Written by Chris Carsten
Submitting proposals and managing sponsored award funds has largely transitioned from hard copy to multiple electronic locations, both internally at CSU and externally. From an initial ask to a final report, CSU PIs, their department administrators, and Sponsored Programs personnel have to navigate in multiple systems, sometimes even in more than one system for a single sponsor. The following list shows the variety of ways we use portals for sponsored activities:
- Funding opportunity search, application process initiation
- Proposal (application) development & submission
- Proposal tracking & decision status
- Post-proposal supplemental information submission
- Award notification and award document retrieval
- CSU account creation & modifications
- LOC (drawdown) of reimbursements
- Financial and progress reporting
- Award extensions, prior approval requests
- Final reports & closeout actions
WHEN ENCOUNTERING A NEW PORTAL
The initial experience with a new external portal will usually be with a PI who is seeking new sources of funding, or a department administrator helping a PI. It’s important to figure out if there is a central office role for a portal by asking:
- Does this portal require an institutional central office-maintained account?
- Does my institution already have an account or organization registration for this portal?
- Do proposal or report (performance, financial) submissions require a central office submit action?
Some portals (Federal and non-Federal) require the PI to have the login, and don’t have any roles for administrators. This makes it easier for the PI to submit proposals and have access to their portal activity history, but makes it more challenging for department and central office administrators to know that a PI has submitted proposals or received awards.
Several proposal portals (e.g., MS Society, American Heart, and ProposalCentral) are hybrids: they require the PI to initiate the proposal, complete the data entry, and upload attachments (there is no role for an administrator to help), but an authorized institutional official (central office administrator) has to be added to the proposal to complete the submission action.
When in doubt, check with the OSP so that we can ensure the correct institutional information has been added to a portal and to ensure that we have access to portals that require central access.
ACCESS CHALLENGES
Security is an issue for all websites, which is what portals are. We are providing information that may need to be protected, and the sponsor wants to know that the person submitting the information is a real person (“I am not a robot”). We see the following access restrictions at many sites, and unfortunately every site seems to have its own set of requirements:
- 2-level identity verification and authorization just to get access: e.g., ezFedGrants
- 2-factor login authentication (username + password, plus either a text message or phone call to get an access code that is entered in a separate step): e.g, Dept of Ed G5
- Different password standards & requirements, different password expiration schedules, different methods to restore account access
There can also be an access challenge for PIs who change institutions. Major Federal agencies like NIH and NSF want researchers to have one account that changes affiliation as the person moves. PIs have to make sure to keep their individual profiles updated with current contact information, and know to work with their central office to change affiliations instead of creating new accounts. Portals with centrally maintained accounts that don’t have this level of affiliation sophistication mean that PIs have to have multiple separate accounts for separate institutions.
CURRENT SYSTEM TRANSITIONS IN PROGRESS
Portals are launched, updated, renovated, or de-commissioned and replaced on a regular basis. The following are just a few of the major changes underway:
Grants.gov:
- end of PDF packages: December 31, 2017
- Workspace (online proposal development/submission) — mandatory as of January 1, 2018
- New registration process requires an extra step to affiliate the user with an organization
NSF:
- Fastlane functionality being re-coded for Research.gov platform, which will integrate proposal development and submission with award management and reporting – April 2018
- New role definitions and processes coming as a result
USDA ezFedGrants:
- additional agencies coming online in 2018 with mixed slate of use cases (not all USDA agencies use the system the same way, for the same actions)
- new roles in development to differentiate between grant administrators and PIs for applications and reporting
TAKEAWAYS
If you are working in a new-to-you portal, it’s a good idea to contact Sponsored Programs to find out if we have history/experience with it: Chris Carsten, Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Systems Officer, [email protected], (970) 491-3852.
Share your tips and tricks with the group by using the RAMAround listserv, or volunteer to present at one of our meetings or trainings.
The more information we can share with each other, the better our knowledge base about portals becomes – community makes us stronger, better, faster!
Written by Chris Carsten, Electronic Research Administration Systems Officer, Office of Sponsored Programs, Colorado State University.