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eRA Enhancements: Changes to xTRACT Released Today, December 20, to Align with New FORMS-I Package

An xTRACT release today, Friday, December 20, 2024, has implemented changes to align training tables generated by xTRACT with the new FORMS-I requirements. NIH will be requiring the use of updated application forms (FORMS-I) for due dates on or after January 25, 2025. Information entered into xTRACT is used to populate research training dataset (RTD) tables in forms for training awards. Forms generated by xTRACT after today’s release will conform with the new FORMS-I requirements.

Changes in xTRACT for FORMS-I are related to partner organizations, faculty who have left the program, and characteristics for training program candidates and entrants. Training data tables are being updated to reduce burden and promote consistent information collection across training programs.

Training data changes in xTRACT for RTDs:

  • Include the ability to add partner organizations and associate faculty of partner organizations, and to add programs/departments from partner organizations (Tables 1, 2, and 4)
  • Include the ability to report faculty that have left the program (Table 5)
  • No longer require certain trainee characteristics related to prior academic and research experience (Table 6)
  • No longer require information on “Those Clearly Associated with the Training Grant.” (Table 8, Part II)

Ability to Add Partner Organizations

Users can now add partner organizations on the award and can then link faculty at partner organizations with the award. On the Participating Departments/Programs screen of an RTD, users click the Add Partner Organization button and then use a type-ahead field to search for and select an existing organization; see Figure 1. 

Figure 1: Add Partner Organization button on the Participating Departments/Programs screen of an RTD

Figure 1: Add Partner Organization button on the Participating Departments/Programs screen of an RTD

After adding the partner organization, users can add departments/programs and faculty from either the recipient organization or the partner organization. To do so, users click the Add Participating Departments or Programs button; see Figure 2. If the user leaves the Partner Organization field blank, then they can select a department or program for the recipient organization. If they first select a partner organization, then they can add a department or program for the partner organization.

If the participant program does not exist for a partner organization, the user must contact a signing official at the partner organization to have the department/program created.

Add Participating Departments or Programs button on the Participating Departments/Programs screen of an RTD

Figure 2: Add Participating Departments or Programs button on the Participating Departments/Programs screen of an RTD

Ability to Specify Faculty That Have Left the Program or Who Are Associated with a Partner Organization

For renewal and revision RTDs, users can now specify faculty who have left the program. To do so, the user adds the faculty member to the Participating Faculty screen of the RTD, then edits the faculty member details, and clears the Active Faculty in Program checkbox; see Figure 3. No information needs to be provided for these faculty and they will not appear in tables 1-4. Faculty indicated as not active will appear in the Publication section of the Trainee/Student screen of the RTD and can be associated with a publication. In the generated PDF of the RTD, non-active faculty can be identified by an asterisk next to their name.

Also on the Edit Faculty Member Data popup screen, selecting a Partner Organization radio button displays the Partner Organization dropdown, where the faculty member’s organization can be selected from the list of previously added partner organizations. 

Figure 3: Edit Faculty Member Data with the “Active Faculty in Program” checkbox on the Participating Faculty screen of an RTD. Also shown is the Partner Organization option and dropdown to associate a faculty member with a partner organization.

Figure 3: Edit Faculty Member Data with the “Active Faculty in Program” checkbox on the Participating Faculty screen of an RTD. Also shown is the Partner Organization option and dropdown to associate a faculty member with a partner organization.

Trainee Characteristics Changes

xTRACT will no longer collect certain information on trainees, such as information on months of prior full time Research Experience, Prior Institutions, Mean GPA, Number of Publications, and number of First Author Publications. The new, shorter list of characteristics appears on the Applicants and Entrants screen of the RTD; see Figure 4. 

Characteristics section of the Applicants and Entrants screen of an RTD showing fewer characteristics than before

Figure 4: Characteristics section of the Applicants and Entrants screen of an RTD showing fewer characteristics than before

Omission of “Those Clearly Associated with the Training Grant”

Previously, Part II of Table 8 listed current graduate students “clearly associated with this grant,” which meant students with a training experience similar to those appointed to this grant, but who were supported by other NIH or HHS awards, not by this grant. This category of students is no longer counted on the Participating Trainees screen for Training Grants; see Figure 5. Only those students who are actually appointed should now appear on this screen and in the subsequent Table 8. There is no change to the screen; there is only a difference in the data that is stored in the underlying tables.

Participating Trainees screen of an RTD

Figure 5: Participating Trainees screen of an RTD

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