eSubmission News and Updates
NIH eSubmission Items of Interest — May 4, 2007
Commons Changes Announced
Did you catch the notice in the NIH Guide titledNIH Announces Changes to eRA Commons, Particularly the Electronic Streamlined Non-competing Award Process (eSNAP) Function (NOT-OD-07-064)? The notice covers changes to institutional profile assurances/certifications, changes to eSNAP functionality and other Commons updates. Remember, you can find out about assurances and certifications inPart III: Policies, Assurances, Definitions of the NIH Grants.gov Application Guide SF424 (R&R).
Many of you requested the ability to delegate PI Status access to an assistant – the eRA Commons team has delivered.
Delegation of PI Status Access to Assistant for Electronic Application Review: PIs can now delegate the ability to view the status of electronically submitted applications to any commons-registered individual with an ASST role. This new menu choice is found inAdmin menu by selectingAccount/Delegate Status. Once in theDelegate Status screen, users will see a list of all individuals registered with the ASST role and can “Delegate” and “Remove” delegation for those individuals. Once this delegation has been granted, the ASST will be able to view and access the list of applications associated with the PI. Individuals can have this authority delegated to them by more than one PI. The view these delegated individuals will have is equivalent to that of a signing official (SO View) and does not include access to confidential information; e.g., summary statements and priority scores. For detailed instructions on how to delegate this authority see eRA Commons Release Notes Version 2.9.2.2 (PDF - 1.73 MB).
Can ASSTs with delegated status authority receive NIH eSubmission notifications?
You can use the “Person to be contacted” email address on the SF424 (R&R) cover component in box 5 to designate an individual (e.g. ASST) or group address to receive NIH eSubmission notifications (in addition to the PD/PI address in box 15 and the AOR address in box 19). If delegated PI status authority, the ASST can check errors/warnings and view the assembled application.
Note on security…
We have heard that without the ability to delegate PI status, the temptation to use poor security practices (i.e. sharing PD/PI username and password information) has been high. We hope the ability to delegate these actions has the added benefit of tightening PD/PI account security. To anyone that shared their account login information (you know who you are), please use the delegate authority option and change your passwords immediately. Good security practices benefit everyone!
Mac Users – Apple Security Patch Affects Grants.gov Form Use
A new issue affecting Mac users has just surfaced. Evidently, the latest security update sent out by Apple has left IBM Workplace Forms (PureEdge) Viewer for Macintosh users unable to open, manipulate or submit grant applications. Apple has advised against rolling back the security update. Grants.gov is aware of the issue and is in contact with IBM to determine if a fix or workaround can be made available. Grants.gov will be providing guidance for this issue on their Download Software Page.
As a reminder, Mac users can continue to use the following options:
- NIH-hosted Citrix servers: allow non-PC users to prepare and submit applications using the PureEdge forms viewer. This service has been used successfully by many applicants and has the capacity to handle the anticipated load for upcoming submission deadlines.
- PC-emulation software: commercially available products allow Mac users to run the PureEdge viewer.
Why Must I Split My Research Plan Into Pieces?
There are two main drivers to NIH’s decision to split the Specific Aims, Background and Significance, Preliminary Studies/Progress Report and Research Design methods into individual attachments. The primary driver is that using the separate attachments facilitates bookmarking within the application image for quick reference and easier viewing/searching both for applicants and reviewers. Reviewers have access to the application online and via CD – they do not receive a paper copy from NIH. The bookmarks are a valuable tool to navigate through large applications.
In addition, using separate attachments maximizes automated validations conducted by the eRA system. This helps minimize incomplete and/or non-compliant applications that would be received as one whole Research Plan but would be manually reviewed by the Scientific Review Administrators to ensure that all of the requirements have been met. For example, given separate attachments, NIH automatically verifies the existence of the Preliminary Studies/Progress Report and Research Design and Methods for non-S10 applications.
Grants.gov Adobe eSeminar Rescheduled
Due to unforeseen connectivity issues, Grants.gov is rescheduling the Adobe eSeminar –Learn About Grants.gov that was originally scheduled for May 3. They will post the new date on their Grants.gov Deployment Update page as soon as it is confirmed.
Sheri Cummins
Communications Coordinator
NIH Electronic Submission of Grant Applications
