Yes, all users must be registered to use pFACT. Note, only staff involved in the costing of research projects should have access to pFACT.

Heads of Department were asked to specify personnel within their Departments who should have access to pFACT. If your name was put forward, you should have received an email informing you of your username and password for the system. If you have not received this email, ask your Head of Department to write to pfact@strath.ac.uk giving permission for you to be registered to use the system. The following details should be included in the e-mail:

• Subject Line: pFACT Account Not Received Yet
• Message: Your Name, Faculty, Department, DS user ID and email address

If your name was not originally put forward but it has now been decided that you will require access to pFACT, ask your Head of Department to write to pfact@strath.ac.uk giving permission for you to be registered to use the system. The following details should be included in the e-mail:

• Subject Line: New Account
• Message: Your Name, Faculty, Department, DS user ID and email address

Please note that there may be a short delay to granting access if we need to verify with your Department / Faculty that you are to be given a pFACT account.

If you have any queries regarding the use of or access to pFACT, contact pfact@strath.ac.uk

If you have any queries regarding the pFACT training, contact: ittraining@learningservices.strath.ac.uk

pFACT is designed to replace the Project Costing and Approval Form for all projects costed on a Full Economic Costing basis. From September 2005, all research projects at Strathclyde must be costed according to fEC. Therefore, all research applications must be submitted using pFACT. From 1st June 2006, the University will no longer accept costings for research projects via the Project Costing and Approval Form.

At the time of pFACT's launch, Consultancy and Other Services Rendered activity is not being costed on a Full Economic Costing basis. Consultancy and OSR activity will therefore continue to use Project Costing and Approval Form. This is the current status and is subject to review. Contact Research and Knowledge Exchange Services for an update on this decision.

Yes. From 1st June 2006, the costing of all externally funded research activity has to be done using pFACT.

Ideally, all applications for funding must quote the pFACT reference number. Those applying to Research Councils using Je-S should put the pFACT Reference Number in the 'RO ID' field on the Project Details screen. Other applications should either include it in an email or else write it on the paperwork.

Yes, you need to create a costing in pFACT as you would do for all research projects. All costs should be added, including work spells for all those working on the project (including all academic staff) as well as all equipment/consumables/travel etc. pFACT will also calculate the fEC-related costs (Indirect costs and Estates Charges) which you will need for the Research Council application.

Research Councils have stated that, at present, they will pay 80% of the fEC. To see the contribution to costs (and the resultant deficit), you should choose the 80% fEC Income Template via the 'Funder' hyperlink.

When the costing has been approved by Research and Knowledge Exchange Services (RKES) you can input the figures into the Je-S form. Note that the Research Council funding guidelines state that the costs should be submitted exclusive of inflation. pFACT will provide the figures you need for Je-S in the form of a Je-S Submission Report. You can access the report by clicking on the 'submission reports' command button from the Project Proposal Summary Screen, choosing the 'income report by year' and then adding the start date of the project. Please note that pFACT re-calculates all the figures from scratch to maximize accuracy so the report may take a few seconds to appear.

Je-S operates the JNCHS pay scales. These pay scales differ slightly to those used at Strathclyde. If you choose to use the JNCHS pay scales to calculate staff costs within Je-S you may find that the figures vary slightly from those calculated by pFACT.

When adding Directly Incurred Technicians into Je-S, we recommend that you do not use the JNCHES scale as Strathclyde's costs are higher than those held within Je-S. Instead you should insert the Technician's salary information as calculated using pFACT. Directly Allocated Technicians should be added to Je-S in the usual manner: Other Directly Allocated Costs / Project Specific Costs - again inserting the salary information as calculated using pFACT.

Those applying to Research Councils using Je-S should put the pFACT Reference Number in the 'RO ID' field on the Project Details screen.

Your pFACT username has been set up to reflect your DS username and DS password (account used to log into Pegasus or Nemo). If you have forgotten your password, you should contact the IT Helpdesk.  

The University has set up two versions of pFACT:

• pFACT Train is available for initial training purposes and also to allow users to 'have a play' or practice preparing costings. Users can create and delete costings, add and remove staff or equipment and generally get accustomed to using the system. All the fEC rates, pay scales, etc are kept up to date and the calculations are accurate. However, Train does not contain any real departments or staff details. This system will continue to be maintained and available to staff but all real costings must be prepared in the 'Live' system. User details for Train (username and password) will be issued when you attend a training session
• pFACT Live should be used for preparing all real costings and includes an automated authorisation process. User details for Live will be issued by e-mail to all registered users

Learning Services is offering training sessions to support the rollout of pFACT.

Places can be booked by emailing ittraining@learningservices.strath.ac.uk.

User manuals will be issued at the training sessions or are available on request from Learning Services.

If you are experiencing difficulty please contact the IT help desk: helpdesk@strath.ac.uk (0141 548 4000)

We recommend that you use one of the following browsers with pFACT and that you enable javascript and cookies:

• Internet Explorer 6 or above*
• Mozilla 1.6 or above
• Firefox 0.9 or above
• Safari 1.1 or above
• Netscape 7.1 or above

* Internet Explorer is the browser currently recommended and supported by IT Services. Firefox is recommended for Mac users. Although you may be able to use other browsers to access pFACT some features may not work and we cannot provide support if you experience difficulties.

pFACT will automatically log you out of the system after periods of inactivity. To reactivate, press the 'logout' hyperlink on the left-hand side or refresh the web address.

If you continue to experience problems, please contact the pFACT support desk: pfact@strath.ac.uk

If the funder you wish to apply to is not listed within pFACT, please send an email to pfact@strath.ac.uk asking for the funder to be added.

When you send the request, it would be helpful if you are also able to tell us what sort of funder they are (UK industry, UK Government, UK charity, European, overseas, Scottish, Small Medium Enterprise (SME)).

No. A project involving more than one Faculty or Department at the University of Strathclyde should be created in pFACT once only. The collaborating department should be identified in the pFACT costing (Step 2 of the Initial 5 Step Project Set Up).

It is suggested that the costing is drafted, checked and approved by the lead Department, though it may be appropriate for staff in the collaborating department(s) to confirm their acceptance of the figures.

All institutions have different Indirect Costs and Estates Charges. It's therefore the responsibility of the investigators to calculate their own costs. By creating a costing within pFACT, you can extract the figures you need to pass to your collaborator(s).

Likewise, if you're the lead applicant, your collaborators must supply their information to you. The total costs for collaborators should be entered into pFACT as a subcontract/3 rd party cost. See question C4 on how to enter subcontract costs into pFACT.

Please note that the EPSRC electronic submission system (Je-S) now has the facility to link projects. In this way, each institution submits its own costs for its contribution to the collaborative project.

The subcontract cost should be entered into the non-staff section of pFACT using the Add new item not in the list option.

The details should then be entered as in the example below choosing 'subcontract/ 3 party exp'. Please remember to include VAT on the subcontract cost if applicable.

The non-financial information required by the University (previously completed in the Project Costing and Approval Form) is requested via the Command button: Additional Fields. This section must be completed before forwarding the costing for approval.

There is a 'notes' facility to add further information. This is available via the 'Notes' Command button. You can add and edit any additional information you want to include with the costing figures.

There is also an opportunity to add text on the change status screen, in case you want to bring a particular issue or item to the attention of the person(s) checking and approving the costing.

All pFACT users with view/edit access to your project can potentially read the text. This includes the Principal Investigator, Co-investigators, Head of Department, Departmental Administrators, Research & Knowledge Exchange Services, Finance, and Senior Officers (Faculty Dean, Vice Dean).

The calculations in pFACT are based on:

• 7.5 hours a day
• 37.5 hours a week
• 44 weeks a year

That makes a total of 1,650 working hours a year (or 220 days). These reflect the fEC Guidelines for costing.

Detailed information on how to calculate Principal or Co-Investigator time is provided in Section 7.1 of the User Manual.

The academic community has expressed concerns about fellow academics and peer reviewers being able to determine salary information. Because of this, Strathclyde is banding its academic staff to single points for Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Readers, and Professors. This effectively anonymises the information. More details can be found on the main fEC page.

The University policy is to use banded salaries for all academic staff and banded salaries should always be used for Research Council applications. However, we understand that in some instances, such as Research Fellowships or Research Leave schemes, it's important to reflect the 'actual' cost of the academic time being 'bought out'.

Staff within RKES can convert the banded salary into the actual salary cost.

You should complete the pFACT costing based on banded salary information. Once the project has been forwarded by your Head of Department to the Research and Knowledge Exchange Service (RKES), they will make the necessary adjustment. pFACT will then show the actual cost of your time to be submitted to the funder.

For visiting academics who are being paid a fee you should select 'Use Staff Not in the List' in the Staff Costs section. 

Untick the 'Use Pay Scale' option and enter the amount to be paid. You should also enter the appropriate FTE for fEC in relation to the amount of time they will work on the project.

If you plan to recruit new technical or support staff, the associated salary costs should be costed as Directly Incurred Staff costs. They should be included in pFACT using the 'Add Staff Not on List' option.

If you plan to use established staff, a detailed note of how to cost technicians and/or other support staff is available on the main fEC page.

When adding Directly Incurred Technicians into Je-S, we recommend that you do not use the JNCHES scale. Strathclyde's costs are higher than those held within Je-S.

Instead, insert the Technician's salary information as calculated using pFACT. Directly Allocated Technicians should be added to Je-S in the usual manner: Other Directly Allocated Costs / Project Specific Costs. Again inserting the salary information as calculated using pFACT.

The Research Councils quote annual costs for postgraduate studentship fees and maintenance/stipend. The standard fee for the period 2005/06, for example, is £3,085. The standard maintenance/stipend is £12,000. Studentships should be costed at the annual amount for fees and maintenance/stipend for the duration of the project. Under the new fEC rules, supervision time should not be charged to Research Council projects.

In pFACT, the student stipend/maintenance and the annual fee should be added in the 'Staff Cost' section. This is a two-step process. It involves selecting the appropriate single spine 'pay scale' for stipend/maintenance and then repeating the process for the annual fee.

If the studentship is being funded by a Research Council, you should use the rates automatically held within pFACT as shown below. Note that this example is for a project starting in 2006/07 so the inflated rates are shown within the Spine Point.

If you are costing the studentship at figures other than the Research Council rates, you should calculate the total fees and total maintenance/stipend cost for the duration of the project (including inflation as appropriate). Enter these in the Staff Costs section using the 'Add Staff Not on List' option. The examples below show the total fee and the total stipend for a 3-year studentship funded by industry. For both entries, you must 'untick' the Use Pay scale option.

All staff on relevant grades who are currently on the payroll at the University of Strathclyde should be listed on pFACT. If you cannot find a specific member of staff whom you know is employed by the University, please contact the pFACT support desk: pfact@strath.ac.uk

If you wish to add staff that are not yet on the payroll, you can do so within the Staff Cost section by 'Adding Staff not on list'.

The costs of running some of the large pieces of equipment and facilities at the University are already included in the fEC rates (called 'Estates' and 'Indirect') at the moment.

If you were accustomed to charging funders for use of such equipment/facilities then you should continue to do so. If you did not charge for such equipment/facilities then you do not need to cost them again as they are already included in the fEC rates.

Over time, major research facilities and equipment (over £250k) should be taken out of these rates and be costed separately. The Finance Office will be carrying out an exercise during 2006 to identify any such costs. Such changes can only be implemented on the 1st February each year.

After this date, the rates are fixed for another 12 months. You will be informed if there are to be any changes to the treatment of equipment/facilities.

You will find guidance on the treatment of VAT and Inflation in the relevant sections of the user manual.

Instances may arise whereby the staff working on a project are not members of the University staff but will be working on University premises in order to deliver the project to the funder. Examples may include:

• NHS and other staff being paid by their employer but using University premises to conduct the research
• retired Academic staff who are contributing their time to the project and based on University premises
• visiting research or academic staff being paid by their own employer but working on a research project during their visit

In these cases, pFACT must note the time to be spent on the project as a direct cost of £0.00 but with the time included in the fEC FTE (the multiplier for the fEC costs). To do this you need to:

• add a new post to the costing via the 'Add new staff not in list' link and attach the 'Zero Salary Pay Scale' to this post, and
• add a work spell for this new post.

Now when you go back to the Costing Summary screen the fEC-related costs will recalculate to include this additional FTE.

Click the 'currency' button. Choose from the available currencies (currently Euros, US Dollars and Singaporean Dollars).

The cost will continue to be calculated and shown in Sterling.

If you look at any of the reports the figures are presented in the appropriate currency.

The currency rates in pFACT are updated centrally by the Finance Office at the beginning of each month. When the currency option is chosen the latest exchange rate will be applied.

Income Templates represent 'price' calculations where the funder has specified particular funding rules. Examples and explanations of the Income Templates set up within pFACT are as follows:

• 100% fEC: this Income Template will provide a 'price' to the funder equivalent to 100% fEC on all itemized costs at 100%. This Income Template is applicable for funders such as some Government Departments and, in some cases, Industry.
• 80% fEC: this Income Template will provide a 'price' to the funder equivalent to 80% fEC on all itemized costs at 80%. This Income Template is applicable for funders such as Research Councils, NHS or the Chief Scientist's Office. Note that the Funder information which has been set up in pFACT will also take account of any exceptional items (e.g. for Research Council's balance of equipment over £50k and any student costs will be funded at 100%)
• Direct Costs, including inflation: this Income Template will calculate the 'price' based on Direct Costs only, thereby excluding established staff time to be spent on projects and excluding Indirect Costs and Estates Charges. This Income Template is applicable to Charities and other funders who pay direct costs only.
• Direct Costs, excluding inflation: this Income Template calculates the 'price' as above (excluding established staff time, Indirect Costs and Estates Charges) and also exclusive of inflation. This Income Template is applicable for funders such as Cancer Research UK who request that the price is quoted at Year 1 rates; with the 'price' for future years being requested via the annual grant renewal.
• Direct Costs, including PI time: this Income Template calculates the 'price' by including Direct Costs AND academic staff time, but excluding Indirect Costs and Estates Charges. This Income Template is applicable for charitable funders who agree to pay towards research management time and for charities that pay for academic research leave or research fellowships.
• Fixed Fee: this Income Template simply 'prices' the project at the proposed fee or fee specified by the funder. This Income Template should be used in instances where the 'price' does not follow any of the standard formulas described above.
• Select Income Template: please seek RKES advice before using. This template allows selected costs to be funded at particular rates as specified by the funder (eg 50% Academic costs, 100% Researcher costs etc).

When using an Income Template, please check the Funder Guidelines carefully. If you are aware of other commonly used pricing formulas that could be incorporated into pFACT, send your suggestions to pfact@strath.ac.uk

If your particular project generally follows one of the above templates but with some minor exceptions please let RKES staff know so that this can be taken into account prior to final approval.

The 'Change Start Date' command button is a useful way of updating the fEC of the project, to reflect a new time period. By changing the proposed start date, pFACT cascades this revised date across all work spells and recalculates the cost accordingly.

If the cost of a non-staff item had been set with a particular 'rate-on-date', this date will be held by pFACT even when the start date has been changed. This is because it reflects the date at which the item was costed/quoted. pFACT will apply inflation from that date, irrespective of the start date of the project.

There are various means by which to identify the time to be worked on a project by each member of staff. pFACT calculates each one in accordance with the equivalent hours across a working year (1,650). But it offers various input options to make it easier for the user.

When choosing 'hours', 'days', or 'months', this refers to the number of hours, days or months to be worked across the lifetime of the project (not per annum).

The option 'fte annum' relates to the full-time equivalent per annum across the lifetime of the project. A full-time member of staff, for example, is 100%. This should be entered as a 'unit' of '1' in pFACT. A proportion of a full-time member of staff (for example, 50%) should be entered as a fraction of 1 (for example, 0.5).

More detailed information on Full Economic Costing, including how to calculate staff time, Estates Charges, and Indirect Costs. Some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be found on the University's Full Economic Costing web page.

Further information can be found at:

• Office of Science and Technology (OST)
• Research Councils' Research Administration
• Joint Costing and Pricing Steering Group

pFACT includes an electronic authorisation process. To submit your application for Head of Department (HoD) approval, follow the stages outlined below:

• from the Project Summary Screen, select the 'Change Status' button
• select the Add button '+'
• indicate 'Target Date'
• identify 'Submitted To' (choose the name of your HoD from the list) (If the Head of Department is the Principal Investigator, pFACT should be submitted to the Dean for approval)
• add a note/message if required (optional)
• press sav button
• ensure that the email tick list contains the name of the person who should approve your project (If the Head of Department is the Principal Investigator, pFACT should be submitted to the Dean for approval). Add further email recipients as required
• press send button
• press close button

To submit an application for Research and Knowledge Exchange Services (RKES) approval, follow the stages outlined below:

• from the Project Summary Screen, select the 'Change Status' button
• select the Add button '+'
• indicate 'Target Date'
• identify 'Submitted To' (choose the top entry *RKES Approver)
• add a note/message if required (optional)
• press save button
• ensure that the email tick list contains the *RKES Approver email, plus the PI and the HoD. Add further email recipients as required
• press send button
• press close button