EMU Research

Final Technical Report

Technical/Program Report Requirements:

All Project Directors or Principal Investigators (PD/PI) for awarded grants or contracts at EMU must prepare and submit the technical or narrative reports about the activities that took place during the project, as required by the sponsors. PD/PIs should familiarize themselves with their sponsor's reporting requirements at the very beginning of the project. A review should be done of the proposal to be sure to identify and cover any "deliverable" products or facets of the outcomes to be addressed as the project moves along.

These reports are often required in stages, depending on the length of the project, e.g., annual reports of progress plus a final report. The sponsors usually specify the time frame in which the reports are due, e.g., within the 90 days preceding the end of each project year, within 60 days after the end of the project, etc.

The annual reports are often self-contained, i.e., not cumulative in nature. For some sponsors the final report is the last annual report, and is non-cumulative as well.

Emphasis should be made of the unique aspects of the project as well as any features of the project that benefit the University, community, etc., as applicable.

The detail required for these reports varies greatly, depending on, for examples, the sponsor, the particular program the funds came from, and the type of project.

Sponsors, such as the National Science Foundation, sometimes require a "Project Outcomes Report for the General Public." This should serve as a brief summary written in layperson language that explains the nature and outcomes of the project, including the intellectual merit and broader impacts of the work that was completed. Such "public" reports should not include any confidential or proprietary information.

The method of submission of these reports depends on the sponsor, but copies of the final reports should be made available to Grants Accounting and to ORDA so that those offices' files may be complete when the projects are closed.