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This news update from the NIH Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS), provides the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS) and its partners with pertinent information about the plans and progress of the NIH
Electronic Research Administration (eRA). Through its eRA and information services, ORIS supports the Department's
research grants programs by using technology to reduce the costs of grants administration, to analyze and report on
grant data, and to synthesize grant information into knowledge for guiding the NIH research portfolio and improving
the Nation's health.
McGowan Requests Additional eRA Funding for FY2003-FY2005
Dr. John McGowan, eRA Project Manager, appeared before the NIH IT Board of Governors (BOG) on January 29 to request an adjustment to baseline funding of approximately $6.5 to $7 million for FY2003-FY2005. As eRA enters its third year of funding, it has become increasingly clear that the project cannot maintain its momentum on current initiatives, satisfy federal mandates on schedule, nor undertake the migration and other challenges unless the baseline of the budget is increased. This increase has been endorsed by the eRA Advocates, the Project Team, the Extramural Program Management Committee (EPMC), and the eRA Steering Committee. eRA’s five-year planning budget was established in 2000. eRA has lived within this budget until now and has gained experience in estimating costs of the development. More importantly, the cost of the migration to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology, crucial to providing state-of-the-art Web services, was not factored into the original budget. Current support does not enable eRA to perform timely lifecycle redesigns consistent with industry standards. As a result, the upgrade from the IMPAC I mainframe platform to the IMPAC II client-server platform took ten years. Furthermore, the eRA budget does not include contingency dollars to finance unfunded mandates such as stem-cell tracking and the integration of the Loan Repayment Program (LRP). In his budget justification to the BOG, Dr. McGowan stated that without augmented funding, eRA would be unable to meet its commitments to users here and around the world, including NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) and the Office of the Director (OD), 5 agencies within DHHS, 18 federal agencies, 6 commercial partners, and 2,300 institutions worldwide. Given federal legislation and the President’s Management Agenda, eRA applications are highly visible and have the potential to serve as government-wide models. Insufficient funding would put development of the NIH component of the E-Grants effort at risk. Direct questions about the eRA budget to Zoe-Ann Copeland, Chief, Administrative Services Branch, Office of Extramural Research (OER).
Project Team Approves Proposal for OLAW Interface
The eRA Project Team approved short- and long-term strategies for integrating PHS Animal Welfare Assurances and annual reports into the eRA system. This decision was made on January 14, following a presentation by Carol Wigglesworth of the OLAW Office of the Director, which is responsible for the general administration and coordination of PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. This policy is applicable to the use of vertebrate animals in research conducted or supported by any component of the Public Health Service. PHS policy requires that institutions submit Animal Welfare Assurances every five years. In addition, policy requires annual reports to document program changes, evaluations and inspections. Institutions now submit both assurances and annual reports on paper; data then is entered into an OLAW database. In accordance with federal legislation, OLAW would like to partner with eRA to give grantees the option of transmitting these documents electronically. In the first phase, OLAW proposes that the NIH eRA Commons serve as the interface for submitting PHS assurances and annual reports. In this way, OLAW could take advantage of existing NIH eRA Commons logon and authorization mechanisms. OLAW data would continue to be maintained in the OLAW database. For the long-term, Jim Cain, eRA Operations and Implementation Manager, stated that it would be best to build OLAW data structures into eRA and to store OLAW data in the common eRA repository. This strategy would enable OLAW to take advantage of eRA facilities. The eRA Project Team approved Mr. Cain’s proposal. eRA’s next step toward achieving the integration will be to assign an Analyst to gather requirements, draft a scope document, and determine how development of an OLAW interface will fit into the overall project schedule. It is expected that eRA will name an Analyst by the end of March. Direct questions about the planned eRA/OLAW integration to Stephen Hughes, Chief eRA Architect.
eRA Seeks New Partners in Public and Private Sectors
As hundreds of federal IT projects come under scrutiny by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), eRA is meeting the challenge by embracing the goals of e-government. To increase efficiency by delivering government-wide services, eRA is partnering with multiple federal agencies, grantee institutions, and private businesses. eRA welcomes new partners as it responds to Public Law 106-107 and the President’s Management Agenda, both of which mandate improving access to federal grants through the Internet. In addition to NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) and the Office of the Director (OD), five other DHHS agencies input data into CRISP, eRA’s database of federally funded biomedical research. Users, including the public, submit queries through the CRISP Web interface for scientific concepts, emerging trends and techniques, and specific projects and investigators. Agencies contributing to CRISP include the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Eighteen federal agencies use eRA’s Interagency Edison (iEdison), a secure, interactive Web-based system that enables federal grantees and contractor organizations to electronically manage extramural invention portfolios in compliance with federal reporting requirements. iEdison is the first trans-government system of its kind. Several HHS OPDIVs use eRA’s IMPAC II grants processing system to varying degrees, reflecting eRA’s flexibility in negotiating partnerships. AHRQ’s grants are received, reviewed and funded through eRA. NIOSH also uses eRA systems, but has developed workarounds to meet its own business processing needs. SAMHSA applications are entered into the eRA database, but are processed elsewhere. eRA recently established a new partnering arrangement with the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID). Concurrent with eRA’s development of an electronic competitive application (CGAP), six eRA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awardees are collaborating with eRA to build 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 for more information. NIH is seeking additional partners from government, foundations, profit and not-for-profit organizations to join the CGAP endeavor. In response to interest in eRA at higher levels, Dr. John McGowan, eRA Project Manager, met with Charles Havekost, federal E-Grants Program Manager, and Joe Alexander, Office of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (ASAM), on January 15. Dr. McGowan’s briefing to ASAM is part of the information-gathering phase of the DHHS FY 2002 five-year Information Technology plan, which calls for a “One Department” approach to information technology, using resources on an enterprise basis with a common infrastructure. At the federal level, eRA is an integral player in the E-Grants initiative, headed by Mr. Havecost. 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. The future NIH eRA Commons Web interface to receive electronic Competitive Grant Applications (CGAPs) is being developed to couple seamlessly with E-Grants.
eRA Welcomes New Advocates to Its 2003 Project Team
Dr. John McGowan, eRA Project Manager, recently announced changes in Project Team membership for 2003. New participants include Michael Loewe (NINDS), Chip Groh (NIBIB), Mary Ann Williamson (NIDCR), Richard Morris (NIAID) and Ellen Liberman (NEI). Comprising senior managers and advocates for each business and functional area, the Project Team must authorize all decisions for the implementation of eRA. As eRA enters its fourth year, several business and functional areas have been modified. Dr. Steven Hausman now represents “Advanced Technologies,” his “Paperless Business Practices” workgroup having successfully achieved eRA goals for this area. Given its importance and level of complexity, “Grants Policy” now has its own Advocate. The same is true for the “IRDB Redesign”, which has branched off from “Reporting”. Finally, two new areas, “Knowledge Discovery” and “ADP/EP” have emerged. Other changes to Project Team membership reflect the importance of having appropriate representation from the Institutes and Centers (ICs) and accommodating some rotations within and out of the team. Address questions and comments about the eRA Project Team to John McGowan.
Integrated Solutions Publishes Article on eRA Scanning
The NIH eRA scanning initiative received extensive coverage in “Capture Images, Capture Savings (Adobe .pdf format, 1.47 MB),” an article that appeared in the December 2002 issue of Integrated Solutions. This Corry Publishing periodical advises and educates IT decision makers who are charged with selecting enterprise-wide solutions for their organizations. More than 50,000 readers are subscribed. Ed Hess, author of the article, cites the many benefits of scanning incoming, NIH competitive applications, a process begun in January 2002. eRA estimates that scanning saved $5 million in copying and distribution costs during the first year. In 2003, NIH expects to save $15 million. NIH has reaped other benefits from converting paper applications to digital format. Hess cites a PricewaterhouseCoopers study that found that professionals spend 5 percent of their time reading information, but up to 50 percent of their time looking for pertinent data. At the NIH, staff now can perform keyword searches on the eRA database, which currently stores almost 60,000 grant applications. Users also can search by such variables as grant number, topic and applicant institution. Scanning also reduces file room floor space requirements. The National Cancer Institute, for example, uses a linear mile of shelves to store grant applications. Eventually, NIH would like to convert archived documents to electronic format. Dr. Steven J. Hausman, eRA Advocate for Advanced Technologies (formerly Paperless Business Practices), provided the background material for the article and is widely quoted throughout. His photograph appears on the cover. Send questions and comments to Dr. Hausman.
A Look Ahead to the March Deployment
The next quarterly eRA deployment, scheduled for March 22, will offer new capabilities in many IMPAC II and NIH eRA Commons applications. Integration with new NIH Business System Gelco Travel Manager.
J2EE Version 1.0.0.0 in pilot mode at CSR, NIAID, NIMH, NHLBI, NCI, NIDCD.
Ability for PIs to delegate PPF update authority to another individual. Ability to view electronic applications in Status.
Online demo/training facility for pilot users. Automatic update of PPF profile from eSNAP data.
Improved indirect cost entry. Allow unexpended balances on grants with future funding. Online demo/training facility for pilot users.
Ensure that enabled phone reviewers see all meeting critiques. Display “Teleconference” with meeting title if a telephone conference. Implement online help. Allow SRA/GTA to set meeting-wide options for allowing unassigned critiques to be submitted for the Edit and/or Submit phases. Add Sort Options to the Reviewer List to allow SRA/GTA to better monitor the status of reviewer critique submissions. Add ability to view all critiques submitted by a reviewer as a merged Adobe PDF file.
Pilot of new J2EE user interface with the following capabilities:
Upload of required PDF and TIFF documents for invention disclosure records and associated patent filings. View online PDF and TIFF documents for invention disclosure records and associated patent filings. Account management within institution or agency. View and update of extramural organizational profile. View a graphical representation of any invention in relation to its associated patents.
J2EE version of current client-server grant folder for the new Program module (see below).
Retrieve new IMPAC II FSRs. Implement online help. Create unfunded grants by council date report for FRC. Enhance institution report by linking to all open closeout grants for that institution. Add Assigned Closeout Specialist at the bottom of the Check Sheet.
Automatically print clinical trials footnote on NGA. Several enhancements for Fellowships: GM Specialist name now will appear on the Fellowship Waiting Activation Report. Upon Fellowship activation, users will be able to enter a project period end date. Users will be able to use a wild card '%' in the activity code field on the Search screen.
Direct access to the grant folder from the Assign Reviewers screen. Two new score mailers for Fellowship applications. Modification to minutes to account for an Acting Chair. Toggle display of reviewer assignment roles on four Peer Review assignment reports to better customize reports and allow users to display/not display reviewer assignment roles. Link to ICSTORe from the List of Applications and Peer Review Banner screens.
List function for the following stages of a grant application: Pending SRG, Pre-Council, Post Council, and Post Award/Pending Type 5s.
Search capability by PI name and/or grant number. Access to the Grant Folder from each grant on a search results list. Access to PO Worksheet, Master List of Applications and SRG Agenda reports. Export to Excel function from the search results pages. Seamless access to ICO customizable checklists (Program Approval) from the Post Council and Post Award/Pending Type 5s pages.
Functionality for Receipt and Referral users to maintain the organization of CSR review divisions and IRG clusters for study sections. Several changes to replace IMPAC I functionality.
CD Order Confirmation sent to SRA.
Send questions about the upcoming deployment to the eRA Helpdesk.
Pete Morton to Lead IRDB Redesign
Pete Morton, who heads the Application Services Branch within the Division of Computer System Services in the Center for Information Technology (CIT), was appointed Program Manager for redesigning the IMPAC II Reporting Database (IRDB). Carol S. Martin, whose efforts achieved many IRDB improvements, will serve as co-advocate for the redesign initiative. As Program Manager, Pete will lead the project to provide a responsive, reliable source for querying IMPAC II data without generating an extensive load on the production Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) database. The redesign should establish the IRDB as the primary data repository for applications that query and report on eRA data. Pete will work with existing and potential IRDB users as well as with others who currently use the OLTP for reporting/querying purposes. eRA also plans to develop a pilot application that interrogates the redesigned IRDB and demonstrates the querying capabilities and techniques available to ICs. Pete first came to the NIH as a health physicist in the Radiation Safety Office of the Department of Nuclear Medicine. From there he moved to CIT (then DCRT) and became head of the PAL Unit, the NIH Computer Center's consulting group. He holds a Master of Science degree in physics from the University of South Carolina.
CDs for Reviewers Upgraded to Version 2
The software for creating CDs for reviewers was upgraded to Version 2 on February 10. The primary purpose of the new version is to overcome compatibility problems experienced with some PC and Mac configurations. CD functionality and look-and-feel remain unchanged. Version 2 implements two internal changes to CD creation. First, the CD will use the reviewer’s Adobe Acrobat Reader, if installed; if not, the user still can install the reader from the CD. Second, grant image file names will be in grant-number format and not in accession-number format. This naming change will enable users to bypass the menus and navigate the CD directly (if necessary). The external label also will contain instructions on finding help in the UserGuide.pdf and InstallReader.htm files. In February 2002, some Institutes and Centers (ICs) began ordering CDs for reviewers in place of conventional paper books of grant applications. The May 2002 release of the IMPAC II Peer Review module expedited the process by enabling ICs to place orders online. For more information, contact eRA Analyst Mike Cox.
Preparations for Oracle 9i Conversion Continue on Schedule
eRA technical staff has migrated the IMPAC II and NIH eRA Commons development and test environments to Oracle9i Database (Oracle9i/DB) and Oracle 9i Application Server (Oracle 9i/AS) in preparation for the upgrade of the production environment next month. Oracle 9iAS establishes a complete Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform for building and deploying Java applications accessible from any Web browser or wireless device. eRA is using J2EE for all new development; existing client-server applications are being redesigned in Java. This high-level, object-oriented programming language, developed by Sun Microsystems, is well-suited for Web applications. This March, eRA also will implement at least one additional middle-tier server. The middle tier is the logical layer between the user interface and the database. Business rules and functions that generate and operate on information generally reside on this server. In April, eRA expects to acquire the additional hardware needed to support load balancing, a network strategy to distribute the work across multiple servers. With these resources in place, eRA will be able to incrementally scale the infrastructure to meet the increasing load as the NIH eRA Commons reaches full production. If you have questions about these upgrades, contact the eRA Helpdesk.
New Software Automates Application Testing
In keeping with its commitment to continuous improvement, eRA has acquired Mercury Interactive LoadRunner® and WinRunner®, automated tools for load, stress and functional testing of new and revised IMPAC II and NIH eRA Commons applications. eRA will execute these Mercury products prior to deployment to ensure that new eRA code works as expected without negatively impacting system performance. LoadRunner is a load-testing tool that predicts system behavior and performance. It does so by emulating the normal number of users (load test) and the maximum number of users (stress test). Performance monitors identify and isolate problems. By using LoadRunner, eRA expects to minimize testing cycles, optimize performance and accelerate deployment. WinRunner is an automated tool for enterprise-wide functional and regression testing, which is performed to ensure that older programming still works with the new changes. This product simplifies the creation of test data and test scripts. WinRunner compares the expected and actual results, validates applications across different browsers, and facilitates error recovery. By using WinRunner, eRA hopes to reduce testing time by automating repetitive tasks, to optimize testing efforts by using a single testing tool, and to maximize its return on investment by modifying and reusing test scripts as an application evolves. An eRA “tiger team” already has completed the first two weeks of QuickStart®, a program for training new users of Mercury software. The team is in the midst of developing test scripts for the eRA code to be deployed in March. A third week of training will consist of having Mercury experts assist the eRA team in running an integrated load test and interpreting the results. Direct questions about eRA testing procedures to Brad Sachar.
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