The following updates were released on April 25th, 2013:
Subcontracts:
- Attachments are viewable in SAGE:
- SAGE will display Subcontracts Actions (SA) attachments in the Related Documents section of the Attached Documents page on the eGC1 if the SA is in Active or Closed Out status and if the attachment type is other than To/From Communications.
- Recommendation: Use a file name that make it clear to the user what this attachment is related to (for example PO#857757SubcontractAGreement.doc.).
- Notes sections are now available:
- The Subcontract team now has the ability to type in Notes as needed for all status changes.
- These notes are required for changing to Denied or Duplicate status. A standard validation message will appear if you forget.
- SA has a new default status.
- Upon creation, an SA will have the default status of “pending”.
- You will not be able to close out a Subcontract if it has any SA with the status of pending or active. A validation message will appear when you try to do this.
ASTRA PAGE instead of error page
When people attempt to log in to a tool within the SAGE Suite (SAGE, SPAERC, and SERA) without the required ASTRA role, a page will display a list of people in their unit who can authorize access to it. Users will be able to choose an authorizer and send him or her a message to request access to the tool.
SAGE Updates SPAERC Users should know about:
New EH&S Compliance question in SAGE
- New question #7 : Will the project involve scientific diving?
- Explanation: Anyone diving under the University of Washington’s auspices must have current certification as a University of Washington Scientific Diver and adhere to the standards set forth in the UW’s Diving Safety Manual. EH&S will contact you to assist in meeting Diving Safety Program requirements prior to diving.
- The link to the diving safety program is. http://www.ehs.washington.edu/rbsdiving
- Answering “yes” to question 7 will add a watcher node to the approval graph. Sam Sublett and Pema Kitaeff are the EHS Diving watchers, and they will follow up with the PI.
Preliminary Benefit Rates are now available to SAGE Budget users.
- GIM 3 has been updated to allow Sage Budget preparers to choose between using current benefit rates or preliminary benefit rates for future budgeting. Users will also be able to look up rates within the revised GIM to view current and future rates as they become available.
- SAGE Budget will use the correct rate based on the period start date when using current and preliminary rates or current-only rates.
- Budget preparers can use a global update feature to update their budgets quickly when preliminary rates become available.
- The period entry page for a given person will indicate whether the rate is current or preliminary for that period.
The following updates were released on September 26th, 2013:
SPAERC Updates
- FAs that are returned by GCA to inactive OSP staff members will be assigned to the “Failover Team” so that OSP may reassign FAs to an active OSP staff member. Currently, Al Marks monitors the Failover Team, which has been used for eGC1s and will now be used for FAs.
- The new OSP Pending FAs report will help OSP Managers monitor and manage the workflow and workload of my team to process FAs in a timely manner.
SAGE and FIDS Updates SPAERC Users may want to know about
- Now that FIDS is a year old, OSP needs to be able to determine if an Investigator is in compliance with GIM 10 for annual updates of SFI disclosure. On the PI & Personnel Page, the investigator’s primary disclosure will appear in italics and related disclosures will be ordered from most recent to oldest. This will allow OSP to find the primary disclosure easily and see the most recent related disclosure immediately below the primary disclosure.
- SAGE and SPAERC users will have access to a new pop-up window for Personnel Disclosure History by clicking on the name of an Investigator on the PI & Personnel page in SAGE. The new window will show an investigator’s recent history of submitted disclosures. This will aid in OSP’s review to make sure investigators are compliant with annual updates per GIM 10.
- In compliance with the UW Records Retention policy, on October 1st, we will be removing attachments from grant applications (eGC1s) which were never awarded and have a sponsor deadline before January 9th, 2009. This will free up storage space and simplify data management.The eGC1s without their attachments will remain in SAGE for reporting purposes. An entry about the deletion will display on the “OSP Notes” page in SPAERC.
- SAGE users will no longer be allowed to “Send Disclosure Notifications” for eGC1’s where the sponsor name is “Pending – Notify OSP of Correct Sponsor”. This is to help ensure that the correct disclosure rules and requirements are applied when the PI is updating their SFI in FIDS.
- To aid in compliance with GIM 10 for annual updates of SFI disclosures, FIDS now send automated email notifications. There will be a reminder when an annual update of disclosure is due in 45 days, a second reminder when the annual update is due in 15 days, and a notice when they are out of compliance (copied to the PI).
- To easily see who the current Public Health Service sponsors are, we created a new PHS Sponsors web page.
Washington Innovation Advantage Program (WIAP) Column Available on Task List
A new column can be optionally displayed on the SPAERC task lists for Funding Actions and Admin Actions The column will display the value selected in the WIAP field (Yes, No, blank). Users can sort the task list by that column. The following image shows the Funding Actions task list with the WIAP column highlighted.

RRF Funding Actions No Longer Require an Award Signature
When RRF is listed as the sponsor, the Award Signature field now defaults to “Not Required.” The field will still be editable when the FA is “In OSP” status.
SAGE Suite-Wide
Session Timeout Handling Improvements
When any open SAGE Suite application is left idle for 40 minutes (this can vary if you have other applications open that require UW authentication), users will now see an on-screen warning that their SAGE session will time out in 5 minutes without further activity. Renewing your 45 minute session can be done by simply clicking “Keep Working” in the warning pop-up. If your session expires, the system will automatically redirect you to a login page. This change will provide clear and consistent handling of session time-outs, reducing user confusion and accidental data loss.
SAGE eGC1
Improved eGC1 Status Handling at the Time of Award
An eGC1’s status changes to “Awarded” when a child funding action is initially sent to GCA. However, there were certain circumstances when the eGC1 status wasn’t updating appropriately if the child funding action was returned to OSP and then re-parented to a new eGC1. To catch these cases, the eGC1 status will also update to “Awarded” if the child funding action is “Re-Sent by OSP” to GCA. Existing eGC1s in “Approved” status with a child funding action in “Processed” status were updated to “Awarded” status.
SPAERC
Update Subaward Expiration Rules (delayed release)
The nightly batch job that updates the subaward status was simplified, and now evaluates Subaward End Date only. If the Subaward End Date is in the past, then the status is changed to “Expired”. If a new modification is approved, the subaward status will be changed to Active once again.