Glossary
A
AR
Accounts Receivable
ASC
The Animal Science Center manages and oversees animal-related activities, including veterinary care, policies and procedures, personnel management, occupational health and safety, and design and management of BU’s animal facilities. Learn more
Sign up for training to use the ASC facilities or learn more about animal care at BU.
AVMA
American Veterinary Medical Association
The American Veterinary Medical Association is a not-for-profit association representing veterinarians. It advocates for and advances the science and practice of veterinary medicine to improve animal and human health.
The AVMA develops and maintains educational standards for schools of veterinary medicine to ensure the qualifications and competency of graduates of the schools.
Read the guidelines on euthanasia of animals.
AWP
Animal Welfare Program (AWP):
The BU Animal Welfare Program supports the activities of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and is responsible for facilitating compliance with regulatory requirements and institutional policies.
F
FFS
Fee-for-service
Full-Time Equivalent
A Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is a unit of measurement that describes the workload of an employee in a manner that makes workloads across the University comparable. The workload that qualifies as “full-time” varies by position. The regular work week for a full-time employee at Boston University is generally 40 hours, with some full-time positions at 37.5 or 35 hours per week. Information about what percent of full-time each employee has been hired to work, and what the full-time hours for that employee’s position are, is maintained in an SAP data field, Cap.Utl.Lvl. A full-time employee’s “Full-time Equivalent” (FTE) is represented as 1 in this data field; and a half-time employee is represented as 0.5. An employee’s FTE is different than the employee’s percent of effort; whether full- or part-time, 100 percent of each employee’s effort must be accounted for if any part of that effort is charged to a grant.
FTE is different than a person’s “Effort.”
I
IACUC
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
IACUC oversees and routinely evaluates the animal care and use program. The IACUC functions include protocol review and post-approval monitoring.
IBC
Institutional Biosafety Committee
The IBC is an institutional committee created under the NIH Guidelines to review research involving recombinant DNA and synthetic nucleic acid research. The IBC also reviews all research involving biohazardous materials and has overall oversight and responsibility for the Biosafety program at BU and BMC.
Incidental Activity Pay
Incidental Activity Pay includes salary supplements for a one-time activity with a duration of 4.5 months or less, honoraria, prizes, bonuses, and certain benefits that must be reported as “salary” for income tax purposes, but do not represent payment for work, such as tuition remission for graduate courses above an annual threshold, and salary in lieu of immediate vesting in the retirement plan. Incidental work at BU is generally not related to Sponsored Programs and is designated by specific wage types. While the University does provide Incidental Activity Pay, the person is not required to certify this effort on a PAR.
Applicable Uniform Guidance section: 200.430 Compensation – personal services
Institutional Base Salary
Institutional Base Salary, or “IBS,” is annual compensation paid for a person’s appointment (9 or 12 months), whether that person’s time is spent on research, teaching, administration, or other University activities. This annual compensation is initially based on a University employee’s offer letter and is recorded in the “Info Type 8” field in SAP.
IBS does not include payments from other organizations or income that a person is permitted to earn outside of his or her University responsibilities, such as private consulting. The IBS rate must be used as the base salary for all grant proposals.
IPAS
Institutional Prior Approval System
N
NEIDL
National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories
The NEIDL is part of a national network of secure facilities studying infectious diseases that are—or have the potential to become—major public health concerns. The laboratories are dedicated to the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments to combat emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
Learn more about the BU NEIDL.
NIH
National Institutes of Health
NSF
National Science Foundation
P
PAFO
Sponsored Programs (SP)- Post Award
SP- Post Award assists faculty and administrators with financial and compliance oversight of sponsored program accounts, financial reporting and billing, effort reporting, service center rate negotiation, and F&A rate proposals.
PAR
Personnel Activity Report
You can find details about Personnel Activity Reports under the Effort Reporting section on the Manage an Award page.
R
RA
Research Administrator
A Sponsored Programs team member who helps you navigate your pre-award or post-award needs. View a list of all Research Administrators to find your department's contact.
RC
Research Compliance
ROHP
Research Occupational Health Program
ROHP is part of BU Research Compliance, serving Boston University and Boston Medical Center, and is focused on the health, wellness, and safety of the University’s scientific research community. ROHP promotes a culture of safety in research by utilizing comprehensive best practices to perform medical surveillance, workplace risk assessments, biosafety and agent training, and clinical occupational health services led by board certified Occupational Medicine physicians.
RSC
Radiation Safety Committee
The Radiation Safety Committee oversees the possession, use, and disposal of all radioactive material used for research, clinical, instructional, and service purposes within Boston University (BU), Boston Medical Center (BMC), and its affiliates.
S
SAP
Boston University’s financial system
Significant Financial Interest
Any financial interests (i.e., anything of monetary value) consisting of one or more of the following interests of the Investigator (and those of the Investigator’s spouse and dependent children), within the previous 12 months, that reasonably appears to be related to the Investigator’s Institutional Responsibilities
SP
Sponsored Programs (SP) is the coordinating office for all pre-award and post-award needs.
T
Total Compensated Activities
Total Compensated Activities at BU includes both IBS and Extra Service Pay (Overload Compensation paid as part of additional University duties). For purposes of Effort reporting, Total Compensated Activities at BU is 100% Effort, regardless of the person’s FTE equivalent (for example, 0.5 FTE, 0.625 FTE, or 1.0 FTE). Total Compensated Activities, excluding Incidental Activity Pay, are to be included when calculating Effort.
Total University Effort
Total University Effort is the sum of all professional activity or effort for which a person is compensated by the University. It is not based on a “standard” work week. If a person who is being compensated for a 100 percent appointment works 50 hours in a week, then 25 hours would represent 50 percent of his or her Total University Effort. If a person who is being compensated for a 50 percent appointment works 30 hours in a week, 30 hours would represent 100 percent of his or her Total University Effort.
Total University Effort generally includes externally sponsored research activity, department research, teaching, clinical service, administrative duties, and proposal writing. Activities that are outside Total University Effort include private consulting and other outside compensated professional work covered by the University’s Conflict of Commitment Policy, volunteerism, community or public service, and Veteran’s Administration Hospital-compensated activities that are documented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).