Tips: November 10, 2017

SPARCS Tips

The following are some tips on using SPARCS to expedite the review and submission of your proposals:

• Select Yes to the Cost Share Question on the Budget Characteristics smartform to get SPARCS to generate the Cost Share budget.
  • Make sure the salary cap (if it does not default based on the sponsor) is entered on the Personnel Cost Grid smartform or enter the correct Effort and Salary Requested is using effort cost sharing.
  • Personnel Grid smartform is not editable on the Cost Share budget, except for Cost Share Type. The cost share type of N/A - to be used for only $0 cost share should be used in cases where only general costs are being cost shared.
• The Export question on Compliance Review smartform must be answered as Yes if Foreign Travel is selected on the budget. A validation error is thrown on the Submit for Department Review activity otherwise. 

We also want to reiterate the following items:

• Ensure the type of effort included in the sponsor budget and budget justification is consistent with what was entered in SPARCS. If summer support is suggested, the summer salary and summer effort should be used in SPARCS.
• Enter the base salary and associated effort for proposal personnel in order to calculate what is charged to the sponsor. For example, if a student's CY stipend amount is $29,000 at 50% effort (6 months), enter in $29,000 as the base salary and 50% effort rather than $14,500 at 100% effort.