Inside eRA, January 17, 2003 (Volume 4, Issue 1)

Web-Based Application Pilots Continue As NIH eRA Commons 2 Registration Expands

Enrollment in the NIH eRA Commons 2 is proceeding as planned for former Commons 1 and IMPAC I FSR users. Thus far, 71 grantee institutions and more than 700 individuals have signed up for the new version. Registration will be extended to all institutions in the near future.

NIH eRA Commons 2 was upgraded to Release 2.2.1.0 on January 11. This release contains the following changes and enhancements. See release notes for details.

• Creation of assistant (ASST) role for basic user who can be designated as PI delegate for eSNAP and, in an upcoming release, can be authorized by a PI to update his/her Professional Profile        
• Ability to search by the component parts of the grant number (type, activity code, Institute/Center, serial number, etc.)        
• Enabling of links to Notice of Grant Award, Non-Competing (Type 5) Progress Report face page and Fellowships from the proposal and progress report search results reports        
• Addition of signing official contact information to Institution Profile pages (View and Edit)        
• Ability to view and edit the email address for institutional notifications        
• Inclusion of institution and school category names on the Maintain Organization Hierarchy page        
• Deployment of performance optimizations to increase overall performance by more than 100 percent

Status of  Applications

eSNAP is a Web interface for the submission of electronic Simplified Non-competing Application Process Type-5 progress reports. Three 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. eRA recently opened the pilot to all members of the Commons Working Group (CWG). 

The software upgrade on January 11 included the following modifications: 

• Ability for PIs to initiate an eSNAP even if required information is missing from their Personal Profiles; this information must be completed before eSNAP submission        
• Implementation of different initial eSNAP pages for different roles        
• Designation of AO name as required field        
• Personalized list of applications eligible for eSNAP displays when PI enters the system        
• Accomplishments uploaded and now display on ”Upload Science” screen        
• Name of current reviewer included on list of grant applications for a PI and on search results list        
• Link to PHS2590 instructions provided in the eSNAP Help text        
• Performance site defaults to institutional address; can be updated        
• Presentation of overdue eSNAPs in bold text on lists for PIs and administrators

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 about 300 electronic FSRs. The interface is open to all registered NIH eRA Commons 2 users.

The following changes were made to the FSR Edit screen on January 11:

• Calculation by the system of the federal share of unliquidated obligations        
• Addition of a new Carryover Request field to the Long Form and PDF report        
• Addition of a new Grant Number (read-only) field and the designation of the Document Number (formerly Document Reference) field as read only on the CAS portion of the Long Form

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, is limited to one study section. The participating Scientific Review Administrator (SRA) has invited reviewers assigned to this meeting to enroll in the NIH eRA Commons 2 and submit their critiques through IAR. The software deployment on January 11 corrected several minor problems.

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.

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.

eRA Seeks Input on Web Site Redesign

The eRA Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO) seeks user input while it constructs the information architecture for the redesign of the eRA Web site. As the eRA Project has matured over the past three years, its audience has increased dramatically both in number and diversity. The primary objective of the redesign initiative is to provide an attractive and intuitive Web interface that effectively communicates with all of eRA’s various communities both within and outside the NIH.

The OCO Web team has posted a static PDF image of the new draft eRA home page. Organized by audience, with customized links to relevant subjects, the page clearly directs eRA’s diverse users to the most useful information and applications. The new site will serve as a central point-of-entry for all eRA Web-based systems and documentation; that is, it will be the umbrella site for both IMPAC II and NIH eRA Commons 2.

Once OCO has completed the user data gathering and planning phase, the Web team will create a prototype site on the development server and populate it with data, images, templates, and other elements from the existing site. The prototype will enable OCO to work out the technical details and to gather additional user feedback.

eRA enthusiastically welcomes feedback on its draft home page. Send comments to Jim Soden, the eRA Webmaster at SodenJ@od.nih.gov.

Commons Working Group Provides Feedback on eRA Progress

The Commons Working Group (CWG) discussed the NIH eRA Commons 2 deployment, learned about Internet Assisted Review (IAR), and received an update on the development of an electronic Competitive Grants Application (CGAP) at their January 8 meeting in Irvine, CA.

CWG members shared their experiences over the past two months as NIH eRA Commons 2 pilot users. David Wright, eRA liaison to the extramural community, observed that, thus far, most participants appeared satisfied with the new NIH eRA Commons software, but were disappointed by the perceived lack of new functionality. With the recent opening of eSNAP to the entire group, this perception may change. Users of the new Web-based Financial Status Report (FSR) system seemed pleased now that most of the major bugs have been eliminated.

The January meeting also was the first opportunity for the CWG to preview the new Internet Assisted Review (IAR) software. Following eRA analyst Dan Hall’s presentation, the biggest concern was the possibility of creating multiple profiles for reviewers. The CWG also hoped that it would be easy to affiliate a previously unaffiliated reviewer to an institution. Dan Hall assured the group that all of the proper safeguards were in place to prevent the creation of duplicate profiles. The March release of NIH eRA Commons 2 will make it easier to affiliate a reviewer.

Also on the agenda was an eRA update on the progress of electronic CGAPs. Previously, the CWG had devoted three meetings to formulating recommendations for CGAP business process reengineering. CWG members reacted to the CGAP project plan with great enthusiasm, especially to the proposed technical solution for the "deadline dilemma," i.e., 99 percent of applications are received within 12 hours of the deadline. The group thought that the timeline was realistic and the technical solution very elegant.

Regarding eRA’s plans to add clinical research-related functionality, the group was pleased about NIH’s willingness to play a role in developing standards by which clinical data (such as human subject protocols and clinical trial adverse events) could be reported. Both the NIH and the extramural community want to see active FDA involvement to ensure that all major parties are represented during the formulation of standards.

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

Project Team Recommends Policy for eRA Grant Image Retention

The eRA Project Management Team, comprising senior managers and advocates for each business and functional area, voted to recommend maintaining grant images in the eRA database according to the same retention rules established for paper applications. In January 2002, eRA began digitally scanning all NIH grant applications received by the Center for Scientific Review. The resulting grant images are stored in the IMPAC II Grant Folder.

According to NIH Manual Issuance 1743, Appendix 1, Part 3, Section 4000, after close-out, application records for awarded grants are moved to an inactive file by each Institute and Center (IC).The official case file consists of the complete application, summary of review actions, award notices, progress reports, financial records, audit records, correspondence, close-out documents and other supporting papers. After one year in the inactive file, the ICs transfer the records to a Federal Records Center, where they are kept for six years and then destroyed. Case files for unfunded applications are destroyed three years after the applicant has been notified that no award will be made.

Applying current policy to grant images, as recommended by the eRA Project Management Team, would mean deleting the IMPAC II Grant Folder six years after grant close-out. After obtaining consensus from the Office of Extramural Research (OER), Dr. Steven Hausman, eRA advocate for Paperless Business Practices, will present this proposal to the NIH Records Management Officer, Office of Management Assessment (OMA). This office is responsible for developing, maintaining and revising the NIH Records Control Schedule.

At a higher level, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) oversees the administration of all federal records and is the managing partner of the Electronic Records Management (ERM) project, one of 24 federal E-Government initiatives. At the end of FY 2003, ERM plans to provide guidance on electronic records management applicable government-wide. This is the same time that NIH expects to begin receiving electronically submitted competitive applications.

Direct questions and comments to Steven Hausman at hausmans@od.niams.nih.gov.

New NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk Welcomes Inquiries

The NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk was established in October 2002 to assist NIH staff and the grantee community. Contact the Helpdesk for information about the NIH eRA Commons 2 or to report bugs, problems or issues. Program officials, who receive inquiries from Principal Investigators (PIs) about the NIH eRA Commons or new Web-based systems, should refer the PIs to the NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk.

The Helpdesk is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET and is closed for official Federal holidays. You can reach the Helpdesk by telephone or by email:

Online Demo Orients NIH Staff to NIH eRA Commons 2

NIH staff now has an opportunity to become familiar with the NIH eRA Commons 2, eRA’s new interface for the external grantee community. The NIH eRA Commons Support page includes a tutorial for using the online NIH eRA Commons demonstration site. This tutorial contains screens shots explaining demo login and site navigation. After viewing the tutorial, try the online demo to simulate navigation through Commons 2 and to display sample reports.

The Support page also provides the latest news about eSNAP, FSR and IAR, with links to published user guides and tutorials. For more information, contact the NIH eRA Commons Helpdesk at commons@od.nih.gov.

TBD Offers IMPAC II Training

The Training and Development Branch (TDB) of the Division of Employee Relations and Training (DERT) will offer a three-hour introduction to IMPAC II QuickView (Course 5380) on January 30 from 9:00 a.m.–noon and again from 1:00–4:00 p.m. The QuickView class introduces students to building ad hoc queries that retrieve grant-related data from the eRA database.

The QuickView training, which will be held at Executive Plaza South, costs $141. NIH staff can register online. For information on other TDB (formerly HRDD) classes, visit the TDB Web site or contact Ajoy Gadhok at 301-496-6211. Address questions about eRA training to Patty Austin at patty.austin@nih.gov or 301-435-0690 x617.