Columbus presentation 04192007

1
Electronic Submission R01 Transition Results

For PRAC 4/19/2007 Megan Columbus

2
Kudos To the Applicant Community

• Applicants well prepared for the electronic
  submission of R01s

Due to longer processing times, some applicants
resubmitted their applications before receiving
the results of the prior submission.
3
Meeting System Demand

• February 5 both NIH eRA and Grants.gov systems
  easily handled the load
• March 5 Grants.gov processing times were much
  longer than applicants are accustomed to,
  however, most applications were processed well
  within the Grants.gov 48 hour target
• NIH extended the five business day
  error-correction window by two business days to
  accommodate the subset of applicants (4) that
  experienced Grants.gov processing times in excess
  of 48 hours to ensure they had sufficient time to
  correct their applications
• March 5 set new records for daily system usage
  with 23,877 eRA Commons logins

4
Meeting System Demand

• Grants.gov processing target 48 hrs.
• NIH eRA processing target 1 business day

5
System-to-System Usage Increasing

• Marked increase in System-to-System transmission
• System-to-System transmission is a submission of
  application data elements directly to Grants.gov
• Some institutions developed their own
  system-to-system interface and some paid a
  service provider to submit the data on their
  behalf

6
Mac Concerns Subsiding

• Mac users had access to a new IBM PureEdge Viewer
  as well as the Citrix service
• No way to track exact of submissions, but both
  Citrix and the new IBM viewer were used to
  successfully submit applications.
• Very few issues were reported. Still occasional
  grumblings, but no volume.
• Applicants looking forward to Grants.govs new
  Adobe form solution.

7
Responding to Applicant Feedback

• We continue to
• Refine NIH error warning messages
• Edit application guide for clarity
• Continue to convey applicant feedback on form
  functionality to Grants.gov
• Look at ways to simplify process and improve
  application image

8
Beyond April

• Grants.gov 07 system due to be deployed in May
• Uses Adobe eForms
• NIH needs to determine our transition strategy
  from PureEdge to Adobe forms
• Transition dates for Fs, Ts, Ks will be set once
  we have a firm form delivery date from Grants.gov
• Requires NIH software development after forms
  delivered from Grants.gov
• Complex mechanisms still on horizon

9
Questions? Suggestions?