Create New Appointment by PD/PI

PD/PIs are responsible for creating new appointments for funded budget periods.

NOTE: If the trainee has already been appointed and is being extended for additional time, do not create a new appointment. Instead use the Reappoint option. If you create a new appointment for an existing trainee, the appointment will be converted to a reappointment on the 2271 form.

Create a new appointment

1. In the Awarded Grants table, click the hyperlinked grant number to display the Trainee Roster screen.
2. In the grant details section, click the Start New link under Appointments.

Pending Forms Start New link

The Create Appointment - Find Trainee screen is displayed.

Create Appointment - Find Trainee screen with trainee search results displayed

3. Enter search criteria in the Find Trainee section.

TIP: Trainee Commons Username and Trainee Email Address are particularly useful for searching because they are unique per user.

4. Click the Search button. A list of possible matches is displayed in the Results section.
5. If the trainee you wish to appoint is not listed, click the Invite Trainee to Register a Commons Account link, complete the form, and click the Send Invite button.
6. If the trainee you wish to appoint is listed, click the trainee's hyperlinked name to select them. The Appointment Form screen is displayed with some fields prepopulated from the trainee’s profile.

Appointment Form with trainee details completed

7. Complete the Appointment Form as appropriate. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*).

IMPORTANT: Below are the Business Rules for the Appointment Form.
Period cannot exceed 12 months and the start date must fall within the budget period.
The Stipend level must be entered for everyone except for scholars and participants. Must be appropriate to trainee degree and experience.
Users enter salaries/other compensation for a whole or partial year for scholars or participants.
Must recalculate date if calendar boxes are used.
For information on the Grant's Policy Statement, please refer to Section 11.3.7, Initiation of Support, at this web site: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_11/11.3.7_initiation_of_support.htm

8. Click the Save as Draft button. A confirmation screen is displayed.

Save Draft Appointment confirmation screen

9. Click the Save button. The draft form is saved and displayed for review; in addition, new options are added to the Take Action section.

Route new appointment to trainee

Save and Route to Trainee pane

1. Add comments to the Comments field if desired.
2. Click the Send button. A confirmation message displays.

Save and Route to Trainee confirmation screen

3. Click the Save & Route to Trainee button. The system will check the form prior to routing. Any identified errors must be corrected prior to routing. Warnings may be addressed at your discretion. A confirmation message is displayed at the top of the screen indicating that the Appointment Form has been successfully routed to the trainee. The status of the appointment is changed to In-Progress Trainee.

Appointment Form success message

4. The Routing History tab in the Process Statement of Training Appointment section contains a list of the actions taken on the appointment. The first item in the history reflects the current state of the appointment.

Process Statement of Training Appointment displaying the routing history

NOTE: Appointments are synchronized into XTRACT. If appointments are made via xTrain, those appointments will be reflected on the RTD in XTRACT.

Trainee processes form

After receiving an email about the appointment and logging into xTrain, the trainee reviews and completes the necessary information. The trainee then routes the Appointment Form back to the PD/PI.

The system will check the form, and any identified errors must be corrected prior to routing. Warnings may be addressed at your discretion. If no errors are encountered, the appointment status becomes In-Progress PI.

Complete the appointment

You will receive an email when the trainee has reviewed and completed the form and routed it back to you.

1. In the Awarded Grants table, click the hyperlinked grant number to display the Trainee Roster screen.
2. In the In Progress section of the grant details, click the Appointments button.

Grant details with the In Progress section highlighted

The Pending Appointment Forms screen is displayed.

Pending Appointment Forms screen

3. Click the hyperlinked trainee name to display the Appointment Form screen.

Appointment Form screen for PI processing

4. To complete the Appointment, review the form one last time, add comments if desired, then click the Submit button in the Route to Agency card. A confirmation message displays.

Route to Agency confirmation message

5. Click the Certify and Route to Agency button. The system will validate the information contained in the form and will flag any errors or warnings found. Errors must be corrected before the Appointment is routed. Warnings are corrected at your discretion. A confirmation message is displayed at the top of the screen indicating that the Appointment Form has been successfully routed to the trainee. The status of the appointment is changed to Pending Agency Review.

Route to Agency confirmation message

In addition to confirming the submission of the appointment, the Submit to Agency Confirmation screen provides reminders about any further action that may be needed:

  • Pre-doc Appointments – No further action is needed, unless confirmation of permanent residency status is required.
  • Post-doc Appointments:
    • For those entering their initial year of Kirschstein-NRSA post-doc support, mail the original signed Payback Agreement (6031) form to the awarding NIH Institute or Center
    • Mail confirmation of permanent residency, if needed

The Agency can accept the appointment, place it on hold, hold it for a paper signature, delete it, view the PDF file, or route it back to the institution.

Delete an in-progress appointment

IMPORTANT: Appointments can only be deleted when the status is In Progress PI.

1. In the Awarded Grants table, click the hyperlinked grant number to display the Trainee Roster screen.
2. In the Trainee Roster, click the hyperlinked trainee name to open the in-progress appointment.
3. Click the Delete Appointment link in the lower-right corner of the screen. A confirmation screen is displayed.
4. Enter comments in the Comments field.
5. Click the Delete button. The in-progress appointment is deleted.

IMPORTANT: Deleting appointments cannot be undone. If you wish to appoint a trainee after their appointment has been deleted, you must recreate the appointment from scratch.