Generally, we refer to anyone who appears on the SAGE approval flow as a reviewer. More specifically, reviewers are either Approvers or Watchers.
- Approvers must sign off (electronically) on the eGC1.
- Watchers simply monitor the status of an eGC1; they do not approve the eGC1.
The system determines the reviewers of an application based on one or more of the following eGC1 values:
- Principal Investigator
- Organization code receiving funding
- Any additional research personnel
- Cost sharing information
- Answers to certain compliance questions
UW business units assign specific reviewer roles to individuals in ASTRA. The current academic unit roles are
- Division Reviewer (limited by organization code)
- Department or Center Reviewer (limited by organization code)
- Dean’s Reviewer (limited by organization code)
- Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs (Tacoma, Bothell)
- Vice Chancellor Admin Services (Tacoma, Bothell)
Most units designate more than one reviewer. The system only requires one of the reviewers to approve the eGC1.
Note: You will see the same dialog window for both Approvals and Returns. For details on returns, see the Return an Application article.
When you have completed your review of an “In OSP” status application and it is ready for submission to a sponsor, you can change its status to “Approved.”
NOTE: A standard (non-Grant Runner) application can be approved when in Routing status. The approval dialog window will display the warning message “This application has not yet been approved by all associated organizations on campus.” You should not do this unless there are special circumstances.
To approve an application:
- From the left navigation menu of an open application, click Approve/Return.
- Under Application Details, review the summary information to ensure you are processing the correct application.
- Under OSP Notes, add any comments pertaining to this approval. These notes will appear on the History & Comments page.
- From the drop down menu, choose the location of File. You must reassign an application when approving.
- Finally, click Approve.
Once you approve an application, the research team can no longer withdrawn it and OSP cannot return it.
Note: The research team is not automatically notified when you approve an application.
You must attach the application to a cycle when you approve it, if it hasn’t been already. When you click Approve, a new window will display with a choice to create a new cycle or search for an existing cycle to attach the application to.
Any personnel changes made by campus to the PI, Personnel, & Organizations page after the application has been approved will be listed on that page.
For information about campus approvals and compliance reviewers, see the Approvals section.
The approval flow is a sequential list of all UW individuals, divisions, departments, deans, and/or compliance offices (including OSP), who must review and sign off on a proposal before it is submitted to the sponsor. The system automatically routes the proposal to the individuals and units in the approval flow.
Approvers prior to OSP are notified of pending proposals via e-mail notification. OSP is manages proposals needing approval via their tasklist in SPAERC.
Reviewers may have the option to:
- approve a proposal
- return it to the preparer for changes
- add a comment which becomes part of the permanent record of the proposal
- mark it as watched
- add an additional reviewer or watcher to the approval flow
You can view a graphical and a text representation of the approval flow for each application from within SPAERC. You can access both versions from links in the left navigation menu of an open application.