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Finance Hub — Demo

A concept demo of a research-admin team hub & proposal board. Sample data only.

Demo mode — not a real login, no real data. A production version would use MIT Touchstone SSO on MIT-approved infrastructure.
DEMO · sample data only · not a real system and not connected to any MIT data
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Launch any system with a click — no more hunting through bookmarks. Each card explains what the tool is for. Use the search box up top to filter instantly.

Today at a glance

⏰ Due next

From your proposal board, soonest first.

    ⚡ Quick actions

    The things you start most days with.

    🏛️ Open Kuali Coeus 📊 FY27 budget template

    📌 FY27 rates at a glance

    Current figures — confirm on RAS before submitting.

    27.2%Employee benefits (on-campus)
    9.9%Vacation accrual
    62%F&A on MTDC
    $30,024Grad RA tuition / yr
    $228,000NIH salary cap (EL II)
    $50,000Subaward F&A threshold

    Start a Proposal — RA Workbench

    1

    Intake from the PI

    Capture the request — it drops onto the whiteboard below so nothing slips.

    When a PI sends a proposal request, log the essentials here. Saving adds it to the Upcoming Proposals board and pre-selects the mechanism for the checklist in Step 4.

    2

    Create the proposal shell in Kuali Coeus

    Open KC and start a new Development Proposal.

    In KC: Common Tasks → Create Proposal. Enter the PI, sponsor, deadline / S2S, and lead unit to generate the proposal number — then build the budget and Sync Rates so it pulls the current FY27 institute rates.

    KC Open Kuali Coeus RAS KC guidance & “Sync Rates”
    3

    Budget & justification — FY27

    Ready-to-use templates. Rates already set for FY27.

    Start from these. The workbook is a blank FY27 template (all dollars cleared, formulas intact — just fill it in); the justification templates open from MIT RAS.

    EB on-campus 27.2% Vacation 9.9% F&A on-campus 62% MTDC RA tuition $30,024/yr ($15,012/term) Confirm current rates on RAS
    XLS FY27 Budget Template DOC Justification · Federal Research DOC Justification · Non-Federal Research DOC Justification · Federal Non-Research DOC Justification · Non-Federal Non-Research

    Justification links open the current samples on MIT RAS. In Kuali Coeus the rates auto-populate via Sync Rates.

    4

    Checklist & FOA — then email the PI

    Pick the mechanism for a tailored required-components checklist.

    Choose the funding mechanism to generate the submission checklist, then draft an email to the PI listing what's needed. Always verify against the actual NOFO and the current NIH/NSF application guide — this is a starting point, not the final word.

    Select a mechanism above to see its checklist.

    Inbox triage — what do I do with this?

    Runs entirely on this computer. Nothing is uploaded, sent, or stored — no internet connection is used and no email is ever sent for you. It reads what you paste, tells you how urgent it is and what to do, and writes a reply you review and send yourself.

    Tip: paste the whole thread. More context = better read on the deadline and the ask.
    Paste an email and press Analyse.
    You'll get a priority, the steps to take, what to ask the PI for, and a draft reply to copy.

    RA Toolbox — Daily Calculators

    Seven quick tools for the math we do on almost every proposal. Each one shows when to use it — nothing to install, and nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

    📅 Deadline back-planner

    Enter the sponsor's due date and get every internal milestone working backwards — including the 5-business-day RAS date.

    Use this when: a PI first tells you about a proposal and you need to know “when does this actually have to be in?” — so you can hold them to the internal dates.

    ⏱️ Effort ↔ person-months

    Convert a percentage of someone's time into the person-months NIH asks for — or back again.

    Use this when: the PI says “put me down for 20%” but NIH forms and Kuali Coeus want person-months. This does the conversion so effort is stated correctly.
    Type in either box — the other updates. NIH budgets report effort in person-months.

    🧮 Quick cost estimate (FY27)

    What one person actually costs a grant for a year — salary plus benefits, vacation, and F&A on top.

    Use this when: a PI asks “can I afford a postdoc on this?” and you need a fast, realistic number before building the full budget. Uses current FY27 rates.
    Estimate only. Equipment >$5K, tuition, and subaward costs beyond the F&A threshold ($50K current / $25K legacy) are excluded from the MTDC base that F&A is charged on.

    🧱 NIH modular budget

    NIH modular proposals must be requested in even $25,000 blocks. This rounds your number to the nearest block.

    Use this when: you're preparing a modular NIH application (most R01s under $250K/yr direct). If your figure goes over $250K, it warns you to switch to a detailed budget instead.
    Consortium / subaward F&A is added on top and is excluded from the $250K modular limit.

    🔗 Subaward F&A threshold

    When you send money to another institution, you only charge your F&A on the first slice of it. The rest is exempt.

    Use this when: the proposal includes a subaward / consortium (another university or hospital doing part of the work) and you need to know how much F&A you may recover on it.
    The threshold counts once per subaward across the whole project period — not per year. ⚠️ The 2024 Uniform Guidance raised this from $25K to $50K, but it only applies once it's reflected in the institution's negotiated rate agreement (NICRA); older awards stay at $25K. Confirm with RAS which applies.

    🚦 NIH salary-cap checker

    NIH won't pay salary above a federal ceiling. This shows how much you can charge and what has to be covered elsewhere.

    Use this when: a senior PI earns more than the NIH cap. It tells you the amount NIH will actually pay and the over-the-cap remainder the department must cover with non-federal funds.
    2026 cap = $228,000 (EL II, eff. Jan 11 2026). Editable — verify current on RAS.

    📉 Under-recovery (U/R) request

    When a sponsor won't pay MIT's full F&A rate, the shortfall is under-recovery — and the department has to cover it. This works out how much, and walks you through getting it approved.

    Use this when: a sponsor caps F&A below MIT's negotiated rate, uses a different base (TDC instead of MTDC), or holds a fixed-for-life rate — and you need departmental funding approved before the proposal goes in.
    Important: MIT does not waive or reduce F&A. Those costs are real (utilities, space, administrative staff), so the difference must be treated as under-recovery and funded from departmental / central resources — not simply dropped from the budget.
    1. Confirm the sponsor's F&A limitation in writing RA
      Save the program guidelines / solicitation language that caps the rate — this is your justification.
    2. Work it out with your DLCI administrator RA / DLCI
      Under-recovery funding is requested through the DLCI (your department-level cost centre) — start here, before the proposal is submitted.
    3. Department Head reviews & approves Dept Head
      The department head reviews the under-recovery request and approves the commitment of departmental funds.
    4. Dean's approval — if the PI is non-faculty Dean
      The central allocation is intended for faculty; deans may make local exceptions for non-faculty requests.
    5. Record it in the budget & Kuali Coeus RA
      Enter the reduced applicable F&A rate on the proposal budget and note the U/R account / percentage so the shortfall is tracked.
    6. Monitor during the award DLCI
      The DLCI tracks under-recovery spending across the project period.
    Don't skip step 2–3. Approval is needed before submission — if the award arrives with an unfunded shortfall, the department is still on the hook for it. Confirm your DLCI's current process and any local thresholds with RAS.
    Follows MIT RAS guidance on under-recovery of F&A costs. Approval chains and local practice vary — verify with RAS and your DLCI before relying on this.

    Upcoming Proposals — Whiteboard

    What's coming up

    Demo · sample data
    PI / LabTypeSponsor / ProjectFinance5-day RASDue to sponsorStatus
    About this hub & what's next. This page is a fast, private launcher — the links open each MIT system, where you sign in as usual. The proposal whiteboard above is a local prototype: entries save only in this browser, on this computer. To turn it into a real finance-team login with a shared database (everyone sees the same board, access limited to your team), it needs a secured backend with proper authentication — ideally on MIT-approved infrastructure using MIT Touchstone. That's the safe way to hold real proposal data, and it's the recommended next step.
    Concept demo. An independent research-admin concept by AI Machine Solutions LLC, in production — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official system of MIT. Sample data only.