Our rates are based on the nature and length of a consultation. Short consults are free of charge and are typically aimed at supporting researchers who are starting out, engaged in preliminary work in support of a grant, or those who lack adequate resources. Details are as follows.

Short Consults

Short consulting interactions, that is, interactions that require less than four hours of staff time to resolve, are without charge to the researcher. However, the following courtesies are requested or required (as indicated below):

1. In any publication that stems from research supported by this Core, researchers must acknowledge the Core and the consultant(s) who participated in projects supporting the publication, along with relevant sources of grant support that provide staff time and/or funding for facilities (required information on relevant grants is provided at the time a consulting interaction is initiated).
2. Researchers are expected to respond when we send requests for citation information to publications, which we include in reports to the Lilly Endowment and for our online listing of publications stemming from use of IU Research Technologies Systems (required).
3. If research is presented online, inclusion of a link to the Web site of the service used is appreciated (requested).
4. Presentation of research results in a talk, brownbag, or seminar at IU, with mention the Advanced IT Core services used is appreciated (requested).

Extended Consulting

For extended consulting interactions, that is, those requiring more than four hours of staff time to resolve and complete, the following policies and rates apply:

1. Extended consulting in support of academic research is generally provided without charge, so long as appropriate staff are available, for up to 160 hours of staff time. We cannot provide free consulting for projects arranged privately by researchers with entities outside IU. However, we can arrange for contract consulting or programming for such projects, if this can be done within our mission of academic support.
2. Staff can help with all aspects of projects, but usually do not engage in algorithm development, write entire programs, scan or code entire texts, or do routine system administration. Extended consulting projects must have a definite goal, and cannot be indefinitely prolonged. We cannot usually support projects expected to require more than 160 hours of staff time without cost recovery. Based on our experience, this is generally sufficient for small-to-medium-sized projects, and for pilot projects that will require additional funding. This estimate also recognizes that the demand for expert consultants exceeds the supply.
3. Staff can be dedicated to particular projects, for periods of greater than 160 hours, and given top priority to said projects, by contracting with the Advanced IT core at the rate of $37.50 per staff hour, or by including a fractional portion of our staff within your grant budgets (in which case the cost is the prorated actual cost of the salaries and benefits of the staff dedicated to your project).

Memorandum of Understanding: In order to clarify expectations and prevent confusion, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is always executed before initiation of an extended consulting interaction, based on the form shown online at

http://rc.uits.iu.edu/econsform.shtml