General Discussions

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Audrey,

I don't have any answers for you, but I am glad you posted this.  I was just thinking about resurrecting the discussion to see what people are doing with pre-proposals in Cayuse, and I think this is related.

------------------------------
Pamela Vargas
Director, Research & Grant Development
Southeast Missouri State University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

I'm glad and hope you can get some answers!  -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 06:51
From: Pamela Vargas
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Audrey,

I don't have any answers for you, but I am glad you posted this.  I was just thinking about resurrecting the discussion to see what people are doing with pre-proposals in Cayuse, and I think this is related.

------------------------------
Pamela Vargas
Director, Research & Grant Development
Southeast Missouri State University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

I agree with Andrea in how I think of "intent"--letting our office know that the PI plans on submitting a competitive proposal.  However, we're small enough to not really need much routing: the proposal goes from PI/AA to a grant administrator (GA) to the signing official--there's no departmental sign-off, and we only add institutional officials if there's an issue of cost share/promise of institutional resources or IP concerns.  We ask investigators to inform their GA of their intent; the GA enters minimal data (deadline, agency, FOA if applicable, project period, any collaborators/subs) into a "tickler" database accessible to us all.  Three weeks out from the deadline, the GA confirms the intent with the PI, creates an IPF in Cayuse SP (3.9), and sends the link to the PI/AA (we discourage them from creating IPFs themselves), with instructions to have it routed no later than 10 days before the deadline.  I suppose if we DID need to alert department chairs or whatnot, we could add them to the routing chain and make sure they're on the auto-email generated when the proposal is routed...

Another option in 3.9(?): Create the IPF at intent, then use Events to ping the necessary people at the chosen timepoint from the deadline, and include a link to the IPF in the description (which gets sent with the auto-email).  Of course, a different process would need to be defined once you move to 4.0.

Cheers!

------------------------------
Lisa Churchill
Director, Grants Administration
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 11:52
From: Andrea Buford
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Yes, this is my understanding of an ISF...alerting the eventual signatories of the R&A form that a faculty member plans to submit.  Is the pre-proposal where an ISF lives?  I'm trying to understand where that would happen in Cayuse.  Is it in SP?  I've attached a version of the form that we use now in EchoSign for electronic signature.

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 11:52
From: Andrea Buford
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Amy....

Yes, I do see your point!  I have seen a few LOIs called by that name,, but I think your definition is the more common  and accurate one.

------------------------------
Pamela Vargas
Director, Research & Grant Development
Southeast Missouri State University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2022 10:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Yes, this is my understanding of an ISF...alerting the eventual signatories of the R&A form that a faculty member plans to submit.  Is the pre-proposal where an ISF lives?  I'm trying to understand where that would happen in Cayuse.  Is it in SP?  I've attached a version of the form that we use now in EchoSign for electronic signature.

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 11:52
From: Andrea Buford
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

All that sounds familiar...lol!  It's gotten to be like the wild, wild west here.  I have yet to do the routing and approval in Cayuse.  We still use EchoSign because there've been so many changes.  I think things are settling down to where we can try routing and approval in Cayuse.  That's my hope.  But being in 3.9, I'm not sure if I should wait until we get the upgrade to do anything yet.  -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 11:52
From: Andrea Buford
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

And geez, I meant Andrea!  This is what I get for multi-tasking, and apparently not reading the original post too well, either!


------------------------------
Pamela Vargas
Director, Research & Grant Development
Southeast Missouri State University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2022 11:52
From: Andrea Buford
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hmmm....  I think of "Intent to Submit" as quite different from "Pre-Proposals."  Not that I'm necessarily right, but I think of Intent to Submit as notice to the University and pre-proposals as notice to sponsors.  I intentionally did away with "Intent to Submit" when I started this job, for two reasons.  One is that it just added paperwork, and I wanted fewer steps between a faculty member and a proposal.  The second reason is that it invited input from people who sort of weren't authorized to approve or withhold that approval.  Processes evolved here in a sort of organic way - which sounds like it ought to be good, but in this case it's the opposite of intentional.  Systems developed and took on a life of their own - and then tried to eat us.  So, we had Business Managers doing grant budgets (making up F&A rates, by the by), telling faculty they could or couldn't have a course release....  I was the new sheriff in town, and tried to bring some intentionality to the process.  Maybe your house is not quite so jumbled.... I truly hope that for you!!!  But three years ago we really were, and I needed to bring some authority back to this office.  Now we route at the end, and the approval process has some meaning.  With a few glitches here and there.  But the down-side is that we have to work a little harder to make sure that the Chairs and Deans aren't blind-sided at routing stage with a huge cost-share request.  THAT pleases no one.  It also means that I have to watch the "Proposals Created" status like a hawk to make sure that a faculty member didn't start a proposal in the night, thinking that someone would just claim it.

Now, pre-proposals.  I would LOVE to be able to link pre-proposals to full proposals in the record.  There could be a status of "Invited for Full Proposal" or some such thing, and the two proposal records could be joined and hold hands in perpetuity ;)  We have not figured this out and I'm hoping the move to the platform helps us with this.

------------------------------
Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Hello Audrey,

Everyone has already posted some great information here related to ISF forms. Process. Input related to workflow. My two cents are related to intent. It seems that your institutional intent is to 1. Provide a notification to the investigator's unit approvers that they will be applying for funding, and 2. Gain their approval for said action.

Could you tell me if this approval is ever withheld at your institution? I ask this question because it seems that adding this process to Cayuse might be resource-intensive and add workflow and approval burden. If the process is just a formality that provides notification to the investigators unit and they 'always' say yes, it may not be a necessary process.

However, if it is indeed the "Pre-Award Preparation" process and triggers action across a range of workflows, then yes, indeed, that might be something worth adding.

We have an "Intent to Submit" process that is information that allows our investigators to notify their departmental units and our pre-award team so that they can get the proposal on the calendar and assign an RA to the investigator. The "Intent to Submit" is relatively informal. It creates an assignment to an RA and sets up a calendar event, but there are no further actions until the investigator begins the proposal development process with the RA.

In our systems, we do not require faculty and departmental sign-offs until the proposal is fully developed and ready to route for submission, which is usually five days before the due date. That is when all the signatures (electronic workflows) come into play.

Often at the "Intent to Submit" phase, a proposal will fall off the investigator's radar, or not be a viable opportunity, or perhaps they cannot get their team together to pull the proposal together. So there is no wasted effort for anyone at that phase, just an email that says, "Hey, I am interested."

I wish you all the best it is excellent to hear how institutions work through this process.



------------------------------
Michelle Davis, M.Ed.
Research Administrator, Office of Research
College of Health Sciences, Boise State University
michelledavis3@boisestate.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Hello frands! Just a few bits that I can chime in on.

To Andrea's point about leadership not being blindsided: Yes, we tell our faculty to discuss with their chair and dean their intentions once they've sent us in Central SPA an email that they want to apply to something. The first time administration is hearing about a proposal going out the door should not be when they get a notice to authorize from Cayuse. Regardless of cost share or other things, we've had many a tough conversation with admins being VERY grumpy that they knew nothing about the activity. It's taken a few years, but our faculty have been really good about initiating those conversations now at the same time they engage with SPA.

A secondary benefit of the faculty talking to their leadership prior to a Cayuse routing is that we have cut down on the number of "pre approval" emails that are flying around. It was really frustrating and burdensome for us as SPA Proposal Managers to have to write wordy emails requesting approval for release time, departmental cost share, or god forbid, tuition for GAs, only to upload the pre-approval emails and have to route the proposal for 'official approval' in Cayuse anyway. It was like what's the point of Cayuse then? Now that faculty are engaging earlier with their leadership, boom, Cayuse is the stamp of approval without heartache.

Regarding "Letters of Intent" to sponsors: If an official LOI process is required by a sponsor and includes a budget figure, we treat it like a regular proposal and route it for approvals. If the LOI is invited for a Full proposal, we create a Project record in Cayuse and bundle the LOI record (with updated status as "Funded/Preliminary") with the Full proposal record, and - even if the budget is the exact same - route the Full all over again. This way the two records stay together and there's documentation of the effort put in for both.

------------------------------
Augusta Isley
Senior Proposal Manager
Ball State University
amwray@bsu.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2022 08:21
From: Michelle Davis
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hello Audrey,

Everyone has already posted some great information here related to ISF forms. Process. Input related to workflow. My two cents are related to intent. It seems that your institutional intent is to 1. Provide a notification to the investigator's unit approvers that they will be applying for funding, and 2. Gain their approval for said action.

Could you tell me if this approval is ever withheld at your institution? I ask this question because it seems that adding this process to Cayuse might be resource-intensive and add workflow and approval burden. If the process is just a formality that provides notification to the investigators unit and they 'always' say yes, it may not be a necessary process.

However, if it is indeed the "Pre-Award Preparation" process and triggers action across a range of workflows, then yes, indeed, that might be something worth adding.

We have an "Intent to Submit" process that is information that allows our investigators to notify their departmental units and our pre-award team so that they can get the proposal on the calendar and assign an RA to the investigator. The "Intent to Submit" is relatively informal. It creates an assignment to an RA and sets up a calendar event, but there are no further actions until the investigator begins the proposal development process with the RA.

In our systems, we do not require faculty and departmental sign-offs until the proposal is fully developed and ready to route for submission, which is usually five days before the due date. That is when all the signatures (electronic workflows) come into play.

Often at the "Intent to Submit" phase, a proposal will fall off the investigator's radar, or not be a viable opportunity, or perhaps they cannot get their team together to pull the proposal together. So there is no wasted effort for anyone at that phase, just an email that says, "Hey, I am interested."

I wish you all the best it is excellent to hear how institutions work through this process.



------------------------------
Michelle Davis, M.Ed.
Research Administrator, Office of Research
College of Health Sciences, Boise State University
michelledavis3@boisestate.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Augusta, thanks for the feedback.  More information for us to consider.  The ISF gives administration info like whether cost share is being requested or release time or tuition or waiver/reduction of IDC and they want to find all this out before routing and approval.  I just want to see if there's a way to easily capture this type of info in Cayuse rather than having a separate process external to Cayuse.  It would be nice if we could accept an email.  We kind of used to do that but the emails never included all the information that was needed.  Thanks again for your insight.  Perhaps we gave up on the email and complicated things with the ISF.  I dunno.  -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-26-2022 06:43
From: Augusta Isley
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hello frands! Just a few bits that I can chime in on.

To Andrea's point about leadership not being blindsided: Yes, we tell our faculty to discuss with their chair and dean their intentions once they've sent us in Central SPA an email that they want to apply to something. The first time administration is hearing about a proposal going out the door should not be when they get a notice to authorize from Cayuse. Regardless of cost share or other things, we've had many a tough conversation with admins being VERY grumpy that they knew nothing about the activity. It's taken a few years, but our faculty have been really good about initiating those conversations now at the same time they engage with SPA.

A secondary benefit of the faculty talking to their leadership prior to a Cayuse routing is that we have cut down on the number of "pre approval" emails that are flying around. It was really frustrating and burdensome for us as SPA Proposal Managers to have to write wordy emails requesting approval for release time, departmental cost share, or god forbid, tuition for GAs, only to upload the pre-approval emails and have to route the proposal for 'official approval' in Cayuse anyway. It was like what's the point of Cayuse then? Now that faculty are engaging earlier with their leadership, boom, Cayuse is the stamp of approval without heartache.

Regarding "Letters of Intent" to sponsors: If an official LOI process is required by a sponsor and includes a budget figure, we treat it like a regular proposal and route it for approvals. If the LOI is invited for a Full proposal, we create a Project record in Cayuse and bundle the LOI record (with updated status as "Funded/Preliminary") with the Full proposal record, and - even if the budget is the exact same - route the Full all over again. This way the two records stay together and there's documentation of the effort put in for both.

------------------------------
Augusta Isley
Senior Proposal Manager
Ball State University
amwray@bsu.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2022 08:21
From: Michelle Davis
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hello Audrey,

Everyone has already posted some great information here related to ISF forms. Process. Input related to workflow. My two cents are related to intent. It seems that your institutional intent is to 1. Provide a notification to the investigator's unit approvers that they will be applying for funding, and 2. Gain their approval for said action.

Could you tell me if this approval is ever withheld at your institution? I ask this question because it seems that adding this process to Cayuse might be resource-intensive and add workflow and approval burden. If the process is just a formality that provides notification to the investigators unit and they 'always' say yes, it may not be a necessary process.

However, if it is indeed the "Pre-Award Preparation" process and triggers action across a range of workflows, then yes, indeed, that might be something worth adding.

We have an "Intent to Submit" process that is information that allows our investigators to notify their departmental units and our pre-award team so that they can get the proposal on the calendar and assign an RA to the investigator. The "Intent to Submit" is relatively informal. It creates an assignment to an RA and sets up a calendar event, but there are no further actions until the investigator begins the proposal development process with the RA.

In our systems, we do not require faculty and departmental sign-offs until the proposal is fully developed and ready to route for submission, which is usually five days before the due date. That is when all the signatures (electronic workflows) come into play.

Often at the "Intent to Submit" phase, a proposal will fall off the investigator's radar, or not be a viable opportunity, or perhaps they cannot get their team together to pull the proposal together. So there is no wasted effort for anyone at that phase, just an email that says, "Hey, I am interested."

I wish you all the best it is excellent to hear how institutions work through this process.



------------------------------
Michelle Davis, M.Ed.
Research Administrator, Office of Research
College of Health Sciences, Boise State University
michelledavis3@boisestate.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Michelle, this is definitely food for thought.  The ISF I think is a bit more formal than it used to be at my institution.  New leadership is keeping a close eye on ISFs in anticipation of possible commitments instead of waiting until routing and approval.  And they want an easy way to keep count of interest that doesn't develop into a full proposal.  So more than just counting a proposal in Cayuse that doesn't get submitted, they want to know if an ISF gets done and doesn't even get set up in Cayuse.  Thanks much for the feedback everyone!  I appreciate it.

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2022 08:21
From: Michelle Davis
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Hello Audrey,

Everyone has already posted some great information here related to ISF forms. Process. Input related to workflow. My two cents are related to intent. It seems that your institutional intent is to 1. Provide a notification to the investigator's unit approvers that they will be applying for funding, and 2. Gain their approval for said action.

Could you tell me if this approval is ever withheld at your institution? I ask this question because it seems that adding this process to Cayuse might be resource-intensive and add workflow and approval burden. If the process is just a formality that provides notification to the investigators unit and they 'always' say yes, it may not be a necessary process.

However, if it is indeed the "Pre-Award Preparation" process and triggers action across a range of workflows, then yes, indeed, that might be something worth adding.

We have an "Intent to Submit" process that is information that allows our investigators to notify their departmental units and our pre-award team so that they can get the proposal on the calendar and assign an RA to the investigator. The "Intent to Submit" is relatively informal. It creates an assignment to an RA and sets up a calendar event, but there are no further actions until the investigator begins the proposal development process with the RA.

In our systems, we do not require faculty and departmental sign-offs until the proposal is fully developed and ready to route for submission, which is usually five days before the due date. That is when all the signatures (electronic workflows) come into play.

Often at the "Intent to Submit" phase, a proposal will fall off the investigator's radar, or not be a viable opportunity, or perhaps they cannot get their team together to pull the proposal together. So there is no wasted effort for anyone at that phase, just an email that says, "Hey, I am interested."

I wish you all the best it is excellent to hear how institutions work through this process.



------------------------------
Michelle Davis, M.Ed.
Research Administrator, Office of Research
College of Health Sciences, Boise State University
michelledavis3@boisestate.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2022 11:38
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Intent to Submit Form

Good afternoon!  We have an Intent to Submit Form (ISF) in Echosign that is used to gather some general information and alert the powers that a faculty member intends to submit a proposal.  It has to be signed by the faculty member, their school leader, and the dean.  We would like to run this process through Cayuse.  Are any of you doing this?  We do not have version 4.  I would like to know how people may be using Cayuse to do this.  If you'd like to chat offline, please let me know and hanks in advance. -- alwf

------------------------------
[Audrey Wineglass] [Foster]
[Director, Sponsored Programs]
[Gallaudet University]
[Washington] [DC]
[202-651-5497]
------------------------------