Quick Facts for Health Science Center Faculty

What you need to know about Space for Faculty

1. Space reporting is for the entire Fiscal Year that the system is open. When allocating you will allocate for the entire year of that room’s usage. (July 1 – June 30). The question you should ask yourself is “How was my space used for that year?” It is expected that some allocations should change each year.
2. Space is a major factor in the Indirect Cost Allocation.
3. Review your rooms. Did your space change from last year? i.e. you have a new room, a room that has been removed, or renovated.
4. The major allocation categories that you will use to do a reasonable estimate are:
   • Department Administration – for administrative activities for your department
   • Practice Plan Administration – Administrative effort to schedule, review patient charts, or other administrative activity related to clinical practice.
   • Research
     • Organized Research (OR) ‐ Research & Development Activities using funds from Sponsored Program Awards – State, Federal and Private Industry.
     • Departmental Research (DR) ‐ Research & Development Activities using funding that is not through the Division of Sponsored Research. Includes Indirect Costs, Incidentals, Royalties, or Residuals. Development of bid and proposal for new, unfunded research activities.
     • Your space certifier will assist with this distinction between the research categories. You will only need to know if there is “research” in your space.
   • Other Sponsored Activities ‐ Sponsored projects that are not Organized Research or Sponsored Instruction.
   • Patient Care – Health care delivery and treatment rooms not related to research
   • Instruction ‐ Space used for all teaching, training, and instructional activities, whether offered for credit toward a degree, certificate or a non‐credit basis. Also, if a student has a desk in research space a small amount of instruction is expected.
   • Other Institutional Activities ‐ Use this category to report space used for all activities of an institution that are not specifically assigned to other categories. Includes space used by break areas and visiting researchers.
   • Vacant Categories –
     • Vacant – use for space that is closed, entirely unused, or empty due to normal vacancies such as open positions.
     • Under Renovation – use for space that was vacant while construction work was taking place.
     • Vacant-COVID – use this category for space that is vacant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unused space that does not have equipment that is still in use in the space.
5. Avoid common splits unless they are justified. For example, if you have research lab space and they are all coded 90% OR and 10% DR, it will be viewed as if no review of the space has actually been done.
6. The research lab service is often times coded the same as the research lab.
7. An occupant should only be listed if they spend a significant amount of time in the space (at least a month overall during an entire fiscal year).
8. A student that is working on research in your lab should be listed as an occupant, if they spend a significant amount of time in that space.
9. If you have a visiting researcher, they should be listed as an occupant if they spend a significant amount of time in your space.
10. Be sure to look for items like sofas, bicycles, empty boxes, old equipment that is not in use, and kitchen areas. If they take up an amount of space, there should be a percentage of that room to Other Institutional Activities (OIA).
11. If you have projects that have been awarded to you from Sponsored Programs, identify the rooms for those projects.

Who Do I Contact for Questions?

Your Department Space Certifier

Last Reviewed

Last reviewed on 06/28/2024

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