Inside eRA, October 9, 2002 (Volume 3, Issue 11)

Top News: Commons Working Group to Test the eRA Commons Version 2

Testing of the eRA Commons Version 2 has been expanded to include all interested members of the Commons Working Group (CWG). The CWG is composed of a select group of institutions serving as a focused conduit for eRA Commons business process requirements assessments and gathering, establishment of priorities, participation in outreach efforts, and assistance with eRA Commons testing and deployment activities.

Currently, the eRA Commons Version 2 testing environment consists of the actual (but not yet released) production software. However, in this testing environment, the eRA Commons Version 2 software accesses the “staging” database, which is a two- to three-month-old copy of IMPAC II data. Therefore, although the data is real, no changes made through testing the eRA Commons Version 2 affect live data in IMPAC II.

Because of security issues, access to the testing environment of the eRA Commons Version 2 only can be granted on an institutional basis. Interested CWG members must provide specific Internet Provider (IP) addresses (or a small range of IP addresses) to gain access to the eRA Commons Version 2 testing environment. Contact the eRA Helpdesk for more information (commons@od.nih.gov).

Six SBIR Awards Made

Six awards have been made in response to the eRA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) RFA for a total of $2.5 million. These companies will develop a tool or service that will help grantee organizations increase their electronic interaction with the NIH. The awardees and their products are:

Upcoming Events: Revised Schedule for the eRA Commons Version 2 Release

The release schedule of the eRA Commons Version 2 has been revised to better incorporate changes necessary for its first deployment, as follows:

IMPAC II will be shut down on Sat., Oct. 12, so that the eRA Commons can be moved to production. This is a holiday weekend (Columbus Day is on Monday) so the shutdown should cause a minimum of disruption.

Releases and Updates: New Releases Enhance Usability

Several new enhancements and releases to the eRA suite of components will increase the usability of eRA. New versions of the Grants Closeout Module, Peer Review, ICSTORe, Committee Management and the Program Portal will be released between November and January, some migrated to the new J2EE architecture.

Grants Closeout Module: A new “Institution Report” showing IC grants marked for closeout and sorted by Institution will be added to the Grants Closeout Module. For training grants, when the activity code is T32, T34, T35 or T36, instead of the generic language, the system will customize the PI and Business Official email letters to reflect different training grant closeout requirements.

Peer Review: Several changes will be made to accommodate the upcoming pilot release of Internet Assisted Review (IAR). Coding for gender and minority inclusion is no longer required for E4 applications, although coding for inclusion of children is still required. Business rules and edit checks during the Meeting Release will be updated to reflect this policy change.

ICSTORe: The Major Component Code will be added to the Advanced Search Criteria tab and hit list fields in ICSTORe. Several enhancements will be made to allow subprojects to be queried and displayed on the Track and Order screen query and hit list areas and the Advanced Search Criteria tab.

Committee Management: The August Council has been added to the Requested Dollars Report. The NIH 1715 (Voucher Form) had a typo that was corrected. Several changes were made to accommodate the CM “Fast Track.”

Program Portal: The Program Portal initially will be deployed with limited user functionality. The Pre-Submission Tab and General Resources sections will be available to provide a repository of commonly used links to NIH resources for grant applications.

Click here for a more complete description of these enhancements: http://era.nih.gov/Docs/New_Releases.pdf

Did you know... Standard Work Addresses Have Been Established?

Assignment and score mailers generated by the Committee Management (CM) module are dependent upon accurate name and work address data. However, in the past, conflicting instructions regarding what data to enter in each address field have resulted in the inability for the system to automatically generate mailers with accurate mailing addresses. In an effort to “clean up” work (WRK) addresses, guidelines have been established for entering work address data for Scientific Review Administrators (SRAs), IC Program Officials (POs), Grants Management Officers (GMOs), and Grants Management Specialists (GMSs). Click here for specific information: http://era.nih.gov/Docs/Work_WRK_addresses.doc.

Contact the eRA helpdesk (helpdesk@era.nih.gov) if you have additional questions.

How to... Process Council Deferrals in ICO

There are two reasons for deferring a grant application from going to the next council review:

• Recommendation for re-review by the Scientific Review Group (SRG).   
• Recommendation to send it to a subsequent council meeting without re-review.

Deferring an application for re-review by the SRG still requires the IC to submit a 901 request to the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). However, an IC can defer a primary or dual application simply for the purpose of taking it to a subsequent council meeting. In this case, a 901 is not required.

When an IC defers an application without re-review, the council round for each assigned IC (primary and dual) is independently calculated. For example, if an application has one primary and two dual ICs assigned (e.g., HL, AM, and DK), the application’s council date for all three assigned ICs will be the same (e.g., 200201) when the application completes Peer Review. At that time, NIAMS can use ICO to defer the application to its 200205 Council. ICO will keep the application assigned to HL and DK’s 200201 council but move it to AM’s 200205 Council.

If the application is deferred using a 901 change for re-review by the SRG, the council round for all three assigned ICs will be changed to the subsequent council, in this case 200205.

In any case, when you use ICO to search for applications by council date, ICO will retrieve your IC’s dual applications even if the primary IC assigned the application to a different council date.

To process a council deferral in ICO, query the application, select it from the hit list, and then navigate to “Grant Update Module” (GUM). Once in GUM, click on “Review Details.” You’ll see a display of all assigned ICs, the IC’s council date, and a place to enter your IC’s Council Action. In the Council Action field, enter “3” for Council Deferral, or select “3 Council Deferral” from the List of Values. When you leave the field, click in the field labeled “Defer w/IRG re-review (901)?” Enter “N” for No. The council date for only your IC will be incremented to the next council round when you click “Save.”

For more details, see the ICO manual on the IMPAC II website: http://impacii.info.nih.gov/applications/apps_ico.cfm

Project Team News: Tim Twomey New Point of Contact for eRA Commons

Tim Twomey is the new lead analyst, task manager, and single point of contact for the eRA Commons—including all of OER—for eRA Commons decisions and issues. Furthermore, as Jim Cain’s personal representative to the eRA Commons project, he is responsible for moving the eRA Commons project forward.

Tim will work closely with Donna Frahm’s Office of the Chief Information Officer staff on the project management of the eRA Commons, and will receive analytical assistance from Sherry Zucker, lead analyst for IMPAC II, and her team. In addition, Tim will oversee the NGIT eRA Commons developers. When development begins on the next version of iEdison and architectural efforts are expanded to integrate iEdison with the eRA Commons, Tim will become the lead analyst for iEdison as well.

Scarlett Gibb will serve as Acting Branch Chief for the User Support Branch. Chip Groh will assume the majority of what had been Tim’s duties in the Grants Management areas (including the Closeout module, the IMPAC I bridge, and Grants Payment Management) as second-tier user support, as well as all IMPAC II Web-related issues.

eRA Calendar: Calendar Pinpoints eRA Activities

There are many eRA Project meetings each month, from team meetings to user group meetings. The eRA Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO), in an effort to increase the communication within the project team, is developing an eRA calendar. This new calendar brings meetings, retreats, and key deadlines into one place so that project members are better informed. Send your eRA project activities to Sandy Seppala (seppalas@od.nih.gov ) so they can be included on this calendar.

Click here to see the latest calendar: http://era.nih.gov/Docs/eRA_Calendar_10-02-02.doc.

Training Update: Latest eRA Training Opportunities

October eRA for Everyone

Registration

You can register for any of these classes via e-mail: helpdesk@od.nih.gov. Provide your last name, first name and e-mail address, your IC and the session(s) that you would like to attend. Registration will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis, limited only by room seating capacity. The eRA helpdesk staff will reply directly to you with your registration status. Attendance earns ESA credit. For additional information or requests, call Patty Austin, 5-0690 x617.

CIT-Sponsored Class Announced

Understanding the Grants Process will be offered on Oct. 8. This seminar will describe the grant process at NIH. It will also examine the role played by IMPAC II applications used in each stage of the work flow. NIH staff with an interest in the topic should attend this seminar.