ROOM FUNCTION and PART of SYSTEM

CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING PRORATIONS

Because of the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the use of space by Texas A&M University/System, the prorated description of a room should reflect the room's use over a one-year period. The specific use of a room should be determined by, but not limited to such factors as:

1. Funding source for salaries of employees in the space.
2. Funding source for research contracts conducted in the space.
3. Beneficiaries of the work product developed in the space.
4. Academic component of the work occurring in the space.
5. Subjective assessment of the relative amount of time spent on agency project work.

It is important to note, that this section of the space inventory update/verification should be based on any appropriate analyses that will result in a fair representation of the actual use of the space and can be certified as accurate by the departmental CEO. This should be reflected by the use of the appropriate proportional combinations of function codes and splits between the TAMU System component(s) benefitting from the room’s use.
 

OFFICE SPACE
The percentage of agency or university salary funding can be precisely quantified, but is not the sole criteria to be used in designating the prorated square footage for offices. Additionally, the salary funding source may change from month to month.

STAFF OFFICE EXAMPLE #1

A TEES (system part 08) Budgets & Payroll employee is paid 100% by TEES, but academic as well as TEES personnel benefit from the work product. As a result, the proration of space should reflect a reasonable percentage use by both the University and the Agency. This would be reflected as follows:

... if the function of the room primarily benefits the agency, as determined by any appropriate analyses that will result in a fair representation of the actual use of the space and can be certified by the departmental CEO.

STAFF OFFICE EXAMPLE #2

Academic department business administrators are usually 100% University (system part 02) funded employees, but they typically also administer agency research money, so the agency also benefits from the work product. Based on appropriate analysis, judgment, and knowledge of the department activities a split of the functions in this room may be reflected as follows:

FACULTY OFFICE EXAMPLE

A faculty member may be paid exclusively from an academic instructional budget. However, the departmental policy for promotion and tenure may include research provisions. As a result the faculty member not only has the responsibility of a teaching workload, but is also overseeing a research program. In this case the functional use of the space should be split appropriately. This may appear as indicated below:

Note that the use should also reflect any split between the university and the TAMUS agency activities that may be the benefactor of the faculty member’s work.

The specific use of an office should be determined by, but not limited to such factors as:

1. How many classes does this person teach?  Are the classes degree related, or part of extension activities?

2. For how much research dollar volume is this person a Principal Investigator (PI)?

3. Is the research supported by departmental, agency, or Research Foundation funding?

4. Is the person involved in the mentor program?

5. Is this person also the director of a Center or Institute?  If so, is there another office just for that function?

6. How many graduate students is this person responsible for?

LABORATORIES
Generally there are three types of laboratory functions:

1. Pure teaching labs - A laboratory that supports predominantly undergraduate classes and where no research is conducted.

The space should be reported as:

2. Pure research labs - A laboratory in which no work toward theses or dissertations occurs.

The pure research lab is staffed predominantly by post-docs and research engineers. The work is usually completed under the terms of a grant or other support of the departmental mission. The research does not support a student’s thesis or dissertation. Any students working in the lab are strictly employees, and do not receive formal instruction. If other agencies fund or otherwise benefit from the work product developed in the lab, the appropriate usage should be reflected. This percentage may be a subjective judgment based on knowledge of the activities in the lab. In this case the space could be reported as follows:

3. Cross-use labs - A room that supports both teaching and research activities.

The specific use of a laboratory should be determined by, but not limited to such factors as:

1. How many hours per day are undergraduate classes taught?

2. How many hours per day are graduate courses taught?  (this may be easiest to evaluate by looking to the PI, assessing his teaching volume, then pro-rating that across the labs for which he is responsible)

3. What is the dollar volume for research being done in the lab?

4. Is the research "resident" in the lab, or is just some of the equipment (balances, lasers, etc...) used for other  research projects?

5. Are the research results incorporated into theses and dissertations?  (these are academic pursuits and should be pro-rated as function code 11)

6. Does the individual graduate instruction occur in the lab?  (this is an academic activity which usually occurs in conjunction with the research and should be pro-rated as function code 11)

7. What is the funding agency for the research?

8. What is the funding agency for the salaries of the employees?  (agency funding is pro-rated function code 21)

9. What is the funding source for the equipment in the lab? (laboratory use fees - 02, TEES research contracts - 08)

10. How many post docs and research engineers work in the lab?  (this is function code 21 or 22)

If the function of the room primarily benefits the agency, as determined by all appropriate analyses that will result in a fair representation of the actual use of the space and can be certified by the departmental CEO, then these types of labs could be reported as:

GENERAL