Why is Activity Structure Important to Grant Management?

Activity Groups

Activity groups are required in Project Accounting. They determine the number of levels in the activity structure, the account categories that can be used with activities in the structure, and processing rules such as how budgets, dates, and accounts are validated when transactions are processed. Most reports and inquiries can be run by activity group. You may want to use activity groups to identify funding sources, internal departments, or Principal Investigators (PI).

Activity

Activities provide the framework for establishing grant budgets, collecting costs, processing billings, and recognizing revenue on grant contracts. There are three types of activities:

• Posting activities are the lowest level in the activity structure. Activity transactions must contain a posting activity and account category. Posting activities are usually grant years in an activity structure for grants.

• Summary activities are higher level in the activity structure. Budgets, costs, revenues, and units from the posting activities are rolled up into balances in summary activities.

• Contract activities are like summary activities, but they also provide a framework for storing contract and billing information. A grant generally equates to a contract activity in the structure.

Account Category Structure

Account categories provide a way to break down costs and revenues in activities. Every activity transaction must contain an account category. Actuals, commitments, and budgets are stored in activities by account category.

An account category structure is a hierarchical organization of all the account categories you use to track costs and revenues for an activity group. It contains summary account categories, such as Direct Costs or Labor, and detail account categories, such as Faculty Salaries or F&A Costs.

You can assign the same account category structure to more than one activity group. This is important if you intend to do consolidated reporting for multiple activity groups because it ensures the account category roll-ups are consistent. You can override account category parameters by posting activity, including making an account category inactive. For example, if you don't have a certain kind of labor, supplies, or subcontract on a grant, you can turn off the account category for that grant.