Guidance for utilizing SPS for electronic application submission

The Sponsored Projects System app provides the management of sponsored projects for the Duke School of Medicine and campus community. Users of SPS are able to create grant proposals, transmit proposals through the approval process and track general award information.

SPS provides standardized proposal information for all sponsors, enforcement of sponsor business rules, decision-support grant reporting across the institution, and electronic routing for review and approval at both the departmental and central office levels.

All externally funded grants and contracts applications must be entered into SPS in order to be processed through the Office of Research Administration (ORA) for School of Medicine and Nursing to secure the appropriate levels of approval before submission to prospective sponsors.

SPS was developed by Office of Academic Solutions and Information Systems (OASIS) team and the School of Medicine and Campus research support offices. It is primarily a tool used by departmental and central office grant administrators, although some faculty use SPS when preparing applications to be submitted via Grants.Duke.

SPS has several functions:

  1. To prepare the administrative sections of an application such as the budget, budget justification, abstract, and the facilities and resources section
  2. Routes a completed application for departmental and central approvals
  3. Acts as a database for managing sponsored projects activity at both the central and departmental level. SPS is the primary data source for reporting on sponsored projects applications and awards, both internally for Provosts, Deans and Chairs at Duke and externally to Federal sponsors and non-profit organizations.

 

Helpful links

NOTE: The following documents are currently being revised

Change/Reset Password for SPS - SPS uses your NetID and NetID password. Any changes will need to be managed by DHTS which can be reached at 919-684-2243 or ServiceNow or DukePassword Reset.

 

Uploading Documents within SPS

Documents may be uploaded within the Internal Documentation section of SPS by clicking on "Actions" on the Proposal Management Screen and then clicking either "Add Internal Documentation" or "Show Internal Documentation." The types of documents / files that can be attached to an application are PDF, XFD, JPEG, DOC, XLS, and RTF.

The following documentation should be uploaded into SPS as a standard process:

  • Scan of signed DPAF with date and COI declaration
  • Complete subrecipient package as a single document (Face page, statement of work, resources, budget with justification, and letter of endorsement)
    • Exception to subrecipient single file would be the subrecipient's electronic Grants.gov budget package
  • Any required sponsor forms (signature pages, certifications and representations, etc.)
  • Sponsor application package (where applicable)

 

Proposal Memo Communication

Communication may be provided to ORA via the Proposal Memo section of SPS by clicking on "Actions" on the Proposal Management Screen and then clicking on either "Create Proposal Memo" or "Show Proposal Memo." The Proposal Memo section is a text box that departments may professionally utilize to indicate important application information. It is helpful to provide a date and your initials after your communication to identify correspondence between users. (i.e., 5/1/2013 - PI is a member of an NIH study section. This application will be submitted for continuous submission - cover letter is attached. CAT)

Examples of communication:

  • Informing ORA of an early deadline submission need due to staff or PI time off
  • Providing the hyperlink to a hard-to-find funding opportunity announcement
  • Informing ORA of an F&A waiver approval towards the budget calculation in the Budget Notebook

 

Obtaining an SPS record number

Press 'Create New' from SPS - Proposals. The information on this page must be  completed and press the 'Create' to initialize the SPS record and receive an SPS record number.