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.

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.

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

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.

my E G C ones 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

quick open by e g c 1 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.
my E G C ones page status checkboxes
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.

my E G C ones page with no composing items

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.

e g c 1 additional information section

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 Campus Comments. A comment will be added to the History & Comments section upon initial routing of the eGC1, but any edits after initial routing will only be visible to OSP in the eGC1 Campus Comments section. If information is deleted/edited in this section OSP may not have access to previous information provided by campus.