About PIPER

PIPER (Portfolio Insights, Projections, and Expense Reconciliation) is UCSD's Anaplan-based platform for research portfolio financial reporting and forecasting. It gives Fund Managers and Principal Investigators a unified view of funding, spending, and projected balances — pulling data from Oracle, UCPath, and Kuali Research into a single interface.

PIPER (Portfolio Insights, Projections, and Expense Reconciliation) is UCSD's Anaplan-based platform for research portfolio financial reporting and forecasting. It gives Fund Managers and Principal Investigators a unified view of funding, spending, and projected balances — pulling data from Oracle, UCPath, and Kuali Research into a single interface.

What PIPER Does

PIPER consolidates financial activity from three source systems into a consistent, PI-centered view:

• Oracle — budgets, costs, award and project data
• UCPath — payroll projections and personnel funding distributions
• Kuali Research — proposal history and subaward invoice data

On top of actuals from these systems, Fund Managers can layer projections — for payroll, non-payroll expenses, and anticipated revenue — to produce a forward-looking picture of each PI's portfolio.

Oracle remains the system of record. Entries and overrides made in PIPER do not write back to Oracle, UCPath, or Kuali Research. Any changes that need to be reflected in the source systems must still be processed there directly.

PIPER is scheduled to be launched to Fund Managers in Fall Quarter 2026, and to Principal Investigators in early 2027.

Reports & Features

PIPER is organized into four sections, each covering a different aspect of portfolio management:

• Portfolio Reports  — PI-facing financial summaries, runway analysis, and personnel effort views. 
• Detail Reports  — Transaction-level views, including subaward invoice tracking.
• Forecasting  — Tools for projecting payroll, non-payroll expenses, and cost transfers.
• Portfolio Administration  — Configuration pages for fund manager assignments, custom project groupings, task attributes, and placeholder projects.

Key reports include: 

• Portfolio Summary 
• Financial Summary (sortable by Inception to Date, Current Budget, and Fiscal Period views) 
• Runway Analysis 
• Personnel Effort by Position 
• Personnel Effort by Project 

Key features include: 

• Adjustments: Enter “what if” scenarios and model alternate plans. 
• Personnel: Review detailed personnel costs and forecasted amounts. 
• Combination Chart: A visual chart showing revenue, expenses, and ending balance. 

What are the defined roles in PIPER? 

The two primary roles are Fund Manager (FM) and Principal Investigator (PI). 

• Fund Managers have full access to the tool to manage financial portfolios, layer projections, and run "what-if" scenarios. 
• Principal Investigators have read-only access to the PI Portfolio Summary to review their portfolio's health and runway. 

Sections of PIPER

PIPER is organized into four sections, each covering a different aspect of portfolio management:

• Portfolio Reports — PI-facing financial summaries, runway analysis, and personnel effort views. 
• Detail Reports — Transaction-level views, including subaward invoice tracking.
• Forecasting — Tools for projecting payroll, non-payroll expenses, and cost transfers.
• Portfolio Administration — Configuration pages for fund manager assignments, custom project groupings, task attributes, and placeholder projects.