Understanding IFR Process and Workflow at SUNY Upstate Medical University

InfoReady InfoReady IFR Process IFR Process (Starting 3/1/25)

Index What is an IFR? IFR Process Workflow IFR Approval Process Requesting an IFR IFR Revisions Graduate Student IFRs Table of Contents

What is an IFR? Research Foundation income fund reimbursable (IFR) appointments are a means by which departments and units charge grant awards for the salary and fringe benefits of SUNY Upstate state employees who are devoting compensated effort to the grant. The IFR occurs when a portion of a state employee's/ faculty member's time is being dedicated for research- related purposes on grant research. In such instances, the employee s total salary remains on a state-funded line, and his/her research-related effort is reimbursed from a research (RF) account. Reimbursement is processed by direct payment monthly; partially into a Departmental Development Fund (DDF) account, and a Faculty Developmental Fund (FDF) account. The DDF and FDF accounts provide a resource for department and Faculty research development through such uses as personnel appointments, supplies, equipment, or miscellaneous other expenses following state procurement rules. What is an IFR?

IFR Process Workflow

Awards with committed effort and/or budgeted IFR salary Awards with committed effort and/or budgeted IFR salary will have IFRs initiated in InfoReady by the Post Award team, then sent to the PI for review and approval. *In order to preserve the funds for IFRs, the grant *In order to preserve the funds for IFRs, the grant will be charged if approval is not received within will be charged if approval is not received within thirty (30) days from the date the IFR initiation in thirty (30) days from the date the IFR initiation in InfoReady. InfoReady. **For any unbudgeted cost sharing, this notification will also be sent to the Department Chair Department Chair of the personnel with cost sharing for department approval. Clicking the link to view will Clicking the link to view will bring you to bring you to InfoReady InfoReady for Reviewing your IFR details Reviewing your IFR details for IFR Approval Process

Click on Upstate Medical Click on Upstate Medical University button for University button for logging in logging in

IFR Details can be viewed in IFR Details can be viewed in PDF form for review and/or PDF form for review and/or printed for records as needed printed for records as needed IFR Details can also be viewed IFR Details can also be viewed for review using the dropdown for review using the dropdown If all IFR details are correct, select I approve notification to the administrator that your IFR has been approved and is ready for processing. I approve. This will send a If changes are needed or the IFR is being cancelled, select I do not approve not approve. This will bring up a field for explanation: if the IFR is being cancelled an explanation is needed. This information will be used to either revise IFR calculations or cancel the request. I do

IFR Completion Once IFRs have been processed in the RF financial Once IFRs have been processed in the RF financial system, the status of the request in your InfoReady system, the status of the request in your InfoReady dashboard will update. dashboard will update. A notification will be sent out to the PI that the IFR is A notification will be sent out to the PI that the IFR is complete, with a Dollar Amount for direct IFR salary complete, with a Dollar Amount for direct IFR salary expense for the requested time period. expense for the requested time period. (Please note that this amount will not include fringe, the fringe amount is auto calculated and included by the RF financial system).

Dashboard View Click on the Applications tab to Click on the Applications tab to view the status of all IFR requests view the status of all IFR requests All current and historical IFR requests can viewed by clicking on the IFR All current and historical IFR requests can viewed by clicking on the IFR identifier and scrolling down to view fields, or clicking on the PDF option identifier and scrolling down to view fields, or clicking on the PDF option

Requesting IFR Salary/Effort For awards without budgeted IFR salary Login to the Login to the InfoReady https://upstate.infoready4.com/ InfoReady Portal at Portal at Select the option Select the option for IFR Forms for IFR Forms Requesting an IFR

Click on Upstate Medical Click on Upstate Medical University button for University button for logging in logging in

Once an IFR request has been initiated Once an IFR request has been initiated scroll down below the dashboard to enter all IFR details. below the dashboard to enter all IFR details. scroll down Please note that the IFR Please note that the IFR Request The system retains all historical requests on the dashboard, so you want to as specific as possible so that each request is easily distinguishable. RequestTitle is especially important. Title is especially important. *All bulleted fields will need to be entered to complete your IFR request There are explanations within InfoReady on what each field should represent.

Each IFR request will be based on a Each IFR request will be based on a budgeted IFR dollar amount budgeted IFR dollar amount (or) effort percent. percent. (or) effort Corresponding IFR salary or Effort for that percentage for this request will be calculated by Post Award and included in the IFR details to be reviewed by the PI for approval. Based on which option you choose different fields will be prompted. *After hitting Next, you will need to select Add New Add New Amount Effort

*For any requests involving committed effort higher than the budgeted salary allows for, Cost Sharing would be needed. committed effort *This will generate a prompt for the *This will generate a prompt for the Total Committed Effort The Post Award admin will calculate the percentage of Cost Sharing needed to make up any difference. Total Committed Effort amount needed. amount needed. Once all necessary fields are Once all necessary fields are completed, select preview to completed, select preview to check all IFR details. check all IFR details.

After all details have been reviewed for After all details have been reviewed for accuracy, you can click on the Submit accuracy, you can click on the Submit button. button. *your request can also be saved as a draft at any point This will trigger an email to the Post Award admin that a new IFR has been requested. This IFR will be added to the dashboard and the IFR status will continure to update as additional action is taken within the system.

Requesting an IFR Revision Requesting an IFR Revision For IFR Salary that has already been processed/charged to an award Select the Apply Again button to start any IFR or revision request For IFR revisions, use the For IFR revisions, use the Select application of the IFR request you will be revising. of the IFR request you will be revising. Select application dropdown to choose the title dropdown to choose the title This will copy over all details from the original request, and the IFR Salary Dollar Amount or Effort Percent can be modified for the adjustment needed IFR Revisions

All fields will be prefilled based on the original IFR request, be sure to modify the Details as needed. . *For the IFR Title, please *For the IFR Title, please name as a name as a Revision Revision. . *This will make your most recent requests easily identifiable within the InfoReady Dashboard and prevent any confusion with duplicates. Dashboard

IFR Revision Completion All revision requests will go through the same process as the All revision requests will go through the same process as the original IFR. original IFR. Post Award will review the request and make calculations for the IFR adjustment. This will then be sent back to the PI for approval, and then the adjustment will be processed in the RF Financial System and the PI will be notified once complete.

*Please note that at this time Graduate Students should not be included in InfoReady IFR Please note that at this time Graduate Students should not be included in InfoReady IFR requests requests. The process for Graduate Student requests will still need to be initiated by departmental memo to HR, State Accounting, and Post Award for stipend changes and IFR coverage. Graduate Student IFRs