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You will find out that you are eligible for the survey when you receive an email invitation to TAS. 

The email tells you which reporting week has been randomly allocated to you. It will be sent a few days before the start of the allocated reporting week and will provide you with a unique and personalised link to use to access the online survey.

You have to record the number of hours for each activity you do at work, during the selected reporting week.

The information collected is used to split costs between teaching, research and other activities for the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) statutory return. Find out more about TRAC from the Academic and Financial Planning and Analysis website. 

The data will only be accurate if as many people as possible record their activities.

If you meet the specific criteria then you are eligible to take part. The criteria are based on your duties involving teaching and research. All eligible staff are invited to take part. More information about the eligibility criteria can be found on the More about TAS page.

If you are eligible, you will be randomly allocated one reporting week each academic year.

TAS is conducted every year, running continuously from early August through the whole academic year to the end of the following July.

Only through your personalised link.

The link is unique to you and should not be shared with other people.

If you need an alternative for accessibility reasons, please contact us using tasadministration@admin.cam.ac.uk

The online survey for reporting weeks before the 4th August 2025 will be open from the first day of your reporting week (the Monday). For reporting weeks on or after the 4th August 2025 the survey will be open as soon as you receive your personalised link.

You will need to remember what you did during your selected reporting week; whether you were on leave and how many hours you spent working doing each type of activity. 

Follow the instructions given in the online survey. Use the button at the end of the online form/survey to submit your information.

For reporting weeks before the 4th August 2025 you have to enter all of your information for the whole week in one go and can only submit the form once.

For reporting weeks on or after the 4th August 2025 you can leave and return to the survey to record hours on different days and at different times, as many times as you like; until you reach the end of the survey. On the final page of the survey the last ‘button’ submits your information and closes the survey so that you will not be able to edit it any further.

If you need an alternative for accessibility reasons, please contact us using tasadministration@admin.cam.ac.uk

 

Two months.

Your personalised link will expire after the deadline.

 

Helpful tips

  • It will be easier to remember the number of hours worked for each activity if you complete the survey sooner rather than later.
  • For accuracy it can be useful to note what you’ve done at the end of each day, collating the information to submit. You might want to gather the information together during the reporting week and submit it the following week.
  • For reporting weeks before 4th August 2025: make sure that the total hours worked in  the week are the sum of the hours you entered in the individual boxes. The online form cannot be submitted if the total doesn’t match.