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Updates

MN-GEMS Notice #015 - MN-GEMS updates including system unavailability and system issues

MN-GEMS will be unavailable due to the PeopleSoft upgrade Sat 10/19 (noon) to Sunday 10/20 (noon).

Additionally, SPA has learned of two system issues that are affecting completion of award modifications for converted award records. (Other types of awards and other transactions are NOT impacted.) While there is no action that departmental administrators or PIs need to take, we want you to be aware of the issues and the plans for resolution.

The first issue is due to MN-GEMS removing key data elements in the project's financial allocation record (e.g. Fund and deptid) when award modifications involve updates to financial allocations. At this time, SPA GCOs must manually review the Peoplesoft record and re-enter the missing data elements before the award modification can be processed. This problem has occurred on dozens of modifications already and could impact financial modifications on converted awards.

The second issue is related to converted awards where a data field contains a space instead of a "null". In MN-GEMS, a space in a data field causes an error to be identified whereas a null value would not. There is a current work around where removing the space in the field will remove the error and allow the transaction to be processed but this does not solve the underlying data issue.

Our vendor as well as OIT, ORIS and SPA business analysts are actively working on a rapid solution to both of these problems, and we will let you know as soon as the solution has been identified. In the meantime, impacted awards may be processed more slowly than would otherwise have been the case, since these transactions involve manual lookup and re-keying of data by SPA staff. Once you receive the modification, there should be no issue with the quality of the data included on it. We are doing our best to minimize any such delays.
 

MN-GEMS Notice #014 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Thursday 9/26 between 6pm and 8pm and updates

MN-GEMS will be unavailable Thursday 9/26 between 6pm and 8pm while a patch is added to update the SF424.

Additionally, three training documents have been updated:

• Funding proposals Reference guide (Process for requesting additional projects at time of award updated)
• Award Guide for the Research Administration Community Reference Guide
• Quick Guide - Financial Set up on Award SmartForm (Need for detailed budgets at proposal time clarified)
   

MN-GEMS Notice #013 - Award Activation Notification

The MN-GEMS system automatically sends out an email notification when an award is activated.This notification includes a link to the award where you can navigate to the Notice of Grant Award (NOGA) stored in the MN-GEMS record.

Additionally, an email from [email protected] will be sent out within 24 hours of the MN-GEMS notification with the NOGA attached. This second email is consistent with how NOGAs were distributed prior to MN-GEMS. This email is necessary to allow certain recipients who are not included in the automated process to receive their requested copies of NOGAs. The latter process is also used as a “trigger” by some departments for their own award initiation business process. The only difference is the delivery method, the NOGAs themselves are identical documents.

In the future, SPA intends to investigate whether the system can be customized to combine these two processes into one fully automated process. At the moment, we are focused on making sure all those who need a NOGA receive it.
 

MN-GEMS Notice #012 - Known issue between Grants and Agreements

There is a known issue where users can not initiate an agreement directly from an award in Grants. There are additional errors (missing sponsors/users) that users are experiencing in Agreements and they are believed to be related to the original issue. Technical developers are working on a solution and an update will be shared when it is resolved.

MN-GEMS Notice #011 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Saturday 8/24 between 10am and 12pm

A patch to MN-GEMS will go in Saturday morning to address some of the issues with award modifications.

MN-GEMS Notice #010 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Thursday 7/18 between 6pm and 9pm

A patch to MN-GEMS will go in Thursday evening to address some fixes that impact the dept and SPA.

One technical issue that has been fixed is that REPA records will now display even when non-institutional personnel are marked as key.

MN-GEMS Notice #009 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Thursday 6/13 between 6pm and 9pm

A patch to MN-GEMS will go in Thursday evening to address some fixes that impact the dept and SPA.

One technical issue that is addressed with the patch is the ability to edit the amount budgeted for the Graduate Student Tuition directly in the General Costs budget section.

MN-GEMS Notice #008 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Saturday (June 8) 12pm through Sunday (June 8) 12pm

MN-GEMS will be unavailable due to the PeopleSoft upgrade that will take place Saturday June 8th (12pm) - Sunday June 9th (12pm).

MN-GEMS Notice #007 - MN-GEMS will be unavailable Thursday (May 23) between 6pm - 9pm

A patch to MN-GEMS will go in Thursday evening to address some fixes that impact the dept and SPA. Two technical issues that will be addressed with the patch are:

1. Continuation proposals not automatically appearing on the default Specialist Team dashboard.
2. Internal server error on update to non-institutional personnel fixed.

MN-GEMS Notice #006 - Update to Modifications that Require Dept Head and College Level Approvals

Modifications to awards that require approvals from the Department Head and/or Dean/College should be routed to SPA using the “create revision” activity on the awarded funding proposal workspace in MN-GEMS. This activity creates “follow-on proposals” and removes the requirement to route an award modification request to SPA. This option is available to PIs, University Contact, and the Specialist.

A new Quick Guide can be found in the training materials shortly.

MN-GEMS Notice #005 - MN-GEMS System Update

MN-GEMS will be unavailable Sunday 5/12 between 9am - 12pm.

A patch to MN-GEMS will go in this weekend to address some fixes that impact the dept and SPA. The two significant known technical issues that will be addressed with the patch are:

1. The current issue where including a graduate student in a budget that then needs to be edited or removed causes calculations to become incorrect or negative. Another issue that has been resolved is how the calculation is incorrect due to graduate student tuition remission alway being exempt from F&A.
2. The current issue of how Continuation Proposals do not have an activity available to route ancillary reviews. The patch this weekend will add this activity to those Funding Proposal types.

MN-GEMS Notice #004 - Requesting an F&A Waiver on a MN-GEMS Funding Proposal (5/1/24)

To request an individual F&A waiver in MN-GEMS, navigate to the funding proposal needing the waiver, making sure the proposal is either in “Draft” or in “Department Review” status. Request an F&A waiver by using the Submit Ancillary Review function with a type of F&A Waiver Request and upload a completed, signed UMForm 1715. This ancillary request may occur simultaneously with any other ancillary review in process but must be completed prior to the proposal being submitted to the sponsor by SPA.

The UM1715 form has been updated to show that the PI, department, and college approvals need to be obtained via the form (same as before MN-GEMS) but the SPA endorsement now occurs via the Ancilliary Review function. The approved (or denied) request will permanently reside with the funding proposal. As before, the request should cover all years of the competitive segment of the funding proposal. Questions should be directed to Pamela Webb or Janine Stammler. The F&A Waiver Ancillary Review Quick Guide is available.

MN-GEMS Notice #003 - Create a Funding Proposal and Navigation Tips (4/30/24) (updated 5/2/24)

The technical issue has been resolved and the ability to create a Funding Proposal from your Dashboard should work as expected. Additionally, navigation between Grants and Agreements should work as expected.

There is a technical issue where creating a funding proposal from your Dashboard causes the system to think you are logged out of MN-GEMS. While this is being remedied, navigate to Grants and then select “Create a Funding Proposal” from that tab.

Additionally, if you are navigating between Grants and Agreements, while on either the Grants or Agreements tab, right click on the other tab and select “Open Link in New Tab”. This will allow you to work in either store.

MN-GEMS Notice #002 - Departmental Responsibilities for MN-GEMS Data Entry “Catch Up” Activities (4/30/24)

Proposals and PRFs submitted to SPA after the MN-GEMS cutoff of 3 PM on April 19th must be entered as a Funding Proposal in MN-GEMS by departments by May 31, 2024 (to allow for accurate monthly reporting). Approvals already obtained on the PRF need NOT be re-entered into these re-keyed records, except for the college-level approval (“Department Review function in MN-GEMS”) since that is required for the proposal to submit to SPA. To inform SPA this is a data entry catch up activity, departments should start the title of their proposal with "REKEY PRF:" [and then continue with the regular title]. Also, upload a copy of the signed PRF in the Attachments tab. SPA will not submit the proposal to the sponsor when they see this designation, instead having relied on the paper process for the actual submission.

MN-GEMS Notice #001 - MN-GEMS is now LIVE! (4/29/24)

MN-GEMS is now LIVE! The production system is available for login at research.umn.edu/mngems. We recommend that you bookmark this site. 

Please process all proposals through MN-GEMS at this time (EGMS and the MTARF tool are retired). MN-GEMS Training materials and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) will help you learn to process proposals, manage awards, as well as guide you to how you can request a new or modified subward or an unfunded research agreement (eg. material transfer agreement, data use agreement, confidentiality agreement) in the system. EGMS, though retired from use, does remain available for view only.

To assist with proposals “in flight” during our transition week, SPA will continue to accept e-paper versions of signed PRFs and proposals at [email protected] through Friday, May 3rd – but departments are also responsible for entering this information in MN-GEMS by May 31, 2024 so that monthly reporting remains accurate.