The Sponsored Operations Office is dedicated to providing a business infrastructure in support of the Vice President for Research (VPR) operations. Our main functions include management and support of the research database, data analysis, interpretation, reporting, general support in the day-to-day operations of the VPR office, university level certifications and assurances, and the development and oversight of internal business and data processes utilizing Lean principles.
The Sponsored Operations Office maintains a cloud-based electronic research administration (eRA) system called Cayuse for managing its portfolio of proposals, awards, subawards, fund management, technologies, agreements, inventions, conflict of interest, human and animal ethics and institutional bio- and radiation safety activities. Work began on this implementation in August 2022. Visit the Cayuse Implementation page for more information.
Requesting Proposal and Award Data
This office is the central source of data for University proposal and award activity. The data is used to feed information to other University resources and tools, as well as to keep deans, chairs, directors and other administrators apprised of these activities.
We have a long history of proposal and award activity and with the new Cayuse eRA, departments and centers now have direct access to their recent activity. An important timeline to keep in mind is at the time of Cayuse's implementation, sponsored projects proposal and award legacy data with submit or award dates on or after July 1, 2012 were uploaded into Cayuse and access to that data is dependent upon a user's authorized role and the timing of their role.
As our customer, we will continue to support your reporting needs. To receive proposal and award data on an adhoc basis complete a request form. The Sponsored Operations Office strives to fulfill requests within 24-48 hours on business days. During periods of high request volume, additional time may be required. Please note that all requests for award expenditure data must be submitted to Sponsored Programs Accounting.
Submitted Proposal Status Tracking Practices
In Cayuse, proposals will remain in "Submitted to Sponsor" status for a maximum of fourteen months following its submission. The status is changed by the Sponsored Programs Office from "Submitted to Sponsor" to either:
Funded, if proposal was formally accepted by the sponsor for funding; or
Under Consideration if it is believed the funding may be awarded but there is some extenuating delay; or
Closed if proposal is not funded, tabled for a revision to be sent to the sponsor, not submitted to the sponsor or is withdrawn from submission.
The Under Consideration eventually progresses to Funded or Closed based on the outcome of the proposal.
In our previous management process for proposal statuses, an update regarding a proposal's status was obtained in two ways:
- Notice was received directly from the sponsor or Principal Investigator, or
- Auto-emails were distributed by our eRA system requesting a status update from the Principal Investigator
The Sponsored Programs Office then updated the system record. We are currently reviewing this management process in an effort to establish an efficient and accurate process for moving forward.