The concept of a Universal Module (UM) has been proposed to the community as a solution for developing a single enterprise system that will accommodate variation in who initiates, approves, and needs to be informed of key transactions occurring between ICs or research institutions in IMPAC II or the Commons. The UM concept is important to the eRA goal of developing an integrated system able to serve the needs of the decentralized NIH community. Supporting 3-4 layers of authorities, the UM will essentially allow the ICs and partner institutions to have control of assigning rights to their respective staff.

The processing of a 901 Transfer Request can be used to illustrate how a Universal Module can accommodate differing business practices. In the example screen shots, the initiating Institute X has a different chain of approval than the receiving Institute Y. The UM honors the business rules of each institute for 901 processing.

The issue of institutional approval of grant applications prior to submission has been built into the current NIH Commons design, as exemplified in e-SNAP. The Universal Module is in keeping with such an approval hierarchy, and so could also serve the needs of our partner institutions that have multiple and varying layers of approval. This concept is therefore being considered in the design of the new Commons.

The eRA Project Team welcomes feedback on the UM concept. Please email your comments to NIH eRA Support at nihera@od.nih.gov.