Dear Colleagues,
Please see below for the scheduled downtime for the eRA Commons on Thursday evening for system upgrades. Some highlights for the upgrade are highlighted below.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Jonathan K. Lew, MPA
eRA Officer
Sponsored Projects Administration
UCI Office of Research
5171 California Avenue, Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92697-7600
949.824.1233
eRA Commons and ASSIST will be unavailable beginning at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, January 21, and will return to service by 7 a.m. ET Friday, January 22, 2016. When the system is available again, you will see new features and functionality have been added to the system. The following are highlights of eRA Commons’ upcoming January software release. These are just some of the many features being rolled out; check out the release notes, following the release, for more information on features and fixes.
Highlights of eRA Commons’ October Software Release
Updates in eRA Commons
NIH has added several new features to eRA Commons:
· Principal Investigator (PI) Screens Redesigned for Status, JIT, and Closeout
o The eRA Commons’ Status screen for PIs has been redesigned with a refined interface, a responsive design and grouping of information that is user friendly. Searches on the Recent/Pending eSubmissions and List of Applications/Grants screens will now provide a total count of applications/grants at the top of the screen. The results will be grouped by Application ID/Grant number and will be expandable and collapsible as needed.
o Additionally, eRA has updated the look of both the Just in Time (JIT) and Closeout screens for PIs.
§ Both have been reconfigured to improve readability and flow.
§ Both now support “Drag & Drop” functionality to upload files while dynamically validating file size and format.
NOTE: Signing Officials will see this same functionality once the redesign of the SO Status Screen is completed later this year.
· eRA Commons Status Screen for PIs is Now Mobile Friendly
o A condensed version of the Status screen for PIs is now available for use on mobile devices through a special URL: https://m.era.nih.gov/cmb
o This new mobile access means it will be significantly easier for PIs to track and manage grant applications and awards because the Status screen will be easily viewable on a range of devices such as tablets and smartphones. PIs can simply go to the eRA Commons mobile login page and provide their credentials as they normally would when accessing eRA Commons.
o The mobile site is designed to provide the basic and necessary information PIs need to track their application submissions and awards. The status screen, resizable due to responsive design, provides a table of all their applications. The applications are grouped based on status, going from Received, Awarded, Pending, Withdrawn, to Not Funded. The column headings are Project Number, Status, Project Title and Date.
o Each application can be expanded to show important information such as Priority Score, Percentile, Scientific Review Group (SGR) information and links to other resources, such as the application image and/or summary statement. There is also a Contact section that provides access to a PI’s assigned Scientific Review Officer (SRO), Grants Management Specialist (GMS) and Program Official (PO).
o Additionally, at the top of the screen is a large search/filter field. When a PI simply starts to type in any information from any of the columns, the results will be dynamically updated as they type.
· New Functionality for Delegates
o Delegates will benefit from new functionality within eRA Commons. If Status is delegated to an person from multiple PIs, the selection of the person for whom they are acting will remain throughout their connection to Commons unless they specifically change the Status setting.