When you access SPAERC for the very first time, you will see the Applications Tasklist by default. You can view the tasklists for other item types by clicking on the appropriate tab near the top of the page.
The item type tabs, in order from left to right, are Application, Funding Actions, Subawards, Cycles, and Admin Actions.
Use the Administration tab, at the far right, for creating new Actions (admin or funding) and for accessing some administrative tools. When you hover your mouse over the Administration tab, it displays a drop-down menu. The choices will depend on your ASTRA role(s).
The following image shows the tabs.
Common Tasklist Elements
The following image shows five main features that appear on all tasklists. They are described below.
- Select a tab to display the tasklist for that item type.
- Select the Tasklist Options bar just below the tabs to customize the tasklist you are currently viewing.
- Select the Search bar just below the Tasklist Options bar to locate specific items on the current tasklist.
Note: For more information, see Search for Items.
- Select the Actions + button to the left of the item’s ID column to see options for processing that item.
- All items on a tasklist have a unique ID number, which is just to the right of the Actions button. Selecting the item’s ID opens it. By default, all items in a tasklist are in order by ID number, with the newest item at the top.
Common Tasklist Icons
To provide additional information about an item, several icons display on the tasklists, each in their own column. An icon will display if the item has the characteristic.
The column names and the corresponding icons are shown and described in the following table.
| Column Name |
Icon Image and Description |
| On Non-Compliance Hold? |
 yellow octagon |
| On Compliance Hold? |
yellow octagon with a red letter C |
| Has Attachments |
blue page with folded corner |
| Has S2S Package (for Grant Runner applications only) |
blue arrow pointing to the upper left |
| Has Adobe submission (for applications only) |
arrow pointing to the upper left with red stylized letter A on top |
For both the Grant Runner and Adobe Submission applications, if you place your mouse pointer over the icon, a flyout window will appear that gives information about the submission status of the application. Click the “x” to close the window.
When a preparer submits an application into routing for approval, the system automatically associates it with an OSP Group/Team and assigns it to an individual. The assignment depends on the following information provided in the application:
- The organization code receiving funding
- The amount of money requested
- The sponsor
- The application type
- The sponsored program activity type
By default, your Application Tasklist will display applications assigned to you with a status of In OSP. This status indicates that all campus reviewers have completed their approvals are complete. You can personalize the settings of your Application Tasklisk if you want to monitor applications in Routing status.
Note: When the preparer of an application in Withdrawn or Returned status re-completes it, the system re-evaluates the selected group/team and may change it. The assignment remains unchanged, so that the item returns to the person who last worked on it, and who can then re-assign it if needed.
SPAERC organizes items into tasklists to help you manage your work. Each tasklist displays all items of a specific type.
Following articles describe how to navigate, sort, and personalize your takslists and how to create custom tasklists.
SPAERC includes five standard tasklists. Click on any item type to see a list of all possible columns for that tasklist.
- Applications: lists all existing items in any status other than Composing.
- Funding Actions: lists all existing items, in any status. You create a Funding Action (FA) after the sponsor awards an application. The FA provides information to Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA) so they can set up a budget.
- Subawards: lists all existing items, in any status. The Subcontracts group within OSP manages subawards. The research team creates subaward requests using SAGE.
- Cycles: lists all existing items. Cycles group together related applications, funding actions, subcontracts, admin actions, and advance budget number requests.
- Admin Actions: lists all existing items, in any status. There are several types of Admin Actions: unidentified (AA), Pre-Award Notification (PAN), Post-Award Change (PAC), Non-Award Agreement (NAA), and Close Out (CO).
SPAERC contains all the applications and associated items processed at the UW since 2003. Finding a specific item in the system can be challenging unless you know exactly where to look for it.
You can use the Search function to find one or more items quickly. Every tasklist has a Search appropriate to its data.
Note: only some of the tasklist options apply to search results: page length, available column choices, and sorting choices.
The following image shows the search bar, which appears just below the Tasklist Options bar.
To use Search
Click anywhere on the Search bar to expand the section. The search criteria will display and will vary depending on the tasklist.
Note: When you click on the Search bar, the word Search will change to Hide Search. Clicking the words, or bar, a second time will close the search criteria section.
The following image shows the search criteria for the Applications tasklist.
Enter one or more search terms (generally a minimum of two to three characters, not case sensitive) then click Search. A more specific search will return fewer items. Note that each search criterion indicates what type of search is done: matches, contains, or starts with. These are described below. Note that the Application search has one special field for searching Personnel by role. This is also describe below.
The Search Criteria section will close, and the refreshed tasklist will display the results of the search. You can then open a specific item from the list. The current search criteria will display on the Search bar and a “Your actions was completed successfully” message displays above the tabs, as shown in the following image.
Understanding Search Results
When you specify multiple search terms, the items on the resulting tasklist will display only if they match ALL of the terms specified.
Types of Search
Matches: An item’s value for that criterion must be identical to the search term specified. For example, searching for an Application Number of “A12345” or “12345” will match only the application A12345. The “A” is optional.
Contains: An item’s value for that criterion must include the search term within it. For example, searching for a Sponsor Name containing “health” will result in items which have a sponsor of “National Institutes of Health (NIH),” the “Harvard Public School of Health” and others.
Starts With: An item’s value must begin with the same characters as the search term. For example, searching for an Organization Code of “3080” will result in items with a code of 3080001000, 30800003000, and others.
Personnel Search: To use the Personnel search by role, click the Look Up Personnel link, search for and select the desired person. The selected person’s Name will display, along with a drop-down menu for Role Type. Use the default value of “All” or select the desired Role Type.
Results will include any eGC1 that has this person listed on the PI & Personnel page for the selected role.
Once a person has been selected, a Clear link will appear, which will clear the value for the Personnel, Name, and Role Type fields from the search criteria.
Role Type choices are:
- All
- Principal Investigator
- Co-Investigator
- Key Personnel
- Fellow
- Mentor
- Multiple PI
- Application PI
- Other
yellow octagon
yellow octagon with a red letter C
blue page with folded corner
blue arrow pointing to the upper left
arrow pointing to the upper left with red stylized letter A on top
