Funding & Finances

Have a question about funding and finances? In this section, you’ll find information on the following:

Budgets | Spending Funds | Professional Development Funds | Grants | Other Funding

Budgets

Simmons/COCIS Budget

Simmons follows a static budgeting model.
Simmons Provost Office provides COCIS with a dollar value to try and achieve a set number of results from the college’s efforts. This value is made up from Operating Funds, Gift Funds and Controllable Salaries. Simmons Provost Office is responsible for budgeting FT faculty and staff.
COCIS Director of Operations works with the Dean and academic unit Directors to plan spending for next fiscal year.
COCIS submits budget plan to Provost’s Office.

For budget questions, please contact the COCIS Director of Operations.

Spending Funds

Expenses should be planned and budgeted beforehand.
Expenses and modes of payment need to be approved by the academic unit Director and the Dean.
Expenses need to be properly allocated to the correct cost center and expense line.
When possible, expenses should be “tagged” with a Workday worktag (e.g., #PD for professional development).

To support the college’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, the COCIS Operations Team has assembled this list of minority and women owned businesses from which to order food and supplies.

For questions about expenses, please contact COCIS Operations Specialist.

Professional Development Funds

COCIS Faculty Guidance
As with all expenses, faculty professional development requests MUST be pre-approved before spending. Academic unit Directors must approve first, then the Dean.

All requests must have an explicit justification about how the spending will advance the faculty’s research and professional development.
Requests for professional memberships must have an explicit statement about the concrete associated benefits that are needed by the faculty member.
Books, software, and student support are generally not allowable expenses but may be submitted with justification for the exception.
When possible, spending should be done through the university procurement processes (through invoicing or on a university purchasing card). Please work with COCIS Operations on this.

Professional Development Application
Requests will be reviewed by the academic unit Director and the Dean; Operations Specialist will notify faculty of the decision.

Submitting expense reports in Workday
Receipts for approved expenses are submitted through Workday.

Common problems with expense reports

Budget fail. This means there is not enough money in a specific budget account to cover the expense. Notify Operations Specialist.
Incorrect spend category. Use professional development worktags.
Missing or illegible receipts.
Sales tax included (subtract taxes from total amount submitted).
Alcoholic beverages (should be subtracted from meal receipts) or other non-permissible categories.

Follow-up: Faculty are responsible for monitoring the status of their expense reports. Enter “my expense reports” in the Workday search bar to generate a list of expense reports that have been submitted. Reports with a status of “in progress” one week after submission should be investigated to determine the reason. Reports are not complete until the status shows as “approved.”

Grants

For questions about grants, please contact your academic unit Director. The Office of Sponsored Programs and the COCIS Director of Operations can also be resources.

Other Funding

The Office of Sponsored Programs maintains a well-populated database of funding sources – it can be accessed here.