Account Roles

On This Page

Information on how to assign and remove roles from an eRA Commons account

Basic Tasks (step-by-step instructions from the online help)

Basic Tasks Screen Shots

eRA Commons Roles & Privileges At a Glance

Additional Resources

Access to eRA Commons and its modules is determined by the assigned roles of its users. Once a recipient organization has registered in eRA Commons, the signing official (SO) can create additional eRA accounts for their own organization. The SO or accounts administrator creates all additional accounts for the other administrative and scientific staff, including that of a principal investigator, and assigns all roles to those accounts.

Depending on their assigned role, users are granted different authorities to perform specific functions in eRA Commons.

There are several roles available in eRA Commons, ranging from trainee roles to scientific roles to administrative roles. Here is a sampling:

Signing Official (SO) – Has institutional authority to legally bind the institution in grants administration matters and may have any number of titles in the recipient organization. The SO can register the institution and create and modify the institutional profile and create all types of user accounts, including additional SO accounts.

It is recommended to maintain at least two signing official accounts at all times. If all your organization’s signing officials become unavailable, you need to contact the eRA Service Desk to request that they create a new SO account for your organization. The Service Desk will verify certain SAM.gov registration information prior to granting your request. For more details, see “Requesting a New Signing Official Account” in eRA Commons online help.   

Account Administrator (AA) – Has the ability to create/edit all Commons accounts, except SO, Business Official (BO), and all types of Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) accounts, and Internet Assisted Reviewer (IAR) accounts.

Principal Investigator (PI) - Designated by the recipient organization to direct the project or activity being supported by the grant. The PI is responsible and accountable to the recipient for the proper conduct of the project or activity. A PI should only have one eRA Commons account used for the entirety of their career. 

If an individual is to be listed on an application as senior/key personnel, they need to have a valid eRA Commons account (Commons ID/username). 

Before creating a new account, it is important for the person creating the account to first search to see if the user already has an existing eRA Commons username. The account can be assigned any of the eRA Commons roles as needed.

Individuals with these roles can only view the Institution Profile (IPF) of the affiliated organization and view/edit their own Personal Profile (PPF):

• UNDERGRADUATE
• GRADUATE_STUDENT
• POSTDOC
• SCIENTIST
• PROJECT_PERSONNEL

Remember, a single Commons account can be affiliated with multiple organizations. It doesn’t matter which organization initially establishes the account.

See the eRA Commons Roles document for a full and detailed description of all types of accounts/roles. See Create and Manage an Account for instructions on how a signing official or account administrator (AA) can create accounts in eRA Commons.

Basic Tasks (step-by-step instructions from the online help)*

How to add or delete a user role

* You must be logged into eRA Commons with appropriate role(s) to complete these activities. 

Main Screenshots

To access the screen where roles are assigned, an SO or AA should click the Admin button on the eRA Commons landing screen, then select Accounts > Account Management, search for an account, and click the Manage button for an account.

Figure 1: Account Management Module Manage user screen showing buttons to add and remove user roles

Figure 2: Account Management Module Manage Add Roles screen showing instructions and button to add multiple roles simultaneously

eRA Commons Roles & Privileges At a Glance

Administrative Roles for Reporting

LRP

Additional Resources

• eRA Commons Roles (PDF - 88 KB)
• Create and Manage Accounts