Research Service Centers :

1. Research Service Centers: Presented by: Bob Cornwall Beverly Lipski Debbie Meder ACOR Retreat 2013

2. Agenda • USER FACILITIES MANAGEMENT • Building and Managing Rates • Billing and RIMS • LABOR in RATES • ARSO and USER AGREEMENTS You decide which is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

3. Agenda • USER FACILITIES MANAGEMENT • Building and Managing Rates • Billing and RIMS • LABOR in RATES • ARSO and USER AGREEMENTS

4. User Facilities Management • Department/university/external customers • Rate - simple to complex • Straight, tiered, preferred hours, volume discounts? • Guiding principals • Break even or subsidized • Faculty led/staff managed • Special deals? • Capitalize equipment? • Tools to manage the process - many • Reservations, management, billing, safety, equipment lockouts, financial reporting tool

5. Building & Managing Rates • Consistency • 3 tiers – Commercial, direct cost, subsidized • Users – open to all or only staff • One-step versus multi-step processes • Problems • Billing errors, equipment problems, operator error • Write-offs, no charges – what do you do • He who screams the loudest • Processing costs

6. Billing • Internal • Get budget data up front • Collecting $ from faculty accounts? • Who gets internal rates • External - Billing and collection costs • Who takes responsibility • Can you build cost of collection into rates • Can you charge a surcharge for slow payers • Who is responsible if they don’t pay

7. Research Instrumentation Management System (RIMS) • Users – VPR user facilities • MRI – MCL and Nanofab • Huck Institute for Life Sciences • PSIEE - LIME and Stopped Flow • Can others use it?

8. Agenda • USER FACILITIES MANAGEMENT • Building and Managing Rates • Billing and RIMS • LABOR in RATES • ARSO and USER AGREEMENTS

9. Labor - Direct • Generally associates with activity base • May have situations where activity base not good measure of usage • Examples • Operator able to simultaneously monitor multiple pieces of equipment • Set up • Customer consultation • Training (user-operated facilities)

10. Labor - Indirect • Fully-costed rates include individuals who: • Plan • Budget • Monitor • Purchase • Invoice • Schedule • Manage personnel – hire, evaluate • Consider developing administrative pool allocable to rates on direct cost basis

11. Agenda • USER FACILITIES MANAGEMENT • Building and Managing Rates • Billing and RIMS • LABOR in RATES • ARSO and USER AGREEMENTS

12. User Agreements • When working with external clients, written agreements must be in place • Protects University • Protects Client • Must clearly delineate • Scope of work • Cost/fees

13. Who is an external client? • Any external organization, entity or individual • Faculty doing private consulting • HR80 – Private Consulting Practice • Effective 7/1/2013 • Faculty consultants may access University facilities for consulting in the same manner available to non-University personnel.

14. AD15 Requirement? • ARSO or ARSO “lite” will be required to be used for contracting services from external clients • If client prefers to issue a purchase order, must be reviewed to assure terms are acceptable to Penn State. • Bottom Line – we need something to document the understanding between us and the client.

15. What agreement is needed? INSURANCE REQUIRED

16. Research Service Centers: Discussion ACOR Retreat 2013