[Academic] FW: Time Allocation Schedule (TAS) - now released

Mon Feb 13 18:20:22 GMT 2017

Dear All,
Just to remind you this needs to be done for the end of the week.
Erling

===============================================================
Professor Erling Riis
Head of Department
Department of Physics,               tel: 0141-5483490
Strathclyde University,
John Anderson Building,             e-mail: e.riis at strath.ac.uk<mailto:e.riis at strath.ac.uk>
Glasgow, G4 0NG
UK

The Department is a partner in SUPA, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC015263

From: Tim Faehnrich [mailto:noreply at qemailserver.com]
Sent: 31 January 2017 17:07
To: Erling Riis <e.riis at strath.ac.uk>
Subject: Time Allocation Schedule (TAS) - now released

Time Allocation Survey (TAS) – now released

The first TAS has been issued. Unlike previous years the survey is now done through Qualtrics, please follow this link to the suruvey: Take the survey<https://strath.eu.qualtrics.com/SE?Q_DL=2mmdyNWwcXlqhh3_1C9AnOvYK2k067H_MLRP_9KPyHGKpkGVpCol&Q_CHL=email> or copy and paste the following URL into your internet browser: https://strath.eu.qualtrics.com/SE?Q_DL=2mmdyNWwcXlqhh3_1C9AnOvYK2k067H_MLRP_9KPyHGKpkGVpCol&Q_CHL=email

The questionnaire should be complete by 17 February 2017. The background to this exercise was detailed in previous correspondence and further information can be found on the fEC web-pages (www.strath.ac.uk/fec<https://proxy.qualtrics.com/proxy/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.strath.ac.uk%2Ffec&token=YMFhagBs%2FH2l2a6kAoU%2BFkDxK%2B3ejiszzlKI94zo4g4%3D>).

Information from the TAS exercise will be used to allocate the costs of staff across the activities of Teaching, Research and Other for the annual Transparency (TRAC) return to the Funding Council. This then forms the basis of calculating the charge-out rates for Estates and Indirect costs which are included in the costing of externally funded research projects. The information is also now used to inform the TRAC for Teaching (TRAC T) return to the Funding Councils and may therefore influence future funding for teaching. It is essential that the information obtained from the TAS is as accurate as possible. Staff are asked to give as accurate an account of their activities as possible when completing the TAS. Please note the information obtained will not be used for any other purpose than the TRAC return.

Staff are reminded that:

-this is the first of three TAS exercises to be completed in 2016/17

The data collection periods will be –

1 October 2016 – 31 January 2017
1 February 2017 – 31 May 2017
1 June 2017 – 30 September 2017

A period of approximately two weeks will then be provided for completion of the questionnaire, e.g. the first TAS questionnaire will be released on 1 February 2014 with a deadline for completion of 17 February 2014

- this is a mandatory requirement placed on the University
The TAS is used to allocate staff costs to activity. If you are a member of Academic, Research or Knowledge Exchange. Staff whose salary is fully funded by an external research or other services rendered funder you do not need to complete the TAS.

It is vital that staff complete the TAS as we have to comply with  the fEC Guidance and continue to apply for funding from Research Councils and UK Government Departments on a fEC basis. The University will face financial sanctions if the fEC Guidance is not met.

The Research Councils have introduced a Quality Assurance and Validation (QAV) process to ensure that universities comply with all aspects of the fEC Guidance when completing the TRAC return. Because staff costs are the single largest cost for the University, the TAS is an essential part of the TRAC and the University could lose a considerable sum of money if financial sanctions are applied.

- the TAS returns will be held confidentially and will be used solely used for TRAC
The TAS will ask staff to identify how their time has been spent during the previous four months over a number of activities. I appreciate that this task will inevitable involve a degree of judgement and estimates will be acceptable.

- further details are available from the fEC web-pages at www.strath.ac.uk/fec<https://proxy.qualtrics.com/proxy/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.strath.ac.uk%2Ffec&token=YMFhagBs%2FH2l2a6kAoU%2BFkDxK%2B3ejiszzlKI94zo4g4%3D>
The website includes information on the background to fEC, detailed guidance notes for the completion of the TAS and a list of FAQs. There are links within the questionnaire to notes on the various activity headings. Please note that time should not be allocated to the support headings unless it is appropriate to do so.

If you have any queries which cannot be answered by referring to the website, please email tas-submissions at strath.ac.uk<mailto:tas-submissions at strath.ac.uk>

Your support is greatly appreciated

Professor David Littlejohn
Chair of the fEC Working Group

Follow this link to the Survey:
Take the survey<https://strath.eu.qualtrics.com/SE?Q_DL=2mmdyNWwcXlqhh3_1C9AnOvYK2k067H_MLRP_9KPyHGKpkGVpCol&Q_CHL=email>

Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://strath.eu.qualtrics.com/SE?Q_DL=2mmdyNWwcXlqhh3_1C9AnOvYK2k067H_MLRP_9KPyHGKpkGVpCol&Q_CHL=email

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