Research Administration

InfoEd FAQ

• Who will have access to upload the information in InfoEd?

  Principal investigators, department chairs and departmental grants administrators can upload documents to the records they have access to within the system.

• Can multiple people have access to a record in InfoEd?

  Yes. Principal investigators will have access to all records  on which they are listed as  the Contact PI.  Department grants administrators will have access to records associated with their assigned departments. 

• Can someone outside of my department have access to my records?
  You can delegate someone with Investigator access to Sponsored Projects or Subawards to view or edit your records. Individuals with department administrator roles in the system will automatically have access to any proposals that have been associated with those departments. For example, if the proposal has been initiated and the department is OBGYN, and you are assigned to OBGYN as the department administrator within InfoEd, you automatically have access to all proposals initiated under OBGYN. 
• Will this replace the current UTMB budget template?

  Yes. The budget will be entered directly into InfoEd and you will have the ability to export the budget to share with others who do not have access to the record in InfoEd. 

• Who receives the notification of submission of the Intent to Submit?

  To initiate the proposal within InfoEd, you must have the role of a PI or department administrator in the system. When an Intent to Submit is entered, an email notification will be sent to the PI, and that PI’s preaward analyst in OSP and department grants administrator. The email includes general information related to the proposal including the record number that can be used to find the proposal in InfoEd.

• How do I submit a non-grants.gov application? For example, one that is emailed to the sponsor or is submitted via a foundation’s portal?

  All proposals, regardless of sponsor, will be initiated in InfoEd.  There is a drop-down menu in the Intent to Submit to select a system-to-system or a manual submission. The manual process will be used for submissions to foundations and other non-grants.gov sponsors.  You will use InfoEd to enter the budget and upload the final documents submitted to the sponsor for these submissions.

  

• I have a new subaward that needs to be submitted to the prime institution on July 24. Do I submit that via InfoEd or do I just email the documents to my preaward analyst?

  You will submit the documents and budget that you are sending to the prime institution using the manual submission option in InfoEd. The budget will be entered into InfoEd and you will have the ability to export the budget to share with the Prime. In addition, you will attach the key documents required by the prime for Preaward to review.

• Can a department have more than one department grant administrator?

  Yes. A department can identify as many grants department administrators for their department as needed.

• Who is included on notifications from the system?

  The PI and department grants administrator(s) will receive notifications during workflow processes that will require action from someone within the department. The PI, department grants administrator(s), and department chairs will receive informational and action required emails throughout the submission routing process to require the approvals.

• Will the person who is working on the Just-in-Time (JIT) also get the notification of the JIT request?

  If you are the department grants administrator you will receive notifications of the just-in-time request when the PI is notified. 

• We often have some nonconventional proposals such as no due date or no official funding announcement because entities approach our PI for a service. Does this system allow for not including and or changing that kind of information?
  You are describing a manual submission and it does not allow for system-to-system validation functionality and will not cause errors in submitting to OSP (Office of Sponsored Programs).
• Can I search for proposals with anything other than the InfoEd record number? Can you search by PI name or some other field?

  Yes. You can search for records for the departments you are assigned to and look via PI name, award number, proposal status, sponsor, etc. There are many ways you can search for a record. See our step-by-step guide about navigating the Sponsored Projects Module in InfoEd.

• Is there a new process we will use for submitting items to the Development Office or Office of Technology Transfer?

  No. You will continue to submit those as you have in the past. 

• Will this eliminate the routing form?

  Yes. When you submit the proposal for pre review, if you are submitting it on behalf of your PI, it will route to the PI electronically in the system for them to electronically approve it, and they will have the same certification text that they are currently signing now on the routing form. Once it has been approved by the PI, it will route to the department chair or their delegate to approve and signoff on instead of the former PDF routing form.

• Will we use InfoEd to submit our RPPRs (Research Performance Progress Reports)?
  At this time, the RPPR process will still be managed outside of InfoEd, as the system only communicates with grants.gov and it does not currently communicate with Commons.
• Is training required for access to InfoEd?
  Yes.  PIs,department chairs and department grants administrators are required to complete training before receiving access to the InfoEd Sponsored Projects and Subaward modules. Department grants administrators will need to attend instructor-led training via MS Teams. The training schedule and registration is available online.  Faculty  need to complete the InfoEd for Faculty Electronic Grants Management training available in UTMB Learn.    
• Will this replace the current electronic cost sharing request form or F&A waiver request?

  No. You still need to complete the appropriate cost sharing and the F&A waiver forms through the current web form process. You will be asked to upload a copy of the approved PDF under the OSP Questionnaire tab in InfoEd. 

• What do I do if I do not see my sponsor or collaborator’s organization in the sponsor list in InfoEd?

  The department grants administrator should complete and submit the Sponsor Entity Request form.  Allow 2 business days for the sponsor to be added to InfoEd.

• What do I do if I do not see my collaborator’s name in InfoEd but need to add the individual to the budget?

  Department grants administrators should complete the Add New Sponsor Contact form. Allow 2 business days for the contact information to be added to InfoEd.

• How do I get access to InfoEd?

  To gain access to InfoEd you need to complete the InfoEd training appropriate to your roll (faculty or department grants administrator). Once complete training, ask your trusted requestor to submit a Tivoli request for access. If you have questions about what kind of access you need, talk to your preaward analyst. 

• If the proposal involves a Co-I department other than the PI's department do we add the external department under Associated Departments?

  If it will be a multi PI with PIs from different departments, you will add their departments under the Associated Departments field.  However, if it is a UTMB faculty listed as key personnel from a  department different from the PI, use the new Collaborating PI Approval form for the collaborating departments to approve their faculty members' involvement on the project.  Upload the completed form in the UTMB Questionnaire. For guidance, see instructions for completing the form.

• If you are providing a 5% increase on IBS in year 1, how do you adjust the salary on the budget screen?

  To do an initial 5% increase to a person's salary you will have to adjust this Annual Salary on the appointment tab under the details.  The auto-populated salary is editable and will allow the desired salary to be entered manually.  Once saved, you will need to go back to budget detail and the update will be visible. You must enter the person months and click save to see all the reflected changes. Remember, InfoEd automatically selects the fringe category based on the IBS pulled in from PeopleSoft, if the IBS is altered you will need to verify the correct fringe category for the new salary is selected.

• How do I edit the fringe category?

  There is a drop-down menu under the Fringe Benefits box on the appointments screen (see screenshot). Select from this list to change the fringe category.

  
• Do I have to convert and flatten all the PDF files before I upload them in the system?

  No. InfoEd will convert documents to PDF for you when you upload them if you select the option. In addition , InfoEd will flatten the documents before sharing with the sponsor.  We recommend opening all of your uploaded documents in the submission to ensure they appear the way you want them to prior to submission. 

• Will there be a way to flag documents that are confidential (for example biosketches from external collaborators, their Other Support, or their unpublished data)? Is there a button to indicate proprietary information?

  The record access is limited to those who have been given access to the records. This is the PI for the record, anyone the PI delegates, the department chair and department personnel who assist PIs with their proposals. To note proprietary/privileged information, select YES to Question 2 on the Other Project Info screen.

  
• If a PI is notified that an application was not funded, or eRA Commons shows the application was not discussed, is there a place in InfoEd to update the status of the application from pending to not funded?

  If you have been notified that an application was not funded, or eRA Commons shows the application was not discussed, please reach out to your Preaward Analyst to update the status in InfoEd if it has not already been changed.

• Will the system automatically calculate for NIH salary cap or will do need to manually adjust the base salary?

  Yes, InfoEd is configured to automatically calculate based on the salary cap if the base is above the cap.  It will include the actual salary in the budget on the screen, but the budget provided to the sponsor will take into account the salary cap cost sharing and not include budget above the cap.  

• Can multiple people work in the same proposal at the same time?

  More than one person has access to the record, but the person who was in there first will have the edit rights to be doing the work. If someone tries to access it, they will be able to view what has been completed so far but will not be able to make edits until the original person has closed the record.

• Does changing the title on the Intent to Submit form automatically change it in the rest of the proposal?

  Yes. The changes get made across the fields in the proposal. You do no need to manually make those edits across all forms.

• Is there a way to withdraw the Intent to Submit form?

  No. You can adjust the date or sponsor or any items to reuse if the PI decides later to make the submission.  OSP will monitor abandoned proposals and update the system. 

• Will the automatic notifications be sent to individuals delegated by the PI through InfoEd, or will it be application-specific, such as who submitted the Intent to Submit?

  The notifications will be sent to anyone who has been assigned as a department grants administrator for that department, and any delegates the PI has assigned to receive email notifications. On the delegation screen there is a question about being copied on all communications.

  

• Do department chairs need to complete the online training, even if they're not submitting proposals?

  Yes. They will need training to get access to the system, and to learn how to complete approval requests when they are routed through the system.