Rutgers: Office/Department Name

To All Departmental Coordinators:

The Web Space System for the space inventory has been up and operating for several weeks. Our target deadline for completing the survey is July 31st. It is critical to the University and to the completion of the FY 07 F&A Cost Rate Proposal that you all complete your space survey on time. While most of you have had the training, many still have not started entering data. It is critical that work progresses quickly if we are to meet the deadline. Consulting help from Bearing Point, Inc. will be here about mid-July to help evaluate the quality of the data. Many of you have started to enter your data and some have pointed out glitches in the system or have raised questions on the procedures and instructions.

Thank you for your efforts!

You should be aware that a user friendly Web Space Manual is available to help you. It can be found at http://postaward.rutgers.edu by clicking on any of the first three featured links on the left side of page and looking for “Web Space Manual for DCs” and then clicking on the link. You should print a copy of it so you can thumb through it as you do/continue the space survey. We will be using the manual plus some of our limited experiences to help you to resolve any problems as you complete the survey. Please keep in mind that this is our first time with this system as well.

We are going to periodically issue some frequently asked questions and answers so that you can benefit from others experiences. Based on the questions received to date we want to reemphasis some points.

Only use the back button and/or the home button in Web Space. The Web Space home button will be found on the grey horizontal line in all Web Space screens. The Web Space back button in at the bottom of each screen. The use of the browser back button in the upper left corner of your screen can cause problems and potential loss of data; if necessary, tape something in the upper left corner to reminder you not to use it.

If you have system problems, please contact the Web Space help desk a webspacehelpdesk@maximus.com They are geared to answer those questions quickly.
If you have questions about the Web Space process or program contact: Arun Mukherjee, mukherj@rutgers.edu

This would include I misplaced the web site for Web Space, what is it?

http://webspace.maximus.com:8242/WebSpace/index.jsp I forgot my password… etc.

4. If you have questions about functionalizing a room contact Ron Thompson (rst@rci.rutgers.edu) or

Tony Pochesci (Pochesci@rci.rutgers.edu)

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: I missed the training how can I get the training now?

Answer: E-mail Steve Levenson (slevens@rci.rutgers.edu). Steve will arrange to train you or several of you if there is a small group from the same area.

Question 2: I can’t find one (some) of my department’s people so I can designate them as an occupant in a room, what do I do?

Answer: Generally, the reason is that the person is not assigned to the ORG ID code that is assigned to the space. Web Space defaults to the space's ORG ID code when identifying the people in the rooms. You can search outside of the default department in the Edit Occupant window by using the scroll bar to select on the generic Department. You will get a warning that you should click past. Then type in the last name of the individual under “Search EmpName” box. You then should be able to proceed.

Question 3: What should I do after I change the Office Type from 310, the default, to Type 311?

Answer: Only designate the prime occupant. Leave the room in the “Pre Survey” status mode. We will functionalize the room from other data and adjust the space inventory separately.

Question 4: What do I do if I am assigned a regular classroom?

Answer: You should select the room (box on far left) then in the Edit/Remove Room column click on the X box to delete the room from the survey. This will force Scheduling and Space Management to reassign the room to themselves. They are responsible for coding all regular classrooms.

Question 5: Do I have to designate people not on the payroll, such as students or fellows, in the space inventory?

Answer: See question 4 if it is a regular classroom. If it is not a regular classroom but the room is used occasionally or part time as a classroom just put the Faculty and/or GA/TA that conducts the training. If the room is not a regular classroom and the students or fellows are not there for training/education proceed to Survey the space by using the “Skip Payroll” button. Then functionalize the space manually. Use the last approach for other individuals not on payroll.

Question 6: Do I have to assign all the accounts that come up for an individual?

Answer: No, the accounts selected should mirror the activity in the room. If any individual was paid out of five accounts but only did work for one account in the room being surveyed, only select and assign the one account.

Question 7: If 25% of an individual’s effort is assigned to a room, why does it calculate as 100%?

Answer: While the individual is only spending 25% of their time in the room, while in the room that 25% charged represents 100% of the effort in the room.

Question 8: We are moving to a new building/room. How do we complete the survey?

Answer: Presumably the move is next year. You are completing the survey for this fiscal year so ignore the fact that you are moving.

Question 9: Space usage will change over time. How do we account for that?

Answer: The idea is to look at the space activity for the complete fiscal year. If the room was used 100% for teaching in the fall semester and 100% for research in the spring semester, you would report usage as 50% teaching and 50% research based on time. Your PI might want to change the usage percentages to base them on funding support or to account for working on research over the breaks and on weekends. In that case, he or she might weight the usage to 40% teaching and 60% research.

Question 10: How do we code or functionalize adjacent service areas, such as closets, conference rooms, storage areas, incubators, cold rooms, etc.?

Answer: Generally, they should be coded based on how the main areas are coded. For example, if the main area was coded 50% teaching and 50% research for a storage room, the storage room would be coded the same. However, this isn’t always true. If the main area was coded 50% teaching 50% research and the service area was exclusively used for research, it should be coded 100% research.

Question 11: Do I need to assign occupants to Office Service areas?

Answer: Yes, to add an occupant to an Office Service room, users should click Add Occupant button and then select department 10181. Under this department there is an entry for SERVICE and this should be selected for the occupant information.

Question 12: Do I need to assign individuals to “other” service areas?

Answer: No, but you need to functionalize the space. See question 10.

Question 13: Will you notify me if I completed the survey correctly?

Answer: Currently we are not planning on do that (we may send an e-mail thanking you for completing the survey); however, you will be contacted if you are behind schedule or we have questions on what you reported. You might want to notify us after you completed the survey with your comments and suggestions for improving the process or indicating the problems that you encountered in completing the survey.

Question 14: What should I do with an office for a retired faculty member?

Answer: See question 3

Last Updated: 06/27/2007