On July 21, 2025, the eResearch Proposal Management system (eRPM) was updated to version 8.0 with several enhancements and bug fixes.
For Unit Research Administrators, Project Teams, and Central Offices
New Managed Affiliate question
PAF, UFA, CTRF
Added a question regarding Managed Affiliates for off-site work to Proposal Approval Form (PAF), Unfunded Agreements (UFA), and Clinical Trial Routing Form (CTRF) worksheets.
New Question: Will U-M employees perform any work at a location on the Managed Affiliates list?
If Yes, then enter the location from the list of Managed Affiliates.
COI Updates
PAF, UFA, AWD, MOD, ACR
Updated the COI sections on project “Sign” , “Change Conflict of Interest” , and “Manage Conflict of Interest“ activities to reflect disclosure changes made this fiscal year.
Compliance Updates
PAF
Updated the SF424 Copy Map (Copy PAF Info to Grant.gov Forms) with the new “Indirect F&A Rate Agreement Date” of 5/25/2025.
Added new functionality related to sponsor-initiated Risk Mitigation (Research Security) Review requirements and concerns, including new workspace messages to appear while a review is pending.
Updated the Regental Approval Required workspace messages.
Example of PAF Workspace with various warnings
AWD
Enhanced the Regental Action Request (RAR) functionality, including split of the RAR and Institutional Conflict of Interest (ICOI), to now be handled by the COI office vs. ORSP. Therefore, Compliance Status and Holds have a new automated stop for “ICOI Approval”.
Example of Award Workspace Compliance Status meter
UFA
DURC-PEPP Policy - (Pending Federal Policy Revision)
Questions related to Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (DURC-PEPP) policy regulations were added to Incoming Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) types of UFAs. Questions were added to PAF Research Activity in the previous release. Refer to the DURC-PEPP Policy page on the Research Ethics & Compliance website for additional information.
PAF, AWD, MOD, and Incoming MTAs
Revised IBC question wording and order across projects, to reflect PAF Section 5 Research Activity question “Does this project involve research in a U-M laboratory with biological materials?” and related sub-questions, if applicable. This enables Project Team members to provide additional information required in order for IBC Staff to complete their review.
Expanded and Automated Ironclad Access
Expanded Access for Unit Approvers
Individuals with the Unit Approver role now have the ability to access Ironclad, and accounts will be provisioned daily for department approvers.
Unit Approvers can review any workflows their project teams grant them access to.
How it works: The Primary Research Administrator or Primary/Additional Post Award Contact must grant access to a specific record by using the @mention feature on the record.
Automated Account Provisioning and Access for PIs and Project Team Members
When an Ironclad record is created and launched by ORSP, Project Team members will receive an email and automatic access to that record - eliminating the need for manual requests. Automatic access will be granted as follows for specific record types:
PAF/UFA - Contact PI, Primary Research Administrator
AWD - Contact PI, Sponsor PI, Primary Post Award Contact, Additional Post Award Contact. (If an ACR to change the Contact PI is in progress, the new Contact PI will also be included.)
The process for provisioning accounts and granting access to Ironclad records for Principal Investigators (PIs) and specific project team members will be fully automated and done in real-time.
These enhancements are designed to minimize delays between the creation of an Ironclad record and access for project teams, as well as enable broader access for users who may need to review records. The improvements are enabled through new integration with eRPM.
Record Management and Reporting Improvements
AWD
Automated completion activities related to closeout of Award (AWD) records, including automation to “Project Closeout” and “Closed” states to improve reporting accuracy, and to reduce the number of awards for Central Offices to review.
Award Annual Deliverables
In the May RAP, it was announced that Annual Progress reports would begin to be added to new awards in eRPM on June 1, 2025. ORSP will now begin backfilling progress reports for existing awards beginning in September as part of a phased approach to have ORSP created deliverables for the annual progress reports on all active Federal Awards. This first round will be for all NIH Direct grants and NSF Direct grants. More information on NIH Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) is available on the ORSP website.
ACR
At the time an Award Change Request (ACR) to submit reports is created, you can select the related deliverable(s) when NIH is the direct sponsor, or you can indicate ORSP is required to submit the report. This enhancement will automatically mark the deliverable as “Completed” when ORSP completes the ACR, closing the loop on the deliverable specified by the requester.
The ACR Type of “Reports” will display deliverables associated with the award.
The Project Team has the option to select relevant deliverables.
When the ACR is completed by ORSP, the selected deliverable will be automatically closed.
The Deliverable Completed by name will be “ORSP via ACR, eResearch” on the “Activity Log” and on “Deliverables” tabs.
The Project Team no longer has to answer a question in the ACR Form when the situation is such that the answer will always be “Yes” (i.e., ACR to conditionally display Non-NIH).
Updated the description, instructions, and help text for types “Other” and “Reports”.
For Central Offices
Conflict of Interest
See the section for Unit Research Administrators and Central Offices above.
Research Information Security Oversight and ORSP
Risk Mitigation on PAF
Added new functionality for ORSP and the Research Security Team (RST) to communicate and track requests, responses, reviews, records, and documents related to sponsor-initiated Risk Mitigation (Research Security) requirements and concerns including:
New activity to Request Risk Mitigation (Research Security) Reviews
New system-generated email notifications to Research Security staff and ORSP PRs upon activity completion
New PAF workspace messages in upper left corner when a Risk Mitigation (Research Security) Review is Pending
New activity to Complete Risk Mitigation (Research Security) Review
Updated the Research Security role Home workspace to include new project listers for “PAFs where Review Requested” and “Completed PAF Reviews”
New activity, Risk Mitigation Event Log, for monitoring projects to track and update training completion, update annual review dates, etc. It is visible in the Recent Activity lists for Central Offices only.
Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP)
PAF
Updated the Edit Staff Notes activity instructional text and formatting.
Enabled system logic to capture if a PAF was ever a “complex” proposal.
Added support for a new PEERRS course entitled “DOJ Bulk Data Regulations Training” for the Department of Justice’s bulk sensitive data policy.
AWD
Added new Special Term & Conditions for DEI/Gender Ideology Restrictions and IDC Retroactive Reduction for executive level reporting.
Ironclad Additional Attributes
Enabled the Class Code and Administrative Home Dept ID attributes to map over from eRPM when initiating the Ironclad record to aid ORSP in reassigning workflows in the event a person vacates their role, or there is a need to rebalance workloads between officers.