The following updates were released on July 25th, 2013:
- The answer to the Ready to Submit question now displays on the SPAERC control sheet and the Attachments and Routing page for all application types.
- Navigational menus/links no longer display on popup windows such as auto-generated email draft windows.
- When the parent item of an Admin Action is changed, the Action text now reflects the appropriate Admin Action number.
- The SPAERC Task list now displays values for “Yes” and “N/A” in the Paper column.
- When updating FA, AA, and SC attachments the current description will display in the description field and be editable.
- Subcontracts will now appear on the Cycle Details page after every FA they are associated with, as they do on the Cycles Details flyout.
- Auto-generated document fields in SPAERC now have single spacing between lines of text entered.
- If an application’s initial sponsor is changed from RRF or to RRF, when the eGC1 is re-submitted, it will be appropriately re-assigned.
- Now you can directly re-parent an application which is the child of another application in the same cycle.
- For Grant Runner eGC1s that are connected to SAGE Budgets, the irrelevant Approved Attachments links have been removed from the History & Comments page and the Grants.gov Tracking History section of the GR Submission & Status page for actions associated with the submission steps (Name is Grants.gov).
- The “Change Action Type” drop down menu no longer includes “Post Award Change” as an option for FAs that have a parent (eGC1). This modification will enforce the parenting rules that have been established.
- On the Admin Actions’ Auto Generated Documents page, the email instructions label was changed to “SFI Compliance Notification”.
In SPAERC, there is a logical hierarchy of items related to a project as it moves through time from proposal application to awarded project and eventual completion of research and close-out.
You can process these items in SPAERC:
- Applications (eGC1s)
- Administrative actions (NAA, PAN, PAC, CO, AA)
- Funding actions (FA)
- Cycles (C)
- Subawards (SC) and their child Subaward Actions (SA)
Note: You may also see Advance Budget Number Requests (ADV) in SPAERC. The research team creates these items in SAGE. They are processed by Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA). You can view, but not modify, an Advance in SPAERC.
When an item of one type is related to another, we refer to them as parent and child. A “parent” item might be a cycle, application, or action and its “child” might be an application or another action.
The Cycle is the top of the hierarchy and so it has no parent. Cycles contain three possible types of children:
Generally, but not always, the parent item is created first. You can then create child items from within the parent item. For example, you can create a funding action from within an application. If you create the child from within the parent item, it inherits basic project information (PI, sponsor, etc.) from that parent item.
Some parent-child relationships are specifically defined, while others are more general. The following table indicates the typical relationships between items, with current exceptions noted.
| Item Type |
Parent |
Children |
| Cycle |
(none) |
NAA, PAN, or eGC1 |
| eGC1 |
Cycle (1) |
FA, NAA, CO, AA, ADV |
| PAN |
Cycle (2) |
(none) |
| FA |
eGC1 |
PAC, SC |
| PAC |
FA |
(none) |
| NAA |
Cycle, eGC1, or FA |
(none) |
| CO |
eGC1 (3) |
(none) |
| AA |
Cycle, eGC1, or FA |
(none) |
| SC (subaward) with child SAs |
FA |
(none) |
| ADV (advance budget number request) |
eGC1 |
(none) |
Currently, the system also allows
- An eGC1 to be the child of another eGC1.
- A PAN to be the child of an eGC1 or an FA.
- A CO to be the child of a Cycle, eGC1, or an FA.
Orphans
You can create administrative actions and funding actions as independent items (“orphans”) rather than from a parent item. This enables you, for example, to start a Funding Action while the research team creates and routes the after-the-fact parent eGC1. Once you have access to the parent, you should related the orphan action to it.
When you create a parent\child relationship between an eGC1 and an FA, or between an FA (with parent eGC1) and a PAC, the system will automatically create a compliance hold, if appropriate. To remove any holds, use the Add/Modify Hold link.
Note: Automatic holds only affect PACs that are Extensions or Advanced Extensions.
The system applies automatic holds to FAs and PACs if the research team answered Yes to certain compliance questions on the eGC1, or other conditions exist, as described in the following chart.
| Compliance Hold |
Due to |
| Administrative Support |
Budget & Fiscal Compliance page question F2 = Yes |
| F&A |
Budget & Fiscal Compliance page question F1 = Yes |
| IRB Approval |
Non-Fiscal Compliance page question HS-1 = Yes |
| Cost Share |
Budget & Fiscal Compliance page question F3 = Yes |
| Fed Flow-Through |
Details page has an Originating Sponsor listed with a Sponsor Type of Federal Government |
| SFI/FCOI |
One or more investigators on the PI, Personnel, & Organizations page has an SFI value of Yes or Unknown |
| Export Control |
Non-Fiscal Compliance page: if Yes for any one of questions E-2, D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4 |
| IACUC |
Non-Fiscal Compliance page: question AU-1 = Yes |
| FCOI Training |
One or more investigators on the PI, Personnel, & Organizations page has either not done the sponsor-required FCOI training or the training has expired. |
When the system applies automatic holds, it checks the corresponding boxes on the hold screen and adds automatic OSP notes. A special icon will appear in the tasklist to indicate Compliance holds.
Removal of Holds
You can manually add or remove holds by checking or un-checking the boxes. See the article Place an Application or Action on Hold for complete details.
If the FA’s parent application or the PAC’s parent FA changes, the system may change the holds. The system does not change Non-Compliance holds if the parent application changes.
All holds applied or removed by the system will have a corresponding OSP note added. These notes will display in the Add/Modify Hold dialog window and under the OSP Notes tab.
| Hold Type |
OSP Note Text Display |
| Automatic Compliance Hold Applied |
Automatic Hold applied for: |
| Automatic Compliance Hold Removed |
All compliance holds cleared. |
| Manual Holds Applied (no change) |
On hold for: |
| Manual Holds Removed (no change); |
Item taken off hold: |
To change the parent of an Admin Action or Funding Action:
- Open the action and click the lock icon to unlock it.
- Click the Change the Parent Item link to display the Specify a Relationship page.
- Choose the appropriate parent type from the drop-down menu. The parent types available will vary depending on the type of action; funding actions can only have an application as a parent and post-award changes can only have a funding action as a parent.
- Use the Search Criteria to find the desired parent item.
- Click Make Parent at the far right of your selected item.
When changing an action from one parent to another:
- If the current parent is in a cycle, the system will prompt you to decide whether to adopt the new parent’s project detail values and overwrite the existing ones. To do so, click the Adopt Parent Field checkbox, and then click Confirm Overwrite.
- If the current parent is a cycle, the system will prompt you to confirm the cycle change. To do so, click Confirm Overwrite.
Note: The system will overwrite the project detail values.
