Understanding xTrain in eRA Commons for NIH Grant Administration
Explore the functionalities of xTrain in the electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons by NIH, enabling efficient processing of grant-related activities such as appointments, re-appointments, terminations, and more. Learn about the roles of users, from Program Directors/Principal Investigators to Trainees, for seamless grant management within the system.
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xTrain Overview xTrain Overview electronic Research Administration (eRA) OER, OD, National Institutes of Health
2 xTrain is part of eRA Commons, an online application that allows both grantees and Federal staff to access and share administrative grant information xTrain allows Institution users to electronically prepare, route and submit Appointments, Re- appointments, Amendments, and Termination Notices xTrain allows users to track the status of Appointments and Termination Notices xTrain is also used by Agency grants management staff to process Appointments and Termination Notices submitted electronically it is an end to end system
3 An eRA Commons account is needed to use xTrain Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) The xTrain functions available to users are based on the roles associated with their accounts PI Delegate (ASST) xTrain accounts may have multiple roles, and PD/PI and Trainees may have multiple affiliations. xTrain will display grants based on the users current default institution. Trainee Sponsor Sponsor Delegate Business Official (BO)
4 Responsible for overall direction of the training program Multi-PIs, can perform the same actions as the Contact PI Create Appointment, Reappointment, Amendment and Termination. Submit Appointment, Reappointment and Amendments for Training and Career Development Grants Submit Terminations on Career Development Grants Fellows are PD/PIs on Fellowship grants Program Director/ Principal Investigator (PD/PI)
5 Person, delegated by the PD/PI, with the authority to perform xTrain-related functions on his/her behalf PI Delegate (ASST) Create Appointment, Reappointment, Amendment and Termination on behalf of the PD/PI. Receives the same notifications as the PD/PI. May NOT submit Appointment or Termination to NIH
6 Person at grantee Institution who will be appointed to a grant. Trainee Responsible for providing demographic data on appointment form. Must electronically sign appointment form by routing it to the PD/PI before the appointment can be submitted.
7 Person working in research institution s business office who has signature or other authority related to administering training grants Business Official (BO) BOs are the only users with the authority to submit Termination Notices on behalf of the institution for institutional research training programs and fellowships
8 Applicable to Fellowships ONLY Sponsor Sponsor: Person at a grantee Institution who mentors Fellows Sponsor Delegate Sponsor may initiate Termination if the Fellow is not available. Sponsor Delegate: Person who assists the Sponsor in performing Fellowship Termination related duties.
9 Person working in research institution s business office who has signature or other authority related to administering training grants Business Official (BO) BOs are the only users with the authority to submit Termination Notices on behalf of the institution for institutional research training programs and fellowships The BO is NOT involved in termination notices for Career and Research Education grants (K/R Activity codes)
10 eRA Commons users with the Signing Official (SO), Administrative Official (AO), or Accounts Administrator (AA) role can create accounts with BO, PI, Sponsor or ASST roles or they can add these roles to existing accounts A Trainee account can be created by the SO through the Account Management System (AMS) or by the PD/PI or ASST through the xTrain Appointment process by either: Initiating an Appointment form for a person with an existing eRA Commons account (this will add the Trainee role) Invite a person to register through xTrain (this will create new account for the Trainee)
11 Required for Training (T) and Career Development (K), and Research Education (R) grants Initiated by PD/PI or ASST Must be electronically signed by the Trainee Submitted by PD/PI Fellowship (F) Grants do not use the Appointment form, rather their Appointment is their Notice of Award
12 PD/PI identifies Trainee, initiates Appointment by filling out the 2271 and routes 2271 to Trainee Trainee fills out the 2271 form and updates profile and routes it back to PD/PI This work flow also applies to Re-Appointments and Amendments Trainee Program Director/ Principal Investigator PD/PI reviews completed 2271 and routes it to Agency for final approval Agency
13 Utilized by Training Grants (T) and Career Development Grants (K/R) Initiated by PD/PI or ASST Must be electronically signed by the Trainee/ Appointee Submitted by PD/PI
14 The PDF form contains additional information regarding the Trainee. Data is populated from the Trainee s Profile, Grant, and appointment form in xTrain The PDF cannot be modified, if data needs to be corrected it should be done through the appropriate module
15 The PDF form captures the electronic signature of PD/PI and Trainee The form is finalized when the PD/PI submits it to agency.
16 Grantees should use an Amendment form if they need to make changes to the following: Changes to Appointment Period Changes to Stipend Level
17 If a Trainee will be continuing on another year of the grant a new appointment form is not necessary. In the trainee roster the Action column contains an option to Re- Appoint trainee. The PD/PI will select the year to which the trainee is to be appointed, and modify the appointment period.
18 All required fields must be provided Trainee must have a completed Personal Profile xTrain uses the demographic and degree information from the Personal Profile to ensure the trainee is eligible for the appointment Demographic data is not displayed on the user interface, but on the PDF of the 2271 Appointment form. Trainee may not have overlapping appointments Appointment period may not exceed 12 months
19 Terminations should be started on the last appointment period, this termination notice will terminate all previous years xTrain sends out reminders to the PD/PI and copies the IC Central Box when an appointment end date is approaching and there is no reappointment for the Trainee The PD/PI, ASST, BO may initiate a Termination notice at any time for a Training (T) grant The PD/PI, Sponsor or BO may initiate a Termination notice at any time for a Fellowship (F) The PD/PI or ASST may initiate a Termination notice at any time for a Career (K/R) grant Terminations must be reviewed by at least 2 people before they can be submitted to Agency For T and F grants, initiated Termination notices are automatically routed to the assigned BO if no action is taken within 14 days.
20 PD/PI locates Trainee on Roster, initiates a Termination Notice (TN), inputs additional info and routes TN to Trainee Program Director/ Principal Investigator 20 Trainee Trainee fills out required information and routes the TN back to PD/PI PD/PI reviews TN and routes it to BO BO approves and routes TN to Agency Business Official Agency
21 PD/PI locates Trainee on Roster, initiates a Termination Notice (TN), inputs additional info and routes TN to Trainee 21 Trainee Trainee fills out required information and routes the TN back to PD/PI Program Director/ Principal Investigator PD/PI approves and routes the TN to Agency Agency
22 PD/PI initiates a Termination Notice (TN) from the Trainee Roster, inputs additional info and routes TN to Sponsor Fellow (PD/PI) 22 Sponsor Sponsor verifies information and routes the TN to BO BO approves and routes TN to Agency Agency Business Official
23 Business Official is required for Training and Fellowship Grants If Trainee is leaving their appointment early, the PD/PI can modify the appointment end date. System will recalculate stipend for Training grants..
24 Trainee should provide: Summary of training received. If summary is over 2000 characters with spaces, a PDF should be uploaded. Post Award information such as mailing address and activities.
25 xTrain captures the electronic signature of the users that worked on the Termination notice The PDF cannot be modified directly, user must make corrections within xTrain if the PDF has errors
26 xTrain now has the functionality to allow the agency to terminate an appointment without involvement from the grantee institution. To initiate a Proxy Termination, use the Grant Search screen to locate the appointment that requires termination, there will be an option to Proxy Term xTrain will not allow a proxy termination to be initiated if there is already a termination notice started on the grantee side If the Agency User does not have the information to fill out all required fields (such as the Training Received summary) the user may choose to accept without validations
27 Search for WIP Appointments and Termination screen allows agency users to locate any forms that has not been accepted by agency User must search by IC and Form Status In addition user may search by Trainee or PD/PI Name, and Grant Number User may also search for forms that have not yet been submitted
28 A Trainee is not appointed to the grant until the appointment form is accepted by Agency User may choose to: Accept the appointment Place the appointment on hold Place on hold Awaiting Paper Signature Route back to institution for additional information Delete the appointment Some Trainee information such as demographic data is displayed on the PDF, and not on the screen.
29 An appointment is not terminated until the Termination Notice is accepted by Agency User may choose to: Accept the Termination Place the Termination on hold Place on hold Awaiting Award Revision Route back to Institution for additional information Delete the Termination Termination notices must be accepted before Payback and Closeout activities can begin Some Trainee information such as demographic data is displayed on the PDF, and not on the screen.
30 K and R awards can now utilize the early termination functionality PD/PI can now recall any Appointment or Termination form that is assigned to a user within their institution (even if they were not the last reviewer). When there is a change of PD/PI, xTrain will now only grant access to the PD/PI(s) on the most recently awarded grant year. The previous PD/PI(s) can still access their grant year s information through Status. xTrain forms were updated to accommodate OMB clearance with the following major changes: New Field of Research Training (FOT) codes Tuition/Fees and Travel lines have been removed. Changes to question order, and text
31 I accepted a form, and just realized that the Trainee has the wrong stipend level. How can I fix this? Locate the grant in Grant Search, from the Trainee roster, select the 2271 form, and select Revert to Prior State , then Route Back to Institution the institution will be able to fix the stipend level and resubmit. Fellow cannot see their Fellowship in xTrain, what do I do? Check if the activation date is populated in Grants Management module (GM). If it is, please contact the eRA Service Desk so we can fix a data issue xTrain shows that a Fellowship s Appointment status says Terminated , but the Termination notice does not say Accepted , what s going on? This is a data issue, please contact the eRA Service Desk so it can be addressed
32 A trainee took 4 months off, the Institution sent me the termination notice and appointment form, but the appointment form is showing an end date which is before the appointment start date, how do I fix this? Because xTrain terminates all appointments for a trainee at the same time, when a trainee returns from a leave of absence, it is very important to make sure that the new appointment form is not initiated before the previous segment s termination is accepted by agency. If the previous segment was terminated, and the termination date is on the new appointment form, both it, and the previous segment s termination must be deleted. Once this is done, terminate the previous segment, and only after initiate the new appointment.
33 I need to appoint trainees to the current Fiscal Year, but the stipend amounts aren t available yet. Should I wait to appoint? xTrain will let you appoint the Trainee to last years stipend amount. Once the new levels are released, complete an amendment, and reselect the correct stipend level.
34 The eRA Service Desk can assist with technical issues related to xTrain. Hours: Mon-Fri, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time (closed on federal holidays) Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552 Phone: 301-402-7469 You may also submit a ticket online at: http://grants.nih.gov/support/index.html
35 xTrain Web Page: application guide, quick reference sheets, FAQs, training materials: http://era.nih.gov/era_training/xtrain.cfm xTrain Quick Reference Guide for Trainees: http://era.nih.gov/files/xTrain_Getting_Started_Trainees.pdf xTrain Appointment Quick Reference Guide: http://era.nih.gov/files/xTrain_Initiate_Appointment.pdf xTrain Termination Quick Reference Guide: http://era.nih.gov/files/termination_appointment.pdf NIH Forms & Applications: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm
