The Campus Approval Form (CAF) is a mandatory cover sheet that must be submitted with each proposal routed through the UCR Office of Research and Economic Development. PAMIS eCAF is the web-based electronic version of the required Campus Approval Form that allows its information to be efficiently and quickly processed.

The eCAF contains critical information in summary form presented in a way that provides an efficient review format needed by several UCR constituents such as PIs, Co-PIs, Chairs, Deans, and Office of Research and Economic Development staff. It also documents certain mandatory PI certifications and assurances. The information collected through the eCAF is used for UCR internal purposes and is not submitted to extramural sponsors.

An eCAF can be initially filled out by either an individual with PI status or a Contract & Grant Analyst. If the eCAF is initiated by a PI, it will automatically be routed next to someone assigned the role of Contract & Grant Analyst for review. When the Contract & Grant Analyst finishes his or her input and/or review, the eCAF will be routed back to the PI for final review and the completion of required certifications and assurances. Preparing an eCAF is a joint endeavor by a PI and a Contract & Grant Analyst, one which can be initiated by either party.

An electronic Campus Approval Form should be prepared whenever a proposal will be submitted to an extramural sponsor through the Office of Research and Economic Development. For a standard proposal that has no cost sharing component, uses the standard (or an already pre-approved) indirect cost rate, and has no other exceptions, the eCAF should be submitted to the Office of Research and Economic Development three working days prior to the date it is due at the agency. All other proposals require seven working days lead time. See UCR Research Policy 527-4 Proposal Processing).

You may access the eCAF system in one of three ways. Click on the link in the e-mail notification you receive, and enter your NetID and password. For help with your NetID and password, contact your Enterprise Directory Administrator.<br /> If you use iViews, the campus web portal, you can select PAMIS eCAF from your list of authorized applications. If eCAF is not listed as an authorized application in iViews, contact your Contract &amp; Grant Analyst or your department Systems Access Administrator (SAA).

When you need to access an eCAF to review and/or input information as it is being routed, you will receive a system-generated email that will include in the body of the message a link that you can click that will route you to an eCAF login screen.

When you need to access an eCAF to review and/or input information as it is being routed, you will receive a system-generated email that will include in the body of the message a link that you can click that will route you to an eCAF login screen.

You will receive an email notification when your attention is needed for an eCAF. There will be a link from within the email to the eCAF login page.

You are able to make changes and return the eCAF to your Contract &amp; Grant Analyst. You must enter an explanation in the comments field so the Analyst will know what has changed. Alternatively, you may request that the appropriate corrections be made by your Analyst, again using the comments field. (After the Analyst's review, the eCAF will be routed back to you once more.)

Click the routing option in the upper left hand corner of the eCAF labeled Approve -- Send to Chair or Approve -- Send to Co-PI. Do not click the option labeled Return to Department C&amp;G Analyst, as this will cause the eCAF to be returned to your C&amp;G Analyst, whose only option is to submit it back to you, the eCAF PI. If you have made any changes to the eCAF, your only available option will be to Return to Department C&amp;G Analyst.

A Systems Access Administrator (SAA) can determine if you have PI eligibility by assigning you the PI role from within UCR’s Enterprise Access Control System (EACS). If your have an appointment of 50% or greater in a PI-eligible Title Code, no further action is required.

If you do not have a PI-eligible Title Code, your SAA will get a message that an exception must be requested. In that case, you must complete a PI Eligibility Request Form and Biosketch. These documents should be scanned so the SAA can upload them from within EACS, which electronically routes them to the Office of Research and Economic Development, where the request is reviewed. (There is a link to this PI Eligibility Request form that the SAA can access from within EACS, along with a button that can be used to upload the completed form and Biosketch.)

Please note that while the Office of Research and Economic Development is reviewing PI Eligibility requests, the proposed PI can continue to access eCAF as a PI. S/he will appear in EACS with the "PI (Pending)" role until the Office of Research either grants or denies the request.

Non UCR Co-PIs may be included as part of a proposal submitted through eCAF. Non UCR Co-PIs are non-UCR employees who will assume the role and responsibilities of a Co-PI but will not receive any project funding. (A non-UCR employee who assumes the role of a Co-PI and receives project funding is a subcontractor or subrecipient (recipient of a subaward.) When a Non-UCR Co-PI is not eligible to submit extramural proposals and lead sponsored programs at their home UC location or home institution, a request for a policy exception must be approved by the UCR Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development.

To request a policy exception for a non UCR Co-PI, provide:

• a completed PI eligibility request form (which you can download from the OR Forms page), and a biosketch
• These two documents should be scanned and attached as a single file with a clear and descriptive file name.

If at all possible, this request should be attached at the time the eCAF is prepared. If that is not feasible, due to time or logistical constraints, you may, with approval from your Contract and Grant Officer, attach this documentation after the proposal is submitted. However, each Non-UCR Co-PI listed in an eCAF must complete the same campus and sponsor certifications, representations and assurances as those required of PIs and UCR Co-PIs.

All eCAFs must be routed through, at a minimum, the PI, the Contract &amp; Grant Analyst, and the Department Chair, to the Office of Research. If the proposal includes UCR Co-PIs, they (and their department chairs) will be added to the routing path. There are also certain factors that will cause the eCAF to be routed through the Dean, such as a PI or Co-PI also being a Chair, or when there are certain cost-sharing components. eCAF will detect situations in which the Dean’s office needs to be included in the routing, and will designate the correct route automatically.

If there is a Co-PI who is from a different department than the PI, then each department’s Chair must approve the eCAF before it will be routed to the Dean(s), if needed, and on to the Office of Research. If Co-PI(s) are from different colleges and Deans’ approvals are required, the eCAF will be submitted to the Office of Research only after the last Dean has reviewed and approved it.

There are several ways to determine where your eCAF is in its routing.

After you have logged into the eCAF system and selected a specific eCAF, you can click on the “Approvals” tab, which will display a graphical representation of the eCAF routing system with a white box showing the CAF’s current location. Below this graphical representation is a detailed log showing where the eCAF has been and where it is currently. This detailed format describes each movement that has occurred by user and by date.

The following conditions will cause an eCAF to route to the Dean’s Office:

• Cost Sharing of type "Cash Cost Sharing - Dean"
• F&A Requests for a NEW waiver
• Requirement for additional space to conduct the project
• Requirement for alteration/renovation of facilities to conduct the project
• eCAFs submitted through schools without Chairs
• eCAFs submitted with the Chair as the PI

In this particular case, the eCAF type needed to be changed, which triggered the business rules embedded in eCAF to require a full reroute. So even though initially the return was intended to require no rerouting, full rerouting can still be required if certain changes require a PI’s recertification.

From within eCAF, click the button labeled "Request Alternative F&amp;A Rate", which is prominently positioned near the top of the BUDGET tab. You may then note that you believe a waiver already exists for this sponsor, or you may mark this as a new waiver request. Fill out all requested information, add comments and click the "Save and Submit" button, which will send the request to your RED Contract &amp; Grant Officer. As always, telephone or email your Contract &amp; Grant Officer if you need any assistance.

There is no Resubmission or Revision option. This is because eCAF feeds Coeus, which feeds the UC corporate C&G database, which sends data to NSF for national trend analyses. UC does not recognize Resubmission or Revision as valid codes and neither does NSF. Rather, submission of revised proposals is (in most circumstances) considered a new proposal as the original proposal was not funded (denied or withdrawn).

Users do have the ability to delete attachments when an eCAF is in their queue. A check box is available on the right side of the screen for each attached document. To delete the document, check the check box and select save. Once the eCAF has left a user’s queue, they can no longer delete attachments, but they can add attachments. If the eCAF is routed back to a C&G Analyst, the C&G Analyst will be able to delete attached documents.

In the past, C&G Analysts had the ability to mark documents as final. However, many were not doing this, and in some cases, C&G Analysts marked the wrong documents as final. The Office of Research is the office of record for all extramural proposals and as such, we must be able to control and secure the documents that make up a proposal. eCAF is a system that feeds the enterprise data systems. Thus, there needs to be appropriate controls in eCAF to ensure that the correct final versions of attachments are included in these systems.

The eCAF workgroup has discussed the possibility of a recall function for C&G Analysts as well as other eCAF users. No decision has yet been made regarding whether this will be a future enhancement. In our discussions, many expressed concern about eCAFs suddenly disappearing from someone’s queue and creating unnecessary anxiety. Others were concerned about an eCAF being recalled while someone else was working on it. Would the recall prevent the person from continuing to work on that eCAF? Would the recall happen after the current user saved the eCAF, which happens when moving from tab to tab? Much more discussion is needed about this potentially useful, but difficult to implement enhancement.

There is no Resubmission (or Revision) option because eCAF feeds COEUS, which feeds the UC Corporate C&G database, which sends data to the NSF for national trend analyses. Because these types are not recognized nationally, we do not use them. Rather, submission of revised proposals is (in most cases) considered a New proposal type, as the original proposal was not funded.

Since you select whether an eCAF is "non-standard" or "standard" on an early screen that you can’t get back to later, you will not be able to change it. If the lead time you selected is wrong, don’t be too concerned. Just submit the eCAF when it is due, and explain in the comments section.

The National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (DDIG), NSF 05-607, requires the primary dissertation advisor be listed as the "PI / PD" and the student and other advisors be listed as "CO-PI/CO-PD". Please note that this is a NSF requirement for their application form in FastLane and not a requirement to list the student as a Co-PI/Co-PD in eCAF.

Please list only the faculty advisor as the Principal Investigator when preparing eCAFs in response to this announcement. If there will be more than one faculty advisor, the primary or lead faculty advisor should be listed in eCAF as the PI and the other should be listed as Co-PIs. If desired, the name and other information about the doctoral candidate (e.g., department, school, etc.) may be listed in the comments section on either the PI Information or Project Information tabs.

If a doctoral candidate needs to be registered in FastLane, please have them email cynthia.parish@ucr.edu with the following information and she will register them in the NSF FastLane system.

• First Name:
• Last Name:
• Email:
• Degree Type: (Should be the degree type received to date, not the anticipated degree)
• Degree Year:
• The following information is not required, but is helpful to provide.
• Middle Initial:
• Phone Number:
• Fax Number:
• Department:

NSF will assign a pseudo SSN that the user will need to retain and remember when logging into FastLane.

Once an eCAF reaches RED, it can be either: 1) returned to the C&G Analyst who can make the changes and resubmit it to OR without rerouting; or 2) the Contract &amp; Grant Officer can change the Project Title, and any budget fields in eCAF. RED’s preference is for option 1.

Contact the Systems Access Administrator (SAA) for the missing department, and ask that s/he add the PI with the role of PI in PAMIS eCAF. After that is done, log in again (or refresh your screen) and you will now be able to select the correct department associated with the PI.