Monitoring Account Activity: WISDM
As the Principal Investigator, you will work closely with both your department and your school/college business office to initiate expenditures. Before you begin to spend funds from a grant or contract, you should familiarize yourself with fiscal policies and specific sponsor guidelines. You are responsible for ensuring the appropriateness, reasonableness, and allowability of expenditures and ensuring that expenditures do not exceed the award budget.
The current system for reviewing account activity is not without its short-comings for monitoring sponsored projects. However, it does provide some valuable information regarding account balances if you know how to interpret the information being viewed. Expenditures against each unique 133/144 account number are posted to the University accounting system, PeopleSoft Shared Financial System (SFS). WISDM (Wisconsin Data Mart) was developed to provide Web-based financial data reporting and provides detailed information regarding budgets and expenditures. Specific journal, voucher and purchase order data can also be reviewed.
- Contact your Unit Business Representative to request your own WISDM Username and Password.
- Business and Financial Services provides some training in the use of WISDM.
Interpreting Account Balances
Account balances often appear to be higher than they actually are, due to the scheduling of certain expense calculations. For example, fringe benefits and/or indirect costs are not charged to the account until after the end of the first week of the month following expenditures. That is, looking at an account before the month is "closed" would overstate the balance by the amount of fringe benefits and/or the indirect costs associated with the charges during that month.
Prudent Practice
Periodically contact your post-award grant accountant for a more accurate assessment of the account balance.