GRS and OSUF - Access

Issue/Question

Environment

  • Oregon State University
  • Grant Reporting System (GRS)
    • In the past this system was called the Grant Reporting and Reimbursement System (GRRS). People still some times use the GRRS acronym for GRS.
  • OSU Finance (OSUF)
    • Reimbursement System
    • Direct Payment System
    • FS Index Reimbursement System
    • Scholarship System

Explanation

Grant Reporting System (GRS)

The Grant Reporting System (GRS) provides a summary of an index's budget, encumbrances, income and spending and a detailed view of transactions on the index. It is primarily intended for Principle Investigators (PIs) and Co-Principle Investigators (Co-PIs) to access summaries of their research grant budgets. Other people with access to GRS are:

  • Financial Service Center Managers
    • These people usually have the job title of Financial Strategic Partner, though people in other roles in the Controller's Unit may head up a financial services center.
  • Financial Coordinators
  • Leadership in the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)
  • Principle Investigators (PIs) and Co-Principle Investigators (Co-PIs)
  • Accountants
  • Unit Managers
  • Research Assistants
  • Grant Accountants and Managers

Note: Except for PIs and Co-PIs, people lose their access in GRS if the first two digits of their Home Org changes. This usually happens when people move between units while changing jobs (e.g. going from being an accountant in a financial service center to a grant technician in a college). When people change jobs they must reapply for access in GRS.

People do not need to reapply for access if:

  • Their position is moved between orgs as part of a reorg
  • They have taken a new position, but will continue performing duties for their old position. People will need to apply for any access they need for their new position.

If this applies to you contact DFA IT and they can have your former access restored.

Access to GRS and access to financial elements in GRS (orgs, indexes, scholarship detail codes) are controlled seperately. Access to GRS is managed by Access and Identity. Access to financial elements in GRS is managed by the Business Center's managers and FAMs.

OSUF (Direct Payment, Reimbursement System, FS Index Reimbursement, Scholarship System)

OSUF is a suite of tools for managing the transfer of money between OSU and the OSU Foundation. This is usually the Foundation reimbursing units in the University for expenses they can charge to a Foundation fund such as scholarships, project funds and certain operating expenses. People with access to OSUF include:

  • Accountants
  • Scholarship Administrators
  • Office Managers and Assistants
  • Budget Authorities (Signers)

Access to the OSUF systems is automatically granted when someone has access to GRS. People must be assigned to the indexes and scholarship detail codes they are responsible for by their Financial Services Center (FSC) before they can submit requests in the system.

GRS and OSUF roles and the access they have

When someone is given access to GRS or OSUF they are assigned to roles that determines what functionality in these tools they can use. See the table below for the roles and what they can do in GRS and OSUF. The roles people can have are:

  • Accountant – May access detailed transaction data, including account numbers and non-aggregate Other Payroll Expense data; may use the Non-FIS Encumbrance feature to add transactions visible only in GRRS; may use the PI Email feature to send grant summary data to PIs; may create Index Reimbursement Requests; may create Signer Requests; and may view images of receipts. Intended for OSU personnel with titles like Accountant, Administrative Assistant, Bookkeeper, Finance Coordinator, or Office Specialist.
  • Business Manager – Have the same rights as the GRRS Accountant, and may assign Indexes, ORGs, and Scholarship Detail Codes to other users. This is usually assigned to the financial service center managers. This role is also assigned to leadership in DFA and to the leadership in the Scholarship Office.
  • Deputy Business Manager – Have the same rights as the GRS Business Manager and Accountants. They inherit the people and FOAPAL elements they can assign access to  from their Business Manager. A business manager can restrict the FOAPAL elements a Deputy Business Manager has access to through. People in the business manager role determine who their deputies are.
  • PI & Co-PI – May access a summary of the budgets, encumbrances and expenses for the grant indexes they are assigned to. This is intended to allow PIs and Co-PIs to manage the budgets for their grant indexes.
  • Research Assistant – May access limited transaction data and aggregate Other Payroll Expense data; and may view images of receipts. Intended for OSU personnel with titles like Faculty Research Assistant, Grant Manager and Graduate Research Assistant.
  • Scholarship Admin – May access the Foundation Reimbursement and Scholarship modules of GRS in order to administer FS Index Foundation Reimbursement Requests and Scholarship awards and approvals; and may access these features: Manage Scholarship Plan, Create Detail Code Request, Manage Detail Code X-Walk, Create Signer Request.
  • Signer – May approve reimbursement requests to the Foundation. Must not be the same as the person submitting the reimbursement request.
  • Unit Manager – May view Fund- and ORG-level summary reports; may access detailed transaction data, including account numbers and non-aggregate Other Payroll Expense data; and may view images of receipts. Intended for deans, department heads, and other executive-level positions.

 

Resolution

Access for PIs and Co-PIs

PIs and Co-PIs are automatically granted access to the grant indexes they are assigned to.

Note: Grants are assigned to PIs and Co-PIs by the Office of Post Award Administration in Banner. It takes a day after the PI or Co-PI is assigned to the grant for it to show up in GRS for them. This is because the data from Banner is updated in a nightly load process.

Access for other users

For other GRS and OSUF users:

  1. Fill out the Request for Access form at: https://beav.es/banneraccess
    1. The form PDF is in the right hand side bar
  2. Under the section for GRRS they will want to select your role. 
  3. Put the indexes, orgs or scholarship detail codes you need access to in the Other Notes Sectionscreenshot of form

Note: If you do not see your role listed select Research Assistant and put down the indexes they want access to in the "Other Notes" section. Research Assistant is a general role in GRS that has the same view as PIs and Co-PIs, but indexes have to be assigned them.

Note: By default, a user with the Grant Accountant or Deputy Business Managers role may access Indexes under the same ORGs as the Business Manager to which he or she is assigned. If you do not want the Grant Accountant or Deputy Business Manager to have access to all Indexes under the Business Manager’s ORG, you may provide a list of authorized ORGs. ORGs must be limited to the Business Manger’s ORG. For example, if the Business Manger ORG range is 21%, the Accountant or Deputy Business Manager cannot be assigned 21%, 50140, 22%.

Note: The Scholarship Admin role must be assigned the ORGs that correspond to the Detail Code Index Assignment.

Access to indexes, scholarship detail codes and orgs

If someone needs access to a financial element in GRS or OSUF (index, scholarship detail codes, orgs), but already has access to GRS they do not need to re-submit the access request form. Instead they can ask their business center to add this element to their GRS account. This can be done by the business center FAMs or business center manager.

To check this log in using the link at: https://iar.oregonstate.edu/decision-support/grant-reporting-system-grs:

  • If they receive an error message this means they are not active in GRS and need to submit the Request for Access from at: https://beav.es/banneraccess.

Note: People must be using the OSU VPN to access GRS and OSUF from off campus. If they are off campus and not connected to the OSU VPN they will receive an error message even if they do have access to GRS.
  • If they can log in they will need to ask their business center to add the financial element to their record.

Note: The home page for GRS displays a list of the indexes a person has access to. Have the person check here if they are missing an index to make sure they do not already have access to the index.

Overview of GRS (Video)

 

Assistance

For assistance, contact the UIT Data Team

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GRS & OSUF - Managing roles, index, org and scholarship detail code access
Article on how business center managers and FAMs can manage the indexes, orgs and scholarship detail codes assigned to people in GRS. This effects people's access in the OSUF systems too.