eRA Information: Commons Demo to be Retired October 14

Effective Monday, October 14, 2024, the Commons Demo (accessed from the eRA Commons home screen) will be retired (see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-25-005). As a first step towards decommissioning, the URL to register for Commons Demo has been made inaccessible.

As an alternative, users can start using the non-production environment — the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment — for practice, where they can work with a copy of their production data.  If a user has an existing eRA Commons account, then their account already exists in UAT, but requires a password and email account reset to gain access. Users can make changes and use modules without affecting their actual real award information. See steps to access UAT.

Users can also make use of resources on the public eRA website, including 

• Informational webpages for applicants, recipients, and reviewers, 
• Online help (user documentation – click on the module name and go to the online help section), and 
• Video tutorials.