The Financial Administration Community Training and Solutions website has self-help sheets for navigating FAST MyResearch, specifically for finding financial transaction-level detail for a fund. The Research Post-Award Administrators can also help you locate the specific expense if you provide them via email with the following information: the index (fund) on which the expense was incurred, the financial application used to submit the expense, when you incurred the expense, and a copy of the receipt.

Procurement provides eShop assistance and resources for using the application on their eShop page. In relation to research funding, the Research Post-Award Administrators can also help you complete and submit the questionnaire. Prior to contacting them, please have the following information ready:

• What is the name and position of the person you are hiring?
• Have you worked with this contractor previously?
• What is the scope of the work?
• How does their work relate to the research?
• Which index (fund) are you planning to use?

Given that Carleton’s Procurement Policy stipulates specific requirements for equipment by total cost, the method of purchase depends on the expense amount. For general assistance in complying with the university’s procurement policy, contact Procurement Services and for research post-award expenses, contact the Research Post-Award Administrators.

Please complete the P-card application and submit it to your department’s head for approval. Once signed by your department, you will need to submit the application to the designated Procurement Officer, who will contact you with more details.

The RPA service can help determine if an expense is eligible to be charged to your index (fund). Please email us with details including:

• what product or service you would like to purchase;
• how much it will cost;
• how it relates to the research; and,
• which index (fund) you would like to use.

The best practice is to have a written record of the employment agreement. This record can be as simple as an email to the student that outlines the compensation, duration, and scope of work, as well as a statement that the agreement can be terminated if the terms are not met. When hiring a registered graduate student, we advise that the duration of employment is the same length as the semester during which they will be working.

Set up the student as an independent contractor in eShop. Once the work is complete, the student will provide an invoice for payment. Payments to independent contractors can be issued to those located domestically or internationally.

You can make a backdated payment through the Graduate RA system as long as the student was registered as a graduate student during this backdated term. The payment will be issued as a lump sum because it is for work done in the past.

Please notify your Research Financial Services Officer when you submit a backdated payment request.

Please note that lump sum payments are subject to higher statutory deductions – if a lump sum is paid, it is automatically interpreted as a monthly payment and taxed accordingly.

Carleton has three different ways to pay “Research Assistants” depending on the employee-employer relationship as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency: The Graduate Job Requisition System, eShop, and Payroll Profile.  Answers to the following questions will define which of these three payment methods must be used:

• Is the “research assistant” related to you, under your academic supervision, business partner or close friend?
• Is the “research assistant” a Carleton undergraduate, graduate student or postdoctoral fellow or someone from another institution and or someone else entirely, such as a recent graduate, consultant, etc.?
• Will you be managing the “research assistant” as a manager would an employee; supervising them in your capacity as an academic supervisor, or are they experts in the “work” that is being performed and delivering a product/service, not unlike a translator who will deliver a finished product?
• How many hours will they be working per week and over how many years?

Need more help defining the relationship to determine eligibility for inclusion in a budget for submission? Contact your Faculty Research Facilitator.

Need more help determining the payment application to use? Contact the Research Post-Award Administrators.

Submit an Approval Form by following these steps:

• Click “Apply New” at the top right of your cuResearch homepage.
• Select Approval Form under CORIS Awards (see a screenshot)
• Select Approval Form under A. OVPRI Approval Form

The most important reasons to submit an approval form are:

• To enable fund opening when your project is successful. The file you create through this submission is used to alert Research Financial Services to open your research funds, after any compliances are issued, if required.
• To obtain institutional approval to complete the application process, which is conditional upon ensuring your Chair or Director and the Associate Dean of Research are aware of your application and approve of the institutional commitments described therein.

Complete an approval form when you are:

• Applying to an external organization for funding, i.e., your application contains a budget
• Applying for an internal research funding program administered by OVPRI
• Submitting a nomination to an external agency for an honour or distinction
• Requiring institutional signatures on letters of support or applications to an external sponsor
• Responding to a request for a proposal
• Entering into contractual arrangements with another party, including:
  1. Research contracts
  2. Research grant agreements (for leverage in industry-government projects)
  3. Service agreements
  4. Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)
  5. Purchase orders (for funds coming into Carleton)
  6. Intellectual Property agreements
  7. Licensing agreements
  8. Supervising a student or postdoctoral fellow who has been awarded funding from an external agency, such as Mitacs (excluding scholarships); the student’s project must be submitted (and an account will be opened) under the supervisor’s name