Janine Connelly
Director, Academic Budgets, Planning and Analysis/Strategy
401-454-6596
jconnell@risd.edu
The Academic Budget and Planning office develops and maintains the academic operating budget, supervises and coordinates the capital planning process for academic projects, and oversees fund balances in designated and gift accounts. The Director reports to the Provost and provides training and guidance for academic department heads, deans and specialists. Each department within Academic Affairs meet bi-annually with the director to discuss current year status and planning for the next academic year.
Budget Development
The official budget development process begins in the fall, a year in advance. Departments request budget changes, term appointments, searches, teaching units, student employment, capital projects, etc. are requested via a Google form. Requests are review and prioritized by the Dean and Provost for submission to Finance and the Board of Trustees in May. The FY27 budget development process will begin in late August 2025 and instructions and deadlines will be sent at that time.
FY27 budget and course table development schedule
Google request form, operating budgets
Google request form, capital projects
Enrollment history
Department budgets, multi-year histories budget vs actual
Budget Monitoring
The Academic Affairs Budget office will meet with Department Heads, Specialists, Deans, and Division Managers twice a year (fall and spring) to review and confirm resources and tracking against annual budgets.
Spending plans should be developed during the summer and monitored throughout the year.
* Consider department goals (new initiatives, events, changing curricular needs) and related supplies, student staffing, guests, equipment, events.
* Plan strategically for known expenses: X number of guests per term, $XXX for course costs for each course, how many student gatherings require food, student employment shifts (purpose, frequency, duration), etc.
* Review Workday budget reports frequently for accuracy of charges and overall tracking against budget. "Worktags" such as activity codes and program codes are available for tracking expenses specific to an event or course.
* Use the memo fields when processing expenses, it makes reviews much easier later on.
* When booking travel or food, use an activity code to flag the expense as related to faculty, students, or guests/lecturers/critics.
* Make every effort possible to charge expenses to the correct account from the beginning. Expenses being shared across multiple departments or fund sources can be split in Workday; please email AA or Accounts Payable for assistance. If errors occur, email the details including transaction ID (for example, SI-12345) to AA for correction.
FAQs
How are course costs calculated?
The course costs budget categories (Course Costs SC52606, Course Costs Field Trips SC52817, and RISD Bucks Add to Balance Expense SC52539 ) are funded directly from the Academic & Technology Fee charged to students.
Institutional Research provides Academic Budgets with a report on credits issued annually by each department for the previous three years.
Credits are totaled by Division and a three-year average calculated. The base allocation is then calculated as follows:
Academic Affairs holds a 5% contingency.
Liberal Arts Division = $20,000
Architecture and Design Division = $12.50/credit
Experimental and Foundation Studies Division = $12.50/credit
Fine Arts Division = $25/credit
Can I request new Activity Codes and/or Program Codes to track expenses by course or by event?
Please check the Workday data audit reports to make sure your needed code doesn't already exist. If you do need a new code, you can email the Academic Budgets office or use the Create Request task in Workday.
Data Audit - Programs returns a list of existing Program codes. Please note the associated fund numbers; fund 12s are only designated/discretionary accounts, fund 10s are available to use in operating budgets.
Data Audit - Activity Codes and Locations [report to come soon]
What is the difference between Activity Codes and Activity Locations?
Codes are only able to be used on financial transactions. Locations can be used on financial AND payroll transactions. If you need to track expenses related to payroll, best to use a Program Code or an Activity Location.
Can we adjust our budgets during the year?
We can realign budget categories within the non-personnel categories at any time, just email the Academic Budget office with details.
What Workday reports are helpful for budget monitoring?
CR FIN - Cost Center - Operating Expense Budget Summary with Personnel Grouping | Expense report by Cost Center, with subtotals for personnel and non-personnel categories - Includes only expenses, intended to be run for Fund 10 operating budget reporting only
CR FIN - Capital Projects Budget Summary by Cost Center (cc workbench) | Capital Projects Budget vs. Actual by Cost Center and Project
CR FIN - Summary of Available Funds by Gift/Grant/Program | Fund balances, revenue, and expense activity for discretionary, gift, and grant accounts.
Operating Budget Summary by Program | Summarizes your operating budget by Program Code. If you use Program Codes heavily, this can be helpful for an easy view in that format.
CR FIN - Operating Budget Summary Category Level by Cost Center, Program and Activity Code without Salaries | Easy horizontal format including expenses, revenues, programs, activity codes. Best to include Fund 10 in the filter before running.
RISD - Find Purchase Order Line and Line Splits for Organization | enter some worktag details in the Organization field, and use the date range. This report will show outstanding balances on open purchase orders.