Service Center Overview

A Service Center, which includes recharge centers and specialized service facilities, is a University unit/facility organized to provide goods and/or services to other University departments/units for a fee. The costs of these goods and/or services are charged directly to internal and external users based on established billing rates and actual usage of these goods and/or services.  The Office of Facilities and Administrative Analysis is responsible for reviewing and approving use rates for service centers that anticipate charging Federal Contract and Grant projects and/or external Federal customers.

Effective 3/1/2016 all rates are to be prepared through the Online PeopleSoft Service Center Module (MyPack Portal/Main Menu/Financial Systems/Service Center).  All individuals that have PeopleSoft Basic Financials Access have the ability to view the Service Center Overview Tab which shows service center rates, expiration dates and whether they charge Contract & Grants projects or External Federal Customers.  In order to enter data or approve rates in this module, you must first be granted a role and a SAR request will need to be completed to give the individual the appropriate role.  Currently the two SAR roles are Service Center Administrator role and the Service Center Form Role.  If you are unsure which SAR role you need, please contact Jeannie Chen in the Office of Facilities and Administrative Analysis at (919) 515-1885 or jjchen4@ncsu.edu for assistance.

Previously, Service center charges that were technical in nature were budgeted and charged to account code 54998 when billed to Contracts and Grants. Effective 7/1/2020, Service Centers are no longer restricted to using account code 54998 when billing federal ledger 5 Contract and Grant projects.  If another account code better depicts the underlying nature of the goods and/or services then please use the more appropriate account.

NOTE:  If you are new to the Service Center environment and/or have never taken the Service Centers 101 here at NC State, we highly recommend that you take our Service Center 101 training.  Please refer to the Service Center training information below.

Service Center 101

This training is intended for individuals that have a role in service center administration who desire to obtain a better understanding of related federal, state and university rules, regulations and requirements.

Service Center 201

This training is intended for individuals that are required to enter information and have either a role of Service Center Administrator or Service Center Initiator in the Online Service Center Module of the PeopleSoft system.  During the training participants will get an opportunity to have hands-on practice with the online module.  Individuals new to the service center environment must take Service Center 101 before taking this course.

You may register or be added to Watchlist for the above mentioned courses at go.ncsu.edu/reporter.  Once in Reporter, click on Course Catalog, type “brm” in the Course/Program ID field then click “Search”.

Resources

• Online Service Center Manual (pdf)
• Service Center Fringe Benefit Rates (pdf)
• Service Center Overview (pdf)
• Equipment Usage Guideline (pdf)
• Direct Costing Memo (pdf)
• Top Twelve Tips on Rates and Operation (pdf)
• Service Centers Regulation (PRR link)

Contact

Please contact Jeannie Chen (515-1885) or Trent Riley (513-3471) for assistance.