Tips: March 31, 2020

SPARCS Tips: Proposals

• Annualize the Base Salary: Due to the potential for multiple calculations for multiple scenarios the SPARCS and Proposals team have together determined that one standard calculation should be used to calculate the SPARCS base salary. SPARCS works best when using the Annualize base salary. The formula is as follows:
                      Salary / Months in CMU Appointment * 12 months = Annualized Salary
  ex: Assume that your PI has a $90,000 Academic appointment with CMU. Your calculation would then be: $90,000 / 9 * 12 = $120,000, and you would use $120,000 as your Base Salary in SPARCS.
  Note: A $90,000 salary with a calendar appointment would not require an additional calculation
  
  

• Effort: In addition to annualizing the base salary, effort needs to be calculated based on the total of months that are in the specified budget period. The formula to calculate this is:
                      Months Devoted / Months in Budget Period 
  ex: Assume that the budget period is January 1st – June 30th (six months) with 1 month of effort being devoted. Your calculation would be 1 / 6 = 16.67% (effort)
  Note: The same 1 month devoted in a 12-month budget period would be 8.33%
  
  

• Application Due Date: The application due date that should be listed on a SPARCS Funding Proposal is the date that it is due to the DIRECT sponsor.
  So if you have subaward documents that need to be to Pitt by May 30th for an NIH submission due on June 5th, please enter May 30th as the application due date.