Maestro is an enterprise-wide system that supports researchers and research administration across the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS). The TAMU Research Information Systems group is tasked to develop and implement Maestro along with a Steering Committee and Working Group.
- Researcher Portal - a module that allows researchers to create, view and approve proposals, view project terms and conditions, check account balances, transactions, payroll activity, and revenue. The Researcher Dashboard is their landing page where the system summarizes all actions researchers need to perform with an easy navigation path, and gives them different alerts for their proposals, projects or accounts. Monthly account statements are available to review spending.
- Proposal Tracking, Routing and Approval - was developed and implemented in all TAMUS institutions that administer research projects. This module allows researchers to enter a proposal and release it to their research administration office for review and completion. For research administrators it represents a very useful tracking tool as well as a mechanism to electronically route the proposal document for approval to all involved departments.
- Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) Disclosure and Review - Based on System Regulation 15.01.03 all researchers are required to disclose Significant Financial Interest. This module allows researchers to create and adjust their annual disclosures. As part of the module, member Conflict of Interest Officials can track their reviews on-line; Maestro is designed to send reminders to both researchers and officials when this task is due. This module is utilized by TAMUS members that do not use HURON COI module.
- Research Agreements - was developed to help negotiators track funded and non-funded agreements. Negotiations of new contracts or modifications of existing contracts are logged and made available to researchers for viewing. If review of the contract is needed by others, the system allows negotiators to send electronic task to those individuals.
- Project Management - was developed and implemented in all TAMUS institutions. This module consists of several project management components:
- Project Set-up – after contracts are fully executed, administrators can enter terms and conditions, establish financial accounts and send through Maestro Sponsor Project Summary new award notification to researchers and departments.
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- Project Actions – every action on the project (new award, continuation, revision, etc) is documented and used to better manage projects and report award statistics.
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- Deliverables – sponsored required deliverables (technical, financial, progress reports, etc) are tracked and reminders are sent to responsible people to complete the assignments.
- Compliance – Many different compliance items (human subjects, animal subjects, select agents, etc.) are tracked if applicable to the research project. Compliance officials are required to enter authorization documents and expiration dates in Maestro, in order to make projects eligible for spending.
- Integrity Check – This tool monitors project validity and integrity based on defined rules and alerts project administrators and compliance officials to take an action.
- Budget Entry – This module is tracking project multi-year project budgeted by categories as well as allowing administrators to route, approve and post financial budget to FAMIS.
- Cost Sharing – This module helps projects administrators monitor cost sharing commitments and stay compliant with the requirements. The system also produces cost share reports needed in the billing process.
- Project Close out – This module is split into three components: researcher decision to close, project administrator initiating the process and finalizing all transactions, and the rest of close out team performing all close out dashboard steps to close the project.
- Sponsored Account Management - was developed to enable project administrator to quickly create FAMIS account utilizing project data and transfer it to FAMIS. The system also stores additional salary compliance data and Indirect Cost Reallocation plans.
- Sponsored Billing - this module provides Accounts Receivables research departments with a tool to manage sponsored billing invoices (adjust month-end generated invoices or create new invoices and automatically post to FAMIS), print invoices in various formats, track collections and provide reports to assist in reconciliation process.
Researcher Portal
Maestro provides researchers with timely and accurate information needed to manage their research activities and to establish collaboration. To access the system, you will need to log in to the Maestro homepage at https://maestro.tamus.edu with Single Sign-On (SSO) UIN and password.
Proposal Approval
Maestro requires researchers to approve their proposal once the routing has been initiated by a Proposal Administrator. Principal Investigators (PIs) must complete their reporting and compliance codes before their proposal can be approved.
How to Approve a Proposal (PDF)
Complete Proposal Compliance
All proposals routed through our office will have compliance codes for the PI to complete. It is the PI's responsibility to select the appropriate selection for each question. One of the Proposal Administrators may select a response to certain questions (if the information is provided to them by the PI prior to proposal submission). Nonetheless, the PI will need to double-check and select the appropriate answers pertaining to that specific project.
Proposal Compliance Codes (PDF)
Complete Proposal Reporting Codes
The PI will be responsible to complete the reporting codes (PDF) for the specific project. This will hinder the PI from approving their proposal if not complete. The reporting codes require the PI to select a response by either selecting a drop-down response or checking a box. The fields are as followed:
- Activity - is it Conduct of Research & Development (R&D) or Other Sponsored Activities?
- NSF Science and Engineering Field - select which field your project is most relevant in.
- THECB Science and Engineering Field - this field is auto-populated dependent on what the PI selects in the NSF Science and Engineering Field.
- THECB Character of Work - is this project considered Applied Research, Basic Research, or Development?
- THECB Selection Process - was the proposal review and evaluation process COMPETITIVE, PEER-REVIEWED or NEGOTIATED OR OTHER?
- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - is this project related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
- Underrepresented Student Included - yes or no?
- STEM Education - is it relevant to this project?
- COVID-19 Related - does this project have relevance to COVID-19?
- Tracking flag for COVID-19 related proposals for required reporting purposes.
- THECB Special Areas of Interest - which area of interest fits this project? (select all that apply)
Once you've select a response from each field, click SAVE then COMPLETE.
Financial Conflict of Interest
Researchers are required to submit a Financial Disclosure to their employers on a yearly basis for review and potential conflict resolution per TAMUS Policy 15.01.03 and TAMUK Rule 15.01.03.K1.