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      • e-Grants Guidelines for Departmental Administrators/Approvers
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Guidelines for Departmental Administrators/Approvers for eGrants

• Approver role (Head of Department) and Submitter role
• Approval Process
• Internal procedures and notes on completing EDS forms 1-3

Approver role (Head of Department) and Submitter role

The eGrants system has created an Approver role called 'Head of Department' and a Submitter role called 'Institution Administration Department Users' (IAD Users) to help manage this process. The Approver role called 'Head of Department' is carried out by an authorised representative from each department (not necessarily the actual Head of the Department) and the Submitter role called 'IAD Users' is carried out by authorised representatives from Research Services.

It is also possible for the 'Head of Department' to delegate access to their account to any other eGrants account holder who is in the same institution, as they feel appropriate (i.e. to an Administrator). Anyone who has been delegated access to the 'Head of Department' account will in essence be using the 'Head of Department' account and not their own. Therefore they will have the same rights as the 'Head of Department' and their name will not appear in any of the electronic forms or notifications.

Approval Process

Once the PI has completed their application they must assign a 'Head of Department' (this can be done at any stage, but the application cannot move forward for approval until this is done). This is done via the Application Details page, by selecting the [Update] option available next to the Head of Department title.

The application can then be submitted for departmental approval via the Application Details page, by clicking on the Submit to Head of Department button. A system-generated email is sent to the assigned 'Head of Department' (and any delegated user if this option has been set up by the 'Head of Department') informing them that the application is ready for approval or rejection.

The 'Head of Department' or delegated user must then log on to eGrants to review the application. If amendments are necessary the 'Head of Department' or delegated user must return the application to the PI to make the changes as they do not have edit access. The PI makes the changes and re-submits the application to the 'Head of Department' again.

Once the 'Head of Department' or delegated user is content for the application to proceed, they submit it on to Research Services for checking, institutional approval and onward submission to the Wellcome Trust. This is done via the Application Details page, by clicking on the Approve & Submit to Admin. Dept. button.

Internal procedures and notes on completing EDS forms 1-3

In order to ensure the smooth running of the approval process Research Services has developed and agreed some procedures in conjunction with departments, as follows:

Please note that the EDS forms are used to nominate Approvers and Resolve OG Submitters for both the Je-S system and the Wellcome Trust's eGrants system. Departments can select the same people to fulfil these roles for both systems, or different people for each system as appropriate. However please consider the different approval mechanisms for each system before nominating approvers.

• A standard Agreement (EDS 1) has been drawn up between Research Services and each department to authorise the delegation of (a) the approval of grant applications and (b) the electronic submission of Resolve OG files from the Head of Department to specific members of staff listed on an EDS 2 form.

• The EDS 2 form contains separate sections for 'Approvers' and 'Resolve OG Submitters' as it is recognised that different members of staff often need to perform each of these functions.

• If a department has submitted a signed EDS 1 Agreement and EDS 2 form listing Resolve OG Submitters to Research Services, then there is no need for the department to also submit a signed hard copy of the OG to Research Services. However, it is a responsibility of the department to retain a hard copy of the Resolve OG file, signed by all the applicants and the Head of Department.

• If the department needs to change who is authorised to undertake the Approver/'Head of Department' role or the Resolve OG Submitter role, then they should complete the EDS 3 Form and get this signed by the Head of Department.

• It is recommended that departments nominate only one Approver/'Head of Department' per department to avoid confusion when the PI selects which 'Head of Department' to send their application to. It does not matter who is in the role of 'Head of Department' (i.e. actual Head of Department, Administrator, Finance Officer etc) as long as the department's PIs will be familiar with the person's name and know to select them to approve their application.

• To ensure cover during staff absences, we advise the 'Head of Department' account to delegate access to other users, and for the department have at least two members of staff listed as 'Resolve OG Submitters'. Please note that the users delegated access to the 'Head of Department' account do not need to be listed on the EDS2 form, as this should be managed by the 'Head of Department'.

• The person nominated as Approver/'Head of Department' and those who intend to be delegated access will need to create a user account on the eGrants system. Please note that any person who does not intend to be a PI, Co-applicant, or supervisor on an application only requires a partial account.

• Once created, the status of the nominated 'Head of Department' account will be changed to 'Head of Department' by Research Services so that it is available for PI's to select. It is the responsibility of the person with the 'Head of Department' account to delegate access to this account as this cannot be done centrally by Research Services. To delegate access, the 'Head of Department' should go to the Delegates tab from the Homepage and then select the relevant person from the drop down list.

• All accounts created on the eGrants system will require a unique email address, normally the person's individual ox.ac.uk email address. The email address is automatically checked by the system and if it is already in use on another account, the new account will be rejected. Account creation is immediate.

• If the 'Head of Department' account delegates access to another eGrants user, the 'Head of Department' can choose the option for the delegated user to also receive email notifications. We would recommend that this option be selected.

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