1. Post Award Operations at Partners HealthCare Research Management NCURA Region I RADG Meeting December 3, 2015

2. 2 Research Management is the central research administration office for all Partners hospitals including:  Massachusetts General Hospital  Brigham and Women’s Hospital  McLean Hospital  Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Research Management teams include:  Pre-Award  Post-Award  Research Finance  Other: Training, Analytics, Cores, Research Applications What is Partners?

3. 3 Structure  Corporate Director  7 Managers  30 Grant Administrators  8 Agreement Associates  4 Contracts Administrators  3 Grants and Contracts Analysts Responsible for 19+ distinct transactions Over 15,000 individual transactions processed in FY15 Post Award Team

4. Post-Award Transactions Does not include Prior Approval Requests and Salary Changes (approx. 4,000 annually)

5. 5 Tracking a wide variety of transactions Increasing volume Increasing complexity of non-DHHS diverse sponsors Knowing where to focus our compliance efforts Post-Award Challenges

6. Partners Research Revenue Trends by Sponsor Type

7. How do we do more with less time and resources? 1)Make the same data accessible to both central and department 2)Institute pending worklist tracking and standard turnaround time expectations 3)Create targeted financial metrics report Use of reporting tools promotes our goals and values: Transparency Efficiency Accountability Service 7 Reporting Tools

8. Each transaction is tracked with various statuses and responsible party  E.g. Subcontract Agreement Out:  Requested [Initiate status]  Pending Docs from DA/PI  Pending DA/PI Appvl  Assigned  Partially Executed  In Negotiation  Fully Executed [Complete status]  E.g. Award Renewal/Revision:  Pending*  Received [Initiate status]  Pending Post GA  Pending DA/PI  Pending Sponsor  Complete [Complete status] Status is transparent to the central office and department-specific PI/DA Allows follow up on items not yet received* 8 Data Accessible to Central and Departments

9. Data Sample: Subcontract Agreement Out

10. Data is compiled on a pending worklist that can be run at any time Organizational tool to combat high volume Gives ability to focus on at risk items Worklist buckets transaction based on days pending:  On Track  At Risk  Target Missed Each transaction has a defined turnaround time goal  E.g. New award setup goal is 21 days  0-14 days = On Track  14-21 = At Risk  +21 = Target Missed 10 Pending Worklist and Turnaround Times

11. 11 Sample Worklist

12. List is run monthly by Post GA portfolio Highlights true risk areas Post-Award GA follows up with appropriate parties (department/sponsor/Finance) to create an action plan Fund monitoring important than ever with DHHS’ implementation of Subaccounts 12 Targeted At Risk Financial Reporting

13. Advance funds: over 90 days again with 25% of anticipated annual budget spent Underspending: 25% or more under budget in last quarter of the budget period Accelerated spending: overspent 25% or more into next budget period’s anticipated budget Renewal delays:  50K+ cash deficit; no renewal received/processed  Renewal not received 90+ days into the next budget period Cash deficits: 50K+ cash deficit in last year of project period 13 Financial Reporting: Risk Areas to Focus On

14. How do you get these tools to your institution: Ask- you never know what your institution or certain people can do Tell your leaders to invest now to save future resources Use Excel to track and build turnaround and financial risk formulas Use SharePoint, Access, etc. to build a shared database Tips to designing your own tracking tools: Focus on true risk areas- don’t let the little things monopolize your time Create conclusive formulas for defining risk- have less debates and spend more time doing work! Set standards for turnaround times and fiscal health- you need to objectively gauge how well you and your organization are doing 14 Takeaways

15. 15 Thank You Stephanie Stone, JD Manager, Post-Award sestone@partners.org http://navigator.partners.org/