Features & Fixes

eRA Enhancements: New Look Coming to XTRACT October 16

We are pleased to inform you that the Extramural Trainee Reporting and Career Tracking (xTRACT) module will feature refreshed screens and new user-friendly features, following a release Monday, October 16, 2023. 

All xTRACT screens will move to the new visual appearance being adopted by other eRA modules, as part of a required technology upgrade.  The capabilities remain the same. 

Highlights of New Changes

The screens will adopt the new standard features being incorporated in eRA modules, such as:

• Apps menu icon — The apps menu, located in the upper left of the new header, shows a dropdown menu of other eRA modules available to the user.

• Buttons — If multiple buttons exist in a row, the primary button will be prominent and the secondary ones will either be outlined or have no border, to help highlight the more frequently used options.

• Header and Footer — An elegant header and footer take up less space, leaving more real estate for you to do your tasks. 
• Action items — A three-dot ellipsis icon, when clicked, displays a dropdown menu of action items. This icon replaces the action column. See Figure 2.
• Enhanced Table Tools — A set of tools enhances the ability to work with table data. See Figure 2.

For an explanation of all the new look and feel features, please see Navigating and Using the UI in eRA Modules in the xTRACT online help following the release.

Actions Moved to the RTD ID Column for New Application

When searching for new applications, actions formerly appeared in an Actions menu. Now the Research Training Data ID (RTD ID) is linked to the action that is appropriate for the corresponding status. For an In Progress application, clicking the RTD ID lets you prepare the RTD for a new application. For a Finalized application, clicking the RTD ID takes you to the training tables. A new icon lets you unfinalize a new application, making it once again editable. 

Figure 1: Click the RTD ID or the Unfinalize New Application icon to access actions appropriate for the application

Wildcard Search Hints, New Table Tools, and Three-Dot Ellipsis Menu for Actions

Fields that allow wildcard searches now contain example hints that will help you to use the % character to search for matches to entered text. 

Tables that contain search results now have new tools to help with viewing and using table data. The Filter Table field lets you quickly see only those records that contain matches to the text you enter in the field. At the upper right of search results are icons to download or print, to specify rows per page, and to navigate through pages of search results. 

In some screens that formerly contained an Actions menu, you can now see the actions by clicking the three-dot ellipsis menu; see Figure 2. 

Figure 2: New screen showing hints on using wildcards, table tools, and a three-dot ellipsis menu for actions

New Visual Cues to Clarify Actions

Actions you take are concluded with a green success message to give you an immediate visual clue of success. Deleting rows in a table of students is easily accomplished by clicking the row’s trash can icon, shown below. 

New screens also make use of badge graphics that stand out from normal text to convey important information. In the screenshot below, you can easily differentiate Post-doc from Pre-doc students by viewing the badge in the Student Type column. 

Figure 3: New screen showing success message, trash can icons for deleting, and badges for student type

Resources: see xTRACT online help after the release.

New Features (December 06, 2016)

• Ability to copy data from a recently prepared RPPR RTD into a Renewal RTD 

When working with a Renewal Research Training Dataset (RTD), xTRACT users will now be able to copy Participating Trainee and Program Statistics data from a recently prepared RPPR RTD for that same training grant.  If an RPPR RTD for the grant’s final non-competing period has already been started, then the data will be copied from that.  Otherwise, if an RPPR RTD for the grant’s previous non-competing period is available, the data will be copied from that RTD instead.

The option to copy data will be offered when the Renewal RTD is first initiated.  Users will also have the option to copy each type of data (Participating Trainee or Program Statistics) when editing the RTD, whenever visiting each of the corresponding data entry sections.

• Ability to copy data from a recently prepared Renewal or RPPR RTD into an RPPR RTD

When working with an RPPR RTD, xTRACT users will now be able to copy Participating Trainee and Program Statistics data from a recently prepared RTD for that same training grant.  A copy can be performed from the previous year’s RPPR RTD for that grant. Also, when preparing the RPPR RTD for the final non-competing year, there will be an additional option to copy from the next Renewal RTD for that grant (provided the Renewal RTD has been started).

The option to copy data from a recent RTD will be offered when the RPPR RTD is first initiated.  Users will also have the option to copy each type of data (Participating Trainee or Program Statistics) when editing the RTD, whenever visiting each of the corresponding data entry sections.

• Improved Performance of Preview/Finalize RTD  

The amount of time required to preview or finalize an RTD has been improved.  When choosing either one of these options, results should appear more quickly than before.

Fixes

• Adjustment to the auto-population of Faculty Research Support, from NIH and Other Agency Sources

Faculty Research Support from NIH and Other Agency grants are automatically populated in xTRACT, based on award data that we have on hand (and cannot be edited).  However, there have been some occasions when an NIH/Other Agency grant has not been listed – even though it seems like it should have appeared.  Often when this occurred, it was because of a short delay in funding the most recent noncompeting year for the research grant in question, making it appear that the grant was not active at the time that the RTD was being prepared.  An adjustment has been made to account for this sort of timing, so that any such awards are correctly included in the listing of NIH/Other Agency Research Support for that faculty member.

• Applicants and Entrants Section

Some users had noted cases where multiple occurrences of the same “Prior Institution” would appear on rare occasions, after entering these in the Applicants and Entrants section.  This problem has been resolved

New Features (August 18, 2016)

•    Publication citations may now be searched and imported from Pubmed. 
When entering publications for a participating trainee, xTRACT now provides users with the ability to search Pubmed using either the Pubmed identifier, the author name, or publication title.  The ability to enter a full citation manually (instead of searching Pubmed) is still available as well, for any occasion where the user may require it.

•    Access for delegated assistants (users with ASST role) is expanded.
Assistants may now perform the following on behalf of their PIs:

•  Initiate the Research Training Dataset (RTD) for New Applications
•  Finalize an RTD
•  Unfinalize an RTD

•    Sections labeled “NIH Support” are now labeled “NIH and Other Agency Sources of Support on Record.”
This labelling more accurately reflects xTRACT’s ability to present grants from some other (non-NIH) agencies for selection, when citing support information for faculty and trainees.

•    Table 4’s column labeled “Funding Source” now interprets the funding agency.
When previewing and finalizing the PDF of the RTD, any sources selected from the xTRACT database will display the funding source accordingly:

•  If the funding is affiliated with the NIH, displays "NIH"
•  If the funding is affiliated with the AHRQ, displays "AHRQ"
•  If the funding is affiliated with any other agency or HHS Operating Division, displays "Other Fed”

•    Computed means across all years are now displayed to one decimal point.
In Table 6B the calculated mean value for Counts were previously rounded to the nearest whole number. These values are now computed to one decimal point precision and rounded to that decimal place.  

•    Bookmarks now included in PDFs.
When previewing and finalizing the output PDF, bookmarks are now included to provide navigation to the beginning of each training table.

Fixes

• Corrects an earlier defect in Table 8 generation, where the same source of support might occasionally be cited twice for the same training year.
• Improved performance/response time when navigating to the list of Participating Faculty for an RTD.  

New Features (April 28, 2016)