Skip to main content

State-Operated Campuses

Question:
I don’t deal with finances or purchasing very often.  What do I need to know about IITG funds?

Answer:
The University-wide funding that supports the Innovative Instruction & Technology grants is a line item in the New York State budget and is backed by NYS tax dollars.  This grant funding is NOT associated with the Research Foundation. Because there are differences in the way funding works at state-operated campuses and community colleges, information below only applies to state-operated campuses. Community college finance and purchasing information can be found here. If a campus office you are dealing with has questions about the IITG funding, sharing a copy of this FAQ with the office might be helpful.

  • IITG funding is subject to NYS finance law.
  • Policies and procedures in place at your campus for other state or university-wide funding apply to the IITG funding; e.g., Human Resource policies and procedures for personnel actions, and purchasing/procurement policies and procedures for purchases, contracts and travel.
  • This funding is NOT subject to OVERHEAD charges, i.e., fringe benefits, administrative or maintenance/operations.
  • IITG awards are funded on a fiscal-year basis. The SUNY fiscal year begins on July 1st and ends the following June 30th.  As a result, all ‘services’ associated with the grant have to be completed by June 30th.  ‘Services’ include things like personnel time being charged to the grant, travel, subscriptions and work being performed by a vendor.  All orders for supplies, software, hardware or other durable goods must be PLACED by the last date allowed by your campus OR June 30th, whichever comes first.  If you place an order late in the fiscal year (May or June), check with your campus purchasing office to confirm the date by which the goods need to be received and paid.
  • Each IITG award is assigned a state account number which is fully accessible to your campus for processing the items in the IITG budget, provided the item is considered an allowable expense based on campus policy.
  • The PI has ‘signature authority’ on the state account number assigned to the award; therefore, the PI’s signature is required on any request to spend against the account, e.g., a personnel request submitted to your campus HR office or a purchase requisition, travel reimbursement or other purchase request  submitted to your campus purchasing office.
  • As soon as an account number is assigned to your IITG award, it will be sent to you and these campus officials:  Business Officer, Budget Officer, Human Resources Officer and Purchasing Director.
  • Although the actual IITG university-wide funding (allocation) may not appear in the IITG account for your project until late summer/early fall, this university-wide account is set up so that the PI can begin spending against it on July 1st which is the first day of the fiscal year.  As long as you stay within the approved award budget, you shouldn’t run into any problem.

Question:
If the grant includes a cross-campus collaboration amongst state-operated campuses, what is the procedure for compensation?

Answer:

  • Full-time employees who work at a state-operated campus being paid extra service for working on an IITG grant in a role that is outside or beyond their regular obligation shall be paid such extra service at the employee’s home campus rather than being hired at the campus where the grant is being administered. This procedure will eliminate the paperwork that is involved in processing a new hire and will also allow campuses to better track and monitor extra service limitations in accordance with the SUNY Extra Service Policy.
    • All payments must be processed in compliance with the SUNY Extra Service Policy and any campus specific Extra Service Policies.
    • The UP-8 or UP-6 Forms must be completed, and all appropriate approvals received, in advance of the start of the work.
    • Any additional internal campus policies and procedures of the employee’s home campus for extra service must be followed, including any additional internal forms. This would be the responsibility of the employee performing the work and/or the department granting approval.
    • The employee’s home campus must be provided with supporting documentation that will prove that the work has been completed. This is typically in the form of an Extra Service; however a document stating the times of work outside the professional obligation (including beginning and end dates) completed and signed by the Project Director and the employee will be acceptable.
    • All paperwork must be completed and provided to the Payroll Director at the employee’s home campus by the employee or department in a timely manner. Any payments that are being processed for payment retroactive more than 3 months must have a documented letter of justification to support the delay in processing.
    • The employee’s home campus will process the extra service payment for the work done on a System-wide grant.
  • Part-time employees who work at a state-operated campus working on an IITG grant should also be compensated at the employee’s home campus rather than being hired at the campus where the grant is being administered. The compensation procedures should be based on the current home campus practice for additional assignments/compensation for part-time employees.
  • REIMBURSEMENT to home campus:
    • The home campus will then be reimbursed in the form of a journal transfer. The Project Director will fill in the project/grant account information on the Journal Transfer Form and will send it to the employee or supervisor at the home campus. The home campus completes the form with their account information where the employee’s payroll expenditures are being charged. The completed journal transfer form will be sent to IITGrants@suny.edu for processing the reimbursement to the employee’s home campus.