2013

April 2013

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Due to a technical issue, eRA Commons is currently allowing for the initiation of a Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) for non-SNAP awards.  Per Guide Notice NOT-OD-13-035, the RPPR process can only be used for SNAP and Fellowship awards.  We are working to have this issue corrected before Friday, May 3, 2013. 

Please do NOT initiate RPPRs for non-SNAP grants.

RPPR currently only supports streamlined progress reports for Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process (SNAP) and Fellowship awards, as it lacks the functionality to provide detailed budgets.  As such, the RPPR is not currently an acceptable format for a progress report for non-SNAP awards.

Submit your non-SNAP progress report using the standard paper process as described in the instruction guide for Non-Competing Continuation Progress Report PHS 2590 (Revised 08/2012).

If you inadvertently initiate an RPPR for a non-SNAP award, please revert back to the standard paper process and contact Scarlett Gibb at gibbs@mail.nih.gov so that the electronic report can be deleted from the database. Please provide all relevant information about the grant in question (grant number, organization/institution, PI Commons account name, etc.) to Scarlett.

We are sorry for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to correct the error.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Just a reminder that eRA Commons and ASSIST will be unavailable beginning at 9 p.m. ET tonight, Thursday, April 18. 

All systems are slated to be available by no later than 7 a.m. ET tomorrow morning, Friday, April 19. 

The downtime will allow for the deployment of new features in eRA's April system-wide software release.

Note: The ability to submit help tickets online will not be available during the downtime listed above. However, if you have the need to open a service ticket you can always email the eRA Help Desk during that time at helpdesk@od.nih.gov or call Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552, Phone: 301-402-7469, TTY: 301-451-5939.

Monday, April  15, 2013

Highlights of eRA's April Software Release for eRA Commons

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Just a reminder that eRA Commons and ASSIST will be unavailable beginning at 9 p.m. ET tonight, Thursday, April 18. 

All systems are slated to be available by no later than 7 a.m. ET tomorrow morning, Friday, April 19. 

The downtime will allow for the deployment of new features in eRA's April system-wide software release.

Note: The ability to submit help tickets online will not be available during the downtime listed above. However, if you have the need to open a service ticket you can always email the eRA Help Desk during that time at helpdesk@od.nih.gov or call Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552, Phone: 301-402-7469, TTY: 301-451-5939.

Monday, April  15, 2013

Highlights of eRA's April Software Release for eRA Commons

Friday April 5, 2013

This is to notify you that the External User Acceptance Test (Ext-UAT) environment, which includes eRA Commons and ASSIST Demo environments, will be down all day on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, in preparation for the April system-wide software release.

Please note that this downtime does not affect the Production environment.

We are sorry for any inconvenience it may cause.

Friday April 5, 2013

This is to notify you that the External User Acceptance Test (Ext-UAT) environment, which includes eRA Commons and ASSIST Demo environments, will be down all day on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, in preparation for the April system-wide software release.

Please note that this downtime does not affect the Production environment.

We are sorry for any inconvenience it may cause.

March 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

eRA Commons and ASSIST will be offline overnight during the weekend of March 23-24, as eRA upgrades a specialized database that stores user names and passwords for user authentication.

The upgrade is designed to improve recent log-in issues with eRA programs experienced by users.

eRA Commons and ASSIST will be unavailable starting at 10 p.m. Saturday, March 23 until 5 a.m. Sunday, March 24.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Both the External User Acceptance Testing (Ext-UAT) environment and the eRA Commons Demo systems will be periodically unavailable this coming weekend. It is anticipated the systems will go offline Friday, March 15, 5:00PM EST for 4-5 hours. Users may experience periodic disruptions throughout the weekend. Full service will be restored by 6:00AM EST, Monday, March 18, 2013.

We are sorry for the inconvenience it may cause.

February 2013

January 2013 saw the very first electronic submissions of multi-project applications through ASSIST, the Application Submission System & Interface for Submission Tracking. 

If you recall, ASSIST is a web-based system designed to accept multi-project applications that incorporates many features requested by users. Using ASSIST, applicants will be able to pre-populate applications with information from Commons profiles, work concurrently with others, and control access to various parts of the application. The system also allows users to run a complete check against NIH and Grants.gov business rules before submission and view a complete application image before submission.

The transition to electronic multi-project applications is being accomplished in two phases by activity code. You should review the transition timeline to see current pilot opportunities and see when activity codes that are of interest to you are due to be transitioned to electronic submission. As each activity code transitions, all applications submitted in response to funding opportunity announcements for programs associated with that activity codewill require electronic submission. For more details on the transition to electronic submission of multi-project applications and ASSIST, read the Guide Notice NOT-OD-12-161.  Also, if you need help, make sure to contact the eRA Commons Help Desk.  We also have some great resources on the web and training materials available for you.

Archive - eSubmission News and Updates