TAS - FAQs
- Where does the staff data come from?
- What was the census date for the staff data shown?
- What do I do about staff that have joined/left between the start of the period and the end of the period?
- What should I do if I want to keep a more detailed record of my time during this period?
- What if the data includes staff who are not academic staff eg technical staff?
- Which staff should complete the return?
- How should Subject Review be classified?
- I am on maternity leave for all/part of the period under review. How should I return this information?
- There are staff in the department who were on unpaid leave for the entire period under review. Should a return be completed for them?
- I have spent time as a member of a RAE panel. How should I record this?
- How do I allocate my time if I am part externally-reseach grant funded and part elsewhere e.g. HF funded?
- What sort of tasks should be included within the new 'Scholarship' category available in the 2007/2008 return?
- How should I classify Scholarship activity without a separate category?
- How will my Scholarship time be reallocated over Teaching, Research, and Other activities?
1. Where does the staff data come from?
The staff data was extracted from PIMS, the Personnel system
2. What was the census date for the staff data shown?
The data was extracted as at the end of the period under review (see timetable)
3. What do I do about staff that have joined/left between the start of the period and the end of the period?
All relevant staff should be included for the period and the data is extracted after the final month's payroll has been processed. Staff who are present at any point during the period under review should complete their returns for the period of time they are at the University. This will then comprise 100% of their return. Individual academic staff have approximately 3 weeks to complete their individual returns prior to Head of Department review. Where a member of staff has left during the period and cannot be contacted, it is the Head of Department’s responsibility to complete a return on their behalf.
4. What should I do if I want to keep a more detailed record of my time during this period?
You should complete a diary or you can use the Optional Private Worksheet (Excel, 65Kb). This shows a weekly breakdown of the information you will be required to provide in your individual return.
Please note that if you are using the optional private worksheet you may complete the details in hours, days or percentages. This information is then used by you as the basis for completing the online return. The online return(s) are required to be completed in percentage terms.
5. What if the data includes staff who are not academic staff eg technical staff?
Please notify Faculty Accountant.
6. Which staff should complete the return?
All academic members of staff in academic departments except those who are 100% externally funded on a research grant or coded to a conference account. We need all these staff to complete a return as we cannot assess their activities directly from their coding, unlike those funded on a research grant.
That is, academic staff with pre Reward element 3 codes 3000 - Academic Salaries, 3010 - Clinical Salaries, 3040 - Research Grade Salaries EXCEPT where element 2 codes start R* (sponsored research contracts) or PC* (related party conferences). Reward element 3 codes will replace these in due course.
7. How should Subject Review be classified?
Subject Review should be classified as support for teaching (S-T)
8. I am on maternity leave for all/part of the period under review. How should I return this information?
There are three components to accounting for maternity leave:
1. Replacement staff or staff covering the maternity leave
These staff should complete their individual returns for the period under review based on the work actually undertaken in the period.
2. Maternity leave - staff are in work for part of the period
Staff who are still at work or have returned from leave during the period under review should complete their returns for the period of time they were at the University. This will then comprise 100% of their return.
3. Staff who were on maternity leave for the entire period under review.
These staff do not need to complete an individual return but will be assigned percentages based on the departmental average for core funded academic staff.
9. There are staff in the department who were on unpaid leave for the entire period under review. Should a return be completed for them?
Returns are not required for staff who have received no pay during the period under review. The percentages returned are used to apportion an individual's salary across the designated activities. If a member of staff has no salary for the entire period then the calculation will total to zero.
10. I have spent time as a member of a RAE panel. How should I record this?
Work that relates solely to the support of research activity in higher education sector should be reported there (Support - Research). If however the member of staff were to feel strongly that directly it has influenced their research strategy then they may allocate some or all of the time to direct research.
11. How do I allocate my time if I am part externally-reseach grant funded and part elsewhere e.g. HF funded?
You should only complete a return based on your activities for the relevant codes, in this example the HF funding. Therefore if possible, complete a return based on the HF-funded activities and treat this as 100% of your time. If the tasks are not possible to separate then complete the return on all your activities, irrespective of the funding stream.
12. What sort of tasks should be included within the new ‘Scholarship’ category available in the 2007/2008 return?
Maintaining or updating existing skills or knowledge for example through reading relevant literature or through attending professional conferences. It is the general means by which an individual maintains a wide knowledge of their particular area of expertise.
13. How should I classify Scholarship activity without a separate category?
This will depend initially on what type of activity it relates to i.e. Teaching, Research or Other, or whether it is a combination of all or some of these. If a combination and if material, a proportion of time should be split across all relevant activities. Generally scholarship is a support activity e.g. if the activity is general professional development. However if the advancement of knowledge can be specificly related to an activity e.g a research project, then it can be classified as direct Teaching, Research or Other.
14. How will my Scholarship time be reallocated over Teaching, Research and Other activities?
TRAC requires all costs to be allocated across the core activities of Teaching, Research and Other. In order to reallocate Scholarship time/costs, an individual’s time spent on these core activities, including their allocation of support time, will be used. This will be done centrally.