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Joint Research Management Office

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  3. Queen Mary Grant Management Systems

Queen Mary Grant Management Systems

Queen Mary research account management is provided by the JRMO through the Worktribe system.

The JRMO offers a comprehensive range of services to support its researchers in Worktribe. This page contains guidance on how we can help you set up your financial account, ensure that expenditure against your account is dealt with efficiently, provide you with budget information, and close down completed grant accounts.

Setting Up An Account

Worktribe

  • The Costing and Contracting team will set up the Worktribe record during the pre-award stage (working with the Research Lead).
  • When funding is awarded and the grant is ready to be made live, the record move to the post award admin team and the status is changed to project set up.
  • All relevant award and project documentation is uploaded to Worktribe once the project is live (e.g., award letter, contract, approved budget, and key correspondence). All documents to be uploaded should be done before the record is moved to post award admin /project set up


Unit4 (Agresso)

  • Once the project is in the post-award setup on WorkTribe, the Research Finance team will set a budget code, carry out checks, and review the budget before setting the project live.
  • The live project is mapped into Unit4 (Agresso), where financial tracking takes place.
  • All directly incurred and directly allocated expenditure is recorded against the Unit4 budget code for monitoring and reporting.

Staff Costs and Overheads

If your project employs a member of staff directly, their salary will be paid from the project’s staff, medical, or nursing budget lines.

Directly Incurred - Staff costs will be shown against the staff budget line. Staff should not be paid for overtime or unsocial hours / any non-standard salary payments without prior approval of the Research Finance team.

Directly Allocated - PI and Co-I time that is not charged as a direct cost to the grant is recovered through the application of overheads (indirect costs). 

Overheads - Based on funder policies, Queen Mary overheads are transferred to individual projects by the Finance team (Management Accounts). 

Flexible Research Funding (FRF) - FRF’s are not administered by Research Finance. All queries relating to FRF should be directed to the Senior Finance Partner. For more information, please see the Flexible Research Funds (FRFs) page.

Staff Appointments

OLEEO is Queen Mary’s staff appointment system, used for managing recruitment processes, including the approval of staff appointed to grant-funded posts.

Once the hiring manager submits a vacancy for approval in OLEEO, it follows a two-tier and HR admin review approval process:

  • Tier 1: Approval by the School Manager 
  • Tier 2: Approval by Research Finance
  • HR Admin Review

This process ensures that all appointments, including externally funded posts, are properly reviewed. Research Finance confirms that the proposed budget and appointment dates comply with the sponsor’s award terms, authorises the role to be advertised, and gives final approval before recruitment begins.

Purchasing Equipment and Consumables, Travel & Subsistence Policies & Timesheets

All Queen Mary purchases should be in line with the procurement regulations. Orders can be made via the UNIT4 online purchasing system or the College manual ordering system.

Roles & Responsibilities

Please note that these roles and responsibilities are currently under review and may be updated periodically

Research Finance Responsibilities

  • Grant management
    • Manage a portfolio of active grants, with individual responsibility for their financial administration.
  • Financial monitoring and reporting
    • Monitor project expenditure and oversee income collection to maintain financial accuracy and compliance.
    • Provide Research Leads with regular updates, including monthly expenditure reports and account information through Worktribe and email.
  • Income processing
    • Process income in line with funder requirements.
    • Receive automatic payments from some funders, such as Research Councils, based on agreed schedules.
    • Raise manual invoices for other funders, including charities, commercial organisations, government bodies, and European funders, typically on a quarterly or annual basis as required.
  • Compliance support
    • Support compliance with funder terms and conditions and refer to the funders’ golden rules guidance for further detail.

 

Research Lead Responsibilities

  • Financial oversight
    • Acts as the project budget holder, with overall responsibility for financial and operational oversight.
    • Ensures all expenditure is eligible, appropriately authorised, and in line with the approved budget and funder terms.
  • Monitoring and reporting
    • Monitors spend and activity to avoid overspend and ensure effective use of resources.
    • Provides regular, accurate clinical trial recruitment updates to JRMO to support timely and accurate invoicing.
  • Change management
    • Notifies Research Finance promptly of any changes to timelines, scope, or delivery that may affect compliance or funding.
    • Works closely with the Pre-Award Team to ensure amendments are updated in Worktribe and the relevant Research Finance Officer is informed.
  • Compliance
    • Supports adherence to sponsor, funder, and institutional requirements throughout the project lifecycle.

 

Faculty Research Teams

Faculty Research Teams are the first point of contact for Research Leads, providing strategic oversight, guidance, and support throughout the project lifecycle.

They manage day-to-day project delivery, helping ensure work is completed on time, within budget, and in line with funder and institutional requirements.

  • Communication and Coordination
    • Serves as the main administrative contact for Research Finance and other support teams.
    • Coordinate with HR to ensure faculty staff costs are charged to the appropriate budget codes and for the agreed period of funding.
    • Shares accurate information promptly to support financial reporting, audits, and reconciliations.
  • Close-Out Responsibilities
    • Confirms all final transactions, commitments, and deliverables are completed before the project is closed.
    • Supports Research Finance by checking final balances and confirming all required documentation is in place.
    • Helps resolve any outstanding issues to avoid creating legacy projects.

Please refer to our SOP 103 - Research Projects Clearing and Closure Process for more information.

Project Conclusion

The Research Lead must inform Research Finance as soon as the project officially ends. Financial activity may continue after the end date, and any outstanding financial milestones must be completed before the project can be formally closed.

Reminder notifications will be issued six months, three months, and one month before the project end date. Three months before the end date, Research Finance will send an interim final expenditure statement showing the remaining budget, outstanding commitments to be cleared, and requesting confirmation of final dates and actual expenditure. This helps identify and resolve issues ahead of project completion.

At project end, a final expenditure statement or invoice will be issued. The Principal Investigator must review and approve all expenditure; approvals are processed in Unit4 and Worktribe by the relevant Project Officer.

Some funders (e.g., UKRI, NIHR, NIH, and the European Commission) may require formal audits. Projects must be managed in line with funder requirements so that documentation is maintained and the project remains audit-ready.

Any underspend will be returned to the funder once the final report has been submitted and any required audit has been completed.

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