Post-Award Management

Priority BA™ at UM Overview

What is BA™?

BA™ is departmental management accounting system licensed from Priority Software, Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama.

The software was originally licensed at the University of Maryland College Park by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Department of Physics in the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The Center for the Advanced Study of Languages joined the original license agreement during the first phase of the project.

Other campus Colleges and Departmental units expressed interest in using the software and the Division of Research assumed project management responsibilities in May 2005. The software is managed by a campus Governing Group and a Functional Users Group. It is now available to interested campus units on a fee basis.

The primary use of BA™ is to provide departments a useful tool for managing all different types of accounts to include state, DRIF, contract, grant, foundation, etc.

How do I get access to BA4™?

Employees in Colleges, Major Administrative Units and Departments who want to gain access to BA4 must review and sign the BA4 account request form agreeing to the basic principles of system use and have their unit head agree and sign as well. The Priority Director will grant access and send a follow-up email confirming access. The user must connect to the campus GlobalProtect, open a web browser, and log into BA4 by going to: 

https://baws1.umd.edu

How much does it cost to use BA™?

The current license cost is $350 per licensed user, per year. There is no additional cost for Principal Investigators and Administrators that view reports on the web site. The Memorandum of Understanding also requires that licensed users attend a vendor provided training session. The training session costs vary per person, depending upon the number of people registered for the session.