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Glossary

Administrative and UW-specific terms that are used in community-engaged activities and partnerships.

Accessibility: In community engagement activities, accessibility is used broadly to mean that the opportunity or resource is available to community partners and the extended UW community for participation. The identification and removal of barriers to learning about the opportunity, engaging, and fully participating are the measures for accessibility.

Accounts Payable: The UW Financial team responsible for outgoing payments from UW (pay invoices that are billed to UW by community partners).

Accounts Receivable: The UW Financial team responsible for incoming payments to UW (payments to community partners from UW after they invoice UW).

Acknowledgement: Specifically for payments, this is generally the term used for an item given or a payment of nominal value to a community partner for their gifting of time, talent, or resources to a UW program. UW cannot gift payments or items as a public agency and since the item given is of nominal value, it is not intended to be compensation either. The item or nominal payment to the community partner is often termed as ‘given in acknowledgement’ for the community partner’s support of the UW program and its business purpose is to cultivate continued partnerships that benefit the UW program.

Agreement: A document that describes the activities of UW and the community partner, whether or not they will have any shared risks, responsibilities, and share of the outcomes/benefits of their cooperative activities together. There are many types of agreements and a contract is also a type of agreement.

Appointment: Generally referring to academic roles for faculty, academic affiliates, trainees, and academic staff with additional administrative responsibilities. Appointments are for limited periods of time but may be renewed.

Award: An item or payment given in recognition of achievement. If the award is being given to a UW student, it can either be an award restricted to academic spending (so it is considered a scholarship-type payment) or it can be unrestricted to any type of use by the student.

Best Value: A term for evaluating the benefits used by public agencies when making decisions. For UW’s work with community partners, this term is generally used when evaluating which community partner to use as a paid partner for goods and services. Best value for this relationship means picking the community partner that will benefit Washington as a state and UW’s educational mission the most. Value is both being efficient and effective with money but also spending according to Washington’s public values, like supporting small and diverse businesses.

Business Expense: The necessary and routine costs that an individual or business has while they are performing their approved activities that are a part of UW sponsored activities. Business expenses can be paid or reimbursed by UW if they are pre-approved for compliance and allowed with the UW funding source.

Compensation: Payments made to community partners for individuals in the UW community, generally for their services or time spent on UW sponsored activities. Compensated payments are generally taxable because they are for some type of work.

Compliance: Following all of the laws and internal UW rules during UW sponsored, community-engaged activities to protect participants and their assets/resources before, during, and after the activity.

Contingent Worker: If a community partner will need access to certain UW systems during a longer-term activity, the UW program may set up individuals as Contingent Workers in the UW payroll system. These roles are unpaid and the community partner should not be providing goods or services, just partnering with the UW program in a cooperative relationship for a longer-term project.

Customer: An individual or business that has created a ‘Customer Profile’ with UW so they can receive invoices issued from UW and through the UW Accounts Receivable system. ‘Customer’ is a term specific to having the profile made in the UW payment system.

Customer Invoice: An invoice from UW to an individual/business for payment of services, goods, fees, or payments for UW incurred business expenses.

Consultant: Individuals or businesses that are subject matter experts, generally contracted by UW for special projects and guidance for research.

Contract: A type of agreement that is legally binding, normally involving an exchange of things with value and terms that allow contract participants to maintain rights and be responsible for their obligations in the agreement. In UW community-engagement, contracts normally happen with purchasing/procurement. UW-issued Purchase Orders are considered contracts by UW (see below).

DPA: Data Processing Agreements (often abbreviated to DPA) are the agreements required when private or identifiable information about individuals in the UW community (students, staff, and participants in the UW activities) is being gathered, stored, or used by the community partner in the community partner’s digital spaces and physical spaces (like paper files). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are added if the community partner’s digital spaces and services will gather, collect, or store data from the European Union.

Direct Buy Limit: The spending limit set for UW departments to purchase goods and services without needing additional review and approval by UW Procurement. Purchasing above this limit will either require the use of an existing UW or other agency contract, an approved sole source supplier, or UW Procurement to solicit or identify a supplier. Depending on the funding source for the purchase, the solicitation may need to be posted with WA Department of Enterprise Services and require a longer solicitation period. The direct buy limit for UW purchasing is $10,000 for the total spend over the planned activity/project, including all fees and services— everything except for tax.

Disbursal: The payment of funds for academic spending/usage to UW students through their Student Accounts. Non-academic payments would go through Miscellaneous Payments or through payroll.

E-Signatures: An electronic signature, normally collected through online document viewing and signing programs to keep the signer’s information private and the content of the agreement private. E-signatures are the common alternative to in-person signing when it is impractical or impossible to produce and collect paper copies.

Expense Report: The UW business process for reimbursing business expenses for UW employees and also the pathway for closing a Field Advance. Community partners cannot be reimbursed through expense reports because they are not UW employees (see ‘Miscellaneous Payments’ below).

Field Advance: A reloadable credit/debit card issued to UW employees for specific allowed uses, such as cash incentive payments to research participants, student travel per diem expenses, and research or project expenses while on short fieldwork trips.

Foreign National: An individual who is not a US resident and is a citizen or resident of another country.

Fellowship: Longer-term paid opportunities to fund UW students for educational projects and focused growth activities.

Gift: Contributions of money or resources made to UW from a community partner without the expectation of a return or benefit to the community partner. Gifts are generally unconditional, but may have some restrictions on their allowed use, like any needed expenses for a particular project (including research) or any expense that supports a particular need (like student programs and scholarships). Note: UW cannot gift/donate funds or resources (see ‘Acknowledgement’ above).

Goods: Items that are sold, which can include pricing materials, production, and service fees such as delivery in their item pricing rates. When billed, associated fees or specific production costs may be listed separately instead.

Honorarium: A payment given to a guest speaker or presenter at a UW educational event or activity. The payment amount is not compensation for services or an hourly rate for activity length, but a nominal amount given in recognition of this special service.

Incentive: A payment given to encourage participation in all of an activity. Incentive payment amounts are designed to make whatever the activity is not a financial or resource loss for the participant, but not so beneficial that it could be preferable to do that activity or more of the same incentivized activities that normal activities for the participant. The reason for limiting the incentive value is preventing undue influence on the participant and skewing the accuracy or quality of the research/outcomes.

Invoice: A document that provides itemized description of all billed items and activities, with dates of activity, quantities and pricing rates, who performed the billed activity, who is receiving, payment instructions, and any other supporting documentation needed to explain why the billing is taking place and how it is necessary business between the UW and the community partner.

Invoice Line: An individual billed activity or item listed on an invoice. The text of the activity or item description with its rate and cost creates the ‘line’.

Miscellaneous Payment: The UW business process for paying individual, non-UW employees for honorarium, service, consulting, and non-business expense reimbursement. This payment pathway is generally used to pay community partners and UW students who are not UW employees for non-academic payments.

MOU: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement that does not commit the community partner or the UW to terms and responsibilities, but records that both groups intend to work cooperatively with their own resources towards a common goal.

Payment: A general term for money that is given for a purpose, but does not specifically mean compensation, gift, billing, reimbursement or any other type of activity.

Per Diem: Standardized calculated rates by the government which are used by UW to pay for expenses of activity participants in UW sponsored programming and business. Per diem expenses are meals and lodging and are calculated by the location of the expense.

Personal Expense: The costs that an individual has in daily life, such as food and lodging. Personal expenses are not paid for or reimbursable by the university unless the individual is a participant in a UW sponsored activity at the time when they would have the expense, such as travel or as a research participant. When UW is able to pay these personal expense costs on behalf of an individual, the provider of the goods/service is selected by the university so it follows the required laws and policies and cannot be selected based on personal preference of the participating individual.

Policy: Policies are the inflexible rules for how partnerships and work must be conducted. UW has internal policies created by university governance and also follows the laws of the local, state, and federal government. Policies are not standards or processes, both of which may be able to flex or be altered.

Primary Duty Station: The physical work station location and address for a UW employee. A UW employee can only have one primary duty station at a time.

Purchase Order: A binding document issued by a purchaser after they accept the quote or scope of work for an activity from the supplier. If UW issues a purchase order to a community partner, this purchase order is considered a contract and does not require signing to be enforced.

Procurement: UW Procurement is the office at UW that oversees the outgoing spend of money to bring in goods and services to the university. Within this team are the UW staff who are able to sign contracts for goods and services on behalf of the university (UW program staff cannot). This work team has some overlap with other UW outgoing money processes, like travel, reimbursements, and research spending, and will work with the other offices at UW to serve the UW community.

Quote: The project description, generally for goods and their pricing. A community partner can provide a quote to the UW program they are working with so the program can begin to request project and payment approvals.

Reference Number: UW requests and payment business processes have reference numbers created by UW’s payment system, Workday. Sometimes, it is necessary to note the reference number on other documents, such as listing the Purchase Order reference number on any invoice billed to UW.

Refund: The partial or full return of funds spent to a participant by the group they originally paid the funds to. An example of this would be that a community partner pays for registration at a UW sponsored event. The event is later cancelled and UW refunds the community partner for their registration payment.

Reimbursement: The repayment of funds spent to a participant by another group, not a payment being returned by the group the participant paid to originally. An example of this would be that a community partner pays for their gas and vehicle which they use to drive to UW for committee meetings. The UW reimburses the community partner for their gas and vehicle wear and tear costs through a calculated mileage reimbursement. 

Revolving Fund: A special account managed by a UW employee for large numbers of payments that need to go out quickly (faster than the other UW Procurement payment methods) for long-term projects, most typically research activities.

Sales Order: A binding document that is issued to UW by a supplier after the initial service/goods quote has been accepted. Note: UW will not agree to a quote and request a sales order unless the full project billed amount is under $10,000.

Scholarship: Payment to a student for their academic expenses. Scholarships may be need-based or in recognition of academic achievement.

Scope of Work: The project description, generally for services over a period of time. A community partner can provide a scope of work to the UW program they are working with so the program can begin to request project and payment approvals.

Service Agreement: A type of agreement at UW which specifically refers to services for charges provided to external community partners by UW program staff or faculty, where the incoming revenue is supporting the regular program expenses for the UW employees providing the services. This is billed to external community partners in the same process as normal external billing to customers. The service agreement document should be an attachment in the submission for the outgoing invoice at the completion of service deliverables.

Service Line: An individual ordered activity or item listed on a Purchase Order. The text of the activity or item description with its rate and cost creates the ‘line’. In the UW system, goods may be ordered as service lines and may need to be, depending on the order needs. If UW programs are unsure of how to use service lines, they should use UW Procurement instructional resources.

Services: Actions, skills, and labor measured by time spent or activities performed. Service costs when billed may include material costs and business expenses needed to complete the activities incorporated into hourly or activity rates or listed out as separate invoice lines.

Service Ticket: Most UW offices have a ticketing system to handle questions and requests. The intake for these questions and requests could be a form or through email. Once the question or request is submitted and accepted into that office’s system, a ticket (service ticket) is made. This ticket will have a unique reference number. Sometimes, the ticket number may be asked for by other offices so they can help look into the request.

Signing Authority: Depending on the type of agreement, different individuals at UW have authority over the terms within that agreement and only those individuals may sign.

Sole Proprietor: A business owned by one individual that does not have an LLC, but they may have employees and an EIN. In community-engaged activities, sole proprietors are generally an individual without an EIN or employees who regularly do the paid services as their primary business/income source. This is different from paying individuals who do not do whatever the services are as income (such as serving on a committee panel or being a guest speaker). Domestic sole proprietors and and the paid individuals in the second scenario can both be paid with only an SSN or ITIN, but only sole proprietors might have an EIN. Having an EIN allows for UW to do direct deposit payments through supplier invoices, which is faster than check payments.

Sole Source: When a supplier/vendor is the only provider for goods or services that fits the particular UW business needs. If a supplier/vendor is not the only provider for goods or services that could fulfill a UW program’s business needs, UW Procurement will assist with identifying the supplier/vendor that gives best value to the university.

Sponsor: The community partner that provides money or resources to fund the activities and project deliverables by the UW.

Sponsored Activities: Sponsored activities or UW-sponsored business describes any activity that is supported by UW resources, either paid for by UW or it is using UW resources (UW personnel, UW property, etc.). This is different from when ‘sponsored’ is used when describing a ‘Sponsor’ or ‘Sponsored Programs,’ which are terms used when support is coming into the UW from the community partner.

Sponsored Program: Funded activities at the UW where the community partner provides money or resources for the UW program to complete specified deliverables using that funding. The activities support the community partner’s and UW’s mission and values, but the primary group that benefits from the activities are not the sponsor or UW, but a 3rd party, such as students or the general public.

Stipend: The payment to a UW student or a student participating in a UW educational program to offset their costs needed to participate over the time period of the educational activity. Stipend payments are not wages and are intended to defer living expenses. The payment amount is calculated based upon the time spent on the educational activity and the length of time for the activity.

Supplier: An individual or business that has created a ‘Supplier Profile’ with UW so they can receive Purchase Orders and bill invoices through the UW Accounts Payable system. ‘Supplier’ is a term specific to having the profile made in the UW payment system and does not mean that the individual/business with this profile is providing supplies to the UW.

Supplier Invoice: An invoice sent to UW by an individual/business for payment or the invoice billed against an issued PO by a supplier for UW payment.

Tax ID Number: Numbers used for US tax reporting purposes. The names for these numbers are often abbreviated. These are the typical numbers used in community engagement payments:

• Employer Identification Number (EIN): Number for businesses that may or may not have employees (could be a sole proprietorship with one person, the owner). An EIN is required if the business has employees.
• Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN): Number for an individual who is a US resident (passes the substantial presence criteria) or non-resident and is not eligible for an SSN. An ITIN can be used for Miscellaneous Payments and Supplier Invoice payments at UW, but cannot be used for employment/payment through UW payroll.
• Social Security Number (SSN): Number for individual US citizens, residents, and foreign-nationals with work authorization for employment.

US Resident: A US citizen or individual that passes the substantial presence test. For a community partner, being a US resident will impact which tax ID numbers and other documents will be needed for certain payments or for other payments above the reporting threshold.

UW Employee: An individual with an active profile on Workday’s payroll platform, in a paid or unpaid role. Note: Contingent workers can have a profile in Workday within an organization’s position structure, but contingent workers are not employees and they are only in Workday to receive necessary access to other UW systems.

Vendor: Vendors are sellers of goods or services. In many instructional documents for UW, the words supplier and vendor are used interchangeably for the same role, but ‘Supplier’ also means a status within the UW payment system. See ‘Supplier’ above for information on this status and registration.

Workday: UW’s platform to manage people and finances. This includes UW employment, UW contingent workers, Suppliers, Customers, and all outgoing and incoming payments. Community partners will manage their Supplier profile in Workday.

Worktag: The number identification system used to classify and track revenue (incoming funds), expenses (outgoing funds), and the movement of UW funds/assets within the Workday financial system. Funds have multiple worktags because there are different worktags used by UW to describe where the money came from and can be used for, and then unique worktags used by UW units to identify which UW program, project, or activity the funds are allocated to for spending.

 

Policy Information

A summary of the policies, laws, and other governmental requirements that guide what is allowed in community-engaged activities and partnerships.

Accessibility:

Contracting, Purchasing and Charging Community Partners:

Employee Activities and Outside Work:

Gifts:

Intellectual Property:

Privacy:

Records and Retention:

Refunds:

• .

Reimbursement:

• .
• .

Research:

• GIMs: Grants Information Memoranda, the policy statements from UW Office of Research
• Note: There are many other policies which may impact research, depending on the project. Use this search feature from the Office of Research and this webpage to explore guidance beyond GIM policy.

Risk:

Travel:

UW Sponsorship:

Worker Classifications: