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Tips: January 16, 2018

SPARCS Tips

Following are some tips on using SPARCS to expedite the review and submissions of your proposals -

• WILDCARDS! You can use the wildcard (%) when searching within SPARCS. For example, if you have a Sponsor or Subaward you would like to list and they are commonly known as "XYZ University" but their official name is "The Regents of XYZ University", you can enter "%XYZ" and it will open up your search results to many other options. See picture below for example:

• Speaking of searching. As we move forward with SPARCS and more and more proposals are entered, user proposal lists will become longer and longer. Lists will go beyond one page. SPARCS has a great feature to help users search more quickly. By selecting Advanced to the left of Filter by, more filters open up and allow you to search by multiple criteria. See the picture below for an example:

• Please remember to submit the signed PI ASSURANCE STATEMENT. This form is intended to act as the PI's signature. This is one of the top reasons proposals are being held up. SPARCS has even made it easier to sign as electronic approvals (responses to emails) are accepted as the signature. If your PI is in Dubai, no problem so long as he or she can access email.
• We know sometimes researchers are in the process of signing (or have signed) an employment contract with Carnegie Mellon and need to transfer awards or submit proposals before their start date. Currently, these individuals do not show up in the Workday feed to SPARCS. In these cases, you have the option to select a TBA PI in SPARCS. Please remember to include the details (name, hired date, etc.) of the PI using comments. You can use the Add Comment activity to include the details in the comments section when submitting for review. We intend to use the submitting department as the PI's appointment department for reporting.