Year 2 Overview

Active Award Management

Year 2 moves the project beyond startup. Recruitment is active, spending has increased, staffing is more complex, and the project now depends on both internal staff and an external community partner.

Events 08–12 Active Award Year Monitoring and Oversight

The Story Continues

The project moves from startup into sustained management

By the start of Year 2, Dr. Brown’s project is no longer waiting at the starting line. Recruitment has begun, participant activity is increasing, and Jasmine Lewis is supporting the project’s day-to-day operations.

The questions Marcus faces also become more complex. Instead of asking only whether an activity can begin, he must now monitor whether salary charges, effort, community partnerships, invoices, and corrections still match the approved award.

Year 2 shows how an active project can create risk even when the team is making progress. The more work that happens, the more the project needs clear records, coordinated review, and follow-up.

Year 1 asked: Can the project begin responsibly? Year 2 asks: Is the active project being managed responsibly?

People in the Active Award Year

Year 2 adds more people, more activity, and more coordination

Portrait of Marcus Rivera

Post-Award Research Administrator

Marcus Rivera

Marcus helps connect payroll, effort, partner activity, invoice support, cost transfers, and documentation so the award remains supportable as project activity increases.

Portrait of Jasmine Lewis

Project Staff

Jasmine Lewis

Jasmine supports daily project operations, including participant activity, outreach coordination, tracking records, and communication that later become important for monitoring.

Portrait of Karen Mitchell

Community Partner

Karen Mitchell

Karen leads Community Health Access Network, or CHAN. Her organization brings community expertise and becomes part of the project through a subaward relationship.

Year 2 Story Sequence

How the active award year unfolds

The Year 2 events follow the project as it becomes more active and more operationally complex. Each issue shows a different part of ongoing award management.

08

Payroll Distribution Error

David identifies a payroll charge that does not appear to match Jasmine’s approved salary allocation. Marcus helps review the records and determine whether the salary charge is supported or needs correction.

09

Effort Change

Dr. Brown takes on additional university responsibilities. Marcus reviews whether her project involvement still aligns with the effort and commitments promised to the sponsor.

10

Community Partner Added

CHAN enters the project through Karen Mitchell. Marcus reviews the nature of CHAN’s role and helps determine whether the work appears to fit a subrecipient relationship rather than routine vendor services.

11

Subrecipient Monitoring Problem

David flags CHAN’s invoice package as incomplete. Marcus follows up with Karen for the missing performance documentation, documents the monitoring action, and updates Research Finance once the package is complete from the monitoring side.

12

Late Cost Transfer

A department asks to move older outreach costs onto the grant. Marcus reviews whether the transfer corrects a supported error, whether the delay is explained, and whether the request should be routed through the institutional cost transfer process.

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Year 2 Capstone

The learner looks across payroll, effort, partner classification, subrecipient monitoring, and cost corrections to assess whether the active award is being managed responsibly.

Post-Award Lens

What learners should notice in Year 2

Year 2 shows that award management is not only about checking whether money was spent. Marcus must compare salary charges to work performed, effort commitments to current responsibilities, invoices to performance documentation, and corrections to institutional policy.

Marcus also works collaboratively. David reviews financial and payment-related issues. Dr. Brown leads the scientific work. Jasmine supports project operations. Karen and CHAN provide community expertise. Marcus gathers information, connects records, documents risks, and helps route issues through the appropriate process.

By the end of Year 2, learners should understand that active award management requires coordination, monitoring, documentation, and judgment.

Begin the Active Award Year

Start with the payroll distribution error

Event 08 begins with a payroll issue. David notices the possible mismatch, and Marcus helps review whether the salary charge is supported by the approved staffing plan and project records.

Back to Year 1 Capstone Begin Event 08