TIMS Grant Details Page

[trycatch]

So, is it just me, or is something wrong with the grant details page in TIMS? Our team has applied for and received several, and spent $5k of them (registration.) Under the grant details, it lists us as having $5k of grants "unused" and the rest are "used."

Is this yet another TIMS does everything the most nonsensically way possible and "used" is code for something? It says in our balance that we've only paid $5k and our credit balance is the rest... am I missing something?

[Mark McLeod]

Our (358) grant money is listed as used and is accounted for as part of the Amount Paid total.

Seems accurate to me.

Possibly, I'm missing the point of your question?
Are all your expected grants accounted for as either "unused" or as part of the "Amount Paid"?

[trycatch]

Our (358) grant money is listed as used and is accounted for as part of the Amount Paid total.

Seems accurate to me.

Possibly, I'm missing the point of your question?
Are all your expected grants accounted for as either "unused" or as part of the "Amount Paid"?

Ours appears *inverted*. We just received a large grant recently, which is marked as "used", while the grants used to pay our registration cost are marked "unused". HOWEVER, our "credit balance" and "amount paid" appears correct.

[Mark McLeod]

Did you explicitly instruct FIRST finance on how the grants are to be applied and in what order and they have not correctly followed that explicit order?
If not, then FIRST Finance can apply them in any order. There isn't any first-in/first-out implied order.
Otherwise, there may be specific grant restrictions from the donors as to how the monies be applied, e.g., only for registration vs unrestricted and can be refunded to the team 501c3 if unused by the end of season.

Either way a conversation with FIRST Finance can clear up the matter.

[SenorZ]

The lack of detail is annoying. The old system had an invoice option and you could see line item layout of funds (in and out). Now it will show official grants as specific amounts, but other funds we get (volunteer hours from mentors) are no where to be found.

[trycatch]

Did you explicitly instruct FIRST finance on how the grants are to be applied and in what order and they have not correctly followed that explicit order?
If not, then FIRST Finance can apply them in any order. There isn't any first-in/first-out implied order.
Otherwise, there may be specific grant restrictions from the donors as to how the monies be applied, e.g., only for registration vs unrestricted and can be refunded to the team 501c3 if unused by the end of season.

Either way a conversation with FIRST Finance can clear up the matter.

Agreed, except there's *more* than $5000 designated as "used" but *only* $5000 listed as our "Amount Paid" and we still have the remaining as our "Credit Balance." Basically, the amounts listed as being used in the "Balances" and the "Grants Details" pop up you get when you click "You have received X in Grants this season" appear backwards.

I'll poke FIRST about it tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't another weird TIMS thing that everyone else knew about. :P

[Mark McLeod]

I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't another weird TIMS thing that everyone else knew about. :P
There has to be a first person to find weird TIMS things and you just happened to be elected on this one. :)

[sanddrag]

I found it to be similarly confusing and ended up calling them by phone. They know it lacks the detail of the old one, and it's something they want to improve, but admitted it won't happen for 2017. In our case, I could not see one particular payment we made by check show up anywhere in Dashboard, but all the totals were correct, and they have it line by line in their accounting record for each team.

If you have any concerns about your team's account, it's best just to call FIRST Finance on the phone. They are very helpful.

[guniv]

We haven't had any issues with this, but the other day we got an email from FIRST Finance with subject "Thank You - Payment Received" with the content:

"Thank you for making a payment for FRC Team - . (NOTE: The team number was indeed missing in the email) Please treat this email as your receipt of payment."

It was confusing because we had covered our two regionals and were only waiting for FF to send us a regrant from excess funds, and had not/no reason to send a payment.

It was cleared up a second later with an email from the Submittable saying the regrant had been approved, but confusing nonetheless. In any case, I'm sure FIRST Finance is swamped right now so it's no big deal for us at least.

[FrankJ]

Over the years I have noticed what is shown about grants on the web site has a loose connection with reality. I don't think is is any bad intent, more of the web site doesn't meet the needs of the accounting department. Also the large sponsors that sponsor many teams often write one check late in the process. First knows it is coming, but it creates accounting wonkyness.