RSE financial practicalities

Let’s say you know what we do and have funding and would like to send it our way. This page says what to do. You can read what we know about different funders, but it’s probably better to ask your controller directly if you have the funding already.

Abstract

• Most of the time, we work like normal academics and use Halli to record or salaries.

• The PI needs to request the controller to set up Halli access for the RSE. The controller can also calculate the exact cost to your grant based on the salary we provide (the overheads are a function of your grant, not our work).

• The RSE staff record via Halli, and your controller can answer questions about how much funding has been used.

Below are template emails to request this to be set up.

Instructions for group leaders

Please send a message such as this one to your controllers (we will tell you the relevant salary):

I am wondering what types of funding I have available to cover salary at [NNNN]€/month (Aalto internal, SCI) - do I have enough funding for [1 month / 5 days / 4 months at 25% / etc.] at this level? I would like to hire one of the Aalto Research Software Engineers for a short amount of time for a project. You can read more here:

• https://scicomp.aalto.fi/rse/procedures/finance-practicalities/#instructions-for-department-controller

• https://scicomp.aalto.fi/rse/

If the answer is positive and you want to start the process, reply and include Richard Darst, the Research Software Engineer, and the RSE controller that we indicate:

The person is [USERNAME/EMAIL]. They can be added to Halli and they will directly allocate their salary to this project based on time worked. Please also let us know any requirements (maximum amount of time, valid months, etc.) Richard Darst (cc:ed) can answer any more questions about this.

(Costs can also be paid by internal charging, if that is easier.)

Checklist:

• Project discussed with researcher (and research software engineer, if relevant)

• Decide how time will be spent

  • Bill time to the Halli project whenever needed (flexible, but total cost is unknown and specific time isn’t reserved in advance)

  • Schedule xx% time for a certain time period (fixed cost, but it may not match up with the pace of your project)

• Initial request sent to your controller to confirm funds are available

• Request for setup sent to your controller, RSE controller, RSE lead (Richard Darst).

• Details relayed back to RSE lead / research software engineer.

Instructions for junior researchers

Below is an example message to send to your group leader, if you need some inspiration:

Dear GROUP LEADER, as you know I have been going to the SciComp garage to get help from the Aalto Scientific Computing people. We are at the point that they would like to help more, and our group has already reached the limit of the free “research software engineer” service, which goes beyond the typical cluster support. Do you think we have a little bit of funding which would allow us to hire their services for a short period?

With a little bit of funding, we can make our work much better and faster, and {we will accomplish [goals] / I [won’t have to worry about [topic] / will learn about [topic] much faster]}.

You can read more about the service here: https://scicomp.aalto.fi/rse/

Checklist:

• Project discussed with research software engineer

• Request sent to supervisor

Instructions for department controller

Our Research Software Engineer (RSE) will work on a project for the PI according to the PI’s requests and be paid by their project. Usually, the RSE will track the time they spend and record the actual time used for the project in Halli. If it’s easier for you, salaries can be handled by internal charging. Our team’s controllers are in SCI-Common.

Checklist:

• Name staff (RSE) and duration of funding received.

• Confirm funding conditions.

• If using Halli:

  • RSE added to the correct Halli projects by department controller (add permission for staff to record hours to the project).

  • Project number and any additional constraints (maximum hours, funding deadline, etc.) sent to the RSE, RSE lead (Richard Darst), and PI.

• If using internal charging:

  • Arranged between department controller and RSE controller (SCI)

  • We’ll track our time internally.

• If an EU project or any special constraints on how we keep our records, let us know. EU projects use Halli strictly, as described on the project administration page, heading “special projects”.

• Tell us how to update this page to be more useful to others.