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PI Dashboard

Overview

PI Dashboard (pidash.cornell.edu) is designed to answer questions about the financial aspects of research projects at Cornell.

PI Dashboard was created by Cornell University’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) and is developed under the direction of a faculty advisory committee and with additional faculty input on content and ease of use.

Who Uses the PI Dashboard?

PI Dashboard helps Cornell researchers and people who support them in their work (Principal Investigators (PIs) and Administrators).

Guiding Principles

A few simple ideas guide the decisions and development work on the PI Dashboard:

  • Make it easy for people to answer common questions quickly with data.

  • Remove silos so that faculty and administrators can see financial and project data in one place.

  • Present data targeted to faculty.

  • Use priorities set by faculty.

  • Look to the target audiences (faculty and administrators) for guidance.

What Kinds of Questions Does the PI Dashboard Answer?

See the following feature tour:

Different dashboards answer financial questions like the following:

Dashboard Panel

Helps Answer:
See My PIs
  • Which PIs can I see?
  • Which PIs have completed their monthly expense reports?
Finances
  • How much time is left on my project?
  • Am I underspending?
Personnel
  • What accounts are used to pay my grad student?
  • What are my personnel expenses in the last month?
Transactions
  • What are my recent (90d) transactions?
  • What are my category expenses across all accounts? (e.g., ‘what are all my cloud computing expenses?’)
Expense Review
  • Are there any accounting errors?
  • What expenses need to be reviewed?
Proposals
  • What are my pending proposals and documents?

Other Helpful Information

PI Dashboard online help also has helpful information about the following:

Page Helps Answer:
For Admins
  • How do load detailed budgets?
  • How do I update account managers?
Act-As FAQ
  • How do I ‘act-as’ PIs and see their data?
PI Dashboard Monthly Update
  • What is in the monthly update emails?
Year End
  • What is updated during year end?

What Can I See?

You can see projects or accounts where:

  • You are the Principal Investigator (PI) or Account Manager.
    • You will not see:
      • Projects where you do not have an account.
      • Accounts that have not yet been created.
    • You can find an account or project’s  PI or Account Manager using the Account Attributes Report in the Financial Dashboards in OBIEE.
    • If you think there are issues, contact your financial staff.
  • You have Act-As privileges. 
    • Administrative support staff can see projects and accounts if they have the appropriate Act-As privileges.
    • To Act-As another person, click the arrow next to your name and choose from the list.

menu name drop-down

Note: There is no need to request access to the PI Dashboard. Log in with your NetID and password. If you have projects or accounts, they are ready for you to review.

How to View Your Data

  1. Click any row to see a Details panel with additional information.
  2. Sort columns.
  3. Filter content to see just what you need.
  4. Search Personnel or Transactions, or download a .csv file of your transaction history.
four features-2-hr.png

See Your Projects in the Way that Makes Sense to You

  • Change the display name for projects or accounts. For example, add a prefix like NIH or USDA or the account number to project titles.

    • Click the blue pencil to type a new name or to switch back to the original.

highlight name2.png
Note: Once you make a name change, it is displayed everywhere in the PI Dashboard and is seen by everyone who has access to or Act-As privileges for that account.
Tip: You can also rename Project Documents. This is very handy because the file names for the documents are often hard to understand. 
  • Your default balances and graphs include all project accounts where you are the account manager.
    • Change the Include Accounts list to focus on just one or two accounts or if you want to include project accounts managed by someone else.
    • Click the blue pencil and make your selections.

my project accounts.png

Comparisons to Other Dashboards

Dashboard Audience Data Type Mobile?
PI Dashboard Faculty Financial, labor, and proposal data Yes
RA Dashboard Research Admins Financial, labor, proposal, and award data. Generates current and pending reports for any faculty No
Account-Award Portfolio Faculty Financial data similar to the PI Dashboard. Not as easy to use as PI Dashboard but contains extra data.
Web Financials Dashboards Financial Admins Financially focused dashboard similar to the RA Dashboards
Accounting Dashboards Financial Admins Large range of financial dashboards

Training & Support

Expense Review Overview and Quick Reference Cards for Admins and Faculty​/PIs

Expense Review Overview

Quick Reference Card (PIs) ​

Quick Reference Card (Department Admins)​

For PI Dashboard questions or feedback, contact: pidash@cornell.edu

Contact Us

We are interested in hearing from you about the PI Dashboard–we are always in need of people who will offer their insight and opinions. If you’d like to provide input, email pidash@cornell.edu.

Email: pidash@cornell.edu 

Call: 607-254-5068

Visit Us: East Hill Office Building (EHOB), Suite 220

Accessibility

If you have a disability and are having trouble accessing information on this website or need materials in an alternate format, contact rais-help@cornell.edu for assistance.