Grants
Online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) |
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Visit this site often to review our Frequently Asked Questions List.
Click on the question that most closely matches your concern. The system will navigate you to a detailed response.
To view the response for another question, click the link below the answer for the current question.
If you need a response to a question not included on this page, send an email to: GrantsOnline.HelpDesk@noaa.gov |
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Grants Online Access |
How can I access Grants Online?
How do I obtain a Grants Online username and password?
Why am I no longer able to access Grants Online using my username and password?
What are the Grants Online Help Desk responsibilities?
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General Implementation and Security |
Do we have to login and logout of Grants Online to do work?
I’m concerned that the proposals received by my office or awards to my organization will be able to be seen by too many people.
Who can access what kind of information in the system?
How do we handle Pre-Applications?
What do I do if Grants Online fails to provide a critical business function that is done in my Program Office?
What happens when there is a policy or business process change in the PO office?
To whom do we submit change requests?
Who is on the Change Control Board (CCB) and what is its role?
What type of IT support does this system have?
Is there a file size storage limit within Grants.gov and/or Grants Online?
At what juncture is the scanner used? What is it used for? What type of output is required?
How do you set up the routing for an interagency Request For Applications (RFA)? |
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For Federal Program Officers - Grants.gov and Receiving Proposals |
What are the ways to receive proposals through the system into my NOAA Program Office?
Who inputs the data?
What do I do if I can’t read the documents submitted in the Grants.gov applications?
Is each program office responsible for informing grantees/applicants (groups, organizations and individuals) about the Grants.gov
registration process?
What kind of support does Grants.gov offer?
Is there Grants.gov outreach?
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For Federal Program Officers - DW Validate and CBS Validate |
What is the difference between DW Validate and CBS Validate?
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For Grantees - Grants.gov, Grants Online and ASAP
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As a NOAA grant recipient what actions do I perform through Grants.gov and which do I perform in Grants Online?
As a NOAA grant recipient do I also use Grants Online for payments, or do I still use ASAP?
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Training Information
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Will
there be "Refresher" training conducted?
Are there training manuals?
Is there Instructor-led training for Grantees?
What type of continual training will be
offered to Regional Offices? |
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Grants Online Access |
How do I access Grants Online?
Using your web browser (preferably Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) enter the following URL in your
address bar: https://grantsonline.rdc.noaa.gov.
You must have a valid userid and password in order to access the system.
Known browser/technology problems: There are some limitations when using Grants Online with certain
browsers/technology.
To view identified limitations Click here.
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How do I obtain a Grants Online username and password?
Federal Users
Please click here. for the Federal User Quick Reference Guide.
The document contains valuable information associated with the requirements for obtaining a username and password for Federal Users.
Grant Recipients (Grantees)
Please click here. for the Grant Recipient Quick Reference Guide.
The document contains valuable information associated with the requirements for obtaining a username and password for Grantees.
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Why am I no longer able to access Grants Online using my username and password?
During the first annual Reauthorization Project (mandated by the Department of Commerce), Federal and Recipient Authorized Account
Approvers (AAAs) were asked to update the status for all users and roles under their purview. If an AAA indicated a user
account and/or role was no longer needed, updates were made to prevent access to the Grants Online system.
Furthermore, if after additional research by the PMO there was no justification for retaining a user’s role,
that access to Grants Online was terminated. A user account for which all roles were removed may be re-created with a written
request to the Grants Online Help Desk (grantsonline.helpdesk@noaa.gov). The request must originate with a user authorized
to request new accounts. In addition, the request must justify the roles that will be assigned to the new user account.
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What are the Grants Online Help Desk responsibilities?
Role |
Responsibilities |
Recipient Administrator |
All the actions related to managing their organization's user accounts:
- Create an account for a new user
- Reset user passwords
- Unlock user accounts
- Update the roles and access for users
- Disassociate users
For step-by-step instructions associated with tasks performed by the Recipient Administrator, please reference the Task Reference Guide.
The Grants Online Help Desk is available for additional assistance to the Recipient Administrator as needed.
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Federal Staff |
Provide guidance with non-technical questions, including helping users with the following:
- Programmatic and grants management
- Policy questions - terms and conditions on their awards
- Content of financial and progress reports
- Explaining the different award action requests and the content if submitted through Grants Online
- Close out process
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Grants Online Program Management Office (Help Desk) |
Technical support associated with completing the following actions:
- View a task
- View an award file
- View workflow history
- Accept a new award
- Reassign tasks
- Access and submit progress and financial reports
- Inquiries related to reports that are not generated in the system
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General Implementation
and Security |
Do we have to login and logout of Grants Online
to do work?
Yes. Grants Online has a sophisticated security scheme,
which provides permissions and access based on the login
ID of the user. The amount of time that a user remains
logged in without taking any action will be limited
to 60 minutes.
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I’m concerned that
the proposals received by my office or awards to my
organization will be able to
be seen by too many people. Who can access what kind
of information in the system?
In addition to requiring user authentication through
usernames and passwords, Grants Online uses a combination
of role-based and office-based access.
A Program Officer will be able to view any applications
that are submitted to their designated Program Office,
but will not have default access to view applications
from other Program Offices. There are some Program Officers
who have a need to view applications in other Program
Offices. Grants Online allows flexibility for internal
access, (e.g., the Program Office Administrator for Coastal
Ocean Programs (COP) can allow a Sea Grant Program Officer
to view the applications submitted to the COP office).
Grantees can only access their own organizations' awards. Authorized
Representatives and Business/Financial Representatives can view all of the
awards for their organization. Additionally, Grantees can set up their PIs and General Users to be able to
view only the specific awards to which they will need access.
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How do we handle Pre-Applications?
OMB directives prohibit
agency back-end systems such as Grants Online from communicating
directly with applicants. That is the sole responsibility
of Grants.gov. In order to get pre-applications into
the system, the Program Office must either have the applicants use
the SF-424 and an authorized official submit the pre-applications
through Grants.gov, or must accept the pre-applications outside of Grants.gov
(paper, email, etc.),
and scan them into the system (if paper) to associate them with
the full applications received through Grants.gov.
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What do I do if Grants Online
fails to provide a critical business function that is
done in my Program Office?
The Grants Online Program Management Office expended a great
deal of time
and effort before and during system development to identify
the requirements and business processes that are essential
for all NOAA program offices. In the event you feel
a business process has been overlooked, you will be
able to submit enhancement requests for review by the
Change Control Board. To enter a Change Control Board
request, NOAA users should contact your GMAC representative.
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What happens when there is
a policy or business process change in my Program Office?
To whom do we submit change requests?
See answer above. Grants Online was built to be a flexible system. The
conceivable changes that are sometimes made to the announcement
and review process, including requirements for new kinds
of application documents, etc. can already be handled
by the system. Internal routing flexibility for Request
For Application (RFA) approvals and Procurement Requests has also
been built into the system.
Grants Online was not built to enforce a particular
way of doing business, rather as a way to enhance the
way we do business. If a Program Office has a business
rule requiring a function be done in a particular way,
Grants Online will not enforce that business rule, nor
will Grants Online prohibit that business rule from
being implemented by the Program Office.
Grants Online is a NOAA-wide system. As such, it cannot
be customized to provide for enforcement of specific
processing that may be done differently by different
Program Offices. Any changes affecting all NOAA Program
Offices will be considered as enhancement requests by
the Change Control Board (CCB).
Grants
Online is also built to the standards imposed by both
law and the DOC Interim Grants Manual. Laws change and
so will the DOC manual. Grants Online will endeavor
to keep up with these changes as they occur.
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Who is on the Change Control Board (CCB) and
what is its role?
The Change Control Board (CCB) is comprised of the Grants Online Project
Manager, Grants Online Technical Leads, two representatives from each Line
Office, and two representatives from GMD. The CCB meetings are
facilitated by the Grants Online Program Management Office (PMO) are also attended
by Grants Online contractors. On an as needed basis,
additional users, including recipients, may be invited to particular CCB meetings to address
specific concerns.
The role of the CCB is to prioritize Help Desk tickets that have been
logged as enhancement System Change Requests. Tickets which have been identified
as defects are not reviewed by the CCB but are prioritized by the Grants Online PMO
to be addressed in the monthly releases. Defects have a higher priority and will be
addressed in the monthly releases ahead of enhancement requests. "Maintenance" enhancements - those
that are necessitated by internal or external policy changes, or which implement common
business best practices - will be prioritized after defects.
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What type of IT support does
this system have?
The Grants Online hardware is physically located at
the NOAA Information Technology Center (ITC) in Largo,
Maryland. The ITC also houses approximately 38 other
NOAA-wide administrative and financial systems including CBS. The
ITC has a generator in addition to battery backup
to provide more robust failover capability in the event
of a power outage. There are 6 complete Unix computer
systems (10 CPUs for production processing) dedicated
to Grants Online, which include redundant storage and
failover capability. NOAA has a hardware/software maintenance
contract with the development contractors covering a period of two
years after final system delivery.
The Grants Online
Help Desk is available to provide support for all Grants
Online users. This dedicated Help Desk currently operates Monday
through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm EST, with the exception
of Federal Holidays. To contact the Grants Online Help Desk please call
240-533-9533 or Email inquiries can be sent to GrantsOnline.Helpdesk@noaa.gov.
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Is there a file size storage
limit within Grants.gov and/or Grants Online?
Grants.gov: There is no limit on file size for submission
to Grants.gov. However, at times applicants submitting
large file have difficulty maintaining dial-up connections.
For this reason, we recommend using a zip file for applications
submittal.
Grants Online: There is no file size limit for Grants
Online. However, some users experience difficulties uploading large files based on their network speed. For
a guidance document with regard to uploading large files into Grants Online click here.
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At what juncture is the scanner
used? What is it used for? What type of output is required?
Grants Management Division (GMD)no longer
accepts paper documents. Anything that would normally be sent
to GMD will require scanning and insertion into the
appropriate place in Grants Online for processing by
GMD. So, if Program Offices continue to receive paper
applications, they will need to scan the entire paper
application for uploading to Grants Online plus manually
data enter a few key fields. The same is true for progress
reports and award action requests. Grants Online has workflow processes for maintaining
internal documents like Procurement Requests, NEPA documents, PO
Checklists, and other documents that are part of the
grants file. Items which
are not scannable (e.g., a fish carcass in formaldehyde)
will need to be maintained in the Program Office, with
a reference to its location in Grants Online.
In order to get a paper application into Grants Online,
you must scan the application into an appropriate set
of Public Document Format (PDF) files. One file for
each standard form, (e.g., the SF424 and SF424A would
be two files, one file for the project description,
one file for the budget detail, and any additional files
as appropriate). The PDF files will be bitmap files in
order to maintain the legal structure of the original
document. Also, in order to get a multi-page project
description into a PDF document, you need scanner software
that allows the scanning of multiple sheets into a single
multi-page PDF file. It would be very helpful to have
a scanner with a document feeder.
Because multi-page scanned PDF bitmap files will be
very large in size and will be extremely difficult for
reviewers with dial-up connections to retrieve, Program
Officers should strongly encourage their applicants
to submit electronic applications through Grants.gov.
Applications submitted electronically will be stored
in Grants Online in a format that can be accessed more
easily than scanned paper documents.
Purchasing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software
with a scanner is not recommended. Grants Online does
not have functionality to extract data from a converted
character document, so there is no advantage to using
OCR features.
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How do you
set up the routing for an interagency Request For Applications
(RFA)?
There are two ways that this can be done. First,
the interagency contacts could be made users of Grants
Online so that they can be included in the workflow for
the routing of documents within the system. Second,
the RFA creator can generate the Federal Funding Opportunity
and/or Federal Register Notice documents, save them
to their local system and route them outside of Grants
Online.
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For Federal Program Officers - Grants.gov and Receiving
Proposals |
What
are the ways to receive proposals through the system into my NOAA Program Office?
Grants Online is designed to automatically retrieve and
distribute proposals from Grants.gov, the government-wide
portal for the receipt of applications. All Program Offices
within NOAA and NOAA applicants should become familiar with Grants.gov. They
have excellent training on their web site. It
is the responsibility of the Program Offices to strongly
encourage their applicants to begin submitting through
Grants.gov. Paper proposals submitted to Program Offices
will require Program Office personnel to hand-key information
from the proposal into Grants Online. The Program Office
will also be responsible for scanning the proposals and
uploading the scanned documents to Grants Online. The
NOAA Print Shop on the third floor of SSMC3 is equipped
to provide high-volume scanning service. The Grants Management
Division (GMD) uses Grants Online for all grant processing,
therefore, paper applications are no longer accepted
from Program Offices. Although a smaller paper file will also be maintained,
the electronic record in Grants Online,
including the scanned application, will contain most of the official internal NOAA
grant file for all new awards that are processed after January 2005. The ultimate goal is for new Grant files to become totally electronic.
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Who inputs the data?
Grants Online is not just a data storage system. It is
an electronic grants processing and administration system.
Thus, the people who interact with the system to do their
jobs will enter data. These people are Request for Application
(RFA) creators, Federal Program Officers, Procurement Request Authorizing
Officials, Line Office Reviewers, Grants Specialists, Grants Officers,
and others. Program Officers can avoid doing additional
data entry by requiring applicants to submit proposals
through Grants.gov. Additionally, Grantees will input data for Financial and Progress reports as well as for Award Action Requests as needed.
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What do I do if I can’t
read the documents submitted in the Grants.gov applications?
Grants.gov is only able to accept PDF, Word, Excel, and
text files. If applicants need to submit graphics or other
types of binary files, they should imbed or convert them
to an acceptable format for upload. This limitation on
file types ensures that Program Officers and reviewers
will be able to read any applications that are submitted.
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Is each Program Office responsible
for informing grantees/applicants (groups, organizations
and individuals) about the Grants.gov registration process?
Yes. The NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD) sent
letters to each of the active NOAA recipients as of August 23, 2004
informing them of the need to register with Grants.gov and requesting
that they prepare for submission of future NOAA applications
through Grants.gov. The most recent NOAA Omnibus Federal
Register Notice (FRN) states that "...you will be
able to access, download and submit electronic grant applications
for NOAA Programs in this announcement at http://www.grants.gov."
The FRN also provides a short overview of Grants.gov and
the registration process. GMD has conducted outreach activities
that discuss Grants.gov and Grants Online with the
recipient community since FY 2005. However, GMD and the Grants
Online team cannot do this alone. There will be many in
the applicant/recipient community who will not be reached
by these efforts. The Program Offices are the front-line
interface to applicants and recipients. It is primarily
the responsibility of Program Office personnel to continue
to expand outreach to this community. The message that
the paper application process will soon be a thing of
the past needs to be delivered.
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What kind of support does Grants.gov
offer?
Grants.gov has extensive online tutorials, an excellent
Users Guide, an informative FAQ, and a responsive help
desk. NOAA was the first agency to receive an electronic
proposal from Grants.gov and currently receives over 90% of its applications directly from Grants.gov. The feedback on Grants.gov assistance
has been very positive, so we encourage you to both use
these available resources as well as promote them to your
applicant community.
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Is there Grants.gov outreach?
Grants.gov primarily depends on the 26 Federal agencies
that receive electronic applications through Grants.gov
to reach out to the community. A Grants.gov power point
presentation with lots of useful information is available
on the “Presentations” page of this website.
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For Federal Program Officers - DW Validate and CBS Validate |
What is the difference between DW Validate and CBS Validate?
There are two Validate buttons used in Grants Online associated with the Procurement Request and Commitment of Funds (PRCF)
to commit and obligate funds. The original button, DW Validate, was built into the system and is found on the ACCS details
page of the Procurement Request. Another button, visible to NOAA users only, was added during implementation of the interface
between Grants Online and the NOAA CBS data warehouse. The second button, CBS Validate, is found on the main details page of
the Procurement Request and on the CD-450 and Amendment Details screens.
DW Validate Button:
The DW Validate button causes the system to validate the Project, Task, Organization, and Object Class Codes entered on the
ACCS details screen against data downloaded nightly from the CBS Data Warehouse into Grants Online lookup tables. A successful
validation against this data brings back the Program Code to make a complete ACCS string on the Procurement Request. The DW
Validate button does not include a funds check.
NOTE: When Project, Task, Organization, or Object Class codes are updated in, or added to CBS it takes 1-2 days for updates
to be reflected in the Grants Online lookup tables.
CBS Validate Button (NOAA Only)
The CBS Validate button was added to Grants Online with the implementation of the interface between Grants Online and CBS.
Because the NOAA/CBS interface is currently only used for NOAA awards, the button is only displayed for NOAA users. When this
button is clicked it sends an interface transaction directly to CBS to validate the ACCS string, and check for funds availability.
The CBS validation needs the Program Code portion of the ACCS line to conduct an accurate validation; therefore, the DW validation
must be completed prior to attempting the CBS validation. The CBS validation checks the availability of funds at that moment in time
but does not reserve any funds for future use.
Because the availability of funds can change at any point in time there are 4 places in the workflow where the CBS validation is done
automatically and will prevent workflow from moving forward if the validation fails:
Budget Officer Approval of a Procurement Request
- Process Map UNI-3 step 18
- Process Map COMP-4 step 17
- Process Map PR1 step 10
- Process Map PR2 step 27
- Process Map PR3 step 8
FPO Forwarding of an Award file to the Grants Specialist
- Process Map UNI-3 step 31
- Process Map COMP-4 step 30
- Process Map PR-1 step 15
- Process Map PR-2 step 6
Grants Specialist Forwarding of an Award File to the Grants Officer
- Process Map GMD-1 step 7
- Process Map PR-1 step 17
- Process Map PR-2 step 8
Grants Officer Approval of a Funded Action
- Process Map GMD-1 step 10
- Process Map PR-1 step 20
- Process Map PR-2 step 10
- Process Map PR-3 step 10
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For Grantees - Grants.gov, Grants Online and ASAP |
As a NOAA grant recipient what actions do I perform through
Grants.gov and which do I perform in Grants Online?
Grants.gov is used to find and apply for funding opportunities. The "Pure-Edge" software
is only required for submitting proposals to Grants.gov. Proposals submitted for
NOAA by the posted deadline will be automatically moved from Grants.gov into NOAA's Grants Online "back-end" grants system.
NOAA's internal grants processing is done in the Grants Online system. Once an award is made,
recipients are given access to Grants Online to accept and manage their award, including submission
of Progress and Financial reports as well as submission of any post award action requests. Grants
Online is purely web-based and does not require the use of any additional plug-ins. The preferred browser for Grants Online is Internet Explorer.
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As a NOAA grant recipient do I also use Grants Online for payments, or do
I still use ASAP?
Grants Online does not replace any of the functionality in the Treasury Department's ASAP
system. You will still need to access ASAP to drawdown your grant funds. However, submission of SF-270 forms requesting
non-ASAP payments can and should be made via Grants Online.
Since there is no system-to-system interface between Grants Online and ASAP, if an extension is made
to a NOAA award, the Grants Online workflow will send a task to the appropriate NOAA staff to extend the award in ASAP
also. The award extension in ASAP is an action that happens outside of the Grants Online system.
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Training Information |
Will
there be "Refresher" training conducted?
Quarterly training classes are scheduled for New Federal Program Office users; however, current users are welcome to attend if space is available. Refresher training sessions for Federal users would need to be coordinated between Program Offices and the Grants Online Program Management Office. NOAA Programs should contact their GMAC
representative to coordinate one of these classes. Training information will also
be posted on the "Training" pages of this website.
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Are there training manuals?
User manuals and process maps are located on the "Training" pages. The user manuals and process maps
will be updated as needed to stay current with system functionality.
When necessary to address more immediate training needs on specific issues,
Quick Reference Guides will be developed and posted on the "Training" pages with an advisory posted
on Grants Online.
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Is there Instructor-led training for Grantees?
Grants Online mini trainings sessions for Grantees are held at the NOAA Grants Management conferences usually held on an annual basis.
Check the "Training" pages of this website or contact your NOAA Grants Specialist for information on upcoming conferences.
Additionally, some Program Offices include Grantee training sessions at their Program-specific conferences and workshops.
Occasionally Program Offices will arrange for specific Grants Online training sessions to be held for their grant recipients.
Grantees should contact their Federal Program Officers to inquire about any upcoming events of this nature.
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What type of continual training will be offered to Regional Offices?
Users at Regional Offices can participate remotely in classes if specifically coordinated through their Program Office.
Additionally Grants Online workshops will be held
during the annual NOAA Grants Management Division conferences. There are
users in many Regional Offices that have received Instructor-led training and can assist other users in their offices. As such, they
are also a good point of contact for local training and guidance.
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