Technical Note on Object Codes and Object Names in UMETRICS Data Files

The UMETRICS data are transaction-level data on payments made by university grants to employees and vendors. The data are stored in the IRIS Data Enclave and annual snapshots are uploaded to the Census Bureau's Research Data Centers (RDCs). The three core UMETICS data files include payment information for university employees, vendors, and grants/awards. An additional file includes information on sub-award payments made by vendors to subcontractors. For more detailed information about the UMETRICS data files see the documentation located on the RDC server. This document describes the object code classifications for vendor and subcontractor transactions made by university grants in the UMETRICS data. The object code and object name variables provide specific information about the transaction type. However, these object code-object name combinations vary across universities and across grants within universities. Thus, we attempt to create a classification scheme that groups transaction types consistently across grants and universities. We then assess the underlying quality of information contained in the object names used to build this classification.