NIFA Reporting Web Conference May 12, 2016

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Katelyn Sellers Katelyn is the Lead for the State Plan of Work and Annual Report process as well as the business lead for the REEport system management and development. She also leads the Multistate Research Fund. Katelyn supports the planning, development, coordination, and delivery of accountability and financial reporting from agency information systems. She is also responsible for conducting business process analyses and implementing related efficiency improvements. (202)

Adam Preuter Provides analysis and support for REEport Manages Financial and Program of Research reporting

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Today’s Agenda: Plan of Work –Recent Memos from NIFA Director –NERAOC Presentation Summary –Working Groups for Redesign ezFedGrants –FY17 Capacity Funding –eAuthentication Level 2 Creating Custom Financial Reports

-REP Plan of Work

Recent Memos from NIFA Suspension of FY17 and FY18 POWs POW due THIS year POW not due April POW not due April 2018 Clarification of Integrated Reporting Requirement –NIFA wants evidence of integration programmatically, not necessarily organizationally/administratively

POW Session at NERAOC Thank you! Focus was on the POW Redesign –Process/business need considerations –Technical considerations Feedback/questions are welcome, continue sending them to

POW Redesign Goal: New system ready in FY19 A fresh, Plan of Work will be due in the new system on April 1, Annual Reports will be due in the new system on April 1, 2019 –Pre-population of data not likely

Conept of “One” System which Integrates Program and Project Reporting Institutional Profile (Statement of Work) Extension Capacity Research Capacity IMPACTS (National Impacts Database) Competitive USDA Non-USDA

Data Collection at NIFA Purpose –Proper stewardship of capacity and competitive funds Where do the data go? –USDA Secretary, budget justification process, Congress, White House How are the reports used? –Demonstrate importance/impact of capacity funds (financial reports, outcome/impact stories, blogs, press releases, website, graphical handouts etc.)

NIFA Has to Make a Decision Build completely new? Use pieces/modules of REEport code along with new modules to create new? Fold POW requirements into current REEport platform and code? Think about that tasks you do in the NIFA Reporting Portal, NOT the systems themselves….

Requirements Development Have to know the business process and rules before software can enable them Having a set of core, 90% complete requirements will help NIFA make the decision on “approach” Goal is to have core requirements mostly set and agreed upon by LGUs by end of August 2016

POW Redesign Working Groups Classifications –Knowledge Areas, Subjects of Investigation Institutional Profile Module –Required elements: merit/peer review processes, multistate and integrated work, stakeholder input Extension Module –Bring “program reporting” from 50K feet to 25K feet (“project reporting” at 5K feet)

In reports, NIFA needs to know: What you did and why it was important Who was most affected (target audience) What changed as a result of what you did –Change in knowledge –Change in behavior –Change in environment

Software Affects the Type and Quality of Data Semantics! –What do you name a particular field? How does it affect what gets entered? Accomplishments, Outcomes, Impacts Size and format of fields –Need to facilitate brevity, not open up the option for collecting data that’s not useful

ezFedGrants

NIFA’s Grant Modernization Initiative USDA enterprise- wide grants management solution with:

Deployment in August means: All FY 2017 Capacity Awards will be processed by NIFA through ezFedGrants Applicants will still apply for FY17 capacity funds through grants.gov Applicants will have to use the external user (that’s you) portal to check award status and to submit SF- 425 Financial Reports (remember, this is different from the REEport Project Financial Report)

What doesn’t change? Still use REEport to submit capacity project proposals for approval –NOTHING in REEport changes Still use “POW” (current and future system) to submit POWs and Annual Reports

eAuthentication Level 2 Access for ezFedGrants Anybody who might need to use ezFedGrants in the future MUST obtain Level 2 access The sooner the better! Examples of using ezFedGrants include: –Checking grant application status* –Submitting SF-425 financial reports *This will become even more critical when NIFA starts using ezFedGrants for competitive grant programs.

How do I get eAuth Level 2 access? Step 1, go to: lfRegistrationForm.aspx?level=2 lfRegistrationForm.aspx?level=2 Step 2: Meet in-person with a USDA Local Registration Authority (LRA) Make sure you have already registered for an account with Level 2 access (per link above) Must present a valid government-issued picture ID

Important: There is currently no timeline or specific plans for how and when NIFA will incorporate competitively funded programs into ezFedGrants. Any question about NIFA’s Grants Modernization initiative or ezFedGrants should be sent to

Creating Custom Financial Reports

Director’s Reports and Pivot Tables

PARS Contact Information Katelyn Sellers – POW and REEport Business Management Adam Preuter – REEport Analysis and Customer Support , James Hultzman – REEport Analysis and Customer Support , REEport “Tier 1” Help Desk Tier 1 Support – More Staff! Logon issues, setting up accounts, project status tracking, technical issues Contact s:

Please type your questions in the chat box in the lower right hand corner of your screen. Questions?

See you in July! Next NIFA Reporting Web Conference is scheduled for July 14, 2:00-3:30 pm EST Visit the RWC webpage for slides from this conference and information about future RWCs: conference-series conference-series