Revised COEUS Conversion Plan

Conversion to exclusive COEUS system to system electronic proposal development and reduction in the use of the eInformation Sheet requires 1) basic and proposal development COEUS training for departmental staff and 2) development of a revised proposal review process within COEUS that can replace the Information Sheet. Accordingly, we are cancelling the previously announced conversion date of October 1st, 2009.

Department staff should complete their full COEUS training as soon as possible and use COEUS for grants.gov System to System (S2S) submissions as soon as they are able, but we are no longer requiring that this be accomplished before October 1st, 2009.

If you submit a COEUS proposal for grants.gov S2S submission, an eInformation Sheet is still required until COEUS can provide the ORA reviewer with equivalent information in the proposal development review state. For COEUS S2S applications, proposal submitted emails to ORAGrants@jhmi.edu, should include the COEUS Proposal Development # in the Subject line, in addition to the PI, sponsor, and due date. We are working on future COEUS solutions to automate the review notification and need for the eInformation Sheet. Additionally the eInformation Sheet will also continue to be used for proposals not created in COEUS.

Departmental staff should register through JHU Financial and Information Technology Training (FITT) http://training.jhu.edu/html/ITTraining/itlinks/itregistration.asp, complete the basic required prerequisite courses and then enroll in COEUS Premium Proposal Development and COEUS Premium Proposal Budgeting courses. Prerequisites include a basic understanding of the financial and business systems of the Johns Hopkins University.

Refresher training sessions offered by the School of Medicine are ONLY for individuals who have completed the two FITT COEUS courses.

Faculty from Departments who would like training should contact rreese@jhmi.edu to schedule individual Departmental training.

Training Dates available for COEUS Proposal Development and Proposal Budgeting through FITT are:

COEUS Class Session Schedule through FITT

Training dates for COEUS Refresher Class Session Scheduled through SOM are:

REMINDER: Importance of timely and accurate application submissions to ORA
Our mutual success with submission of the ARRA applications was due in a large part to faculty, departmental staff and ORA staff putting their personal lives on hold and processing applications 24/7 over more than a two month period. Weekly application deadlines for our many sponsors preclude our being able to continue to maintain the overtime that was required for the recent late ARRA and regular applications.

Due date:
For applications to be considered timely, you are reminded that an application must be provided to ORA not less than five working days prior to the due date to assure that we will be able to submit it on time. Please note that this policy is especially important for all Grants.gov and other electronic submissions via Adobe forms and COEUS.

Accuracy:
Recently it has taken an average of several days per application to complete electronic submission successfully following ORA review, correction, and approval. The typical errors include inaccurate eCommons Personal Profile Information for PIs and attachments not being in PDF format. The combination of proposal formatting errors, sponsor system mistakes, and technical malfunctions with sponsor application systems made it very difficult to effect electronic submission and we were very lucky to be able to eventually complete submission for all ARRA and regular proposals that were received. In addition to errors threatening the successful submission of the flawed application, they also threaten the successful processing of accurate applications.

Valid basis for Rejection and Re-submission of Electronic Applications:
Once received from Grants.gov, NIH applications will remain in the eRA Commons for two business days, allowing time for the PI to view the application if desired. If no action is taken during the two-day review period, the application will automatically be forwarded for processing. If the PI discovers a submission error in the assembled application during the two-day period, only the AOR/SO in the Office of Research Administration has the ability to "Reject" the application to prevent processing and resubmit a corrected version.

Submission rejection will be made by the AOR/SO if errors are due to an eRA Commons or Grants.gov system issue or the application does not correctly reflect the submitted application package (submission errors occur when some part of the application was lost or did not transfer correctly during the submission process). ORA is not sufficiently staffed to and will not reject and resubmit the application for typos or revisions to the uploaded documents. Before converting the application text and figures to PDF format, use spell-check, edit and proof read them for the last time.

A summary of the procedure for submission of electronic applications to ORA is outlined below:

• For Adobe applications: Departments are to e-mail a PDF of the signed eIS as well as the application file as attachments to ORAgrants@jhmi.edu and copy the assigned Grants Associate for your department.
  
• For COEUS or web-based applications: Departments are to e-mail a PDF of the signed eIS as an attachment to ORAgrants@jhmi.edu and copy the Grants Associate.
  
• The subject line of the e-mail to ORAgrants@jhmi.edu should include the PI name, sponsor, application due date and the COEUS Proposal Development #.

COEUS should be used to create a System to System electronic proposal for Grants.gov instead of using Adobe Forms as soon as your departmental staff have completed their COEUS training. After that, Adobe forms should only be used when COEUS does not contain the application forms for direct system to system submission.

If you have any questions on when an application is due in ORA or electronic submission of applications, please contact your Grants Associate. To view a list of which Grant Associate covers your department, click here: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Research/ora/ORA_Deptl_Assignments.html

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