Updates - 2018

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Timeline and Next Steps (Spring 2018 - Spring 2019)

Timeline and Next Steps (the long description is located after the image)

Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) 2018 Annual Conference and the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) 2018 Annual Conference Updates.

  • CARA Annual Conference: May 27-30, 2018, Ottawa ON
  • CAUBO Annual Conference: June 10-12, 2018, Vancouver BC

Stakeholder engagement/consultations with grant recipients at partnering administering institutions and planning of the pilot

  • The Tri-Agency is partnering with twelve administering institutions to conduct a pilot in relation to the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Initiative. Engagement/consultation sessions with grant recipients at the twelve partnering administering institutions will be scheduled from July to October 2018. The Tri-Agency is also consulting with the partnering administering institutions on the design of the pilot.

Launch of Pilot

  • The Tri-Agency plans to launch the pilot with the partnering administering institutions in early fall 2018.

Stakeholder engagement/consultations with grant recipients from other administering institutions

  • The Tri-Agency is considering providing additional stakeholder engagement/consultations with grant recipients from other administering institutions in late fall 2018. Locations and dates to be determined.

Information sharing with grant recipients and administering institutions in preparation for the launch

  • Prior to the launch of the new, principle-based Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide, the Tri-Agency will share any pertinent information regarding the launch (including the final outcomes of the pilot) with all administering institutions and their grant recipients.

Launch of new Guide

  • The Tri-Agency anticipates launching the new, principle-based Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide in spring 2019.

Principal based guide

  • Throughout the pilot period (winter 2018), the Tri-Agency will be making revisions to the draft Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide based on feedback received from relevant stakeholders.

Monitoring framework

  • Continued moratorium on financial monitoring visits.
  • Development of overall monitoring framework
    • Ongoing from fall 2018 to Spring 2019

Awards administration

  • The Tri-Agency will be considering and implementing (as needed) improvements to the current Awards administration function from spring 2018 to spring 2019.

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2018 CARA and CAUBO Annual Conferences (May/June 2018)

Representatives from the Tri-Agency attended the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) 2018 Annual Conferences and the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) 2018 Annual Conference. Presenters shared information about the progress of the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Initiative (the Initiative) and facilitated a workshop regarding the Initiative.

Outcomes from the conferences

The information was well-received by the research administrators and research business officers in attendance

  • Conference participants expressed a positive view of the proposed changes to the Guide and were pleased with the new principle-based approach.
  • There were a large number of participants who attended the Tri-Agency sessions at both CARA and CAUBO and, as a result, the Tri-Agency received a fair amount of useful feedback from the sessions.

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Upcoming Pilot (Fall 2018)

As part of the Initiative, the Tri-Agency will be conducting a pilot to determine the feasibility of the new principle-based Guide and to develop the new Financial Monitoring Framework.

The administering institutions were selected based on the following criteria:

  • Size (small, medium and large),
  • Geographic location (East, West, Prairies, Pacific, Ontario and Quebec)
  • Diversity (affiliation, hospitals, institution with industry partnership)
  • Model (centralized and decentralized)
  • Both official languages (French and English)

As a result, the Tri-Agency is pleased to announce that the following twelve administering institutions have been confirmed to participate in the pilot:

  1. Brock University
  2. Cape Breton University
  3. Dalhousie University
  4. Hospital for Sick Children
  5. Université Laval
  6. McMaster University
  7. University of Alberta
  8. University of British Columbia
  9. Université du Québec à Montréal
  10. University of Waterloo
  11. Western University
  12. York University

The pilot is scheduled to begin in early fall 2018. The new Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide is scheduled to be launched in spring 2019.

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Consultation sessions with Grant Recipients (Fall 2018)

The Tri-Agency will be holding various consultation sessions with grant recipients at the twelve administering institutions participating in the pilot (which is scheduled to begin in fall 2018). The first set of consultation sessions were held at the University of British Columbia at the end of July/beginning of August.

Additional consultation sessions with grant recipients at other administering institutions may be scheduled at a later date.

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