U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health
eRA IntranetA Continuation of Improvement: IMS to HSS
When I was six, my father took me to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Now, I don’t know why, but I stole a pack of gum. And being the master criminal mind that I was, I hid my loot in a small bowl high up on a shelf in the kitchen when we got back home. Probably not my best idea since my father was a State Trooper and over six feet tall. Yes, I was busted (I couldn’t see the gum in the bowl, so I figured he couldn’t either. Who knew?).
From that point on, I vowed to myself that I would improve!
But far, far better than my early petty crime days, is the new Human Subject System (HSS). HSS is scheduled to go live on June 9, 2018 and will be replacing the Inclusion Management System (IMS). HSS is a shared system that enables grant recipients to electronically report and update their data on human subjects and clinical trials to NIH. The system will also allow NIH agency staff to monitor and manage the data.
As of June 9, Principal Investigators and Signing Officials will no longer see “Inclusion” links as an action option, but instead will see “Human Subjects” links on both the Status Search screens and in section G.4.b of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). The RPPR Human Subjects link will only be displayed if the award involves human subjects.
On June 9th, IMS will be taken offline and all IMS data submitted to NIH by June 8, 2018 will be migrated to the new system. Now this is important… Updates to the enrollment records in IMS must be submitted no later than Friday, June 8. Updates not submitted by June 8 will not be available in HSS and will need to be re-entered into HSS. Incomplete records, those records not submitted by a Signing Official to NIH by June 8, will not be migrated.
For more information on this transition, please see Guide Notice NOT-OD-18-179. You can also reference our HSS Overview and HSS Training pages.
A growing number of HSS tutorial videos can be found in the Human Subjects section of the eRA Videos Tutorials page.
And to bring closure… Upon the discovery of my loot, I endured an intense and arduous interrogation by my father under which I finally cracked (he looked at me sternly and asked where the gum came from). Back to the store we went where I had to confess my crime, pay for the gum and then be escorted out by a Massachusetts State Trooper in full dress. I always have wondered what the cashier thought about that scene… “Dang, the Staties are really getting tough on crime!”? Oh, and my improvement… I never stole again, nor did I ever hide anything in the kitchen again. Lessons learned.
We Ain’t DUNS Yet!
Speaking of my father, I need to tell you, as a young man he was incredibly handsome. Like James Dean, Paul Newman, or Marlon Brando handsome. And yet by his mid-30s he was nearly bald. So my entire young life I never knew my Dad with hair.
Until one day, totally out of the blue, he walked into my room wearing a toupee. I was shocked and caught off guard. I was also apparently very amused as I laughed for the next several minutes. And to this day, I still feel bad about that. But I wasn’t done yet…
And neither is eRA as it continues to work hard to improve all aspects of the NIH grant process. But it is not just NIH grants. As you probably know we also work with several partner agencies, supporting the needs of their business processes and awardees. Because of the varied needs of funding agencies and funding mechanisms, you may notice a change in the Institutional Profile.
Under the About the Institution section you will see some new fields regarding your institution’s DUNS number(s). These fields have been added to support Other Transaction Authority (OTA) funding opportunities (OTAs are neither grants nor contracts but a different kind of award) and to summarize your institution’s eligibility to submit to the different types of opportunities. So you see, we are not done either. We are always working to improve and provide the best services we can.
And speaking of not being done… after catching my breath and drying my eyes, my father asked what I thought of his new look. And on my honor, with total enthusiasm, my response was, “It looks GREAT!” Really? No, not really.
Thank You from My House…
Just a quick note to thank all the attendess who joined us at the NIH Regional Seminar held in DC this past month. Early feedback indicates it was a very successful 3 days. Here are some fun facts:
- Over 900 of you attended from 47 different US states, and 21 different countries!
- 634 One-to-One appointments made by 283 attendees
- 83 NIH & HHS experts participated in the 3 days
- 14 NIH Institutes & Centers were represented in the areas of grants management, program, review, and policy
- Over 70 NIH and HHS presenters
- 48 different session topics during the 2-Day Seminar
And if that wasn’t cool enough, we are doing it all again in October. But this time we are visiting San Francisco!
Registration is open now!
When: October 17-19, 2018
October 17 – Optional Workshops
October 18 & 19 – 2-day Seminar
Where: Hilton San Francisco Union Square