Inside eRA for Partners, January 6, 2003 (Volume 3, Issue 1)

eRA Seeks Feedback on NIH eRA Commons 2 and Web Application Pilots

Limited enrollment in the NIH eRA Commons 2 is proceeding as planned for former NIH eRA Commons 1 and IMPAC I Financial Status Report (FSR) system users. Thus far, 66 active grantee institutions and 660 active users have registered for the new version. eRA enthusiastically welcomes feedback during the NIH eRA Commons 2 roll-out period to enable developers to shape and enhance the system to satisfy user needs.

eRA is seeking a broad perspective as it continues to refine NIH eRA Commons 2 and associated Web-based applications throughout FY 2003. If you or your institution is willing to participate in load tests and/or user surveys, contact David Wright, eRA policy analyst and liaison to the extramural grantee community, at david.wright@nih.gov.

Status of Commons Applications

• NIH eRA Commons 2 was upgraded to Release 2.2 on December 6. The new release includes Internet Assisted Review (IAR) and several interface changes and bug fixes to eSNAP and FSR. See release notes on the NIH eRA Commons Support page for details. The next maintenance upgrade is scheduled for January 13. Enrollment in the NIH eRA Commons 2 will be extended to all institutions in the near future.

• eSNAP is a Web interface for the submission of electronic Simplified Non-competing Application Process Type-5 progress reports. Three of the four Commons Working Group (CWG) pilot users already have successfully transmitted progress reports, an achievement that marks eRA’s first fully electronic end-to-end integration of a business process. The pilot will be extended to additional users after the January upgrade and the CWG meeting (see article in this issue).

• FSR enables the electronic submission of Financial Status Reports. The new Web-based FSR system replaces the IMPAC I dial-up/terminal-based program, which is slated to be turned off later in January. Several grantees and Office of Financial Management (OFM) staff already have processed 258 FSRs. The interface is open to all registered NIH eRA Commons 2 users.

• IAR will facilitate the scientific review of grant applications by standardizing the electronic submission of critiques and initial priority scores and enabling reviewers to examine each other’s critiques online prior to meetings. The IAR pilot, which began on December 9, will be limited to several NIH review meetings. Participating Scientific Review Administrators (SRAs) and Grants Technical Assistants (GTAs) will invite reviewers assigned to these meetings to enroll in the NIH eRA Commons 2 and submit their critiques through IAR.

For the latest news on the pilots, visit the NIH eRA Commons Support page. For more information about NIH eRA Commons 2, contact the NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk at commons@od.nih.gov or 866-504-9552.

Project Team to Finalize Top FY 2003 eRA Priorities

Dr. John McGowan, eRA Project Manager, has proposed top eRA priorities for FY 2003. This list of initiatives will be presented for approval to the eRA Project Team. Comprising eRA senior managers and advocates for each business and functional area, the team must authorize all decisions for the implementation of eRA.

• Data Quality – Improve the accuracy of institutional and personal data in eRA databases; suggest changes to policy and business processes to improve data quality; analyze and implement changes to software to solve identified data integrity problems.

• Electronic Grants Administration – Deploy electronic (XML data stream) competitive grant application submission capability in accordance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act and the President’s Management Agenda. Support and enhance new Web-based applications, including eSNAP, IAR and FSR (see article above).

• Program Portfolio Management Interface – Implement a customized, consolidated view of information for NIH Program Officials to support tracking and managing individual portfolios through all phases of the grant lifecycle.

• Institute and Center Staff Roles and Management Interface – Provide a flexible interface that improves the workflow and correspondence among different business areas by enabling electronic notification, customizable checklists and approval chains, annotation of electronic documents and automated document routing.

• Committee Management (CM) FastTrack Conversion to J2EE  – Convert CM’s meeting/roster functionality from client/server to Web-based, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology.

• Enhancement of Reporting and Query Tools – Provide integrated, easy-to-use query capabilities for customizable pre-programmed (canned) and ad hoc reports. Consolidate query tools for three levels of user expertise: novice, advanced, expert.

• Partial Integration of Loan Repayment Program (LRP) into eRA – Enter LRP applications into IMPAC II to enable Institutes and Centers (ICs) to view, reassign and categorize applications, set up review meetings and, optionally, input scores.

• Interagency Edison (iEdison) – Migrate iEdison to the J2EE platform and integrate into the NIH eRA Commons. iEdison provides grantees and participating federal agencies with the technology to electronically manage extramural invention portfolios in compliance with federal reporting requirements.

• Electronic Trainee Activities Interface (X-Train) – Migrate X-Train to the J2EE platform. X-Train offers NIH-supported trainees the means to provide the NIH with the information needed to administer their National Research Service Award (NRSA) training grants.

• Knowledge Management (KM) Pilot – Incorporate KM capabilities into eRA. Possible pilots include using KM software to identify reviewers based on their areas of expertise, to screen reviewers for possible conflicts of interest, and to assign proposals.

• Wireless Technology Pilot – Implement Oracle 9iAS technology to enable wireless communication between users and eRA applications, data sources and email. Possible pilots include querying grant status from a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or cell phone and scheduling review meetings remotely in real time and collaborating with attendees.

• Scanning of Legacy Files – Expand conversion of legacy grant applications and progress reports to electronic format. Upload them to IMPAC II for online access by users and authorized IC extension systems.

• Web Site Redesign – Improve content, appearance and usability of sites for internal NIH staff and extramural grantee community.

Commons Working Group to Meet in January

Commons Working Group (CWG) members will discuss the progress of the NIH eRA Commons 2 deployment, learn about Internet Assisted Review (IAR), and continue work on reengineering the electronic Competitive Grants Application (CGAP) at their January 8 meeting in Irvine, CA. At the CWG meeting, held in conjunction with the Federal Demonstration Partnership conference, members will share their recent experiences with NIH eRA Commons 2. This new version was deployed to the CWG in October 2002. Input from CWG testers will assist in fine-tuning the interface in preparation for the full-production deployment.

The January meeting also will be the first opportunity for the CWG to see the new Internet Assisted Review (IAR) software. IAR will expedite the scientific review of grant applications by standardizing the electronic submission of critiques and enabling reviewers to examine each other’s critiques online prior to review meetings. eRA launched an IAR pilot in December 2002.

Also on the agenda will be eRA plans to add clinical research-related functionality, a report on the progress of the six eRA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awardees (see November 22 issue), and an update on the reengineering and development of the electronic Competitive Grants Application (CGAP). The CWG has devoted three meetings to formulating recommendations for CGAP business process reengineering (BPR) in preparation for the CGAP pilot, planned for the fall of 2003. The NIH currently is considering the policy and process implications of these CGAP BPR suggestions.

CWG meetings are open to all interested persons. For information, contact Dr. George Stone, Advocate for the eRA Interface to the Extramural Community.

Development of Electronic CGAP Underway

eRA has begun a federally mandated initiative to develop a system to receive and process electronic Competitive Grants Applications (CGAPs). During fiscal year 2003, eRA plans to build the infrastructure to accept the equivalent of the PHS 398 in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file, created and transmitted by grantee institutions or their service providers. Text components of the application (e.g., project plans) will be received as binary attachments. The NIH plans to release its new electronic CGAP system in pilot mode sometime next fall. 

Concurrent with CGAP development, the six eRA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awardees are building tools to assist grantee organizations with the creation and submission of XML grant application files. The SBIR companies will develop software applications and services that can be purchased by or licensed to research institutions. See Meet eRA’s SBIR Awardees in the November 22 issue.

The eRA CGAP system will use the Internet and J2EE-based technologies and have the following capabilities:

• Register and authenticate external submitters      
• Receive an XML transaction from an authenticated source      
• Perform quality and assurance on applications received      
• Facilitate the referral and review processes without the need for paper      
• Enable electronic routing, annotations, checklists, sign-off and approval actions      
• Store and archive the e-application as the official record

The scope of the current project is limited to NIH R01 research grants that do not involve human or animal subjects and do not have sub-projects. A transaction for Financial Status Reports (FSRs) also will be implemented as part of the CGAP 2003 program. Institutions must be registered with the NIH eRA Commons and have an Institutional Profile (IPF) before submitting electronic applications. Likewise, the Principal Investigator (PI) and key personnel must have established Professional Profiles (PPFs) in the NIH eRA Commons.

There will be four phases in eRA’s electronic CGAP 2003 project. Phase 1 (Definition of Standards and Business Flow) began in November 2002 and will continue until the end of January. The project team is making steady progress toward achieving stated goals. It has investigated the issues of receiving, storing, and loading the data into eRA databases and has written a proposal for a high-level technical architecture. Analysis of the XML transaction content is underway. To complete Phase 1, the CGAP team will define the NIH business flows to process electronic applications.

In Phase 2 (February–April 2003), the team will prototype and test the receipt and validation functions with external partners. Phase 3 (May–July 2003) objectives are to define and prototype the business-to-government exchange; during Phase 4 (August–November 2003), CGAP developers will define and implement PPF and IPF transactions, define a receipt stream for FSR and eSNAP, and prepare for the production release of the CGAP system.

Contact askera@od.nih.gov for more information about eRA CGAP goals, project plans, schedules and accomplishments.

Deputy Director for Extramural Research Takes University Post

Wendy Baldwin, NIH deputy director for Extramural Research (DDER) since 1994, left the NIH in December to become vice president of research at the University of Kentucky (UK), her alma mater. Since earning her Ph.D. at the UK thirty years ago, Dr. Baldwin has dedicated her professional career to the NIH.

Dr. Baldwin’s leadership as DDER encompassed the entire spectrum of policies and procedures related to the extramural research programs. During her tenure as director of the Office of Extramural Research (OER), Dr. Baldwin worked diligently to streamline grants administration processes. In 1994, the NIH extramural enterprise was designated a “Reinvention Laboratory” to create a government that works better and costs less. Dr. Baldwin’s reinvention initiatives include implementation of modular grant applications, streamlined Council reviews, a Simplified Noncompeting Award Process (SNAP), simplified summary statements, automated electronic research administration (eRA) systems, among other achievements.

Under Dr. Baldwin’s guidance, OER expanded and improved CRISP, a database that provides online information on funded research projects. Government Executive Magazine selected CRISP as one of the “Best Feds on the Web.” Dr. Baldwin also strongly supported the development of iEdison. Over a dozen federal agencies and their grantees and contractors currently use this award-winning system to facilitate management of extramural invention portfolios. 

In 1997, Dr. Baldwin received the NIH Director’s Award “for innovative management and superior leadership of OER resulting in major reinvention contributions, streamlined processes, and cost savings.” She also received the National Public Service Award, co-sponsored by the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration, for excellence in science administration. 

In a recent press statement, NIH director Elias Zerhouni said, “I am very sorry to see Wendy leave the NIH. She has had a great career here and is responsible for so many creative approaches to extramural challenges.” Dr. Baldwin has seen the eRA project through some difficult times, and eRA certainly will miss her leadership, energy, enthusiasm and support. Until Dr. Baldwin’s position is filled, Dr. Belinda Seto, deputy director of OER, will serve as acting director.

Network and Firewall Upgrades Improve eRA Performance and Security

A series of network and firewall upgrades, installed on the eRA system in December, are expected to improve performance, security and configuration flexibility and maintainability. The Center for Information Technology (CIT), which owns the network infrastructure for most eRA servers, and eRA Operations implemented the upgrades.

Over the past few years, the NIH eRA project (IMPAC II and the NIH eRA Commons) has been expanding at a rapid pace, both in infrastructure and in the number of online sessions. To support increased usage, eRA improved the network architecture in two areas—firewalls and network switches—as detailed below.

Firewalls

What is the purpose of a firewall?

A firewall is the first line of defense in protecting private information. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that keeps flames from spreading from one area to another. In an information technology (IT) environment, a firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. It implements security rules, determines who can connect to Web sites, controls which files can be transmitted over the network, and restricts access from the Internet/Intranet to private or confidential data.

Why did we need to upgrade eRA firewalls?

• The existing Lucent brick operating system was no longer supported and difficult to maintain. If our firewall had a failure, a manual recovery procedure would have been necessary, taking anywhere from 30 minutes to hours.   
• The existing Lucent hardware also was no longer supported.   
• The firewall brick rule set required streamlining and reconfiguration. Rapid project growth accounted for a large number of rules, which needed to be consolidated into more general ones. A review of security policies and access privileges also was due.

What did the firewall upgrade accomplish?

• Implemented a newer Lucent firewall model with a faster processor and hardware more suited to the enterprise   
• Established a vendor-supported configuration   
• Implemented new operating system support for Layer 3 capability, which enhances configuration versatility   
• Installed redundant configuration, which provides uninterrupted service in case of failover or during maintenance   
• Wrote a smaller, more efficient rule set and better security documentation

Switches

What is the purpose of a switch?

Very small networks use a simple device called a hub to connect all the ports in the network together for the purpose of moving data. Hubs, however, cannot establish a direct connection from one computer to another nor prevent data packets (units of transmission) from colliding with one another. Over time, hubs evolved into intelligent network switches, capable of sending data directly to the desired site within the network. Switches also detect packets with errors and hold packets that would result in a collision until lines are clear. Most are capable of full duplex, i.e., data can travel simultaneously to and from a system on the network.

Why did we need to upgrade switches in the eRA network?

• Often, eRA Operations could not determine the location of bottlenecks because the network architecture was not optimal.   
• The small, Cisco 2900 switches were no longer sufficient for eRA network traffic.   
• Cabling configuration was outdated and hard to maintain.

What did eRA gain from the upgrade of its switches?

• The new Cisco 6500 switches are larger, better suited to the enterprise, and able to support  traffic without bottlenecks.   
• The new cabling is easier to maintain, eliminating possible bad physical configuration and undetected failures.   
• The reconfiguration of the Commons 2 Web server now is compliant with CIT’s standards.

Learning to Use the NIH eRA Commons

Find links to the latest information about the NIH eRA Commons at http://era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm. This support page provides links to NIH eRA Commons 2 updates, information, release notices, and software documentation, including a tutorial for using the online NIH eRA Commons demonstration site. This tutorial contains screens shots demonstrating demo login and site navigation. After viewing the tutorial, try the online demo to simulate navigation through the NIH eRA Commons 2 and to display sample reports.

The support page also provides the latest information about eSNAP, FSR and IAR, with links to published user guides and tutorials. For other NIH eRA Commons information, check out the Help pages. They provide extensive information for every section of the site.

Other Training

“FSRs: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” will be the topic of a presentation by NIH eRA Commons Manager Tim Twomey at the National Council of Research Administrators (NCURA) Financial Research Administrations (FRA) conference in New Orleans on February 17, 3–4 p.m. The focus of this session will be the new NIH Web-based, electronic submission system for Financial Status Reports. For details about this presentation, go to the NCURA Web site: www.ncura.edu. 

“Changes to the NIH eRA Commons” will be the topic of an interactive discussion on the Internet on March 19, 2–3 p.m. ET. As part of the NCURA Interactive Learning Series (ILS), Tim Twomey and David Wright will provide insight and answer questions about the NIH eRA Commons. Contact Joshua Lessin at 202-466-3894 or lessin@ncura.edu for more information about this ILS.

The NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk is also available to answer user questions about how to register and use the system. Contact the Helpdesk at commons@od.nih.gov or toll free at 866-504-9552.