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.
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.
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
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
Previous Page: a straight left-pointing arrow moves you to the prior page on the left navigation menu
Next Page: a right-pointing arrow moves you to the next page on the left navigation menu
Save Page: a diskette icon which saves a copy of the current values in the eGC1 to the database
Reset Form: a curved, left-pointing arrow which clears any un-saved values from the page
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)
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.
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.
Footer
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.
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
The System to Administer Grants Electronically (SAGE) is the tool that researchers and grant administrators use to prepare proposals for approval and submission to the funding agency. At the UW, the appropriate campus units, compliance offices, and the Office of Sponsored Programs must review and approve all grant and contract proposals.
The Approvals component of SAGE manages the electronic routing of the proposal for approval. It is also used to manage the approvals for Advance Budget Requests and Award Requests for funded proposals.
This guide describes the functionality of the Approvals component for:
The My eGC1s page displays those eGC1s to which you have direct access either as an owner or through read-only or read-write permissions. The eGC1s are listed in order by Date Created with the newest one first. The following image shows the header for this page.
The fields displayed in the list, reading left to right, are:
eGC1 # – system assigned unique number – click this to open the eGC1
PI – Principal Investigator’s Name
Full Application Title
Sponsor Name
eGC1 Status – this field is linked, but the links are not currently active
Date Created
OSP Need By Date
Application Type
Ready To Submit
Budget Number – number of the connected SAGE Budget, if there is one; selecting this number will open the budget in a new browser tab or window.
From the My eGC1s page, you can find and open an eGC1 by its number, filter the list by status, link to an Advanced Search and create new eGC1s.
Find and Open an eGC1 by Number
To use this feature, enter the number of the specific eGC1 (with or without the “A”) in the text box and click Open. The page will refresh and display the eGC1.
Filter the eGC1 List by Status
You can use the status checkboxes to select which items appear on your list. Your list will update each time you check or uncheck one of the status boxes. For status definitions, see eGC1 Statuses.
The Select Composing, Select Routing, and Select All links will reset the status checkboxes to show only those items that match your choice.
The following image shows this section of the page.
When you first display the My eGC1s page, only items in Composing status are displayed. If you don’t currently have any eGC1s in Composing status, you’ll see this version of the page as show in the following image.
You can use the quick find-and-open feature, choose to view Routing items or all items, go to the Advanced Search page or create a new eGC1.
Link to an Advanced Search
Click the Advanced Search link to display a search page you can use to find eGC1s by various criteria.
Create a New eGC1
Click the Create New eGC1 button to open the wizard for creating a new eGC1 application.
Enter any information that will be helpful to campus and OSP reviewers. This may include special sponsor requirements, exceptional situations or other information that will assist reviewers in understanding your application.
Note: On the Application Summary page and in SAGE Central (OSP’s view of SAGE data), the Additional Information field (which appears on the eGC1’s Certify & Route page) is referred to as eGC1 Comments.
The “approval flow” includes all UW individuals, divisions, departments, deans, and/or compliance offices (including OSP), that must review and sign off on a proposal before its submission to the sponsor. Review: How the Flow is Generated.
SAGE automatically routes the proposal to the individuals and units included in the approval flow. The system also sends email notifications of pending approvals to Approvers on campus. OSP uses their SAGE Central tasklist to manage proposals waiting for approval. Review: Reviewer Email Notifications.
As a reviewer, you can access the approval flow for an application from the Approvals tab in SAGE. You have the option of viewing a graphical or a textual representation of the approval flow. If you are a preparer or owner of the eGC1, you can also access the approval flow from the Certify & Route page of the application.
Generally, anyone who appears on the SAGE approval flow is referred to as a reviewer. More specifically, reviewers are either Approvers or Watchers.
The Organization Code Receiving Funding is the UW’s ten-digit code which identifies the department or unit that will receive funding. Ask your fiscal specialist or department administrator which code you should use.
The following image shows this section before a code is selected.
Enter your organization code number directly on the page or select Look Up Organization Code to use the Organization Chooser.
Once you have selected the organization code, the associated Box number will appear. You can edit the box number if desired. If you need to change the box number associated with the code, use the “Changes To Existing Org Code Form” available from the Office of Planning & Budgeting web page.
You can also use the +/- buttons to expand and collapse the organization code’s hierarchy. The following image shows an expanded hierarchy.
The Change the Organization Code? link will re-display the chooser so that you can select a different code.
When you create an eGC1, you are automatically named as the eGC1 Preparer. Approvers may contact you during the review process, and OSP and/or GCA staff following the awarding of funds.
To select a different preparer, click the Change the eGC1 Preparer? link beneath the preparer information to open the Personnel Chooser. Search for and select the new person.
When you choose to change yourself as the preparer, a warning message will appear. If the change you are making removes your last access to this item, once you confirm the change, the tasklist will display.
The information displayed for the preparer is:
Name and Employee ID
Selected unit: the name and Cost Center of the contact’s unit for the appointment selected. This is automatically displayed by SAGE.
Title: the contact’s title from the directory. This field is editable.
Phone: the contact’s phone number from the directory. This field is editable and is required.
Email: the contact’s email address from the directory. This field is editable and is required.
