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Sponsored Projects Administration

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) supports UGA’s mission by facilitating externally funded research, public service, instruction and cooperative extension activities. At UGA, the Sponsored Projects Administration comprises of Pre-Award and Post-Award Accounting staff in one unified department. SPA also collaborates with faculty and administrative support including DLSA’s, grants coordinators, accountants and business managers to ensure funding is obtained and maintained consistent with the expectations of the sponsor.

The SPA team is an active partner available to address inquires throughout the award lifecycle, working with administrators across campus to automate and streamline processes that help the UGA community. Examples include:

  • UGA shifted from monthly effort certifications to annual Project Payroll Certifications resulting in a 90% reduction in certifications and a savings of thousands of hours.
  • UGA deployed the Project Status Report, providing investigators a streamlined, user-friendly financial status report for each project.

Based upon recent feedback, SPA also has implemented these improvements:

  • SPA is now divided into teams performing specific tasks and assigned by sponsor, allowing team members to specialize their experience.
  • The SPA Rules of Engagement tool was developed to provide consistent customer service, focusing on response times, effective communication, portfolio management, follow up, escalation processes and timelines.
  • SPA has developed award set up, contracting, and invoicing dashboards to aid in transparency, workload management, balanced distribution and training.

SPA has identified and prioritized additional improvements to come. In the interim, please share any ideas, questions or concerns with Jill Tincher, Executive Director.