eRA Frequently Asked Questions

Below are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) related to our Business Process and the Cayuse System for Electronic Research Administration (eRA).

If you have questions or comments, or would like to add a user, sponsor, center or department, please contact the Cayuse system administrators:

Director, Electronic Research Administration (eRA)

Terri Hall

Address: 940 Grace Hall (mail); 903 Grace Hall (office)

Phone: (574) 631-7378

Email: thall2@nd.edu
Assistant Director, Electronic Research Administration

Elizabeth Hasse

Address: 940 Grace Hall (mail); 908 Grace Hall (office)

Phone: (574) 631-1393

Email: ehasse@nd.edu

Account Number – How to Change It

I wanted to add an account number to an award in Cayuse SP and saw that Account type is listed as Sub and is uneditable. Also, record has old 999999 account number – how to change it?

For administrators in the Office of Research, the account number is editable at the Project level when you click on Edit Account. Cayuse says: “There can only be one prime account per award and all subsequent distributions are Sub accounts. “

To change an account number, the record must be re-created and the incorrect record deleted.

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Adding Users to Systems

I need to be registered…or need an account…in X system. Can you help with that?

Yes, we can register you in any system if that’s needed. Often, there’s an institutional registration. We generally need a bit of information from you and it’ll take just a few minutes of your time. All you need do is contact us at research@nd.edu

Admin Tab in Cayuse

The PI I’m working with says he doesn’t have the Admin tab in Cayuse SP. How does he find his proposals and awards?

Only staff in the University’s central offices (OR, RSPA, CFR) have the Admin tab to assist the campus research community appropriately. PI’s and dept staff see their proposals and awards under the My Proposals and My Awards tabs on their opening dashboard.

Authorizing a Proposal in Cayuse

1. I received an email to authorize a proposal in the Cayuse system. This is the first time I have ever received one of these for processing. Can you please advise me if there is any special log in ID and password to complete this approval? I want to process this promptly. Any information you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

You will use your Notre Dame username and password to login to Cayuse. Instructions on how to authorize a proposal are provided in the email you were sent. If you continue to have questions, please contact us at research@nd.edu.

2. I haven’t been trained on authorizing in the Cayuse SP system. Is it especially difficult, or intuitive?

“Difficult” and “intuitive” are relative terms. We’ve heard from many other authorizers that the process is simple and easy in Cayuse. If the instructions in the authorization email are unclear, feel free to contact us at research@nd.edu

3. I think I authorized the proposal correctly in Cayuse SP. Can you please confirm that?

Yes, and you can too. After authorizing the proposal, you are returned to the Proposal Routing Status screen. Midway down the page is the listing of who has certified/authorized and who hasn’t yet done so. It will confirm the date/time you authorized.

4. The PI on my proposal is also a department chair. Cayuse shows him pulled into the route twice – as PI and as department chair. Is that correct?

Yes. The system is recognizing each role the PI is playing in this case. Each department chair should have a backup approver in these cases. If not, we’ll accept the Dean’s authorization of the proposal to address any appearance of a conflict of interest.

5. The PI on my proposal is also a Dean. When I add him to the proposal in Cayuse, his department is Dean’s office of the College of X. But in the route, when I add the College, it has a different number code. Which should I select? Or is the department wrong?

We understand the confusion. The system is configured correctly. When a dean serves as PI on a project, the department associated with him can be the Dean’s Office of….or another academic department. However, for routing at the Dean level, you are to select the college listing with the D-number. This will pull in the appropriate approvers.

Award Admin Department in Cayuse

When we uploaded the historical data, there were a few departments that came through as “unknown”. We know which departments these actually are. The only way to address this is to delete the award and recreate it. Then it’ll pull in the correct information.

Award Expiration Notice

Can the Project Title be added to the Award Expiration Notice? I cannot tell just from Account Number provided in notice which project this is.

These notices come out of the Banner Financial system and the system does not list projects by Title there. Thus, the title cannot be added to the notice. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you need assistance in determining which project it is, you can search for the account/fund number in Cayuse or contact the Office of Research at 631-7432 and we’ll be happy to help.

Award ID’s in Cayuse

When the historical data was added, the system took the highest numbered account and marked it as Prime. For example, the current Prime account is 2xx100 and the other account number is 2xx001. The first number is the higher of the two. We can change it to a sub-account if that is desired. In addition, we can change the other account to Prime and it will then show as the Prime Acct # in the Project header.

Award Numbers in Cayuse

The only way to make that change is to re-enter the awards.

Budgets in Cayuse 424

1. I need to add a Key Person, but I don’t want them to appear on the Budget. However, Cayuse gives me an error stating that they must have effort. How do I add a Key Person without having to give them effort on the Budget?

In order to prevent a listed key person from appearing on the budget and requiring budget effort, that Key Person’s role must be set to “Other (Specify)” and then specified as “Other Significant Contributor“. The spelling, spacing, and capitalization of Other Significant Contributor is very important.

2. I see little red stars next to various fields on the budget. What do these mean?

Cayuse 424 automatically calculates certain budget fields. If you type over an automatically calculated number, a red star appears next to the field. A red star signifies a field with auto-calculated data that is currently being overwritten by manually-entered data. To revert the field to its default auto-calculation, delete the current data and tab or click out of the field. The auto-calculated values will appear and the red star will disappear.

3. I want to include a 3% raise in salary in years 2 and 3 of my budget. Is there an easy way to do that in Cayuse 424?

The Replicate/Escalate staircase in Cayuse 424 makes it easy to replicate and escalate detailed budgets. Use “Escalate” to increase budget line items by a specific percentage across several budget periods. Use “Replicate” to copy selected Budget Categories from one budget period to another at the same rate.

The Replicate/Escalate staircase also appears on the Manage Key Person window. You can access this window by clicking the gear icon to the right of any Senior/Key Person budget line. “Replicate” and “Escalate” in this context affect only the budget numbers for that specific person’s salary.

Cayuse – What Is It?

1. How is this system used in conjunction with Grants.gov, Fastlane, DOD, etc.?

The Cayuse SP system is now used for proposal preparation and submission as well as award tracking and management at the University of Notre Dame.

You needn’t be concerned about learning to use the other systems…unless that is your preference. Cayuse enables us to submit proposals to sponsors without having to depend on Grants.gov or FastLane. As you may have heard, Grants.gov has had volume issues and has crashed on heavy submission days in the past. And the National Science Foundation is planning to retire FastLane in the next year or so. The Office of Research wants to ensure that the University research community is prepared for these changes and situations and Cayuse is part of that effort.

Cayuse also gives you access to your research activity in one system. The financial component is not there, but we are working on reports to address concerns with Banner and GLeZ. All documents are attached to your Proposal/award records for activity since January 10, 2012 when we started using the system campus-wide… And we are in the planning stages right now for managing documents related to historical records in the system. This is likely more information than you requested. I wanted you to be aware that Cayuse is more than a proposal system. If you have any more questions or concerns, we’ll be happy to assist you.

2. As a faculty researcher, what’s expected of me for proposals in this system?

For proposals, you are welcome to do as much as you’d like, however at a minimum, you will need to:

1) answer the questions on the four compliance tabs (Research Subjects, Intellectual Property, Export Controls, Conflict of Interest) and

2) Certify the proposal submission after your research administrator starts the proposal routing

If you wish to do more, please contact your research administrator to work out who will do what for your submission.

For awards, there is nothing you need do. This system is your resource for award documents and non-financial information.

Centers: Add to Cayuse

1. Could you please add FLOWPAC to Cayuse as an affiliated center or institute?

This institute is listed under Institute for Flow Physics. We avoided acronyms whenever possible in the center/institute listing.

2. The PI I’m working with wants to associate CANDU (Center for Astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame) with his proposal, but I didn’t see it in the system. I saw the Center for Astrophysics. Is that the same?

Yes, the two are the same.

Centers: Affiliating Them on Proposals in Cayuse

It appears that I can only affiliate ONE center on a proposal’s General Information screen. When I try to add another, it replaces the first center. Can you look into it and get back to me please?

Multiple centers can be listed on the General Information screen. Here’s how: On the list of centers that appears, check the box next to all of the centers to be affiliated.

NOTE: You’ll also want to list the center on the Locations tab with the appropriate credit.

Centers: Assigning Credit in Cayuse

In Cayuse, center credit is tracked on the Locations tab. We should have the information for records since we went live Jan 10, 2012. We are just starting discussions on whether to add it to legacy data.

Certification in Cayuse SP

1. I logged into Cayuse but the proposal I’m to certify is not shown. The only proposal I see is a NASA NRA submitted at the end of March. Please advise.

PI confirmed he was looking in the wrong place originally and was able to certify the proposal.

After logging into Cayuse and clicking on the SP link, your Proposal Dashboard opens. On the left-side menu, about mid-page is your PI Certification Inbox. It appears just above the Dept Approval Inbox. There should be a (1) next to the PI Certification Inbox – or the number may be higher if you have more than one proposal to certify.

2. I believe this is the only certification that is holding up the proposal from OR approval. Can you approve on the PI’s behalf (see his approval email below)?

We cannot approve for anyone in Cayuse. The Director of Pre-Award Administration says the preferred procedure is to have the PI certify. If the PI cannot obtain an internet connection from wherever he/she is, we can approve a submission to the sponsor in order to meet the deadline and then have the PI certify the proposal in Cayuse when he/she returns.

3. I think I managed to certify this successfully in Cayuse — but let me know if there’s more I need to do.

We are able to confirm the certification was successful. You may also check on the Proposal Routing Status screen. It lists those to certify and/or authorize the proposal and either the day/time it was completed, or that it is “Not Yet Reviewed”.

Collaborative Proposals

1. Can Research.gov or Cayuse 424 be used for collaborative proposals?

No. Research.gov, Grants.gov and Cayuse 424 do not support these applications. The PI must still use FastLane to prepare these applications.

For reference: see Collaborative Proposals in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide:
“b. Submission of a collaborative proposal from multiple organizations [Each organization submits via NSF FastLane and receives a separate award from NSF.] http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf11001/gpg_2.jsp#IID4 “

2. Do you have a date when NSF FastLane will no longer be available for proposal preparation and an NSF PI will have to use Research.gov?

No. No date has been officially announced however NSF representatives have said within the next 18 months which would make it the 2013-14 timeframe. NSF has begun migrated some of the financial functionality to Research.gov.

Cost Sharing in Cayuse SP

1. How do you find whether there’s cost sharing on a Cayuse SP proposal?

On the Budget tab of the proposal, you’ll find a yes/no question on cost sharing, and if ‘yes’, the sources of the cost sharing will be listed. Note: historical proposals whose numbers begin with 00- were defaulted to ‘no’ for cost sharing so this may not always be accurate. We are currently developing a plan regarding legacy proposals and how much data, if any, to change or bring into the system utilizing the resources at hand and the daily work which must still be accomplished. We appreciate your patience as we work through all of the issues.

2. I want to differentiate cash cost sharing from in-kind or F&A. How best to do that?

Research administrators will differentiate cash vs. in-kind or F&A cost sharing in the account field on the budget page in Cayuse SP. If cash, users will enter TBD or the account number to be used. For other types of cost sharing, users will enter In-Kind or F&A along with the department to whom it is attributed. Cayuse allows departments to be listed multiple times…however, the approver is pulled into the approval route only once.

3. We have some cost share on a proposal to a foundation, some of which is coming out of the PI’s discretionary research account. That’s not listed in the list of sources, though. How do we enter that? Cost sharing not required, but the PI included it and already submitted the proposal.

After consulting with the Associate VP for Research and the Director of Pre-award Administration, when a PI wants to use his/her discretionary account as cost share, here is the process to follow:

If the PI is offering cost sharing from his/her discretionary fund when it is not required – the preference is that the proposal not discuss the cost sharing in a way that would make it voluntary committed or auditable – that is, refer to resources rather than cash, but don’t create an auditable cost sharing commitment where there is no need to do that.

That said, there could be a time where a portion of a mandatory or voluntary committed match is coming from a source other than departmental funds.

In these cases, list the PI’s dept in the Budget tab’s cost share section of Cayuse and note the account number as the source. The PI will approve the commitment when he/she certifies the proposal. The dept chair also approves it. One concern was that the dept chair would be asked to authorize the proposal twice, however, we found in testing that this is not the case…the approvals would be simultaneous.

4. The proposal I’m working on has cost sharing from Notre Dame and another institution. How is that managed in Cayuse SP?

The cost sharing from Notre Dame will be entered on the budget page’s cost sharing section. The cost sharing from the other institution will be noted in the Notes section of the proposal.

Data in Cayuse

Just what proposals and awards are in Cayuse?

Cayuse SP includes current and historical data.

Historical: The proposals submitted on or after July 1, 2008, awards funding those proposals, all preceding awards in the same project as the aforementioned awards and the proposals they fund.

These proposals start with 00- and have only basic data, no documents.

Current: proposals prepared and awards received beginning January 10, 2012. These records should be complete with documents.

We are currently developing a plan regarding legacy proposals and how much data, if any, to change or bring into the system utilizing the resources at hand and the daily work which must still be accomplished. We appreciate your patience as we work through all of the issues.

Documents in Cayuse

1. Do all documents uploaded to Cayuse have to be pdf’s ?

You can upload Word or Excel files in SP, but 424 is just like Grants.gov in that ALL files uploaded need to be in pdf per sponsor requirements.

2. Are there some instructions on how to locate proposal and award documents in Cayuse?

Yes, and the link to them is on the Research Channel of InsideND. Users will have access only to those records they need to perform their daily work.

3. I’m trying to find documentation from proposals that were submitted to a foundation over the past 7 years, and I am coming up pretty much empty for proposals which were not awarded since there are no attachments in Cayuse for older proposals yet. Could tell me who in OR I need to reach out to in order to get copies of these documents? I’d be very grateful for any advice you can give me.

Please contact the leader of the pre-award team associated with your college:

Engineering: Shanda Wirt, 631-8710 or wirt.1@nd.edu

Science: Shohn Turner, 631=1085 or sturner@nd.edu

Arts & Letters and all others: Rick Hilliard, 631-5386 or Hilliard.1@nd.edu

Due Date

What do we enter when there’s no due date for a funding opportunity? Cayuse SP requires that a due date be entered before we can save the Proposal’s General Info page.

In the absence of a due date, please enter the last date of the month in which you plan to submit the proposal.

DUNS Number for Foreign Institution

Is a DUNS number required for every subaward/consortium organization on an NIH proposal?

Ideally yes. The ‘Organization DUNS’ is a required field on the ‘Research & Related Budget’ form, regardless of the budget “type”-project or subaward/consortium. However, at the subaward level, neither Grants.gov nor NIH currently validates on the accuracy of that field. For subaward organizations, eRA Commons only validates that the DUNS field contains a value and that the value is not the same DUNS number provided by the prime applicant. At this time the eRA Commons does not do any further validations on the accuracy of the number. So for now, if a subaward/consortium organization is unable to secure a DUNS number in time, then a value of nine zeros can be entered in the DUNS field on the subaward/consortium budget component. This requirement may change over time.”

Effort Reporting

I received a notice from RSPA that I’m to review time/effort reporting. How do I do that in Cayuse?

Effort reporting is not done in Cayuse. Please contact RSPA for further information at 631-7070 or
control@nd.edu

Emails Generated by Cayuse

1. Not Funded notice received: Not really sure what this is but probably mistake in the system?

It’s not a mistake. It turned out to be a 2009 proposal the PI had forgotten he submitted.

In order to be able to provide an accurate list of current and pending projects to faculty requesting it, we have put a process in place to follow-up on proposals that have not been funded by the sponsor. For some of these, the sponsor notifies us. For others, we depend on the PI notifying. Cayuse automatically generates an email to the PI and co-PI’s on a project when the status is changed to Not Funded.

2. Can you send a reminder email to an approver who has not yet acted on this proposal?

Cayuse does not have a resend option, however, you are able to forward a copy of the original email by going to the email tab, copy-n-paste the original into a new email, and send it to the approver.

Errors, Warnings, and Info in Cayuse 424

What’s the difference between an error and a warning in Cayuse 424?

The Validation panel in Cayuse 424 shows three different types of messages: Errors, Warnings and Info. Here’s summary of what each means.

Errors in Cayuse 424 reflect problems that will impose a hard-stop rejection at Grants.gov or the funding agency. Agency errors display the agency name in brackets to the right of the field in question (e.g., [Research Plan 2.2][NIH]). To ensure that your submission is successful, Cayuse 424 runs a final check on Grants.gov and agency validations before you submit a proposal. Actual agency validations may vary depending on the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) instructions. Follow this rule of thumb when it comes to agency-specific errors: The FOA supersedes Cayuse error messages.

Warnings pertain to agency validations or may serve as notices from Cayuse regarding missing attachments. For example, Cayuse 424 does not require a budget justification; however, Cayuse 424 displays a Warning, because a budget justification is a common attachment. Warnings do not prevent proposals from being submitted or from being reviewed.

Info tips are Cayuse recommendations. Forgetting to enter a Sponsor Deadline, for example, prevents the Deadline from appearing in your list of proposals. Cayuse 424 will alert you when this happens. Info messages are specific to the software and do not prevent proposals from being submitted or from being reviewed.

Fastlane System and National Science Foundation

I can’t see PI’s revised budget in FastLane but I have a copy of the submission in my files – what’s going on?

We did some testing and found it via a search by the Proposal ID but not via a date search. Contacted FastLane HelpDesk and they confirmed this is a known issue. We need to search by the Proposal ID#, not a date range.

Funding Opportunities in Cayuse 424

1. I went into 424 to see if I could get my funding opportunity and be able to submit S2S via 424. It is only showing 3 opportunities. Shouldn’t all opportunities be there?

Funding opportunities need to be downloaded if they are not on the 424 Opportunities list. You can download them to 424 using the Retrieve Opportunities button on the Opportunities tab. Once downloaded, they are available for others to use. It’s a good idea to check before downloading an opportunity to see if a colleague has already downloaded it. That will save you the time of doing so.

2. I can’t seem to get my opportunity to load in 424. I know it’s Grants.gov t’s for DeBartolo and they already filled out the grants.gov forms, so there is no rush, but you may want to let Cayuse know so they can load it for next time.

In the vast majority of cases, the reason is one of the two below:

Reason #1: You have a space or typo in the opportunity number. No opportunity number on Grants.gov contains spaces. The opportunity number you enter must match exactly as it is posted on Grants.gov. One reliable way to enter the correct number is to copy it from Grants.gov and paste it into Cayuse 424.

Tip: Since the opportunity number you enter must match an opportunity number on Grants.gov, try the advanced Google site search feature to ensure you have the right opportunity number. For example, type “PA-11-260 site:grants.gov” into Google to search only Grants.gov for PA-11-260. Then copy and paste the funding opportunity number from Grants.gov into Cayuse 424.

Reason #2: There is no application for the opportunity on Grants.gov. Some grants are listed on Grants.gov but cannot be applied for electronically. You can verify whether the opportunity can be submitted electronically to Grants.gov by going to the Application section of the opportunity on Grants.gov. If there is no downloadable Adobe package, it is not to be submitted electronically to Grants.gov. If there is an Adobe package for the grant, it is very likely supported by Cayuse 424.

3. My Cayuse 424 proposal shows errors that contradict specific instructions (such as Research Plan page lengths). What do I do?

The most common cause of this contradiction is that the proposal in question requires the NIH Opt-out validations rather than the standard NIH validations. While Cayuse 424 usually applies the appropriate validations automatically, there are sometimes late changes in opportunity rules that require a manual change in the proposal’s validation setting.

Visit the NIH Opt-Out page and search for your FOA. If it is on the Opt-Out list, manually change the validation. At the bottom of the proposal, select “NIH Opt-Out” from the pull-down list of validations.

If it is NOT on the Opt-Out list, please contact us at research@nd.edu

4. I have an opportunity I want to submit a proposal for. Is it supported by Cayuse424?

If you are unsure if your opportunity is fully supported by Cayuse, there are a few things you can do to find out. First off, try to download it into Cayuse using the FOA or CFDA numbers. That link will show you how to download them, as well as what the icons next to them in the list mean.

If it does not download into Cayuse, check Grants.gov and see if you can find an actual Adobe Forms application package for it. Chances are, if Cayuse can’t download it, then the application package isn’t yet hosted online, or might have been pulled from Grants.gov.

Grants.gov and Cayuse

From time to time, Grants.gov is down for maintenance. How does that affect my work in Cayuse?

During Grants.gov’s maintenance outage, Cayuse users will not be able to submit proposals to a sponsor or download new funding opportunities. However, you can still work on proposals in 424 once the opportunity has been downloaded and you can work in SP on any proposal, award, or project.

Indirect Cost Rate in Cayuse 424

Users need to include a Start/Begin date for the stated rate at the top and bottom of the Institution’s profile in 424. This activates the rate and it will be available going forward for that institution. For times such as this when the sub was already added to the proposal, the user needs to re-autofill the institution’s information to bring in the updated info. To do this, the user opens the subaward budget, and at the top of the page where the name is listed, click the re-autofill icon which is the two green arrows in a box-shape. The page refreshes and the new info is brought in. The rate is now available for selection in the drop-down.

InsideND and the Research Channel

Faculty member cannot see Research Channel on InsideND. How does he add it?

The creators of InsideND automatically added the Research Channel for all faculty members. It is generally on the resources tab. If you don’t see it there, look on the other tabs. If you still cannot find it, contact us and we’ll walk you through the steps to quickly add it.

Note: Staff must add the channel for it to appear on InsideND for them.

IRB – Institutional Review Board and Protocols

1. I need to submit a protocol to the Institutional Review Board…can you give me access to Cayuse to do that?

Protocols are submitted via the e-Protocol system. Please contact:

Dr. Tracey Poston at 631-1461 or Poston.2@nd.edu

Dr. Darren Davis at 631-5654 or Davis.240@nd.edu

2. I have already completed the necessary online courses for my CITI training. I have one more question though regarding the application process: I know the forms ask for many different written questions regarding the research, but would it just be possible to send the IRB a copy of my proposal? I know that my proposal answers all relevant concerns, and also would help to give a better scope of the human research involved in my project as a whole. Please let me know if this would be a possible solution, as I hope to have my application submitted as quickly as possible.

The Director of our Compliance program has the answer to that question. Please contact Dr. Tracey Poston at 631-1461 or Poston.2@nd.edu

Listserv for eRA

Is there a listserv to stay up-to-date on the various systems, when there will be outages, and known issues?

Yes, there is. Send your request to research@nd.edu and we’ll add you to the listserv. Thank you for your interest.

Locked Out

Help! I’m locked out of my own proposal in Cayuse 424! When I open my proposal from the list, it says I am in read-only mode and cannot make any changes! How can I fix this?

A number of things tend to cause this, including opening the same proposal in multiple windows, unexpected logoffs from the system, or other users taking control of the proposal while you are working within it.

If you look at the top of the proposal window, you should see the words “Locked by” followed by a username. If that username is your own username, then you can simply click the Lock icon next to it, and take the lock back from yourself. If that username belongs to another user of the system, you should contact them before taking the lock back.

Login Questions or Issues

1. How do I login to Cayuse SP?

You can login through Inside ND’s Research Channel or via http://nd.cayuse424.com with your Notre Dame username and password – the same you use for email.

2. My Coeus login keeps failing, but it is the correct one I had written down after having to reset it. I can’t get in. Do you know why?

Users need to have a VPN connection to access Coeus.

3. Can you remind me of what my NSF ID is? I cannot login to FastLane.

Yes. Any research administrator in the Office of Research can login to FastLane. In the Account Management section, search for the PI. When found, click on the link to the name and the profile will open. Locate the NSF ID at the top of the screen. Copy-n-paste it into an email to the PI.

4. Could you please reactivate my DOE FedConnect account? Not sure what happened there but I can’t login. Thanks!

When you try and fail to login to FedConnect more than 3 times, the system de-activates your account. We can re-activate it quickly though by changing its status.

5. I cannot remember my NIH Commons login and get error when I click on link to Reset Password.

Discovered that he was entering a different email than was listed in the Commons so he wasn’t recognized as a user. When he entered the email in his profile, the system was able to reset his password and email it to him. We can ask that your password be re-set, but do not receive a copy of it. The system emails it to the user.

6. I’m working with a collaborator in a corporation who needs a NASA NSPIRES username. Can you set it up for him?

No, he needs to set it up under his corporation’s profile and ask whoever manages the system there to affiliate him. We affiliate only ND personnel – others are to register via their institution or organization which makes them visible in the system and we can add them to our proposals. They must certify their participation and when we add them to team, they are notified by NSPIRES to certify.

NASA NSPIRES System

We do not see the NSPIRES usernames and do not have access to them as each person registers him/herself in this system.

Platforms

Does Cayuse Support Macintosh, iPads, or iPhones?

Currently the only browser Cayuse supports for Mac users is the Firefox browser. Safari is on their list of future intended updates, but at this point they currently have no ETA on when these devices will be compatible. Cayuse does not officially support using iPads or iPhones for system work. Sopme users report success, however, if issues occur, we cannot support them and encourage everyone to use only those means that are supported by Cayuse.

Printing in Cayuse

1. Can I print my proposal from Cayuse 424?

Yes, you can print a complete, accurate version of the proposal in PDF format by clicking on the Print Icon in the upper right hand corner of your proposal. You can also print the individual sections. Just check the box next to the sections you wish to print, or click Select All.

2. I’m trying to print a PDF of entire proposal documents, but I get hung up and screen says: “Preparing Proposal PDF, Please wait…” I tried again, but I’m getting same result even after waiting several minutes. Any tips? PI wants me to send him the PDF version in one file before we submit S2S (NSF).

We were able to narrow the problem to the Project Narrative. File size was 8MB which caused the problem. Note: large files will take longer to load and may timeout in the system.

Professional Profile in Cayuse 424

How do I update information in my Professional Profile?

Your Professional Profile in Cayuse 424 resides in the tab and stores personal information, such as degree and demographic data, that funding agencies require. This information is auto-filled into the appropriate forms within the proposal. We recommend reviewing your Professional Profile occasionally to verify that your contact information is up to date.

Cayuse has expanded Professional Profiles to include agency-specific data, such as the NIH Commons ID, NASA NSPIRES ID, and NSF Degree Types. You may enter this data into your Professional Profile for use in future proposals. It’s important to enter and maintain this information accurately, as it submits to and integrates with agency grant systems.
Salary and Fringe information has been added for you.

Questions

Whom do I contact with questions? How do I contact them?

Contact an administrator in the Office of Research via email to researc2@nd.edu or calling 631-7432.

You can also contact the system administrators: Elizabeth Hasse or Terri Hall via research@nd.edu or .

Elizabeth: 631-1393

Terri: 631-7378

Read-Only Proposal in Cayuse 424

When I open my proposal from the list, it says I am in read-only mode and cannot make any changes! How can I fix this?

Registrations with a System

Is Notre Dame registered with X system?

Notre Dame is registered with about 100 sponsor systems including Grants.gov and the CCR or Central Contract Registration system. Please contact us if you have a question before registering yourself in a system. Chances are the University is already registered.

Research.gov

What are the advantages of using Cayuse 424 & Research.gov?

There are several advantages:

Speed of processing: proposals submitted to Research.gov via Cayuse 424 are validated by Research.gov and inserted into FastLane within about 5 minutes, as opposed to 2-4 hours for proposals submitted through Grants.gov.

Pre-validation: Cayuse 424 handles the NSF validations while you build the proposal, and does a final validation check before the actual submission. The result is that the proposal is received error-free in FastLane.

Fast proposal development: It’s really fast to assemble proposals in Cayuse 424. There are tools for auto-filling forms, budget building, one-click proposal copy, and more. There are plenty of advantages that make it easy for long-time loyal FastLane users to upgrade to Cayuse 424.

Central proposal repository: When NSF proposals are developed and submitted via Cayuse 424, it helps collect institutional proposal development into a single system, making it easier to manage, route, approve and report on pre-award activity.

Research Plan in Cayuse 424

What is this “Composite PDF” I see listed on the PHS 398 Research Plan in Cayuse 424?

In Cayuse 424, the PHS 398 Research Plan has a special, “slot zero” attachment point for a Composite PDF. The Composite PDF, fondly known as the “Exploder,” enables you to prepare the entire Research Plan in a single document. The Exploder breaks out the Research Plan PDF into the needed sections and then attaches each section to the correct location in the proposal. Some users find this is more efficient than managing separate files for each Research Plan attachment. If you wish to store the original Research Plan word processor document in the proposal record, you may upload the source file in addition to the PDF file.

Routing Proposals

1. Is it OK for PI to submit it to route?

While the system allows this, you should consult with the research administrator (RA) assisting you with the creation of the proposal. He/she may have changes to make before routing. It’s always good to work closely with your RA on who will do what during proposal preparation.

If all of the sections do not have the green check then clicking Submit to Route will yield a message stating that all sections must be completed. If you have completed AND REVIEWED the proposal, then all is well.

Consider, however, that PI hits Submit and gets message that some are incomplete and goes ahead and completes them. Are the sections correctly completed? Maybe, maybe not. Both the PI and the RA will want to review the various sections.

If there is more to be done and the PI started the route, then the RA will need to revise the status back to Unsubmitted, and notify the authorizer in level 1 (also the chair of the Award Admin dept) that the route was erroneously started and he/she should take no action other than deleting the approval email. Another notice will be generated by the system when the routing re-starts.

2. I haven’t received the email to authorize yet. What’s up? Thought routing was parallel and all received email to authorize at same time.

Not entirely correct. Yes routing is in parallel, but for PI/Co-PI on “Track 1″ and Authorizers (Dept Chrs/Deans/Ctr Dirs) on “Track 2″. The proposal goes to level 1 of the authorizers which is the dept you listed as Award Admin Dept. The other levels are up to you. You can place all of them on level 2 (although some deans want the dept chair to approve before they do) or you can put dept chairs on level 2 and deans on level 3… or you can put each dept/college/center on its own level to approve. Note that when using different levels, there is a dependency on the previous level approving prior to the next level receiving the email to authorize. This was the case here. The department before you has not yet authorized the proposal. Once that happens, you’ll be sent the email.

3. My question concerns center directors who are also listed as one of the PIs on a project. What has happened on two recent proposals I have routed is a center/institute director has both certified the proposal as a PI and approved it as the center/institute director. No change was made in the routing process (i.e., we left it that the center/institute director approved their own proposal) as long as there was someone else approving after them (in my two cases, the person/office that they report to as the center/institute director). I just wanted to confirm that what has happened was okay and that we do not need to alter the routing process in these instances.

Yes, this is the current process when a center director is also the PI. For each proposal, two things must occur: the PI must certify, and University approvers must authorize the submission.

4. The PI I’m working with has certified his proposal, but he’s also to authorize it as the director of the X Institute. Should we change the internal routing in Cayuse? He probably should not “approve” his “own” proposal, but there is not anyone else listed as an approver for his Institute. Let me know if there is anything that I need to do at this point to get the routing process moving again.

With Cayuse, there are two separate but parallel paths during routing. One is with the PI/Co-PI role…they certify the proposal. The other is with dept chairs, deans, center/institute directors, and Office of Research to authorize the proposal for submission. On this proposal, the PI needs to certify his participation AND authorize the proposal for submission due to his roles as both co-PI and Institute Director. You are correct that we’d want a back-up to authorize when a center director or dept chair are also a PI/Co-PI on the project. This will alleviate any perceived conflict of interest. Is there someone to add?

To get this going again, he just needs to authorize this project. It should appear in his Dept Inbox – just below the PI Certification Inbox in Cayuse. Or if there is someone else who can approve for the Institute, we can add their name to the route.

5. For some reason he PI started this route, can you stop it? I have yet to add attachments, etc…

To stop routing, the pre-award research administrator needs to change status of the proposal back to Unsubmitted. The RA also needs to contact the dept chair to say proposal isn’t ready yet for approval and to ignore the email he/she just received asking for such approval. Once the proposal is completed and routing re-starts, the system will send all approvers an email notice.

6. I received an e-mail saying that this proposal was approved for submission. I went into the record. It says Liz approved it on 1/19. However, in the routing history, the Office of Research section in the list of approving departments does not have a date stamp by it like the others. I do not know if this is a problem or not, but thought I should point it out to you.

We’ve reviewed this proposal and several others to determine what is going on. The approvals in the Office of Research are indeed date and time-stamped…but in a different area. The difference is the status and process. When the PI’s certify, and the dept/college authorize the proposal… they click a button. When it reaches the OR, final approvals are given by a change in status. That status change is date/time-stamped in the routing history at the bottom of the page…just as your status change to Submitted to Sponsor is noted. So none of the proposals will show the Office of Research/Admin Office date/timestamp in the dept/college area (unless it’s for cost sharing approval).

7. I forgot to include the College in the approval route for this proposal. Can it be added?

Yes, on the Approving Depts tab. Note, however, that if the proposal is currently at the college level to approve, no email will be generated by the system. You’ll need to copy-n-paste the email sent to the previous level approver. A copy of it is under the Email tab. If there is at least one level in between where the proposal is, and when the College level will approve, then the system will generate an email.

8. When choosing the college for routing, do we choose “Deans Office College of . . . .” the non “D” number? Or do we select the “College of …” with the D number?

The latter is correct. To add college to route…and for ANY cost sharing dept… we’ll use the one with the D number. The other choices will be used when someone from that office is part of the proposal team. It’s the difference between a department and a college in the University hierarchy.

Slowness

We asked him to try it with Firefox and he said it ran faster so we determined that the slowness was due to his recent upgrade of Internet Explorer on his computer.

Spinning Icon

I was working fine in Cayuse this morning, but this afternoon when I tried to upload a file, the icon just kept spinning.

This user had not used the system for at least 30 minutes. When this occurs, Cayuse automatically times out even though the screen may remain active on your computer. If you have not used Cayuse for at least 30 minutes, please logout and then login before using it again. Cayuse is not meant to be open and ready for action all day.

Sponsors in Cayuse

The Directors in the Office of Research discussed this issue and it was decided that all ARO proposals will use the Dept of Army. This is similar to all proposals to an NIH institute will be listed under NIH.

Subawards

1. The indirect cost rate for the Subaward institution I am adding to this proposal is not available in the drop-down. Why not? And is there anything I can do to get it there or do you need to add it?

In subawardee’s Institutional Profile in Cayuse 424, the Begin Date must be listed at the top and bottom of the profile in order for it to show as “active”. If sub has not yet been added to the proposal, the drop-down list should be available. If the sub was already entered into proposal and no drop-down is showing…after adding the start date, the user needs to re-autofill the institutional info. To do this, open the sub’s budget and at the top next to the institution’s name is a couple of green arrows forming a box. This is the re-autofill icon to click. Once the info re-populates the budget, the rate should be available to select in the drop-down.

2. I’m working on a proposal and want to create a 424 subaward. I started the process and created the 424 proposal but when I go back to the SP record, it doesn’t seem to link to that subaward that I created. If I re-click the 424 link, it starts the process over again of creating a proposal or subaward. This means I can’t get the checkmark next to the ‘Cayuse 424 Proposal’ tab and can’t start routing. What’s going on?

You’ll need to enter the SP proposal number on the Proposal Summary page in 424, under: Proposal Number.

Note: If this is a sub and not a 424 submission, what you can do is choose “paired 424 submission” which will allow you to create the basic 424 budget and performance site information if you choose “424 minimal”. The 424 link will appear in the SP application as a 424 submission, but requires minimal information. How does the sub want its information? Unless the sub is a Cayuse school, they will not be able to upload the 424 budget information. If they are a Cayuse school, you can e-mail them the 424 sub budget you created.

3. When I try to import a subaward, I get one of the following errors:

“ERROR: Could not transform XML from (filename) into usable import format”

“Uploaded file contains no budget data. Be sure the file is really an Adobe Subaward Budget PDF.”

This error appears when you try to import a subaward into Cayuse that is not in an accepted format. If you wish to import a subaward, the Subawardee must do one of two things:

1) If a Cayuse customer: use the standard federal subaward form, available within 424 itself and email it to us

2) If NOT a Cayuse customer: use the free Subawards.com application to generate a subaward and then we can import it into our application.

Submission to Multiple NSF Units in Cayuse

Is it possible to submit a proposal in Cayuse or Grants.gov under one NSF opportunity but to 2 separate NSF division units?

No. The National Science Foundation requires these opportunities to use FastLane only for the submission. The multiple units are listed on the Cover Page. Only one division may be selected on a Grants.gov or Cayuse 424 proposal.

Account Number – How to Change It

Adding Users to Systems

Admin Tab in Cayuse

Authorizing a Proposal in Cayuse

Award Admin Department in Cayuse

Award Expiration Notice

Award ID’s in Cayuse

Award Numbers in Cayuse

Budgets in Cayuse 424

Cayuse – What Is It?

Centers: Add to Cayuse

Centers: Affiliating Them on Proposals in Cayuse

Centers: Assigning Credit in Cayuse

Certification in Cayuse SP

Collaborative Proposals

Cost Sharing in Cayuse SP

Data in Cayuse

Documents in Cayuse

Due Date

DUNS Number for Foreign Institution

Effort Reporting

Emails Generated by Cayuse

Errors, Warnings, and Info in Cayuse 424

Fastlane System and National Science Foundation

Funding Opportunities in Cayuse 424

Grants.gov and Cayuse

Indirect Cost Rate in Cayuse 424

InsideND and the Research Channel

IRB – Institutional Review Board and Protocols

Listserv for eRA

Locked Out

Login Questions or Issues

NASA NSPIRES System

Platforms

Printing in Cayuse

Professional Profile in Cayuse 424

Questions

Read-Only Proposal in Cayuse 424

Registrations with a System

Research.gov

Research Plan in Cayuse 424

Routing Proposals

Slowness

Spinning Icon

Sponsors in Cayuse

Subawards

Submission to Multiple NSF Unites in Cayuse

Account Number – How to Change It

Adding Users to Systems

Admin Tab in Cayuse

Authorizing a Proposal in Cayuse

Award Admin Department in Cayuse

Award Expiration Notice

Award ID’s in Cayuse

Award Numbers in Cayuse

Budgets in Cayuse 424

Cayuse – What Is It?

Centers: Add to Cayuse

Centers: Affiliating Them on Proposals in Cayuse

Centers: Assigning Credit in Cayuse

Certification in Cayuse SP

Collaborative Proposals

Cost Sharing in Cayuse SP

Data in Cayuse

Documents in Cayuse

Due Date

DUNS Number for Foreign Institution

Effort Reporting

Emails Generated by Cayuse

Errors, Warnings, and Info in Cayuse 424

Fastlane System and National Science Foundation

Funding Opportunities in Cayuse 424

Grants.gov and Cayuse

Indirect Cost Rate in Cayuse 424

InsideND and the Research Channel

IRB – Institutional Review Board and Protocols

Listserv for eRA

Locked Out

Login Questions or Issues