Glossary of Terms

Letter that MSU receives when a grant has been funded that outlines the dates of the grant, the amount of the budget, and any specific terms/conditions/provisions of the grant.

The identifying number for a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement award, composed of seven parts
(e.g., H029A31234-01C):

1. Principal office designator (H)

2. CFDA numeric suffix of the program (029)

3. Alphabetic subprogram identifier (A)

4. Last digit of the fiscal year of the competition (3)

5. Unique application identifier (1234)

6. Fiscal year of the funding (01)

7. Sequential order of the most recent funding action in a
    Fiscal Year (C)

The first five parts remain the same throughout the life of the project period while the last two parts change by budget period.

An enterprise system that MSU uses to manage university business such as registering students for classes and paying faculty and staff.

CatBooks (AgBooks) was developed in-house to meet departmental needs for grant, project and program accounting. CatBooks is a secondary (or shadow) ledger that many departments on campus use in order to reconcile indices and provide customized encumbrances to stakeholders.

The Conflict of Interest (COI) policy is intended to enable employees to recognize potential conflicting interests and, thus, to protect themselves and the University from inappropriate influence or bias through disclosure, evaluation, and, if required, management or elimination of conflicts of interest.

Research Compliance

A portion of the project or program costs not borne by the federal government, and therefore covered by some other source. These can be faculty time, consultant time, instrument time, or other sources of funds from non-federal agencies.

Cost transfers occur when expenditures are moved from one externally sponsored project fund to another.  The administration of cost transfers is very important whenever federal or state funding is involved because expenditures may only be charged to a particular grant or contract if they can be specifically identified with the funded activity they benefit.

Department staff member/Fiscal Shared Services Representative who is responsible for estimates and projections for fiscal planning, ensures proper appointment and timely compensation to all employees, and initiates payment to vendors for goods and services received by the department.

A portion of funds which are reserved to cover specific budget items and will not be available for any other expense (i.e. salaries).

FMs are part of the Office of Sponsored Program staff and assist in the financial, reporting, compliance, auditing and related tasks for grants management.

A GRA is a graduate student who conducts research in a relevant area of their major course of study under the direction of a faculty member.  The research often forms the basis for a thesis or dissertation.

A cumulative budget report approved by the awarding sponsor of expenditures as the project progresses (the report includes encumbrances).

PIs can request access to Banner Inception-to-Date (ITD) reports.  ITD reports display balances and current activity on grant accounts from inception of grant. 

To request access to ITD reports, send your request to FAST@montana.edu.

These are your account numbers in Banner. Grants generally start with a number followed by a letter and then 4 numbers. These numbers can be used when charging allowable MSU services to the grant.

Indirect costs represent the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, project function or activity, but are necessary for the general operation of the organization and the conduct of activities it performs. The rate is negotiated with the federal government and is calculated by dividing the cost of doing business (infrastructure costs) by the research expenditures.

Indirect Cost Overview

MSU Indirect Cost Rates

Invoices are received from vendors and subawardees in order to receive payments from MSU.

Memo that is sent from OSP to the PIs and co-PIs when a grant is awarded, amended or closed. It outlines the key information around the grant and any requirements (i.e. training) or changes to the grant.

System used to request budget changes from OSP, no cost extensions and establishing pre-award fund/index numbers.

The Office of Research Development aims to catalyze innovative and impactful scholarship at Montana State University by increasing competitiveness for sponsored research, enhancing research capacities, and facilitating cultures of collaboration, inclusivity, and creativity.

OSP manages all functions related to sponsored programs at Montana State University or any activity, research or otherwise, that is funded by an external source such as federal, state, or private organization.

The person who coordinates the process by which the grant proposals are evaluated and awarded. This is a Project Director at the NSF and a Scientist Administrator or Program Officer at NIH. Foundations also often have a Program Contact.

Predicting expenditures for a certain amount of time based on past trends or future expectations.

RCR is defined as the practice of scientific investigation with integrity and involves the awareness and application of established norms and ethical principles in the performance of all activities related to scientific research.

A researcher profile system for all individuals who apply for, receive, or are associated with research investments from federal agencies. SciENcv is available in My NCBI. It helps you create online professional profiles that are stored and can be share with others. My NCBI users can create biographical sketch formats, for the NIH, NSF, IES. In addition, the SciENcv application can be used to create the official NSF Current and Pending Support document.

Grants and awards provided by the prime recipient to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal award. Subawards are typically subject to the terms and conditions of the prime award. MSU maintains policies on subawards that must be adhered to.

Federal law requires documentation of all time being spent on grant funded projects that involve federal dollars. Through its web-based Time and Effort (T&E) reporting process, Montana State University accounts for the distribution of effort by employees involved in grant activities.  All individuals who devote effort to grants or contracts, whether they receive pay or not, are subject to effort reporting.