Research and knowledge exchange

Research Dashboard Information

General Information
  • Loads information from pFACT (the costing and pricing system), the Finance System, Oracle (the "Yellow Screens"), HR and Sussex Research Online (SRO). Note: Sussex Research Online has largely been superseded by Elements, but whenever an entry in Elements is marked as "published", it is transferred into Sussex Research Online, so the figures are still valid.
  • Information is updated by 07:30 each day, so data shown is correct as of "close of play" yesterday.
  • The "Select Department(s)" dropdown is used to select one or many departments to view. Once this selection has been made, it will apply to the whole dashboard (it doesn't need to be changed on every tab). Reports always need to have required departments selected. On entry, the user will see the all the data they have access to - the whole University, or the whole School they are in.
  • In all tabs and reports (excluding the PGR tab) the years listed are the University Financial Year - 1st of August to 31st of July. The PGR tab defaults to the University Academic Year (it can be changes to Financial Year).
  • Any number that's coloured in blue and underlined can be "clicked through" to get the detailed information.
  • All dashboard tabs have a PDF version available for saving or printing.
Tab: Overview / Tables & Charts

People Table

  • FTE and Headcount for Teaching and Research staff (AT** grade), Research only staff (AR** grade) and PGRs.
  • The figures with a white background are the numbers returned to HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) in the respective years.
  • The figures with a yellow background are the numbers "today".

Per T&R FTE Table

  • Share of PhDs Awarded, PGR Headcount & FTE, Research only staff (AR**) and Research Project Income in each year for Teaching and Research staff (AT**) FTE.

Current Live Projects

  • Shows the number of current open projects, and their total value by Intellectual Share.

Projects Table

  • Shows the total value (in £000s) of Applications, Awards and Income, over the last seven years and year-to-date by Intellectual Share.
  • Note: "Income" throughout the dashboard is recorded at the date the money is spent on a project within a School, not at the date the money is received from the Funder.

Outputs Table

  • Shows published items over the last seven full years and year-to-date - more comprehensive details are available on the "Outputs" tab.
  • Note: Sussex Research Online has largely been superseded by Elements, but when an entry in Elements is marked as "published", it is transferred into Sussex Research Online, so the table does show valid published data.

PGRs Table

  • PGR counts over the last seven full years and year-to-date by Financial Year - more comprehensive details are available on the "PGRs" tab.
  • Note: Early in a new Academic Year it can take a couple of months for these numbers to "settle down" - data entry has to catch up - e.g. it's possible to see more starters than offers or applications.

The "Charts" tab shows the same information as on the "Tables" tab, but in basic chart form.

Tab: Projects / Applications and Awards

Applications Table & Chart

  • Shows the total value of Applications over the last seven years and year-to-date by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category.
  • Current year-to-date value is connected to the last seven years by a dotted line on the chart.

Awards & Forecasted Table & Chart

  • Shows the total value of Awards over the last seven years and year-to-date by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category.
  • Current year-to-date value is connected to the last seven years by a dotted line on the chart.
  • Current Forecasted Awards (ones where the Funder has indicated they intend to fund the project, but contract negotiations are underway) are indicated by a star on the chart. Forecasted Awards are detailed in a table at the bottom right of the page.

By default, the tab shows only Research Projects, but project types are selectable using the checkboxes on the top of the page.

Tab: Projects / Income

Income/Profiled Table

  • Shows the total value of Income (in £000s) over the last seven years and year-to-date by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category. Note: "Income" throughout the dashboard is recorded at the date the money is spent on a project within a School, not at the date the money is received from the Funder.
  • Also shows the total Profiled Income for the current and future years in £000s by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category. Profiled value is loaded by Research Finance when the project initially starts - if a project runs over multiple years, it is "loaded" over the years as well as can be estimated, so takes into account when Academics are on and off the projects, when PGRs join and leave, if there is any "upfront" equipment purchases etc., then "flat loads" the rest. This means the profiled shows what income is expected over the next few years, but is only an estimate of which exact year the income will be received.

Contribution Income/Profiled Table

  • Shows the total value of Contribution Income (in £000s) over the last seven years and year-to-date by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category. See note below for definition of Contribution.
  • Also shows the total Profiled Contribution for the current and future years in £000s by Intellectual Share split by Funder Category. As above, this is the profiled value as loaded by Research Finance when the project was initially loaded.

By default, the tab shows only Research Projects, but project types are selectable using the checkboxes on the top of the page.

Note: Contribution for Research Council Awards includes:

Directly Allocated (DA) Costs – costs of specific resources used by the project that are shared by other activities. Charged to projects on the basis of estimates rather than actual costs. These include PI times, a cost for estates, which represents estate-related resources which will be used by the project or shared facilities.

Indirect Costs – non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated Costs. Includes costs of the School and University’s administration such as personnel, finance, library etc.

Estates and Indirects are based on the FTE included from PI time and RAs included.

Net contribution to Schools will be after covering the 20% shortfall on Directly Incurred Costs.

Tab: Projects / Project J Curves

By Total Open Awards

  • Shows an anonymised list of all "research active" staff (those on a Teaching and Research contract, or those who are involved in one or more research projects), sorted by the value of open projects "today". The brown line is the value of open projects, the blue line is the total value of applications in the last seven years plus year-to-date.
  • The "Engaged" figure in the heading shows the percentage of "research active" staff who have any open projects today. By using the dropdown at the top of the page, "Education Focused" staff can be excluded.
  • Note: as this is a "today" figure, this table is volatile. If a large award is marked as closed "today", the table may be significantly different.

By Total Applications in last seven financial years and YTD

  • Shows an anonymised list of all "research active" staff (those on a Teaching and Research contract, or those who are involved in one or more research projects), sorted by the value of applications in the last seven years plus year-to-date. The brown line is the value of open projects, the blue line is the total value of applications in the last seven years plus year-to-date.
  • The "Engaged" figure in the heading shows the percentage of "research active" staff who have applied for any funding in the last seven years plus year-to-date. By using the dropdown at the top of the page, "Education Focused" staff can be excluded.
  • Note: as this is a "today" figure, this table is volatile. If a large application is submitted "today", the table may be significantly different.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Cumulative Actuals

Research Income / Contribution Charts

  • The solid line shows the actual income/contribution on research projects as recorded in the Finance System for the selected year, the dotted line shows the profiled income/contribution for the selected year.
  • Where available, the charts also show the University Council set School budgets for income and contribution.

Research Income / Contribution Table

  • Shows a breakdown of the figures in the charts above, including contribution from Staff Recharges, Overheads and Cost to US.

Other Income Table

  • Shows a breakdown of Services and Consultancy actual and profiled income, and Doctoral Training actual income.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Year on Year

General Note #1: This tab is useful as it is an easy way for looking at trends for specific Funder Categories. By default, all categories are chosen, but the user can select the desired categories.

General Note #2: All figures are taken directly from the Finance System.

Research Income/Contribution Charts

  • Show the total value of income and contribution over the last seven years and year-to-date (the darker line), and the profiled value of income and contribution for the current year and the next three years (the lighter line). The profiled values only include those awards that have been loaded into the Finance System. Projects that have been awarded but not yet loaded into the Finance System are not included.
  • In the charts, the current year has a "blob" which is the year-to-date income/contribution figure, the square with the pale line shows the profiled income/contribution for the current year.

Research Income/Contribution Tables

  • Show the total value of income and contribution over the last seven years and year-to-date, and the profiled value of income and contribution for the current year and (up to) the next three years. As with the charts above, the profiled values only include those awards that have been loaded into the Finance System. Projects that have been awarded but not yet loaded into the Finance System are not included.
  • The income and contribution figures for each year are split by Funder Category.
  • The yellow section of the charts shows the current year's actual income and contribution to date and the current year's profiled income and contribution.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Cumulative Values

General Note #1: This tab (and the Cumulative Numbers tab) was generated to allow Schools to assess their progress in the current year compared to recent years.

General Note #2: Currently the tab shows all figures split by Budget Share.

Cumulative Bid Values in Year (by Submitted Date)

  • Shows cumulative breakdown by month within each year of the total value of bids submitted in the month. Note: the current month in the current year will be a "month-to-date" value.
  • Chart shows the current year-to-date and last two years, table shows the current year-to-date and the last seven years.

Cumulative Award Values in Year (by System Award Date)

  • Shows cumulative breakdown by month within each year of the total value of projects awarded in the month. Note: the current month in the current year will be a "month-to-date" value. The date "awarded" is the date the project was set to "awarded" on the system.
  • Chart shows the current year-to-date and last two years, table shows the current year-to-date and the last seven years.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Cumulative Numbers

General Note #1: This tab (and the Cumulative Values tab) was generated to allow Schools to assess their progress in the current year compared to recent years.

General Note #2: Currently the tab shows all figures split by Budget Share.

Cumulative No. of Bids in Year (by Submitted Date)

  • Shows cumulative breakdown by month within each year of the total number of bids submitted in the month. Note: the current month in the current year will be a "month-to-date" value.
  • Chart shows the current year-to-date and last two years, table shows the current year-to-date and the last seven years.

Cumulative No. of Awards in Year (by System Award Date)

  • Shows cumulative breakdown by month within each year of the number of projects marked as awarded in the month. Note: the current month in the current year will be a "month-to-date" value. The date "awarded" in this case is the date the project was set to "awarded" on the system.
  • Chart shows the current year-to-date and last two years, table shows the current year-to-date and the last seven years.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Monthly Report

Research Applications (£000s) Table

  • Shows number of bids, total cost and price of bids and % recovery on bids for the last seven years and year-to-date by Budget Share, split by Funder Category.
  • "Cost" is the total cost of the project, "Price" is the part the Funder finances.

Research Awards (£000s) Table

  • Shows number and value of awards for the last seven years and year-to-date by Budget Share, split by Funder Category.

Research Income (£000s) Table

  • Shows actual income and contribution for the last seven years and year-to-date as recorded in the Finance System, split by Funder Category.
  • The "%Cont/n" column shows the percentage of the income that been recorded as contribution income.

Research Projected Income (£000s) Table

  • Shows projected income and contribution for the current year and up to the next three years as recorded in the Finance System, split by Funder Category.
  • The "%Cont/n" column shows the percentage of the income that been recorded as contribution income.
  • This will only include those projects marked as awarded that have been loaded into the Finance System - awards "queued" to be loaded won't be included.

Research Summary (£000s) Table

  • Shows a summary version of all the information in the tables above.
Tab: Projects / Budget Reports / Open Awards

Open Awards - Value by Funder Type (£000s) Table

  • Shows the total profiled income and profiled contribution and the income and contribution to date as recorded in the Finance System for all open awards.
  • The income and contribution figures are split by Funder Category.
  • The income and contribution values only include those awards that have been loaded into the Finance System - projects marked as awarded but not yet loaded into the Finance System are not included.

Open Awards - Top 15 Funders by Total Profiled Income/Contribution (£000s) Tables

  • Shows the top 15 Funders "today" sorted by total profiled income (upper table) and total profiled contribution (lower table).
  • The income and contribution figures are split by Funder Category.
  • The income and contribution values only include those awards that have been loaded into the Finance System - projects awarded but not yet loaded into the Finance System are not included.
  • Note: as this is a "today" figure, this table is volatile. If a large award is marked as closed "today", the table may be significantly different.
Tab: Outputs

Outputs: as recorded on Sussex Research Online Table

  • Shows numbers of each type of output published over the last seven years and year-to-date.
  • Note #1: Sussex Research Online has largely been superseded by Elements, but when an entry in Elements is marked as "published", it is transferred into Sussex Research online, so the table does show valid published data.
  • Note #2: The clickable links go through to a report that has links to the actual outputs recorded in SRO.

Research Journal Articles/Conference Proceedings: REF Open Access Compliance Status

  • Please ignore this - it has been superseded by the REF dashboards. Please request access to these separately if required.
Tab: PGRs

General Note: Unlike the rest of the Research Dashboard, this tab defaults to Academic Year. It can be changed to Financial Year using the radio buttons on the top left of the page. The Academic Year default is for the main users of this tab, the Directors of Doctoral Studies (DDS).

Current PGRs Table

  • Shows details of current PGR (Postgraduate Researcher) numbers broken down by where they are in the submission process.

PGR Activity Table

  • Shows details of PGR numbers for the last seven years.
  • Note: Early in a new Academic Year it can take a couple of months for these numbers to "settle down" and it is possible to see more starters than offers or applications.

Submitted PGRs Chart

  • Shows the numbers of students who have submitted their thesis for examination before and after their maximum date of registration in each of the last seven years.

Awarded PGRs Chart

  • Shows the numbers of students who have been awarded their doctoral degree (i.e. who have been examined and completed all corrections) before and after their maximum date of registration in each of the last seven years.
Tab: Staff Activity Profile

General Note: Access to the Research Dashboard is limited. To allow academics to see what data is held on the Dashboard about them, each Academic has their "Research Profile" PDF attached to their Sussex Direct every morning at 07:30. This contains details of all their outputs, PGRs, applications, awards, income and contribution over the last seven years and year-to-date. The "Research Profile" can be accessed by clicking on the academic's name on this screen, then selecting the "PDF Version".

The main table shows a list of all "research active" staff (those on a Teaching and Research contract, or those who are involved in one or more research projects), and details for each one:

  • Current FTE
  • Outputs in the last seven years
  • Total value of Applications in the last seven years by Intellectual Share
  • Total value of Awards in the last seven years by Intellectual Share
  • Total value of Open Awards "today" by Intellectual Share
  • PGR Degrees Awarded where they have had some share of the supervision

The table can be sorted by application value, award value, open award value and any other of the columns using the dropdown list at the top right hand corner of the tab.

Tab: Operational Reports / Projects / Schools

This tab offers a number of different reports used by the Schools. The following highlights a few of the more useful ones used by the Schools:

Actual and Profiled Income and Contribution by Project

  • Lists actual income and contribution for the current year and profiled income and contribution for the current year and the next three years.
  • The project status choices are:
    • Closed - finished projects;
    • Normal - open, live projects;
    • Parked - projects that, as far as the Schools are concerned, are closed.
  • This can be used in conjunction with the "Undecided and Forecasted Bids and ABW Award Queue" report for School forecasts if all "Normal" projects are selected.
  • Note: the report only includes those awards that have been loaded into the Finance System - projects awarded but not yet loaded into the Finance System are not included.

Undecided and Forecasted Bids and ABW Award Queue

  • Lists the project "pipeline" - undecided bids, forecasted bids (ones where the Funder has indicated they intend to fund the project, but contract negotiations are underway) and awarded projects that have yet to be loaded into the Finance System.
  • This can be used in conjunction with the "Actual and Profiled Income and Contribution by Project" report for School forecasts.
  • Note #1: The start and end dates in this report are often the dates that were estimated when the project was first raised in pFACT. "Real" start and end dates are entered when an award is loaded into the Finance System.
  • Note #2: A number of Schools have some very old awards listed - Research Finance are looking into these projects and correcting them.

School Activity Between Dates - by Department

  • This is a report that has a wide range of parameters, so can be used for a number of different purposes, for example:
    • The original idea of the report was to provide a list of "everything" that has happened since a selected date - new awards, forecasted, rejected and submitted projects. To do this, select the required School or Department and the required from date, and then "select all" everywhere else.
    • It can be used to find all awards in a selected number of years. To do this, select the required School or Department and the required date range, then select just "Award Project" in the project statuses, then "select all" everywhere else. To find the biggest awards, drop the report to Excel and sort by award amount.

Project Partner Information

  • This report provides project collaboration information as entered in pFACT. It details the "Is Collaborative" flag, the "Is Sussex Lead" flag, a "Non-Sussex Lead" (if appropriate) and a list of Project Partners.
  • There is an option on the prompt screen to choose whether to see "all" projects, or just those where any of the above have been entered.
  • Note: Be aware that these "additional fields" were not in pFACT for the first few years, so the Project Partner information will be absent from early pFACT records. It is still not entered on every project.

Funder Activity Between Dates

  • This is useful, for example, to find out about projects with a particular Funder (or Funder Scheme), or details of all awards received from a particular Funder (or Funder Scheme).
  • Select the required School or Department and the required date range, the choose all statuses to see everything done with a Funder, or just "Award Project" to view award details. Once the report has run, select the required Funder Categories, Funder(s) and/or Funder Scheme(s).

Research Mapping Report

  • This report is used to find projects by specific words, e.g. all projects about dementia. It searches for the selected words in the project title or the project keywords.
  • The user can select either current staff only, or all staff.

Awards by Activity Type

  • This is the easiest report to use to see details of Consultancy projects.
  • Select Project Class "Non-Research", click on "List Activities", then select just "Consultancy". Choose date range, School/Dept. etc. as required.