TAS Tools & Guidance
Introductory Notes

Staff are asked to complete three Time Allocation Schedules (TAS) over the twelve months of the academic year. Please would you take care over completing these forms: neither Teaching or research is “more important” than the other. Research income is dependant on getting the fEC rates right, whilst Teaching income is influenced by our cost of delivery.

The system will recognise you from your log-in and fill in the name-and-department type information leaving you to concentrate on the time allocation percentages. We believe that this makes it easier for respondents to complete their forms.

Staff required to complete TAS forms

The following categories of staff are required to complete TAS forms:

Academics
Support staff, Grade E and above (formerly known as Academic-related)

These people will receive an email advising them that the collection period is coming to an end and that they should log in to their form and enter their TAS percentages.

Tools to help you include:

Guidance notes (You should read these before you begin to record your activities)
Definitions of headings
Allocation of Activities
FAQ
Aide Memoire (diary), which can be used in two ways:

Keeping a record of your time as you go along;
Calculating the correct proportions of your time.

(Use of the Aide Memoire is recommended but not compulsory)

The unit of measure

The unit of measure is percentage of time, not hours: in other words, you are dividing up all the time you actually spend on university business over the period in question, not apportioning the first 37 (or however many) hours per week.

Problem headings

It is easy for staff to misunderstand the headings “Support for Other” and “Central University Management” which tends to result in an under-booking to “Support for Teaching” or “Support for Research”. Generally speaking, the Other category only refers to consultancy work, and should NOT be used to record miscellaneous time which you are not sure how to analyse.

Unsure?

If you are in doubt as to whether an activity supports research or teaching, you should seriously consider the definitions. These issues are covered in the Definitions of Headings or Allocation of Activities.