Project Launch

Understand the Award and Requirements

In order to launch a research project at Case Western Reserve University, it’s important to verify and understand the sponsor award and requirements, as well as the CWRU internal notice of award (NOA). This first step helps ensure the management of a sponsored project is in compliance with sponsor requirements, regulations and CWRU guidelines and policies.

Sponsor Requirements

Each sponsor has their own policies and procedures that apply when we receive an award. Sponsors may include restrictions or milestones that must be met soon after the award is received.

Sponsor requirements are found in:

• The specific funding opportunity
• The award terms and conditions
• The sponsor’s overarching guidance or policies related to grant funding, such as:
  • National Institutes of Health Grants Policy Statement
  • National Science Foundation Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide
• Federal regulations 2 CFR Part 200
• The sponsor website

CWRU Internal Notice of Award (NOA)

The CWRU NOA provides summary information for each award. It’s important to confirm that the NOA matches the Sponsor Notice of Award and/or executed agreement, because information in the NOA is used to set up the award in PeopleSoft, the financial management system. 

The CWRU NOA provides the following information about an award: 

• the speedtype,
• the project's start and end dates, 
• the department name and number in which the project will be administered,
• the project's title, 
• the project's sponsor, 
• the sponsor's number, 
• the project type (e.g., research, training, or special), 
• the fringe rate, 
• Facilities and administrative (F&A) rate, 
• F&A base, 
• method of payment (billing code), 
• a primary/parent project (if applicable), 
• the previous speedtype (if applicable), 
• a line item budget by expense account and mandatory cost sharing (if required). 

The comment section of the NOA may contain information on restrictions, requirements and special conditions that may apply to the award. 

More specific information regarding reviewing a NOA is available on the Office of Research Administration RADAR Training.

For questions regarding the internal NOA, contact:

Project Launch

Once CWRU has accepted an award, and the CWRU NOA has been sent to the PI and Research Administrator several tasks need to be completed to ensure smooth operations of the award.

Project Launch Steps 

1. Allocate salaries in HCM for all faculty, staff, postdocs and students who have effort on the project in accordance with the submitted budget. 
2. Set up Shadow System to monitor and forecast project expenses. A sample shadow system is available on the RADAR Canvas site.  
3. Work with your school to draft job descriptions, post positions and hire staff. Please note that while an award is being accepted, you are encouraged to draft job descriptions and post positions. 
4. Identify the risk level of subrecipients as needed to ensure that invoices from subrecipients will be submitted in accordance with the level of risk for the subrecipient.