February 21, 2006 • Updates from Grant Accounting • Updates from Sponsored Programs • Million Dollar Memo • PeopleSoft GL - Post Implementation

Grants.gov and NIH

• Update • NIH Transitions to Electronic Grant Submission via Grants.Gov • Submission Timeline

1. agenda item change: Steve Romont, Associate Director of Accounting Services, will be discussing the GL PS Implementation

2. New Staff in Grant Accounting:

Nicholas Francisco will start Monday, February 27th as a Senior Accountant. He will be responsible for EPA, DOE, NASA and NSF awards.

Other positions we are working to fill in the next few weeks: Project Assistant and Accountant

3. Grant Accounting will be reviewing the following areas beginning in the next few

weeks: Costs sharing Salary cap Deficits (including establishing a deficit policy) Close out of accounts procedure Set up of accounts procedure This is in the beginning stages; depending on what we determine, we may bring these issues back to the RAM to present; we may contact departments directly for follow up; or we may establish work groups and ask for formal input *Regardless of how we proceed, if you have issues or concerns with any of these areas, please email or call Audra Haddy

Memorandum

To: Faculty and Administrative Staff

From: Twila Fisher Reighley, Assistant Vice President for Research

Date: January 23, 2006

Re: NIH Applications Submitted Electronically via Grants.gov New Internal UI Deadline: Five Working Days Prior to the NIH Deadline

The National Institutes of Health has announced its intention to transition to electronic submission of grant applications through the Grants.gov portal. The NIH will be implementing this transition gradually, by phasing in specific application mechanisms throughout 2006. The largest implementation (all R01 applications) is scheduled for the October 1, 2006, deadline.* The UI Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) is preparing for this transition and has developed a website to keep the UI research community informed about updates to the NIH application process and associated institutional procedures, which can be accessed at: http://research.uiowa.edu/dsp/main/?get=electronicsubmissionnihgrants.html. We also wish to take this opportunity to update faculty and staff regarding a few key points: Registration: You may have seen announcements encouraging applicants to register with Grants.gov. Please be assured that The University of Iowa is already registered as an institution and has successfully submitted applications via Grants.gov. Individual UI investigators do not register with Grants.gov. However, principal investigators for NIH applications do need to obtain an NIH eRA Commons User ID in order to submit an NIH application via Grants.gov. Currently, over 530 UI principal investigators have obtained a User ID for the NIH Commons. To obtain a User ID and password for the NIH Commons, please email John Massa (john-massa@uiowa.edu) in the Division of Sponsored Programs. Additional lead time is required: The shift to electronic submission through Grants.gov will require a significant change in how we (investigators, department and college administrators, DSP) handle NIH deadlines – not only because of the volume and complexity of Grants.gov applications, but also because of the additional verification step mandated by the NIH. Application to NIH via Grants.gov is actually a two-step process that requires the Principal Investigator and an Authorized Institutional Official in DSP to cooperate in (1) submitting the application through Grants.gov; and

* On February 7, 2006, NIH adjusted the implementation timeline for electronic application submission to provide an additional four months (February 1, 2007) before the transition of the NIH traditional research grant (R01) mechanism.

Memo to Faculty and Administrative Staff on NIH Applications Changes From: Twila Fisher Reighley January 23, 2006 Page 2

(2) logging into the NIH Commons and verifying the submission once the application has been downloaded and validated by the NIH Commons. Both steps must be successfully completed by their respective deadlines in order for the application to be considered on time by NIH. Note that the application can take up to 48 hours to travel from the Grants.gov portal to the NIH Commons. If certain technical errors in the application are detected by Grants.gov or the NIH Commons, the application will be rejected and must then be corrected and resubmitted to NIH via Grants.gov by the original NIH deadline. Because of these fundamental changes, new, internal UI procedures for routing and submitting NIH proposals are essential to the success of the NIH application process at the UI. Deadlines: Effective May 1, 2006 applications requiring electronic submission must be completed, routed, and submitted to DSP at least five business days prior to the sponsor (e.g., NIH) submission deadline. This new electronic submission procedure may require departments and colleges to establish their own internal deadlines. This is particularly true for those units that assist principal investigators in completing applications. Based on our experience with Grants.gov submissions to date, applicants must allow a generous buffer of time against the agency deadline in the event that the application is rejected for technical errors, and needs to be corrected and resubmitted, i.e., applicants cannot assume the first submission will be successful. As a rule of thumb, investigators should plan to finish their applications 7-14 business days prior to the NIH deadline. Computer support: Grants.gov requires use of PureEdge Viewer software. This is a small desktop application used to view, fill, sign, submit and route PureEdge forms, which are the forms used in Grants.gov submissions. The program is free and allows submission of application packages electronically and securely via the Internet. Faculty and scientists within the Carver College of Medicine will receive an automatic download of the PureEdge software by way of the HCIS Computer Support group, which expects to complete its distribution within the next three weeks. Those within other colleges may download the PureEdge software directly, at http://www.grants.gov/DownloadViewer. At this time, the PureEdge software runs only on the Windows operating system. Grants.gov recently began providing a Citrix service to enable Macintosh users to run the PureEdge software remotely. Information about this service can be found at: http://www.grants.gov/MacSupport. We are communicating these changes, along with information about the PureEdge software, to the campus IT leadership. If you need assistance installing or using PureEdge Viewer, please contact your local IT desktop support staff. It is recommended that you become familiar with this software several weeks in advance of deadlines to determine compatibility and resolve potential problems within your particular computer system. Training, implementation, and questions: The Division of Sponsored Programs will provide training opportunities for the Grants.gov submission process and will keep the UI community informed of future developments. If you would like to participate in a working group as we evaluate our implementation plan, please email me. If you have immediate questions or concerns about the transition to Grants.gov, please contact John Massa (john-massa@uiowa.edu) or me (twila-reighley@uiowa.edu).

General LedgerGo-Live Update

Steve RomontAssociate Director, Accounting ServicesFebruary 21, 2006

The University of Iowa

Month-end close• January closed on February 10th

– PSGL closed– Data extracted, loaded to data warehouse– Web reports available– Printed reports in-process of distribution on this date.

The University of Iowa

Web site links• Status report on GL Apps, GLDSShttp://www.uiowa.edu/~fsi/GLTeam/GL_Daily/GL_status_daily.pdf• GL implementation sitehttp://www.uiowa.edu/~fsi/GLTeam/• Accounting Serviceshttp://www.uiowa.edu/~fusas/

The University of Iowa

GL, Web applications Statistics for January

• GL journal lines posted: 600,000+• Web PCard: 26,000+ lines posted• Web-, Pay-CV: 14,000 lines posted• GL Journal Entry app: 1,000 journals

The University of Iowa

Current task list• MFK validation – add descriptions • Web report coding changes

–SA3 recap, MS2C, BC44• Journal id contact information• Whokey listing• CV user tools – add JE app• JE app security – add group share• Query tool / Management summary

The University of Iowa

Month-end close• February closing calendar

– Projection based on January• Journals due last day of month• Data warehouse available on March 10th, printed reports follow.

The University of Iowa

Grants.gov Update Research Administrator Meeting, February 21, 2006

What is Grants.gov? A centralized, on-line process to find and apply for over 900 grant programs from the 26

Federal grant-making agencies. See http://www.grants.gov/ Mandated by Public Law (PL) 106-107: Federal Financial Assistance Management

Improvement Act of 1999 NIH Transition to Grants.gov NIH announced an aggressive transition schedule to Grants.gov. DSP system

development and training efforts are aimed at having a viable upload system in place for the June 1, 2006 deadline, when R03s, R21s and R34s transition to Grants.gov.

If your faculty and staff intend to submit applications for the June 1, 2006 deadline, please send an e-mail to dsp@uiowa.edu identifying your prospective applicants.

NIH Research Project Grants (R01s) will transition to Grants.gov submission for the February 1, 2007 deadline.

Significant Additional Lead Time is required The complexity of the system, the volume of proposals, and the additional verification

steps required will demand new internal deadlines. Investigators should plan to finish their applications 7-14 business days prior to the NIH

deadline. Two colleges have set an internal deadline of 14 business days prior to the deadline.

Effective May 1, 2006 applications requiring electronic submission must be completed, routed, and submitted to DSP at least five business days prior to the sponsor submission deadline.

Grants.gov Advisory Committee

The committee will provide input regarding policy and process changes, may participate

in pilot training programs, and will communicate Grants.gov implementation strategies to their units and across campus.

Will convene on March 9, 2006. Getting Started Users must download PureEdge Viewer software via Grants.gov website at:

http://www.grants.gov/DowloadViewer For NIH proposals, PI must have an active account in the NIH eRA Commons. Contact

John Massa (john-massa@uiowa.edu) to request an NIH eRA account. Four steps for submitting NIH proposals via Grants.gov 1. Download application package via Grants.gov 2. Complete the application package 3. Submit the application package to DSP via email attachment to nih@uiowa.edu* 4. Verify the application package via NIH eRA Commons

*The file transmission process will shift to a document upload system through UIRIS.

Adapted with permission from the University of Washington OSP website: http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/gg_timeline.html , February 20, 2006

Submission Timeline: NIH and Grants.gov – A Guide to Understanding the Deadlines

There are three essential steps to the process of submitting an application to NIH via Grants.gov relevant to understanding the deadlines:

1. The completed application is submitted to Grants.gov by DSP 2. The file is transferred from Grants.gov to ERA Commons 3. The application is confirmed to be correct and verified in ERA Commons by

both the PI and DSP

There are two key deadlines you must keep in mind:

1. The application must be verified in ERA Commons (Step 3) within two (2) business days of its transfer to ERA Commons (Step 2).

2. The validated application must have been submitted to Grants.gov (Step 1) before the NIH due date.

The following table illustrates various submission scenarios and the resulting status of the application:

Case January

29 January

30 January

31 February

1 February

2 Weekend Feb 3-4

February 5

Result

A Submitted via

Grants.gov

Transferred to ERA

Commons

Verified in ERA

Commons

ON TIME

B Submitted Transferred Verified ON TIME

C Submitted Transferred Verified ON TIME

D Submitted Transferred Error found Corrected & resubmitted

Transferred Verified ON TIME

E Submitted Transferred Verified LATE: Verification not done w/in 2 business days of appearance in Commons

F Submitted Transferred Error found Corrected & resubmitted

Verified LATE: Validated version was not submitted via Grants.gov prior to the NIH due date

A few final notes:

Note #1 – The time span between Step 1 and Step 2 is uncertain. In many cases, files are transferred within in a matter of hours; in some cases, it can take days. NIH will state only that the files will appear in ERA Commons within 48 hours of their submission via Grants.gov.

Note #2 – Traffic has a huge impact on the speed of Grants.gov. A high volume of applications being submitted will slow access to the site and the ability to get applications submitted.

Note #3 – The correct translation of the submitted application from Grants.gov to ERA Commons should not be assumed. The number of factors that could affect correct translation is quite high, particularly during the initial rollout when the system is unfamiliar.