e-Systems are designed for quick access to key online systems that help support faculty and staff in meeting the research mission of the university. The major e-Systems used in support of campus research are described and linked below, along with related online tools for effort reporting and accessing account data.

SmartGrant

SmartGrant is the software tool used to assist faculty and staff in creating proposal budgets, preparing and routing the Internal Processing Form (IPF) and the attached proposal, and submitting proposals electronically to the sponsor agency through Grants.gov as applicable. A UMass NetID and password is required to access the SmartGrant system.

Learn more about SmartGrant

Research Administration Data Warehouse (JOL)

The Research Administration Data Warehouse (formerly known as Jordan Online - JOL) is the UMass Amherst online database of proposals and awards information. With the Data Warehouse system, users can create customized reports based on specific criteria. A UMass NetID and password is required to access the Data Warehouse, please see SmartGrant section above regarding the process for obtaining a User Logon ID.

Learn more about the Research Administration Data Warehouse (JOL)

e-Protocol

e-Protocol is an electronic system for submitting and monitoring the status of Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) protocols.  New users should review the process for establishing a login and gaining access to e-Protocol for either human subject research, animal use, or institutional biosafety.

e-Protocol / IRB for human subjects research supports online submission, review, and management of human subject protocol information submitted to the IRB. All requests for approval of human subject research must be submitted electronically through the e-Protocol system.

e-Protocol / IACUC for animal use research supports online submission, review, and management of animal protocol information submitted to the IACUC. All requests for approval of animal use research must be submitted electronically through the e-Protocol system.

e-Protocol / IBC for institutional biosafety supports online submission, review, and management of institutional biosafety information submitted to the IBC.  All requests for approval of institutional biosafety must be submitted electronically through the e-Protocol system.

eShip Global

To ensure the proper shipment of regulated and export controlled materials the campus has adopted the shipping software tool, eShip Global.

This web-based application ensures that research material shipments are prepared in accordance with the most current dangerous goods regulations from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Learn more about eShip Global.

Sponsor-specific Systems

Sponsor-specific systems include electronic interface systems created and maintained by external sponsors. They may be federal, state, or private and include, for example, Grants.gov, Research.gov, eCommons, Fastlane and nSpires.

Grants.gov includes all discretionary grants offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies.

NSF FastLane and Research.gov Systems

Beginning on April 30, 2018, Principal Investigators will have the option of using Research.gov to submit Full, Research, non-collaborative proposals to NSF. Please note, RAPID, EAGER, Fellowships, Collaborative proposals, and SBIR/STTR full proposals, as well as submissions other than full proposals (letters of intent, preliminary proposals, revised budgets and renewals), all must still go through Fastlane.

The initial release of this new Research.gov capability will run in parallel with existing FastLane proposal preparation and submission capabilities. As a result, proposers can choose to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov or in FastLane. Other proposal types will be added to Research.gov in the future.

Please note, proposals initiated in the new system will not be available in FastLane and proposals prepared in FastLane will not be available in the new system. This new system is being developed incrementally and as capabilities are migrated from FastLane to Research.gov, the system features will expand until it eventually replaces FastLane for proposal preparation and submission.

See the NSF Sponsor-specific Resources page for more details.

NSF FastLane and Research.gov Registration

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made changes to the way the research community registers for NSF accounts and maintains account and user profile information in FastLane and Research.gov. Effective March 26, 2018, NSF introduced a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov for the research community that provides each new user with a single profile and unique identifier (i.e., NSF ID) for signing in to FastLane and Research.gov for proposal and award activities.

For more details on the registration process, see the registration section of the NSF Sponsor-specific Resources

Online Tools for Effort Reporting and Account Data 

ECRT (Effort Reporting) is a way of certifying effort on federal grants that is tied to the UMass payroll system. It is a certification process designed to help faculty and staff comply with University's effort reporting policies, federal policies and other relevant agency policies which govern the need to provide certification of an individual's effort on funded projects. 

Summit is a web-based tool used by UMass that delivers PeopleSoft financial data in user friendly customized graphs and tables, allowing access to financial data for accounts at both summary and detail levels.