Inside eRA for Partners, May 7, 2004 (Volume 4, Issue 2)

eRA Prepares for June/July e-Application Pilot

eRA has announced its third e-application pilot after successfully receiving four electronic Competing Grant Application Process (CGAP) applications for the March 1 receipt date. The next pilot will accept approximately 50 electronic applications for the January 2005 council round. Receipt deadlines are June 1 for new, competing applications and July 1 for revised and competing continuation applications. See the project schedule for details.

Thus far, all applications for the production pilots have been submitted by authorized Service Providers. Currently, Service Providers comprise commercial companies with NIH awards to develop submission vehicles for e-grants.

Recap of March Pilot

The March pilot supported applications of three different types: simple, Type 2 competing; revised Type 1; and revised Type 2 competing continuation. Unlike the fall 2003 pilot, no paper copies of the applications were submitted in March. Thus, from Receipt and Referral to potential award, these applications will be handled electronically by NIH staff.

For the March pilot, a validation service was implemented to enable submitters to perform a “test run” that applied all the business-rule checks required for the NIH to generate a database record and a grant image. This validation service reduced data discrepancy problems that were encountered in the first pilot.

The eRA team also is improving and expanding on-line documentation for applicants and Service Providers. See the Partnership Information page for up-to-date pilot plans, terms and conditions, participant packages, grant assembly instructions and forms. There also is essential resource material for system-to-system application submission, the method recommended by eRA. This documentation includes validations, error messages, message content definitions, schema specifications and crosswalks.

Requirements for June/July Pilot

For the June/July pilot, NIH intends to accept electronic submissions for R01, R03, and R21 mechanisms ONLY. NIH will receive e-applications responding to Program Announcements (PAs) for the standing submission dates. Responses to Requests for Applications (RFAs), Subprojects, Program Project and Center grants, Supplements, Research Career Awards, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants, Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants, Training grants, Fellowships, and AREA grants will NOT be eligible for the June/July pilot. Additionally, submissions involving a change of Principal Investigator (PI) or institution still must be submitted on paper.

NIH only will accept applications with modular budgets for the June 1 receipt date. Service Providers may submit a limited number of applications with full budgets (excluding consortia) for the July 1 receipt date.

Grantee institutions and PIs interested in participating in the next pilot are encouraged to contact one of NIH’s authorized Service Providers. Click “Submitting Grants Electronically” on the eRA Web site for contact information. Alternatively, grantee institutions can choose to develop their own NIH-compliant grant application submission software. Institutions and commercial companies interested in becoming authorized Service Providers should send email to Scarlett Gibb, chief, eRA Planning, Communications and Outreach Branch at gibbs@mail.nih.gov.

Service Providers must successfully submit a test application of each type before being authorized to participate in the June/July production pilot. This test run is the first step in the Service Provider certification process.

Future CGAP Development

eRA recently created two task orders to hasten CGAP development. The Statement-of-Work for the first task order, to be performed by Science Application International Corporation (SAIC), will expand electronic grant receipt capabilities by enabling additional transactions, implementing an interface with Grants.gov, assisting with future pilots, and supporting more types of grant mechanisms.

The second task order, not yet awarded, will provide NIH with a technical evaluation of software and approaches for implementing additional electronic business XML (ebXML) capabilities. ebXML Message Service enables the exchange of e-business information reliably and securely. The contractor will install and compare three commercial, off-the shelf (COTS) software packages with the current eRA solution. After running test scenarios, the contractor will recommend the best choice for eRA.

Charles Havekost Appointed HHS Chief Information Officer

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson named Charles Havekost as the Department's chief information officer (CIO), a position within the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Budget, Technology and Finance. Havekost also will hold the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resources Management.

Secretary Thompson’s press release on April 24 cited Havekost’s wide experience in both the federal and private sectors. According to Thompson, “[Charlie’s] previous work…at the Department, in particular on Grants.gov, demonstrates his deep understanding of the importance of information technology and how it can better serve our citizens."

Havekost has been the program manager for "Grants.gov," one of the 25 federal E-Gov initiatives outlined in the President's Management Agenda. Eleven departments and agencies are working together to develop a one-stop electronic grant portal where potential grant recipients will receive full-service electronic grant administration. HHS is the designated managing partner for this project; the NIH eRA has been at the forefront of e-grant activities.

Throughout NIH electronic Competing Grants Application Process (CGAP) development, eRA has coordinated efforts with the federal Grants.gov initiative, and the two teams have met regularly. Mr. Havekost has been supportive of eRA, especially the awarding of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to develop electronic transmission methods. He was the keynote speaker at the 2002 eRA Project Team retreat in Warrenton, Virginia.

Rebecca Spitzgo will replace Mr. Havekost as the Grants.gov program manager. She is the former project manager for the Department of Education’s Grants Administration and Payment System (GAPS) and currently serves as Mr. Havekost's deputy.

eRA’s Virtual School Has a New Look

The NIH eRA virtual school has undergone an extreme makeover. Have you visited lately? If not, then it’s time to take a look. All you need is a Web browser. The virtual school is located at http://era.nih.gov/virtualschool/. 

eRA training and outreach staff are dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-date instruction on using Commons applications. The renovated virtual school has a welcoming new interface and offers a variety of resources for learning, including interactive tutorials, demos, frequently asked questions, links to user guides, news articles and user group rosters and minutes.

The underlying technology for the Financial Status Report (FSR) tutorial is RoboDemo® software, which enables the creation of animated, interactive simulations of user applications. RoboDemo records the instructional demonstration, including mouse clicks and keystrokes, as a high-resolution, compressed movie. Training staff can enhance the movie with text annotations, audio effects, and images; users are able to participate interactively through click boxes and text-entry fields. Additional RoboDemo tutorials are planned.

Selecting “Commons 101” brings up the home page of the NIH eRA Commons demo facility, which enables the user to try out Commons applications using sample data. Demos are available for all modules except X-Train and for all functions except “roster listing” in Status.

To access the demo facility, the user needs to request a demo account by clicking on “Create an Account.” In actuality, the system generates two accounts, one to simulate Signing Official tasks and another for Principal Investigator tasks. 

eRA’s virtual school first opened its doors in May 2003 with the goal of offering instruction and documentation to internal and external users anywhere, at any time. The Web-based tutorials are designed to be both alternatives and supplements to on-the-job training and formal classroom instruction.

Give on-line learning a chance. For more information, contact Patty.Austin@nih.gov.

CDC Moves Forward Using eRA System

NIH and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are proceeding on schedule to consolidate the processing of all CDC research grants under eRA in FY2004. This collaboration follows the recent decision by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to centralize all research grants processing under the eRA system. 

The CDC implementation team has completed registration, training, data identification, and business-process activities. CDC currently has 175 registered eRA users with four active centers performing pre-award and award activities. The remaining CDC centers, institutes and offices (CIOs) are anxiously waiting for approximately 775 active research grants to be migrated to eRA. Ultimately, CDC will use eRA to process its research grants through all phases of the grant lifecycle.

Activities still in process include the completion of an interface to CDC's financial system for grant obligations, rollout of CDC-specific changes to the eRA system, and resolution of the remaining business process/policy changes.

Formal CDC eRA Users Groups are forming to give production users a forum to share functional details on system usage, best practices, requirements and recommended system changes. CDC already has raised multiple Operating Division (OPDIV) integration issues to DHHS, including the lack of formal change control procedures and the need for additional funding to cover the costs of consolidation.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has begun eRA utilization planning. HRSA representatives met with the eRA team to demonstrate their current system, analyze functionality needs, and discuss the future migration of HRSA data to eRA.

In keeping with community participation in eRA decision-making, Teresa Kinley represents CDC on the eRA Project Team. Anthony Freeman (AHRQ) and Libby Hartnett (HRSA) also have agreed to serve as advocates for their agencies.

Send questions about the HHS grant processing integration to Mark Siegert at siegerm@mail.nih.gov or 301-435-9086.

Commons Working Group to Meet in May

Representatives from participating grantee institutions will meet with eRA staff at the May 19 meeting of the Commons Working Group (CWG) in Washington, D.C. Since its formation in January 2001, the CWG has played a critical role in shaping, evaluating and fine-tuning eRA electronic interfaces to the extramural NIH grantee community.

The tentative agenda includes the following items:

• Electronic Competing Grant Application Process (CGAP) pilots and next steps  
• Commons accounts for trainees  
• Development of a Commons close-out module  
• Electronic Simplified Non-competing Application Process (eSNAP) human and animal subjects data collection process  
• HHS Operating Division (OPDIV) integration into eRA and the Commons  
• Commons implementation strategies used by grantee institutions  
• Principal Investigator (PI) and co-PI data collection

The upcoming CWG meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 19, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. in the Lecture Room of the National Academy of Sciences, located at the intersection of C and 21^st Streets in Washington, D.C. NIH is holding its meeting in conjunction with the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Phase IV General Meeting, scheduled for May 20-21. Go to http://thefdp.org/Meeting_Info_May2004.html#P64_3716 for more information about the FDP meetings.

CWG meetings are open to all interested persons. For more information, contact David Wright at david.wright@nih.gov or 301-435-1792.

eRA Adopts a System-wide Approach to Improving Data Quality

After a three-year concerted effort, eRA has made significant progress in correcting personal profiles (PPFs) and reducing the risk of future errors. The Systems Quality Assurance and Interfaces Branch (SQAIB), with contractual support from QRC, has collaborated with eRA policymakers, software developers, database administrators, and end users to help ensure person data integrity.

The data quality improvement initiative coincided with the implementation of Commons Version 2 in the fall of 2002. The short-term goal was to ensure that each of the 2,000 Principal Investigators (PIs) registered for Commons Version 1 matched a single, accurate PPF in the former IMPAC II database and that there were appropriate linkages to role (a.k.a. person project) records. The latter are created whenever the PI submits a grant application; these records are associated with their “parent” PPF.

The long-term goal is to develop a reliable way to create and maintain unique, accurate PPFs with proper links to role records for all Commons enrollees. Given the rapid growth of the database, a system-wide solution is critical. There already are over 388,000 personal profiles and 2,500,000 role records.

To achieve this long-term objective, eRA has introduced the following measures:

• Consolidation of Commons and IMPAC II Databases –– The creation of a single, eRA database eliminated the need to maintain and synchronize separate external and internal databases and thereby reduced the potential for errors.  
• Grantee Validation of New Accounts –– Personal profile validation by the applicant is a required step in the setup of a new Commons account. By registering for the Commons and performing requested validations, the user community can help to improve the quality of eRA data.   
• Implementation of Single-Point-of-Ownership –– Once a PI establishes a new, validated Commons account, only the PI or his/her delegate (with a few exceptions) will be able to update the following profile-level data:

1. Most demographic and sensitive data  
2. Degree information  
3. Employment information  
4. Addresses of types ‘HOM’ and ‘RES’

The success of single-point-of-ownership depends on the user’s willingness to keep his/her profile current and accurate.

• Limitations on Update Authority for NIH Staff –– In keeping with the concept of single-point-of-ownership, most NIH users now are unable to type over names or change information for profiles associated with NIH Commons accounts. Each Institute and Center (IC) has designated data quality specialists who have sole responsibility within the IC for making allowable profile-level changes. Only SQAIB and QRC have the ability to collapse profiles, i.e., merge erroneous multiple profile records for an individual into one PPF.  
• Business Rules to Block the Creation of Duplicate Profiles –– Privacy protection legislation prevents NIH from requiring the user’s Social Security Number (SSN) or date-of-birth (DOB) on a grant application. Formerly, if the applicant opted to omit his/her SSN, DOB and prior grant numbers, the eRA system generated a new (and sometimes duplicate) personal profile. Business rules will be changed to prohibit the creation of a new profile if the last name AND the SSN match a profile already in the system.  
• Redesign of Person Module (for NIH Staff) –– Screens have been redesigned to minimize confusion and meet business area needs. If available, the Commons ID will display in read-only mode.  
• Proposed Change to the 2004 Version of the PHS 398 Grant Application –– There is a proposal under consideration to add the Commons ID as a new optional field.

Users are encouraged to report data integrity issues to the Commons Helpdesk.

Helpdesk to Extend Hours

In response to user demand, the eRA Commons Helpdesk plans to extend its daily hours of operation and to provide service on weekends. The Helpdesk currently is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on weekdays and is closed on weekends and on official Federal holidays. Once contract modifications are finalized, eRA will announce the extended evening and weekend Helpdesk hours.

The need for additional coverage is consistent with the growth in Commons usage over the past 18 months. There now are 1,078 registered institutions and 14,820 active users. The extended schedule also will accommodate normal business hours for users on the West Coast.

You can reach the Helpdesk by telephone or by email to request information or to report bugs, problems or issues:

To expedite the handling of your request, provide the following information:

• Full contact information: your name, address, email, telephone number, Commons/IMPAC II username, and institution name.   
• The name of the software application you are using and the action being performed. Describe the problem in detail, the more information, the better.   
• The error messages you receive. If you send an email, provide a screen shot of the error message or problem.   
• Your request ticket number (for follow-up inquiries).

Callers will receive a ticket number from the Helpdesk specialist at the end of the telephone conversation. Email users will receive an email from the Helpdesk specialist with a ticket number. The goal of the Helpdesk is to respond to tickets within four working hours.