Other references

Researchers User Guide (Part A)

Researchers User Guide (Part B)

   Budget List of Categories

​​​​​​​​​​​​In this page...​

• Add information to Project Details tab for a Budget Form​
• Add a Budget Form
• Fill out and authorise a Budget Form
• Section 1: Department(s) Selection
• Section 1: Invite a HoD to authorise or HoSD to quote and authorise 
• Section 2: Site Project Budget         
• Section 3: Site Project Funding / Support
• PI authorisation when Budget Form complete

Guidance for completing the budget can be found under RGS Education.   A  Research Budget Template is also available on the Research Governance tab to help calculate costs related to the Protocol. Additional information in compiling clinical trial budgets is available from the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA) Determination of Standard Costs Associated with Clinical Trials in Australia June 2015.    ​

Add information to Project Details tab for a Budget Form​

Before you start completing a Budget Form, you should ensure that the necessary pre-requisites to proceed with completing the Budget Form have been met:

1. The 'Governance Information' section of the Project Details tab, particularly the 'Funder Contact Information' (section 7), has been completed and authorised.  Refer to the Add the funder details in the Governance Information  and Add, fill out and authorise a governance form.  If you cannot find a funder in the lists, contact the RGS Support.
2. ​A SSA Form with a corresponding Budget Form has been added in the Applications tab. 

Add a Budget Form 

       

Fill out and authorise a Budget Form

Completing the Budget Form is the responsibility of the PI at each site. The site PI, PI Delegate and invited Hospital Administrators can edit the Budget Form.  Click on the embedded link in the Budget Form name to open it. You will need to provide a detailed costing and funding for the project for the site/s included in the Budget Form, this includes departments at the site as well as external organisation providing service that can't be met at the site (e.g. radiology). 

Note the Budget Form will automatically open in a separate window (Internet Explorer) or tab (Chrome).

1. In the Budget Form, click 'Edit'. Note: Click 'Print' to print the Budget Form at any time.

2. A confirmation message will appear.  Click 'OK' to proceed. 

Take note that you are now on 'Edit' mode, and the form will be checked out to you until you click 'Save & Close'.  No-one else can't edit the Budget Form while you have it in edit mode, remember to click the 'Save' button regularly and click 'Save & Close' to take you out of edit mode.

 3. At any time you can click on the ‘Applications' tab to review the project's protocol or other documents in order to determine what services are required, this can be done by going to the window/tab the you used to open the Budget Form.

There are three sections of the Budget Form that require completion. These are Department(s) Selection, Site Project Budget and Site Project Funding / Support. Click on either the 'Index' or 'Next' to navigate between the different sections.

Section 1: Department(s) Selection

Add a Department

1. In the 'Department(s) Selection' section, enter the 'Proposed number of participants for this site' and the 'Expected project timeframe for this site' at the top of the form. Note that participant also includes a person's data or biological sample.

2. Before adding a department ensure that you have the Head of Department's name and the Head of Deparment Delegate's name (for supporting departments).  Select/nominate the departments that will be involved in the project at the site e.g. research department, supporting department (s) and any third party agency. Add them to the Budget Form in the following order:

• Research Department (i.e. where the research is being conducted and/or is where recruitment will occur, there should always be one research department nominated)
• Supporting Department(s) (e.g. Pharmacy, Pathology, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Medical Records, Theatre) providing additional services/support to the Research Department.
• Third Party Agency (i.e. agency outside WA Health providing support services e.g. a private Radiology site).

Add a research or supporting department or a third party agency by clicking 'Add' while in the 'Department(s) Selection' section. 

 

3. The 'Add a Department in the Budget Form' screen will launch. If you wish to add a research or supporting department at the site, select 'Internal Department'. Select 'Third Party Agency' if the supporting department will be external to the site.

 

          

Add an Internal Department

1. The 'Add a Department in the Budget Form' screen appears when you click on 'Internal Department', with the following tool tip if you hover your pointer over it. For a supporting department both a Head of Department and delegate can be added to provide quotes and/or authorise their costs, both users will have access to the Budget Form once invited.

        

2. Select the 'Department' to be added. Add a research department first if one applies (the research department is the department that is initiating the research (i.e. where the PI is located/ where the participant will be recruited from). If you cannot find a site or department please notify the RGS Support.

Select 'Yes' or 'No' to the question 'Is this a research department?', depending on your selection the following will apply:

• Research Department : enter the name of the Head of Department (HoD).
• Supporting Department: enter the name of the Head of Supporting Department (HoSD). In addition, you can enter the name of a HoSD Delegate. Both users can be invited to either provide a quote and/or authorise their department’s costs. If you are only inviting the HoSD Delegate they are added to the HoD field (do not also add them to the HoD Delegate field).

Click 'Save'.

Project Members cannot be added as a HoD or HoSD to authorise either the SSA Form or the Budget Form, select the next line manager above the Project Member (e.g. Divisional Director). 

                      

3. A site may nominate only one research department., once added the 'Add a Department in the Budget Spreadsheet' screen shows a message that a research department has been assigned.                 

                                                      

Add a Third Party Agency​
There will be occasions where an external service provider may be required to provide some sort of goods or services to the project which cannot be provided by the site (e.g. transport of specimens or imaging). A quotation request can be generated to the external service provider and uploaded under Active/Documents in the Site Authorisation section.

 

1. This external provider should be added as a Third Party Agency and the PI for the site is automatically assigned to provide a quote and authorisation as the third party agency does not have access to RGS. If you wish to add a third party agency, select 'Third Party Agency'.  Provide select the third party agency you wish to add.  If you cannot find an agency, contact the RGS Support.

                   

                    
2. Once all Departments are added, click 'Save'. 

                                 

Edit a Department or Head of Department and Remove a Department

If a department has been added or assigned as the research department or supporting department by mistake, it can be edited (to change it to the research department) or removed (this should only be done if no information has been added or the department is not required).

Note: if you remove the department all data (costs and funding) related to that department will be deleted.

The Department and the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate can be edited as long as they have an Invitation Status of 'Pending'. If the Invitation Status is 'Invited', the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate must be un-invited before the department/person can be changed (refer to Un-invite HoD or HoD Delegate).

Edit a Department

1. To edit an existing department, select the department and click 'Edit'.  

 

2. In the 'Edit a Department in the Budget Form' screen, you can change the Department or the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate. The HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate must have a 'Pending' invitation status. If the Invitation Status is 'Invited', then they must be un-invited before the department/person can be changed (refer to Un-invite User).

 

To change a supporting department to a research department, you must first change the research department to a supporting department. Select 'No' to the question 'Is this a research department?. Click 'Save'.

                  ​

​5. Then edit the supporting department that you wish to make the research department and change the question 'Is this a research department?' to 'Yes'. Click 'Save'.

 

Remove a Department

1. To remove a department, select it and click 'Remove'.

 

2. A confirmation message will appear. Click 'OK'. You can now add a new department. 

 

 

Next Steps

To reduce time to complete the Budget Form, it is recommended that the PI/PI Delegate:

1. Complete the service/support costs in section 2 of the Budget Form.
2. Have confirmation from the Supporting Department/s that they can provide the required service/support for your project.  Also who needs to be invited to the Budget Form. Upload any quotes/service agreement under Site Authorisation/Active/Documents in the Applications tab. 

 

Section 1: Invite a HoD to authorise or HoSD to quote,authorise

1. In the Department(s) Selection page, click the 'Invite to Quote' button to invite the HoSD and/or their delegate to provide a quote and authorise their supporting department's costs or Research Department HoD to authorise the Research Department section. This button appears only when there are HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate selected but have not been invited yet.

You should wait until the whole Budget Form is complete before inviting the Head of the Research Department to authorise, so that they can review the impact of the whole project's budget on the Research Department.

     

2. The 'Invite to Quote' screen will launch.  Select the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate that you wish to invite.  Selecting multiple persons in this section is allowed. Once you have clicked 'Invite' you will return to the 'Department(s) Selection' page.  

       

3. A confirmation message will appear.

 

The status of the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate will become 'Invited', and they will receive the Task and email notification from RGS. To provide a quote and authorise the Budget Form the HoSD or HoSD Delegate should refer to Fill out and authorise a Budget Form (for supporting department HA).  A HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate can only edited their section of the budget.

 

To authorise the Budget Form the HoD should refer to Authorise a Budget Form (for Research Department HA).

 

As the HoD and HoSD authorise the Budget Form, they no longer authorise the SSA Form.

Un-invite a HoD or HoD Delegate

1. To un-invite a HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate that has an Invitation Status of 'Invited', select the user and click 'Un-invite'.

 

2. The Withdraw Invite to Provide Quote and Authorise/Decline in Budget Form screen will launch. Select the user and click 'Un-invite'.  The person will receive an email notification that they no longer have to provide a quote/authorisation for the project and the task will be removed from their My Task menu.

 

Edit an Authorised or Declined Section

1. To be able to edit a section, ensure that the service and support items for the desired department (research, supporting department or third party agency) have not been authorised (or declined) by the department's HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate.

If the section has a status of either 'Authorised' or 'Declined', the PI or PI Delegate, HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate must click 'Unlock' first to be able to edit the section. Doing so will reset the previous authorisation made.

 

4. If the PI or PI Delegate unlocks the section they will receive a confirmation message that the HoD, HoSD or HoSD Delegate will need to be re-invited to provide authorisation. Click 'OK' to proceed.

 

Section 2: Site Project Budget

In Section 2: 'Site Project Budget', all costs and resources involved in the conduct of the research project at the site (i.e. activities that are secondary to the primary purpose of providing patient care) must be detailed and authorised. Projected costs should be based on the research protocol, total time period of the project and proposed number of participants to be recruited.

Section 3: 'Site Project Funding / Support' can be completed once all costs are accounted for in Section 2 (refer to Help Wiki: Site Project Funding / Support).

       

Research Department Default Items

1. The following items are added by default under a Research Department:

                                                                                                                                                       

 

Complete the Research Department and Third Party Agency costs

 1. Ensure that you have clicked 'Edit'. See the Budget List of Categories for the full list of items for the budget.  The PI/PI Delegate can enter the following items as required for the research department and third party agency. They can also add items for the supporting departments.

 

Major Category Service & Support Item Provided	Select all the support or services for the project that will be provided by the department.  Select the service from the drop-down list and the ‘Major Category’ will automatically be populated.

 

 

Cost Description	Provide comment or description of the service or support item provided if the Service & Support Item does not give enough detail.
Cost per Item	Provide the individual cost per service or support item e.g. cost per test/procedure or salary per participant.
Quantity	Insert the quantity that the cost per service or support item should be calculated by, to produce the total cost per site (Total Cost column).
Total Cost	This is calculated as the total cost per service or support item for the whole site, for the proposed number of participants.
Cost Type	Indicate if the cost is project-specific (e.g. diagnostics, tests, drugs) or shared (e.g. salaries). All research department salary based items should be marked as shared so that they can be accounted for in shared cost centres.
Overhead Charge?	Overhead charge is the additional corporate costs to the site which the institution provides to support the conduct of the project (i.e. administration, facilities, utilities). The overhead must be applied in accordance with the Financial Management Manual. An overhead % should only be applied to the Research Department salary based time and procedures, not to the total cost of the project. If this is ticked for one or more items, a percentage must be nominated in the ‘Overhead charge’ item found under the Research Department; otherwise, if none of the items is ticked, a fixed amount must be provided in the field.
Select	Tick this to remove an item.  When an item is selected, the ‘Remove’ button will be enabled. This does NOT have to be ticked when adding a service or support item, or authorising/declining the department.

 

2. To add a service and support item click 'Add'. After clicking 'Add', a blank row will be added at the bottom of the list. 

 

3. Go to the drop down under ‘Service & Support Item Provided’ you can then search within the list of items. The search is dynamic and will list all items with the word that you have typed. The budget category list is available at the top of this page.

3. Remember to click 'Save' or 'Save and Close' to keep any changes made.  Click 'Cancel' to discard any changes.

 

4. Once saved, the Total Actual Costs (Project Specific and Shared) will display at the top of the screen. The Total Authorised Costs will display once the costs are authorised by a HoD/HoSD.

 

5. When not in edit mode, you can view the cost details of Section 2 and print it at any time. In this example the PI has added the costs for the research department, supporting department and third party agency:​

 

Remove a service or support item

1.  To remove an item, 'Select' the item you wish to delete. When an item is selected, the 'Remove' button will be enabled.  Note that the default items added under the Research Department cannot be deleted.

2.  A confirmation message will be shown.  Click 'OK' if you wish to proceed with the deletion; otherwise, click 'Cancel'.

When you have finished completing this section, the nominated HoD or HoSD will need to provide a quote and/or 'authorise' or 'decline' their respective departments.  

Authorise the Third Party Agency costs

1. The PI or PI Delegate authorise the Third Party Agency costs after they have been entered by the PI or PI Delegate. Click 'Authorise' and then 'Save'.

Section 3: Site Project Funding / Support

Once Section 2: Site Project Budget has been competed for all departments, the PI or PI Delegate must complete Section 3: Site Project Funding / Support. all funding or in-kind support must be detailed and align with costs based on the research protocol, total time period of the project and proposed number of participants to be recruited.

The HoSD or HoSD Delegate can edit their department to indicate that a Service & Support Item may be provided in-kind, but they cannot authorise this section.

Complete the Site Project Funding / Support

1. Ensure that you have clicked 'Edit'. The PI/PI Delegate should edit the Funders at the top of the form. This is populated from Project Details – Governance Information – question 7, if the funder does not apply to this Budget Form, click 'Remove'. For the remaining Funders nominate whether the funding has been received, confirmed or is being sought.

If you remove a Funder in error, click 'Refresh'.

2. The following items should be added as required for the Research Department and Supporting Department(s) to align with the cost displayed (populated from Section 2):

Calculation of costs and funding

1. The Budget Form will automatically calculate costs and funding:

• Actual costs – costs prior to authorisation
• Authorised costs – costs once authorised by HoD, HoSD
• Total funding – funding once saved
• Shortfall (or Surplus) – funding minus authorised costs.

General Comments (mandatory in cases of shortfall)

If there is a 'Shortfall', (i.e. the 'Total Funding' is less than the Total Authorised Costs) the PI must provide an explanation in the 'General Comments' section. This shortfall must be approved by the HoD, Business Manager and Divisional Director when they authorise the Budget Form and/or SSA Form. The shortfall/surplus will not be calculated until all costs are authorised.

PI/Delegate Authorisation when Budget Form complete

1. When the Budget Form is completed, including the HoD/HoSD authorisation(s), the PI or PI Delegate can click 'Authorise' in the Budget Form.  

 2. Click 'Edit', the Authorise button will be at the bottom of all three sections of the budget form, click ‘Authorise’. A pop up message will appear, click ‘OK’.

3. A PI or PI Delegate can unauthorise the Budget Form in the project workspace's Applications tab after selecting the form (but cannot authorise it this way, it must be authorised within the form). The Budget Form can also be unauthorised within the form. The Budget Form can also be unauthorised within the form.

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