions created, as shown in the following image.

History Tab

Budget Edit Numbers

Each time a budget change was saved, the Budget Edit Number incremented. So the first number shown includes all of the data saved from the creation setup steps.

Note: Only Budget Edit Numbers associated with key actions, such as a change to the status of the budget, display in the Budget History.

To see a read-only version of the budget at a specific point in time, click the corresponding Budget Edit Number in the table. The budget will open in a new window with a red “read-only” banner.  Use the Close Window link in the upper right to close this display.

Timestamps and Comments

The system automatically logs a comment in the Budget History for certain actions. Timestamps could also have been created manually, with optional comments.

Linked eGC1 History

If one (or more) periods of the SAGE budget is linked to an eGC1, the approvals history for each eGC1 will display below the Budget History. The section title is made up of the period description and the phrase “eGC1 History and Comments for” followed by the eGC1 number.

Select the section heading (eGC1 History and Comments) or the plus sign to expand the section. The history will include a Budget Edit Number for each entry, making it easy to see if the budget changed during the eGC1 approval process. The following image shows an example of this section.

e g c 1 history on budget

Select the View eGC1 link to display the eGC1 in a new window.

The F&A page displays the Facilities and Administrative (F&A) information for your budget.

Funding Details

The F&A rate, also referred to as “indirect cost,” is based on four criteria: sponsor, institutional activity category, location, and, if relevant, a specific funding mechanism. The following image shows an example of the Funding Details section. The fields are described below.

budget_fa_tab_funding_details_section_2

Field Description
Sponsor Name Since the sponsor, and the optional flow-through sponsor, is one of the criteria for calculating the F&A Rate, they are displayed here for reference.
Institutional Activity Category Displays the category selected for this budget.

  • Organized Research
  • Instruction
  • Other Sponsored Activities

See GIM 13: Activity Types for definitions.

Location Displays the location selected for this budget.

  • APL
  • Harborview Medical Center
  • Lake Union Campus
  • Off Campus
  • On Campus
Specific Funding Mechanism Displays one of the following options, if selected:

  • Industry Sponsored Clinical Trial
  • K and T Awards
  • Regional Primate Ctr – Core Grant
  • Regional Primate Ctr – Non-Core Grant
  • Regional Primate Ctr – Non-Federal Other
  • Research Vessels

Facility & Administrative Rates and Base

This section displays the Facilities and Administrative rate information for your budget.

F&A tab rates and base

Standard First Period F&A Rate

The rate is calculated based on the start date for your first budget period and the information in the Funding Details section (described above).

To see the rate applied to each period of your budget, click on the View F&A Rate for each period link. An example is shown in the following image.

standard F&A rate

For more information on F&A rates, see GIM 13 Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rates  and the Institutional Facts and Rates page.

Base Type

The Base Type is based on the information you provide in the Funding Details section. Possible Base Types include:

  • Salary and Wages (S&W)
  • Total Direct Cost (TDC)
  • Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC)
  • Total Direct Cost less Equipment & Tuition (TDC less E&T)
  • Custom: This is a preparer-defined budget category

Change the F&A Rate or Base Type?

No longer available.

Refresh Rate

No longer available.

Display Object Codes

Click the Show F&A object codes link to view the object codes included in your F&A Base.

F&A tab show objects codes

This section lists the Object Codes, and indicates which ones are included in the Facilities & Administrative Base by a green checkmark. Click on any object code description to display its sub-object codes.  Use the large, green plus (+) and minus (-) buttons to expand and contract all of the object codes.

Click on the Hide F&A object codes link at the bottom of the section to close it.

For more information, see GIM 23 Sponsored Program Costing Policy.

The Periods tab displays the budget’s period values.

Each period has a description, start date, and end date. The systems ensures that the dates are contiguous. This means the start date of the next period is the day after the end date of the preceding period. In other words, there are no gaps of time between periods.

The following image shows an example.

budget periods values

Changes cannot be made to a legacy budget.

Sub budgets may be included in any budget. Each type of sub budget serves a particular purpose.

Field Description
Internal UW Budget Since it inherits all of the parent budget’s UW business rules, benefit rates, and F&A settings, it can be used to break out budgets for separate UW departments, for example.
Fabrication Budget The data in this sub budget rolls up to a single line on the parent budget under the (06) Equipment category.
Subcontract Budget The data in this sub budget rolls up to a single line on the parent budget under the (03) Other Contractual Service category.

A subcontract sub budget can also support custom external F&A rates and external benefit rates.

The Sub Budgets tab lists all sub budgets associated with the parent budget.

Sub Budgets list

If there are existing sub budgets, the following information displays:

Field Description
Ref # The unique number assigned to the sub budget. Click it to display the budget’s worksheet.
Type Internal UW Budget, Fabrication Budget, or Subcontract Budget
Working Title The name of the sub budget.
Origin Describes the source of this sub budget – either created directly or imported (copied).

Delete link displays to the far right of each sub budget listed. Click the link to remove the sub budget from the parent budget.

Below the list are two links.

  • Add Sub Budget: Click this to create a new sub budget.
  • Import Existing Budget: Click this to search for and select an existing budget to be related to this parent budget. The imported budget will be added as an Internal UW type sub budget.

Another way to access a sub budget is through the list at the bottom of the parent worksheet.

sub_10

When viewing the worksheet for the main (parent) budget, or a sub budget, you will see a set of icons at the upper right of the sheet. They allow you to make adjustments to what you see on the worksheet, and to perform actions on the worksheet. The set of icons are shown in the following image, and are numbered left to right.

budget worksheet icons

The icons are:

  1. Full Screen Budget, and Close Full Screen Budget
  2. Show all sub-object budget lines, and Hide all sub-object budget lines
  3. Print Budget
  4. Export Budget to Excel
  5. Create a copy of this budget – this feature is no longer available.
  6. Delete this budget  – this feature is no longer available

Display Full Screen

These icons allow you to choose how you view the worksheet within the browser window.

budget icons with the open and close fullscreen icons circled

The “magnifier with plus” icon (to the left) allows you to expand the worksheet to fill the whole browser window, allowing you to see more of the sheet details, rather than the SAGE and budget tabs.

The “magnifier  with minus” icon (to the right) returns you to the standard view.  When you’re in full screen mode, you can also use the Close Full Screen link in the upper-left corner of the screen.

Show All Sub-Object Budget Lines

You can use these icons to fully expand all of the line items in your budget.

budget icons with the expand and contact icons circled

The “plus” icon expands the worksheet, and displays the sub-object lines you have already entered and the Add buttons for each section.

The “minus” icon contracts the worksheet back to displaying just the object code summary lines.

Print the Budget

This icon displays a printable copy of your budget.

budget icons with print circled

A new browser window will appear with the budget data formatted for printing.

The output includes two different formats of the data: the first is line-by-line for all periods; the second is to help you complete the SR 424 (R&R) Detailed Budget used in Grants.gov submissions.

Export the Budget to Excel

This icon exports your budget as an Excel spreadsheet.

budget icons with export circled

You will be prompted to open Excel.

The output includes two different formats of the data: the first is line-by-line for all periods; the second is to help you complete the SR 424 (R&R) Detailed Budget used in Grants.gov submissions.

Note: only the values export, not the formulas.

Worksheet Navigation Tabs

The budget worksheet displays line items and period totals for each budget line. The name of the budget and its reference number display above the worksheet navigation tabs.

budget worksheet navigation tabs

Tabs

  • Worksheet: Displays the Budget Worksheet page
  • Sub Budgets: Displays the Sub Budgets page
  • Properties: Displays the page with the Budget Properties, Global Attributes and Advanced Settings sections (step 1 of the budget creation wizard)
  • Periods: Displays the page with the Periods sections (step 2 of the creation wizard)
  • F&A: Displays the page with the Funding Details and F&A Rates and Base sections (step 3 of the creation wizard)
  • Assign Access: Displays the page with the Contacts and Access sections (step 4 of the creation wizard)
  • Targets & Limits: Displays the page with the Targets & Limits Settings; this tab only appears if you chose this option on the Properties page. It would be step 5 of the creation wizard.
  • History: Displays the page with the Budget History; if you linked an eGC1 to the budget, information about it would also appear here.

Worksheet Icons on the Action Bar

At the upper right area of the worksheet is a set of icons. Placing your mouse pointer over an icon will display its function. For full details on each of these icons, see the Worksheet Actions article.

Worksheet Details Overview

Click on any object code summary line to display any existing sub-object line items.

The column entry for one period, for a specific sub-object code line item, shows the total calculated in the item-entry screen(s). The column entry for one period, for an object code summary line, shows the total of all its sub-object code line items for that period. An entry in the “Summary ($)” column (at the far right), for an object code summary line, shows the total of all the periods for that line. At the bottom of the worksheet are column totals for several categories of costs.

In the Salary and Wages section, added personnel will have corresponding entries in the Retirement and Benefits section. Student Aid line items are automatically added when you add an individual to the Salaries and Wages section with a UW sub-object code of: 01-33, 01-34, 01-43, 01-44, 01-51 to 01-54, or 01-91 to 01-94. See Salary and Wages Introduction for more information on how to select individuals.

Worksheet Table Columns

budget worksheet table columns

Description column

This lists the budget lines, which are categorized into 11 summary sections, derived from actual UW Object Codes. Click on a summary line to display its sub-object codes, or hide them. The current object codes included are:

  • (01) Salaries and Wages
  • (02) Service Contracts
  • (03) Other Contractual Services
  • (04) Travel
  • (05) Supplies and Materials
  • (06) Equipment
  • (07) Retirement and Benefits
  • (08) Student Aid
  • (10) Capital Projects
  • (38) Unallocated
  • (19) APL

Note: SAGE Budget does not include all UW Object Codes.

See also: Salary and Wages Introduction and a list of all UW Object Codes.

Target Amount

This line displays only when you have the Targets and Limits feature enabled. It displays the target amount you have established for each period of your budget. This amount is not included in your budget totals.

Target Difference

This line displays only when you have the Targets & Limits feature enabled. The Target Difference is the difference between the target amount you have established for each period of your budget and your budget total. When your budget exceeds the target amount, the target difference displays in red text. When your budget is less than your target amount, the target difference displays in black text.

The Target Difference is not included in your budget totals.

Summary and period columns

The summary column values are the sum of all line items (sub-object codes) set up within the summary line’s section.

Each budget column represents one period. The periods are defined in step 2 of the setup.