Instructions for Using the
Introduction
The PARS system was designed as a tool to aid faculty and ORSP staff in securing required University approvals prior to submitting proposals to sponsors. It is not meant to replace the necessary communication between faculty, administration, and ORSP staff during proposal preparation , but rather to provide a central location where all of the information and approvals can be accessed and acted upon by those who need to do so. Each department and college still retains the right to impose additional requirements such as in-person interviews, document signatures, personnel scheduling, etc. deemed necessary for the administration of their own operations.
Each of the major screens at the PARS site has a help screen associated with it. Click the "Help" link at the top right side of the page. The information will load in a separate window so that the session will not be interupted. [Note: some popup blockers may disable this feature until configured to accept popups from the PARS site.]
Step 1 - Register
Faculty, Department Chairs, and Deans* may register by calling ORSP at
581-1484 to request a login name and password, or a request
may be made by filling out the registration form at the PARS website (http://pars.umesp.maine.edu). A
valid e-mail address and an affiliation with the
[*Note: Each college may register one or more non-participating administrative staff to aid in proposal preparation and oversight of all proposals submitted on behalf of their college. Departmental staff may use the login of Faculty or Chairs (with their permission) to assist in preparing or approving individual proposals. Contact Cliff Wilbur (1-1419) at ORSP to determine the best configuration for your college or department. (see also - Surrogate Logins below).
Step 2 - Log in
Open a web browser and go to http://pars.umesp.maine.edu . Enter the login and password obtained in Step 1. The first time you log in, you will be asked to review the biographical information and email address on file at ORSP. Subsequent logins will take you directly to the User Activities Menu. Sessions are automatically terminated after 1 hour of inactivity.
Step 3 - Select an
activity from the User Activities Menu
PI Functions - View, edit, route, check status, or submit proposals you are
working on, create new proposals.
Approver / Reviewer Functions - Respond to a request for approval
User Information - update email address and biographical data, assign a
surrogate user.
Step 4 - Create a
proposal
Proposals may be created by PIs, Co-PIs, or designated other users. Click the "Create a New Proposal" button. To start a proposal, you must supply a title, indicate who the Principal Investigator is, and your role (if not PI).
Proposal preparation consists of 3 task areas:
A. Information collection
B. Document file uploads
C. Routing and Submission
A. Information collection
The information collection area has 8 single-screen subsections, accessed from
the Proposal Information Menu screen. The menu shows a button for each section, with the last modified date to the right of each section's button:
1. Proposal Details and Cover Sheet - performance dates, title, etc.
2. Personnel, Consultants and Subawards - who will work on the project?
3. Use of Animals, Human Subjects, or DNA - review boards
4. Project Activity - classification of technology sector and research phase
5. Sponsor Information - name, location of guidelines
6. Facilities and Locations - sites where the project will be performed
7. Safety and Environmental Management (SEM) - certifications or
medical evaluations for special working conditions, use of radioactive materials, environmental issues
8. Cost Sharing - specify sources of University matching funds or other
financial contributions to the project.
Each subsection consists of just a few questions and must be completed in order to submit the proposal to ORSP. Sections which might not be applicable have a checkbox or link to click to mark them as such.
B. Document File Uploads
Upload a budget file and a budget justification file. It is strongly recommended that preparers use the ORSP budget template (Excel) available at http://orspdocs.umesp.maine.edu/Info/ORSPBudget.xls to create a budget. Any text editor can be used for the justification file. Place for a third file upload is provided to hold a description, summary, or other file, as required by administrators or to provide further explanations. PARS does not restrict the type of file uploaded, it is the preparer's responsibility to use a format that can be viewed by anyone that must approve the project. ORSP can convert files to PDF format upon request (even after they are uploaded if necessary).
C. Routing and Status
From the list of Proposals in Progress, click the title of the proposal you wish to configure for routing. A list of currently assigned approvers, the notification date and status of each approval request appears at the top of the page. Click the Add Approver/Reviewer button to add each person who needs to approve the project. [Important: at least one person must be selected as the closing account administrator for the project.] Select the approver's name from the list and assign one or more roles. An approver can be notified immediately of the request, or a date can be supplied for a notification in the future. If an approver does not appear on the list, contact ORSP to have them added.
Step 5 - Check Completeness
Even before configuring routing, the proposal should be checked for completeness by clicking the "Check Proposal" button. Incomplete sections will be listed with links to them, as well as a list of any approvers who have not yet approved. This operation does not check for accuracy of data, just whether it has been entered.
Step 6 - Check Approval Status
You will be notified by email when an approver takes action on your proposal. You may also check the approvals list for each proposal at PARS to check the status of each request for approval.
Step 7 - Submit the Proposal to ORSP
Submitting the proposal notifies ORSP that the approval process is complete and the proposal is ready to be prepared for submission to the sponsor. Once submitted, the proposal will no longer appear in the preparation area. If a proposal is submitted inadvertently or needs further revision or review, contact ORSP to have it "unsubmitted".
Instructions
for Approvers / Reviewers
The upper right-hand pane of the User Activities Menu - Approver / Reviewer Functions shows one of three messages:
1. There are pending proposals awaiting your action (shows in red).
2. There are pending proposals on which you have taken action.
3. There are no pending proposals requiring your approval.
If either of the first two conditions apply, a "Get List of Proposals" button will appear in the lower right-hand pane. Click the button and a list will appear of all the pending proposals for which you are listed as an approver/reviewer. Click the title of the project upon which you want to take action. A list of the other approvers listed on the proposal and the status of their actions appears at the top of the page. This is followed by a list of links to the Budget, Budget Justification and Project files uploaded by the preparer, then a synopsis of the proposal information. To get more detail, click the "Proposal Information" link at the top right of the screen, which prints out the responses to each of the proposal information section questions in a printable format.
Indicate your decision by changing the selection in the "Approval Status" box:
1. Pending - awaiting your decision
2. Approved - equivalent to your signature
3. Not Approved - negative decision
4. Return for Modifications - generally means approval will follow if modified
5. Reviewed - for those invited to review only (no decision required)
There is a space for including a closing account number if you are approving one, access to the cost-sharing section if you are approving University funds, and a space to include a message to the PI concerning your action. Use this area to explain modifications if they are required.
Many administrators and faculty have staff who assist them with proposal preparation or approval/oversight. PARS has two strategies for doing this:
1. College level "super-user" - A PARS account which allows the user to see and modify all proposal preparation for a college. This user logs in as themself to perform tasks. Available on request by college administration to ORSP.
2. Shared Notifications - Each user's information has space for two e-mail addresses, a primary address and a surrogate address. The surrogate must log in as the account holder to perform tasks. There are three possible configurations:
a. Single user - First email slot has an address, the other does not. Notifications go
to the account holder for action.
b. Dual user - Both e-mail slots have an address. Notifications go to both the
account holder and the surrogate. This allows the user to delegate some or all tasks to the surrogate while still being notified of the requests for approval or notifications of action.
c. Surrogate user - Both e-mail slots have an address. A box is checked
designating the surrogate as the only address notified . The surrogate performs
tasks under the direction of the account holder.