Tag Archives: eGC1

April 11, 2024 SAGE Suite Release Notes

SAGE eGC1 Update

  • Principal Investigator (PI) Escalation Process Remediated: When PI Escalation is selected on an eGC1 Certify & Route page, the reviewer for the Cost Center Receiving Funding is now able to approve the eGC1 on the PI’s behalf in their absence.

SAGE Budget Updates & Fixes

  • Budget Navigation & Snapshot Help Text Updates: Within SAGE Budget, the left navigation menu text of an open budget has been updated from “History” to “Snapshots & History.” Once selected, additional help text clarifies the use of snapshots for Award Modifications.
  • Improved Performance on Complex Budgets: Technical improvements have been made to decrease the time it takes to load and save large, complex SAGE budgets, improving SAGE stability by reducing timeouts experienced by users.
  • Fix: Worksheet Custom F&A Saving Issues: An issue has been resolved where users were at times experiencing long wait times when saving custom F&A settings.

SAGE Awards Updates & Fixes

  • Character Limit for Return Comments Increased: When reviewers return Award Setup Requests (ASRs) or Modification Requests (MODs) to campus users, reviewers now may enter up to 1,000 characters when adding comments for return reasons.
  • Fix: Missing Workday Awards Synced to SAGE: The Workday award numbers now display for all processed award requests (Advance, Award Setup, and Modification Requests).Note: This fix was implemented as a patch on 3/27/2024 to address missing award ID reports.
  • Fix: Award PI Not Displaying on the Request List: When a PI is changed on an award, users now see the current Workday Award PI on the request list, instead of the PI at the time of the request.
  • Fix: Changing the Award Preparer Blocks ASR Resubmissions: Changing the Award Preparer while an ASR is in process no longer causes errors when attempting to resubmit returned ASRs.
  • Fix: Ad hoc Award Reviewer Events and Comments Not Saving: Ad hoc approver actions (approvals or returns) now log as event records in the Comments & History section, and reviewer comments are now saved as expected.Note: An update is still required to implement sending an email notification to the Award Preparer when an Ad Hoc Approver returns an item.

SAGE Subawards Update

  • Subaward Performance Improvements: Performance improvements have been implemented to decrease the processing time required to open and submit subawards.

SAGE Central Updates

  • Funding Entity Name Default in Admin Actions: When an Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) user creates a new admin action that is linked to an eGC1, the current sponsor name from FECDM will default, instead of the original SAGE sponsor name from the eGC1.

Award Email Notifications

  • Award Notifications Updated: Notification formats for ADVs, ASRs, and MODs have been updated to provide clarity on when action is needed and by whom.

Miscellaneous Maintenance

  • SAGE No Longer Sends $0 Rows to Workday Plans: The SAGE integration to Workday has been updated so that rows with $0 amounts will not be integrated into Award Plans. This was occurring at times when PIs were added to SAGE budgets with no costs, or when line items existed with no costs in the current period.
  • Error Handling Updated for Dependent Services: To improve SAGE stabilization, improvements have been made to error handling when external services that SAGE depends on are unavailable. This will reduce load on the servers when issues arise that prevent SAGE from retrieving data from those systems and services.
  • Required Security Updates: To keep SAGE up-to-date with security needs, the technology used for development of SAGE user interfaces (Node, Angular, Nx) has been updated to the most recent versions.

March 18, 2024 SAGE Suite Release Notes

SAGE eGC1

  • Updated Routing Rules for eGC1 Approvals: Dermatology, Health Metrics, Bothell Goodlad Center, and Harborview Medical Center now have new routing rules.

SAGE Budget

  • FY2025 Preliminary Benefit Rates Available: As part of the Finance Transformation remediation work, the storage of preliminary benefit rates has switched from the eFECs group to ORIS. The new preliminary rates for Fiscal Year 2025 are updated and available in SAGE Budget.

SAGE Advances

  • Workday Award ID Added to Advance Request Header: For additional transparency, new and renewal Advances now display the Workday Award ID in the header after the Advance is processed. If there is a legacy budget number (from pre-Workday Finance) associated with a renewal advance, it will display in the header as well.

SAGE Central

  • Tasklist Performance Improvements (Released 3/11/24): To aid the SAGE stabilization efforts and improve performance, the Applications Tasklist in SAGE Central has been updated. OSP and GCA will now see faster response time when the tasklist loads and when searching.
  • Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Application Scoring Updates: RRF scoring methodology for applications in SAGE Central has been updated. The scoring range is now 0-10 per area.

Miscellaneous Maintenance

  • Load Reduction on HRP Web Service: Updates were made to reduce SAGE’s load on the UW-IT HRP web services that SAGE depends on for personnel lookups.

Use this section to provide information about human subject involvement and approvals for the project to help reviewers determine compliance with UW and sponsor requirements. Contact the Human Subjects Division with questions.

Note: Zipline data will be refreshed each time you view this page. 

As with other eGC1 pages, you can partially complete your entries and save the eGC1. You must complete the required fields before you route your eGC1 for approval.

Select Start Section to open the section initially, and then Edit Section to add or update existing data.

Human Subjects Questions:

HS-1. Will the project involve interaction with Human Subjects, or identifiable data or specimens from human subjects?
Answer: Yes or No.  An answer is required.

HS-1A displays if HS-1 = Yes

HS-1A. Delayed Onset: Will IRB application submission be delayed until after award because you will (1) identify and develop new protocols that will be supported by the award or (2) complete other research described in the proposal that is necessary before the human subjects research can be fully planned.

Answer: Yes or No

HS-1B displays if HS-1 = Yes

HS-1B. IRB Approval Pending:  Will you need to submit a new IRB application, modify an existing IRB application, or are awaiting approval of a current IRB application for the human subject research in this project?

Answer: Yes or No

A table for IRB Application Details displays if HS-1 = Yes

Note: If HS-1 = Yes, and HS-1A = No (Delayed Onset), and HS-1B = No (IRB Approval Pending), then you must include at least one IRB application. See details below on how to add an IRB Application.

HS-1C displays if HS-1 = Yes AND Sponsored Program Activity Type (Details page) is “Clinical Trial – Federal Sponsors” or “Clinical Trial – Non-Federal Sponsors”

HS-1C. CRBB Involvement. Will the project involve use of UW Medicine clinical services or clinical space as a site of patient care, or include medical treatment of a patient by a UW Physicians provider?

Answer: Yes or No

CRBB (Clinical Research Budget & Billing) Note: If any of the following statements apply to this proposed work, mark Yes, even if the research involves only usual patient care items or the study budget will not be charged.

    • Some of the proposed work will be conducted in a UW Medicine clinical setting. See CRBB Coverage Analysis Checklist, Section II, Sites of Practice, for a complete list of sites. Studies using Seattle Cancer Care Alliance locations should use the SRAMP access point when submitting to CRBB.
    • The study involves one or more clinical procedures at one of these sites, such as use of a patient examination room, blood draws, imaging, clinical lab tests, administration of a research medication, or procedures.
    • Payment of physician professional fees for clinical services from a UW-affiliated or Northwest Hospital physician is required, separate from the salaried research personnel effort reflected in the budget.

Contact CRBB at crbb@uw.edu or 206-543-7774 for assistance.

HS-2. Stem Cells. Will this research involve the use and/or creation of human embryonic stem cells?
Answer: Yes or No   An answer is required.

Add IRB Application

Start by selecting Add IRB Application. A dialog box will open where you can choose how you enter your data.

Search Zipline

You can use the blue “X” in the upper, right-hand corner to close the dialog and return to the Human Subjects section without saving any data.

The following image shows the initial dialog box.

add i r b dialog

Enter all or part of the Zipline Application Number in the search box. The system will search for all applications that contain the entered numbers in the application number field. The results list will display below the search box, as shown in the following image.

add i r b search results

Click on the appropriate study in the results list to select it. The study data will display in the dialog window, as shown in the following image.

i r b study details

Use the Save button in the lower, right-hand corner to add the study data, and return to the Human Subjects section.

Enter Manually

You have the option to add IRB Application information manually.  Select Enter Manually in the dialog, then add the requested information.

  • Reviewing IRB Name
  • IRB Application PI
  • Reviewing IRB Application Number
  • Approval Date
  • Expire Date
  • IRB Application Title

Select Save to return to the Human Subjects section.

Note: All of the fields are required prior to eGC1 completion.

The following image shows the manual entry screen.

add i r b manually dialog

IRB Application Details section

Your data will appear as an expandable row of a table in the IRB Application Details section of the page.

The table row shows the follow data fields:

  • IRB Application Number
  • Reviewing IRB Name
  • IRB Application PI
  • Approval Date
  • Expiration Date

You can edit or delete it using the icons (pencil, trash can) in the Actions column at the far right of the table row.

Use the chevron to the left of the row to expand the data shown. The additional data displayed includes:

  • IRB Application Title
  • Zipline Application Number
  • Zipline Status
  • Approved Funding Sources

The following image shows an expanded table entry.

e g c 1 add irb table entry

The Application Details section provides basic information for the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Grant & Contract Accounting (GCA), and campus reviewers. The following image shows this section.

E G C one application details section

Field Description
eGC1 Number A unique, system-generated number used to identify an eGC1 and application. It is used in OSP correspondence.
Full Application Title Enter the complete project title of the application. This title must match the title on the sponsor application. Refer to the sponsor’s instructions for the length permitted. Maximum of 255 characters.
Short Title Enter a short title (no more than 22 characters, usually assigned by the PI or department) to identify the project within the UW financial system. Upon award, this will be the name of the budget.
Requested Start and End Date Enter the anticipated beginning and ending dates of the project period. These dates must match the dates on the sponsor application. Specific dates should be used for Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Applications.
Sponsor Deadline Enter the last date the sponsor will accept the application or the date the application must be postmarked. Include the time of day and the corresponding time zone. See GIM 19: Internal Deadlines for Proposals to Outside Agencies to understand when OSP needs to have your application based on the sponsor’s deadline. Note: this is not required for NAA type applications.
Date Needed from OSP Use this optional field to enter the date that your department is requesting OSP’s approval process be complete.
Signed and Unsigned Sponsor Copies Required Optionally, enter a numeric value to indicate the number of signed copies and/or unsigned copies of the application required by the sponsor. Refer to the sponsor’s instructions for this information.

The eGC1 status indicates where an eGC1 is in the overall creation and routing process. Each eGC1 has only one eGC1 status at a time.

The following image shows the status choices on the My eGC1s page, with Composing selected:

my E G C ones page status checkboxes

The eGC1 statuses are defined in the following table:

Status Description
Composing Applications being filled in and not yet ready for routing. Anyone with read/write access to the eGC1 can delete it.
Routing Application which have been completed and are currently routing to campus approvers.
Withdrawn Applications which have been withdrawn by an owner, someone with the ASTRA Global Edit role, or someone with read/write assigned access. eGC1s in Withdrawn status have stopped routing, and anyone with read/write access to the eGC1 can edit it. The eGC1 will resume routing when it is recompleted.
Returned Applications which a reviewer (campus or OSP) has returned for modifications. eGC1s in the Returned status have stopped routing, and anyone with read/write access to the eGC1 can edit it. The eGC1 will resume routing when it is recompleted.
In OSP Applications which the PI and all required campus units have approved, and OSP received for review.
Approved Applications which OSP have approved.
Awarded Applications which the sponsor has awarded. This system will update the eGC1 from Approved to Awarded when the associated Award Setup Request is updated to Processed status.
Denied by Sponsor Applications which the sponsor has denied. SAGE users can change an application to Denied by Sponsor status if the sponsor is not the UW Royalty Research Fund (RRF), or if there is no child FA. OSP can also change an application to this status.
Permanently Withdrawn Applications which will not be submitted to the sponsor. SAGE users can change an application to Permanently Withdrawn if there is no child FA; OSP can also change an application to a status of Permanently Withdrawn.

The diagram below shows the flow of an application through the various statuses:

status flow diagram for an e g c 1 application

SAGE – the System to Administer Grants Electronically – is the web-based system used by faculty, researchers, administrators and staff.

You can stay up-to-date on changes in SAGE (and FIDS) by subscribing to our Office of Research Information Services (ORIS) News.

The core SAGE system allows you to carry out several tasks:

  • SAGE Budget helps you create an accurate budget for your grant proposal. It auto-populates data from the payroll and financial systems, helps you select proper rates, and calculates totals automatically.
    • You can connect a budget to a standard or Grant Runner eGC1 to populate budget data.
    • You will need to connect a budget to an Award Setup Request.
  • eGC1 Forms are the electronic Grants and Contracts forms you use to route your grant proposal through the University’s internal compliance process.
  • Grant Runner applications combine the eGC1 and sponsor forms for some NIH funding opportunities requiring SF424 R&R forms, including Modular, Detailed and Subaward Budgets. With the click of a button, OSP can electronically submit your application via Grants.gov to the sponsor.
  • Approvals is the electronic routing engine that stages eGC1s, Advances, and Award Setup Requests for approval by associated departments, colleges, compliance offices, and the Office of Sponsored Programs.
  • Advances creates an online request form for an advance budget number.
  • Awards allows you to create Award Setup Requests and Modification Requests.
  • Subawards submits a request for a new subaward or a modification of an existing one.

Campus research teams and related central offices use the SAGE Suite electronic research administration system to manage application proposals and related items.

    • SAGE: System to Administer Grants Electronically – is used by campus researchers and administrators
    • SAGE Central is used by both the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and Grants and Contract Accounting (GCA)

In addition, FIDS: Financial Interest Disclosure System is used by researchers designated as investigators; it integrates with SAGE.

The following set of tables gives a high-level overview of who uses each of the different components, and describes the possible actions and the why and/or when.

SAGE: System to Administer Grants Electronically

WHO: Campus research administrators, Principal Investigators, campus reviewers, compliance reviewers

ACTION WHY / WHEN
Create SAGE Budgets Centralizes data gathering for salaries, benefits, and F&A rates. It can be connected to an application, which automatically populates the eGC1 budget data on the Budget & Fiscal Compliance page. Any changes to the budget will update in real time when the eGC1 Budget & Fiscal Compliance page is viewed.

In addition, if your eGC1 is a Grant Runner application using the RR Detailed Budget form, your budget data will appear in the form.

When creating an Award Setup Request, you will need to connect a budget.

Create applications (standard or Grant Runner) Required for all sponsored research. The standard eGC1 pages of the application are, in effect, an approvals routing cover letter for the proposal. Only the UW uses the eGC1; it does not go to the sponsor.

A Grant Runner application includes, in addition to the standard eGC1 pages, the sponsor forms for NIH. OSP submits the application “system-to-system.”

Approve routing applications The Principal Investigator, Multiple-PI, Application PI, academic reviewers (division, department, dean) and compliance reviewers (human subjects, animal use, EH&S, etc.) view and approve the application. At each approval, SAGE captures a PDF snapshot of the application and attaches it to the eGC1’s Approvals History & Comments page. Copies of the attachments are also captured.

Administrators and reviewers have the option to return the application to the research team for changes. They can also add other reviewers (as individuals or a group) to the approval flow as needed. These are referred to as “ad hoc” reviewers (approvers or watchers).

Request an advance budget number for awards Used when a research proposal is being awarded by the sponsor, but the actual award has not yet arrived. It requests GCA to set up a budget account in the financial system so the research team can start spending the anticipated award money. The preparer completes the request in SAGE, then GCA processes it in SAGE Central.
Create Award Setup Requests and Modification Requests for awarded eGC1 applications Used when a research proposal has been awarded and the award has been received. A “new” Award Setup Request (ASR) is created. For an ongoing award, a Modification Request might be created.

SAGE Central

WHO: Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Grant & Contract Accounting (GCA)

 

ACTION WHY / WHEN
Review and approve eGC1 applications OSP reviews the information on the eGC1, such as the sponsor proposal information and compliance questions, after all campus reviewers have approved.
Process Award Setup Requests Received from campus for reviews and approvals. Forwards to GCA for integration into Workday, with Award budget number.  As part of completing the Award Setup Request, the system sends a notification to the requesters.
Manage Actions Will manage existing items while transitioning to SAGE Central and Workday.
Process Advance Budget Number Requests Received from the research team, an advance allows the team to spend award money before the actual award arrives. GCA adds a budget number to the Advance and sets up that budget in the financial system. As part of completing the Advance, the system sends a notification to the requesters.

FIDS: Financial Interest Disclosure System

WHO: Any research personnel designated as an “Investigator” on the PI, Personnel, & Organizations page of the eGC1.

ACTION WHY / WHEN
Create a Financial Interest Disclosure for an eGC1

or

A disclosure for a CoMotion tech transfer agreement or IRB approval

or

Complete an Annual Update disclosure

Investigators are required to disclose any significant financial interests (SFI) such as salary, equity, sponsored travel, etc., that might, or might appear to, bias their research.

An investigator must complete a disclosure for each eGC1, whether or not there are SFI that apply, before the proposal can be marked as Ready-to-Submit = Yes.

The disclosures are reviewed by the SFI Reviewer, in the central Office of Research, who determines if there is a potential for a Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI).  The review occurs at the time of award (just-in-time).

Annual Updates: All investigators are required to review and update their SFI at least once a year. The “year” is calculated from the date of the last disclosure created in FIDS. Investigators are notified by email 45 days prior, and again at 15 days prior, to the end of that year’s time.

Full details on using FIDS  can be found in its User Guide.

Note: only a UW NetID is needed to access FIDS.

The sponsor is the entity or agency to which you are applying for funding.

Select the Look Up Sponsor button to open the Sponsor Chooser.

Look Up Sponsor

Note: For a Grant Runner application, you will have selected the sponsor in the wizard.

Enter text in the search box. SAGE will look for a match within the following fields:

  • Sponsor or Agency Name
  • Acronym
  • Previous Names
  • Related Names
  • Parent Name

The results list will display the following data for each match, if available:

  • Sponsor or Agency Name
  • Acronym
  • Previous/Related Names
  • Parent Name
  • Sponsor Type

Choose Sponsor Results

Select the desired Sponsor from the results list. The modal will close and the data for your sponsor will display in your eGC1.

Note: Sponsors populated in SAGE are also required to be maintained in the Funding Entity Core Data Management (FECDM) database. If the sponsor does not exist in the FECDM database with a Funding Entity ID, an alert will appear in the Funding Entity ID field notifying you that an update is required.

Funding Entity I D Update Required

If you cannot find your sponsor or the alert “Update Required” displays in the field, select “Request sponsor setup in Funding Entity System” to request that your sponsor be added to the FECDM database. The following is an image of the form that will open:

Sponsor Request Form

Fill out the required fields of Entity Name (sponsor name), Your Name, and Your Email. Also provide the sponsor’s website address, as well as any additional information about the sponsor to be included in the database. Select Submit to send this request to a FECDM administrator; the sponsor will be created in the FECDM database and selected in SAGE within 24 hours.

Once you’ve selected the sponsor, the Sponsor name, Funding Entity ID, Sponsor type, and Parent sponsor name (if there is one) display.

E G C one sponsor section

The Sponsor address and contact fields are not required, but we strongly recommend that you fill them in, as the values are used in the sponsor cover letter sent by OSP.

  • For the Address, City, State, Zip, and Country fields, enter the application mailing address of the sponsor as it appears in the sponsor’s application instructions or enter the name and web address (URL) of the sponsor’s electronic proposal submission system (for example, Grants.gov, Research.gov) in the Address field.
  • For the Contact Name, Contact Phone, and Contact Email fields, enter the information of the person to be contacted with questions or issues (optional).

The following image shows the Originating Sponsor information:

E G C one originating sponsor details

For RRF grant applications, the “Dates Requested” should be given standard values based on which round you are applying.

Fall Round

  • Begin Date should be January 15 of next year.
  • End Date should be one year after the start date.
  • Example: for Fall Round 2024, the dates would be 01/15/2025 to 01/15/2026.

Spring Round

  • Begin Date should be June 15 of the current year.
  • End Date should be one year after the start date.
  • Example: for Spring Round 2025, the dates would be 06/15/2025 to 06/15/2026.

Please refer to the Instructions for Preparing an RRF Proposal for more details.

There are a number of ways to move from page to page within your eGC1 and to save the data you have entered.

example breadcrumb trail and title

Below the main tabs in SAGE at the left side of the page is a breadcrumb trail which you can use to return to your My eCG1s tasklist. When an item is open the breadcrumb reads “Back to My eGC1s” followed by the item number (for example, A999999), and then the name of the page you are on. Selecting the item number returns you to the Details page which is the page you see when you first open an eGC1.

Below the breadcrumb is the page heading made up of the eGC1’s Short Title, ID, and the name of the PI, separated by the vertical bar character. This appears on every page as a quick reference.

Action Bar Icons

On the right side of the page, just below the heading is a set of icons that allow you to do a number of actions. These are described in order from left to right.

Action bar icons

  1. Previous Page: a straight left-pointing arrow moves you to the prior page on the left navigation menu
  2. Next Page: a right-pointing arrow moves you to the next page on the left navigation menu
  3. Save Page: a diskette icon which saves a copy of the current values in the eGC1 to the database
  4. Reset Form: a curved, left-pointing arrow which clears any un-saved values from the page
  5. Create a copy of this eGC1: a double-page icon which opens a new eGC1 (after confirmation pop-up) that is a partial copy of the original (see the Copy an Existing eGC1 article)
  6. Delete this eGC1: a trash can, that appears when the eGC1 status allows, and lets you Delete an eGC1

Left Navigation Menu

When you are viewing an eGC1, a navigation menu appears on the left side of the window. It lists all of the pages that are part of the eGC1, and includes links to Save & Close the eGC1 and to Check for Errors. You can click on any page link to move to that page. The page you are currently viewing will be highlighted in the menu. In this example, the PI & Personnel page is highlighted.

e g c 1 left navigation menu

If your application is in Approved, Awarded, or Denied by Sponsor status, then an additional “View Funding Status” link displays. Clicking this link will take you to the MyResearch Funding Status page for the application. Note: As of July 6, Funding Status and Non-Award Agreement data may be out of sync with SAGE and Workday until MyResearch is remediated. Please use SAGE to review eGC1 and award status until further notice.

Under the appropriate conditions, one of two additional links will appear:  Permanently Withdrawn or Denied by Sponsor. See the linked articles for details.

In the footer of an eGC1 page, there is a Previous link and either a Continue or Next button (depending on the page you are viewing). Just like the arrow icons in the “action bar” clicking Previous will move you to the prior page in the left navigation menu. Clicking the Continue or Next button will move you to the following page.

example previous and continue buttons in footer

example of previous and next buttons in footer

Closing an eGC1

In order not to lock out a colleague who may also need to work on an eGC1, you should always exit an item using SAGE links.

You have a few options for closing an eCG1:

  • Use the Save & Close this eGC1 link in the left navigation menu
  • Use the Back to My eGC1s breadcrumb
  • Click on the eGC1 FORMS tab

Each of these methods will save any changes that were made, and release the item so that another person would be able to edit it.

Saving eGC1 Data

The data values in your eGC1 are saved whenever you do any of the following:

  • Click the Save icon in the action bar
  • Navigate to a different page of your eGC1
    • by using the Next or Previous arrows in the action bar
    • by using the button/link in the footer of a page
    • by clicking on a different page link on the left navigation menu
  • Click the Save and Close this eGC1 link from the left navigation menu
  • Click the Back to My eGC1s breadcrumb