INFOED PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT TIPS. Version 12

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1 INFOED PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT TIPS General: We recommend using Mozilla Firefox as your browser. These tips are geared toward NIH proposals, although other sponsors are available. We recommend uploading PDFs rather than converting Word documents through InfoEd. Do NOT use headers or footers on your documents. Choose Budget by Total Project rather than Budget Period by Period. Salaries must be released before you can work in the Budget Details for an individual if using Budget by Total Project. Alternatively, you can use 424 Budgeting that does not require salary release. All proposals are created through the New Portal. New Proposal Questionnaire Step 0 Confirm you intend for the PI of the proposal to be <NAME> or Change PI Step 1 Create a New Proposal Continue to Next Step Step 1 Continued Select for Grants.gov Opportunities Continue to Next Step Step 1 Continued Enter Opportunity number (i.e., PA-07- S2S box is checked. Search 070) Step 1 Continued Select opportunity from list Select Step 2 Select Proposal Type: New Proposal or Select from drop down, Continue to Next Step Continuation Step 3 Select a Sponsor Autofilled, can be changed later in process. If an IC 1 is shown change to NIH/DHHS using drop down 1 IC = NIH Institute/Centers such as National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), etc. 1

2 Select Mechanism Autofilled, can be changed later in process Step 4 Proposal will be automatically numbered Will autofill Step 5 Enter the Proposal s Title Always enter a descriptive title as this can alert the Help Desk to issues. Don't use Greek characters or other non-standard characters. Titles exceeding the 81 character limit will result in a Warning upon submission to era Commons. Continue to Next Step Step 6 What are the project start and end dates? Enter dates, Continue to Next Step Step 7 Double Check number of years or budget periods Continue to Next Step Create Proposal or go back and make changes Step 8 Set up Questions Set proposal sponsor to NIH/DHHS if the sponsor is one of the ICs. Submission Mechanism Flow through, NO Use default Submission mechanism. Usually 424 R&R NIH (electronic submission) for NIH proposals or 424 R&R NIH Dynamic (electronic submission) for newly transitioned mechanisms (K12, F, T, D). Is this a US Federal sponsored project = YES Will this be a proposal to PHS, NIH or one of the branches of NIH = YES Is this an unsolicited application = NO. If you re applying to NIH, this should always be No. There should always be an Opportunity (FOA) you are responding to. Opportunity Number is prefilled. Can change by clicking on Get Opportunity Number Grants.gov Submission Info Grants.gov Submission Information pre-filled. The CFDA Number will auto fill except when there 2

3 Deadline Info General Proposal Properties are multiple CFDA Numbers associated with the Opportunity. Can Opt Out of validation mechanisms by click on Mechanism Opt In/Out Use forms box to check off optional forms Deadline for Submission = YES, Deadline type=receipt, Deadline date = last date for submitting proposal from FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement). This allows SPA to monitor what proposals are going out. SPA has set an internal submission deadline of 5 business days prior to the NIH deadline date. Cover Letter = YES or NO Subcontractors = YES or NO. Subcontractors are people/organizations who will be contributing to the project but are not part of Columbia. If you answer Yes to this question you will be able to track subcontractor personnel and budgets. Subprojects, usually NO Human Subjects = YES or NO Laboratory Animals = YES or NO New Investigator = YES or NO Multiple PI = YES or NO. The multiple-pi option is targeted specifically to those projects that involve multidisciplinary efforts and collaborations. If the proposal has multiple PIs, a Cover Letter is required and will require a designation of a Contact PI on the Personnel tab and the Project Plan is required. Associated Department = is autofilled, but can be changed. Should be the dept administering the grant and should match the RASCAL dept. PI Dept = PIs primary dept autofilled, but can be changed 3

4 Because you indicted proposal to PHS/NIH Budget Setup Info Associated Centers/Programs autofilled, but can be changed Link to existing proposal, do not use Stem cells = YES or NO Clinical Trial = YES or NO Phase III Clinical Trial = YES or NO Modular Budget = YES or NO Modular Budgets should be used for certain research grant applications requesting $250,000 or less per year for direct costs. Application directions should be reviewed for specific modular instructions. Budget by Total Project, preferred over Budget Period by Period. Can use 424 Budgeting to avoid salary release Program Type, usually RESEARCH Majority of research conducted ON or OFF campus, usually ON SF424 (R&R) [aka Face Page] 1 Type of Submission Application or Changed/Corrected Application 2 Date Submitted Leave blank Application Identifier Auto-filled 3 Date Received by State Leave blank State Application ID Leave blank 4 Date Received by Federal Agency Leave blank Federal Identifier To be filled by Project Officer (PO) if changed or corrected application is submitted 4

5 5 Applicant Info: most fields are autofilled Refer to the Columbia Institutional Information Sheet Person to be contacted on matters involving this application 6 Employer ID Autofilled 7 Type of Applicant Autofilled 8 Type of Application Autofilled Click on first name field and in new pop-up, select Lynette Arias > Set > Back. Fields autofill Other If Revision, mark appropriate box Autofilled Mark appropriate box 9 Name of Federal Agency Autofilled Is this application being submitted to other agencies Mandatory YES or NO 10 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number Autofilled unless there are multiple CFDA # s associated with the opportunity Title Autofilled 11 Descriptive Title Autofilled 12 Areas Affected by Project Mandatory 13 Start Date, End Date Autofilled 14 Congressional District Autofilled 15 PI Contact Info Autofilled (can be changed) 16 Estimated Funding Autofilled 17 Is application subject to review by State Executive Order Yes or No 12372? 18 Certification Autofilled 5

6 19 Authorized Representative (Project Officer Contact if you don t know your PO or look up at Click on the first name field and select your PO from the drop down > Set > Back. Fields autofill. International Research. Will your project be funded by a foreign sponsor YES or NO. If Yes, Country of Foreign Sponsor from drop down. PERFORMANCE SITES: Some information autofills but can be edited State field needs to be filled If a performance site is outside of the US, select "NA" as the state Country field needs to be filled PERSONNEL (See Personnel Wizard cheat sheet for details on adding personnel) Key Personnel require Effort (cannot be zero or as needed) Key Personnel and Significant Contributors require Biosketches. Key Personnel Subcontractors should be given the role 'Other' with 'Subcontract PI' or 'Co-Inv' specified There is a limit of 6 'Other' roles Significant Contributors are individuals who have committed to contributing to scientific development or execution of the project, but are not committing any specified measurable effort. When there are multiple PIs, use PD/PI role for a second person. Do not use the role co-pd/pi as it is not used by NIH. When there are not multiple PIs, use the Co-Investigator role. A co-investigator typically devotes a specific percentage of time to the project and is considered key personnel. Do not use the role co-pd/pi as it is not used by NIH. Columbia and subcontract personnel should be added through drop downs. These individuals are typically presented at zero percent or as needed. Each PD/PI must also be registered in the era Commons and must be assigned the PI role in that system. If applicants wish to use the role of Co- Investigator or some other similar role, select Other for the Project Role filed and then insert the appropriate role descriptor in the Other Project Role Category field. If a person is a Columbia employee but is not selectable through the drop down, send an to the infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu 6

7 New Staff or staff yet to be named (TBN) may be added to a proposal as non-key. Profiles are required for all Key Personnel. Provide address, phone, fax, address as well as era Commons ID. Use the correct era Commons User Name for Key Personnel. Any named Key Personnel who do not have an NIH era Commons ID must obtain one prior to submission. (Contact infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu) When entering addresses make sure that there are no spaces that appear before or after the entry in this field. and request to have the person validated. If Subcontractors or subcontractor personnel are not in the drop downs send an to the infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu and request to have the person validated. Personnel added here are automatically designated as Non-Key. Note that un-named personnel will not appear on the Personnel tab; they will only appear within Budgets. Multiple TBNs will be consolidated on the budget. The assigned era Commons Username must be entered for anyone assigned the PD/PI role. Commons IDs are only mandatory for PD/PI but not for all Key Personnel. Post Docs who participate in a project for at least one person month or more require an ID. The era Commons Username is used to link the submitted application to the PD/PI records in the Commons system. Without this information, the system cannot determine where to display application status or store the assembled application image. BUDGET: Salaries must be released before working in a person s detailed budget Equipment is defined as an item of property that has an acquisition cost of $5000 or more and an expected service life of > 1 year PHS 398 COVER PAGE If you want degrees to be displayed on the face page, include them on PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement. These should match the ones in era Commons. You can login to era Commons and update your profile or use the degrees that 7

8 are provided in era Commons on the face page. These must agree with each other. PHS 398 Research Plan All attachments must be in PDF format and not have headers of footers. Don t use spaces or special characters in naming file attachments. Upload Subcontract attachments in Consortium/Contractual Arrangements There are page limits for Research Plans which includes sections 2-5. (Specific Aims, Background & Significance, Preliminary Studies/Progress Rpt, Research Design & Methods). This does not include white space. Refer to the FOA for page limits. You can create the document in Word and select the Print option and print to PDF. If you have trouble with your attachments, contact infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu Acceptable File Names: R01ResearchPlan.pdf R01-Research-Plan.pdf R01_Research_Plan.pdf Unacceptable File Names: R01 Research Plan.pdf R01.Research.Plan.pdf R01[ResearchPlan].pdf It has been suggested that the best way to prepare your limited page narrative was to have one combined document. When you were finished with the single document, you then save it into the separate pdf file attachments. This method was proposed to ensure the page limits were met. However, charts, graphs, and other graphics can create serious formatting issues. Instead of a combined document, it may be best to have separate files at the start so that you won't have formatting issues when you break up the single document. Please note that any extra white space at the end of the any document is not counted in the page limitation when the files are merged at NIH. NIH, after 8

9 receipt of the application, merges the separate pdf files into one file and adds the header and footer. Each pdf file, once merged, will begin on a new page within the merged NIH file so no formatting problems should occur. Page limits are set up as validation mechanisms that appear on the Set Up Page. These page limits are not necessarily the same as the Page Limits on the FOA, as they are increased to account for white space. For example, an FOA may specify at 25 page limit, but the validation mechanism will allow for 28 pages. Check that you stay within the FOA limits that do not include white space. 9

10 Personnel Wizard Through a series of guided questions, the Personnel Wizard leads the user to add the appropriate Personnel and Personnel Type to a proposal: Columbia personnel Current Columbia personnel TBD (To Be Determined) Subcontract personnel To Add Current Columbia To Add TBD Columbia Personnel To Add Subcontract Personnel Personnel Question Instructions Question Instructions Question Instructions Is this person appointed to your institution or will they be if they are not hired or identified yet? Does this person currently work at your institution? Locate the person by clicking on the 1 st letter or their last name Select Yes and Select Yes and Select the person s name and click If the person is not in the drop down STOP Contact infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu and request that the person be activated in InfoEd Is this person appointed to your institution or will they be if they are not hired or identified yet? Does this person currently work at your institution? Is this person named or will they be determined later (TBD)? Select Yes and Select No and Select TBD and Set and select the associated department through the drop down and Select and If named, STOP Contact infoedhelpdesk@colum bia.edu Is this person appointed to your institution or will they be if they are not hired or identified yet? Will this person be a part of a subcontract on this proposal? Please select the institution from this list. Subcontractors already used on this proposal will be listed at the top of the list and noted as such. Leave Not Found if the institution you are looking for is not in this list Select No and Select Yes and If the institution in on the list, select it and If the institution is NOT on the list STOP Contact infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu and request that the subcontractor be added to InfoEd Please Select the Personnel type for this person on this proposal. 1) Key 2) Other Significant Select appropriate Personnel Type and Continue. Check that all required information is included on the Contact Information page. Specify a Role and Please Select the Personnel type for this person on this proposal. 1) Key 2) Other Significant Contributor Select Non-Key as Personnel Type and Continue. Check that all required information is included on the Contact Information page. Please select the name of the person from the institution you wish to add to this proposal. The first person selected for this subcontractor on this proposal will If the person is on the list, select them and If the person is NOT on the list, STOP Contact infoedhelpdesk@columbia.edu and request that the 10

11 Contributor 3) Non-Key 4) Consultant-Key 5) Consultant- Non-Key Save and Close. The person should now be added to the selected Personnel Type on the Personnel Page Note that Significant Contributors and Consultants are not added to the Budget. 3) Non-Key 4) Consultant-Key 5) Consultant-Non- Key Specify a Role and Save and Close. The person should now be added to the Non- Key Personnel Type on the Personnel Page Note that Significant Contributors and Consultants are not added to the Budget. be assumed to be the subcontractor PI. If you cannot find the correct person, please select Person Not in List and then Please Select the Personnel Type for this proposal. 1) Key 2) Other Significant Contributor 3) Non-Key 4) Consultant-Key 5) Consultant-Non- Key person be added to the subcontractor in InfoEd Select appropriate Personnel Type. Note that the first person selected for the subcontractor on this proposal will be assumed to be the subcontractor PI and thus, Key. Specify a Role of Subcontract PI and Save and Close. 11