Improving the Sponsored Research Budget Development Workbook

Natalie Baronian | Project CoordinatorLos Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA

Project Overview

Objective: Modify and improve the current Sponsored Research Budget Development Workbook to improve ease and efficiency for Department Administrators and Grants and Contracts Officers for both NIH and Sponsored Research

Identifying a problem, taking the initiative,

and volunteering to take the

lead

Developing a plan,

recruiting volunteers,

and generating enthusiasm for a more

effective and efficient tool

Challenging the

established process,

challenging myself to

learn advanced

skills

Don’t like what you see? Join

the “Budget Panel”... make a

difference!

Generate a sense of

ownership… better

budgets = funding = hooray!

Using the5 Practices of Successful Leadership

So, what’s the problem?1. Current workbook is completed Year by Year (eg. Fill in

contents for Year 1, then Year 2, then Year 3, etc.), rather than completed as “Summary” document, which feeds in information for each year in independent worksheets

2. Working with other departments on campus, noticed that they don’t use the workbook provided

3. As of July 1, 2014, LA BioMed Indirect Cost base changed from Salaries and Wages to Modified Total Direct Cost Base

Challenges

• Mandating use of workbook campus-wide to encourage consistency and uniformity

• Who is my audience – Research Administrators or PI’s? At LA BioMed BOTH will use this workbook!

• Someone may ask me to add a function that I wouldn’t technically know how to do – EEK!

Action PlanAssess Needs (June 2014)

• Talk to other department research administrators on campus -

• How does research administration and accounting use workbooks for account set-up and post-award management -

Create Draft Workbook (July – October 2014)

• Present to research administration - • Present to department research administrators – Next!• Recruit for “Budget Panel”

Action Plan• Pilot Test (November 2014)

• Internal Department• Send to outside institution for feedback• Obtain feedback, resolve errors/bugs

• Implementation and Roll-out (January 2015)• Provide training sessions• Create manual/instructional video for

intranet• Set up intranet link to accept

suggestions/provide feedback/report errors• “Budget Panel” to meet once a year, review

suggestions, and implement changes

How the 5 Practices of Successful Leadership Helped Me With This Project

• Modeling the Way

• Inspiring a Shared Vision

• Challenging the Process

• Enabling Others to Act

• Encouraging the Heart

Commitment to the Lead ME Program

• Use the 5 Practices of Successful Leadership in all aspects of life

• A future MINT or MENTOR to the Lead ME Program

Natalie Baronian | nbaronian@labiomed.org Project Coordinator | Institute for Translational Genomics & Population Sciences

Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA

A Specialto my Mentor, Matt Kirk… to Derick Jones, my fellow mentees,and all the amazing mentors!

Questions?