Minutes February 14, 2018

AACII Meeting Notes

February 15, 2018

 

Updates and Soliciting Feedback from AACII on the IPIA Process

Technology Licensing Office: Siri Nilsson, Karen Baird, Andy Lozada

 

The IPIA is the Intellectual Property Information Agreement that all appointees are expected to sign. If not signed, there is a threat that something developed at MIT may not be available for further development or available to the wider academic community.

 

The policy was written by faculty and embodies the MIT mission. It’s available to other nonprofits to use as they see fit.

 

The collection of the forms is important so that the policy is enforceable. The DLC is responsible for collection of the forms. If the form isn’t signed then the faculty can have legal problems with MIT not owning the IP, which would be against most sponsor regulations. A lot of sponsors are currently asking for the signed IPIAs in the process of deciding on sponsorship. It’s also important for licensing contracts.

 

Although only people who receive sponsored research are expected to sign, TLO advises-and VPR Maria Zuber expects-all employees to sign. Visitors are also expected to sign a visitor IPIA, which must also be signed by their home institution.

 

Signing of the IPIA is embedded in the new employee checklist on Atlas. Also, if an employee changes their appointment type they need to sign a new one. The reason is that there may have been some activity between appointment types with agreements that conflict with MIT’s IP policies. One issue, though, is that MIT does not police faculty consulting agreements and whether those conflict with the IPIA.

 

 

Financial Record Retention Plans and Updates:

Vice President Finance Office:

Gerry O'Toole, Director of Financial Operations

Pamela Schickling, Sr Director  of Practice and Process Improvement

 

As of February 1, 2018 VPF has a new record retention policy.  The new policy has two components listed below:

 

  • Electronic Images
    • Paper receipts may be discarded after electronic scans have been uploaded.
    • If the admin chooses to not upload images and will retain an electronic  copy locally; they should keep the paper files on hand.
  • Pro-card Receipts
    • VPF has a new policy that backup doesn’t need to be kept for purchases under $75, unless it is for a business meeting or includes alcohol (alcohol cannot be purchased on a Procard.)
    • Cardholder will still need to be able to justify the expense related to the cost object.
    • If a DLC is audited by an external auditor and the auditor is not satisfied with this revised policy and insists on a receipt for a purchase under $75, VPF will cover the expenses.
    • Receipts saved in the Procard inbox will be searchable in SAPgui.
    • A request was made that swept credit card reminder emails be sent to the cardholder in addition to the verifier.

 

The new policies were established to reduce the administrative burden.  VPF compared the institute practices compared to peer institutes and worked across many central offices to make sure everyone was onboard with the policy changes.

 

The B2P Receiving page has a box to select when a package has been received. This will reduce the packing slips administrators need to collect from cardholders, by the cardholder confirming the goods have been received it will reduce the follow up process.

 

VPF is reviewing whether they will increase the Procard equipment price limit.  The limit is low considering the price of computer purchases Property is concerned that an increased cost limit will lead to less tracking and tagging of computers.