NEIF portal documentation

Registering and logging in

This system uses a common username/password with OxCal or the previous NERC radiocarbon facility system so if you already have a username and password for these you can use them.

Registering

To register as a new user press the [New User] button on the login box. You will be asked to enter your initials and surname (which would be 'I' and 'Netwon' for example) and your email address. These will generate a username (typically like inewton) and this and your password will be emailed to you.

Logging on

This should be straightforward. If you forget your password and or username you can press [Reset password] and enter either your email address or your username. You will then be reminded of your username and password. You cannot reregister with the same email address.

Setting your password

Once you have logged on you should reset your password to something you can remember and which has not been emailed to you. You can do this under [User > Change password].

Logging out

For security reasons you should log out when not using the system or not at your computer. You can do this with [User > Logout] or by closing the browser window and application.

Submitting a proposal

The information provide here is about the operation of the portal itself. For guidance on the scientific and administrative aspects of NEIF support, you should visit the main NEIF website at:

http://www.isotopesuk.org/apply.html

and read the guidance notes at:

http://www.isotopesuk.org/apply.html

Entering your details

Before you create a proposal you should enter your details (name, address etc). This can be done by selecting [User > Your details] from the menu. Use the [Edit] and [Save] buttons at the bottom of the user details window to save your details.

Creating a proposal

To create a proposal select [Proposals > New]. If you have not yet entered your details, you will be prompted to do so. After that you will be asked for the title of your proposal and it will then be created.

Editing a proposal

The form is normally ready for editing until it is completed. If you wish to edit an already completed form, use the [Edit] button.

Some people may prefer to edit text and paste it into the form. This should work for most things but note that special characters may not copy over. They can be included in forms but you may have to edit them directly into the form.

Note that the header section of the form is not editable and is filled in automatically.

Managing your proposals

You can have several draft proposals on the system at the same time. These will be shown in the [Proposals > Draft] menu and also listed under [Proposals > List] which also shows submitted proposals. From either of these lists you can select a proposal to work on.

If you decide to discard a proposal, just press the [Delete] button at the bottom of proposal page. This will remove this draft proposal.

Saving your proposals

When editing your proposals please save your work regularly. This can be done by pressing the [Save] button at the bottom of the proposal window. When you do this any active proposals will be saved. Periodically the system will save automatically but you should not rely on this.

Selecting the types of analysis you require

This form's content is flexible, depending on which services you require. In the form you will see a 'Methods' box. When you tick items here the form will add the extra components required for your application.

Sources of funding

This section is for listing the main sources of funding for the project. The main relevant grant should be the first item. You should also provide grant numbers for fellowships and studentships for people associated with the project.

Contacting facility staff

At the top of your form you will see entries for 'Panels' and 'Labs'. Depending on the nature of your proposal this will show the relevant panel(s) and lab(s) that might be involved. If you click on either of these lists you will be able to email the panel secretaries or relevant lab personnel to ask them questions about your proposal. See also the option to share your form with them below.

Sharing your proposal with others

If you like you can share the proposal for editing with other people registered on the portal. To do this click on the [Share] button. This will generate the basis for an email with a link to your form. You can choose whether you wish to share this with the relevant lab staff, the panel secretaries, or anyone else (such as a student for writing their statement). Keep in mind that the the system does not lock proposals so there is the danger of overwriting each other's entries if more than one person is editing the same proposal at the same time.

Printing your proposal

If you would like a preview of your proposal form you can generate this by pressing the [Print] button at the bottom of the proposal window. The system will take a few seconds to convert your form to pdf so please wait for the print to download.

Validating your proposal

At any point you can check which items remain to be filled in on the form by pressing the [Validate] button. This will generate an alert box to show what items in the form still need to be completed (marked by a red dot) before submission.

Submitting your proposal

When you have completed all of the required items in the form (marked with a red dot), you are ready to submit it. You can do this by pressing the [Submit] button. If there are any missing items, these will be listed in an alert box.

A new 'Link' window will open on the portal with a prompt for you to attach the other two documents required which are:

A brief 1-page CV listing 5 relevant publications.
A Case for Support document. This forms the major part of the application. This must be Arial 11 font, with 2 cm margins. An appendix may also be included as part of the proposal. For page limits, which vary by panel, see the guidance notes

Both of these documents should be in pdf format and the Case for support should be less than 15MB in size to facilitate document processing by the facility.

Once you have selected these documents to upload press the [Ok] button at the bottom of the Link window. Wait a few seconds and the documents will be forwarded to the facility and copied to you.

Resubmitting your proposal

If you realise that there is something wrong with your submission, or the facility lets you know of some issue, it is possible to resubmit the proposal before it has been allocated to a panel. To do this select [Proposals > List] and select the proposal that you wish to resubmit. It must be in the state 'Submitted' rather than 'With committee' so please do this as soon as possible or let the panel secretary know not to import it. You can then press the 'Edit' button and this will recall the proposal and enable you to make any changes and resubmit the documents.

Acknowledgement of receipt

Once the facility has received your proposal and checked it, it will be assigned to one of the three panels for assessment. At this stage you will receive a further acknowledgement of receipt of the proposal with a project reference number.

Report of outcome

After the panel has met, you will be informed of the outcome by email.

Operations for panel members

Looking at meeting papers

To find the information on your panel, select the [Panel > Meetings] menu item. This will give you a list of meetings for your panel with the key dates and location. From here you can click on a particular meeting to select one to view. Most of the time you will just wish to see the latest meeting and this can be accessed through [Panel > Meeting].

Viewing an application

In the meeting window you will see all of the applications to be considered listed. By clicking on the project number you will call up a window in which you can see the relevant papers. This project window has three buttons at the bottom which enable you to select the:

Form - which has the main information about the project.
CV - which is a one page document about the PI.
Case - which is a document about the project (with possible appendix).

Entering assessments

Project assessments or reviews, are allocated by the meeting secretary. These will then be listed for the relevant user under [Panel > For assessment]. This will bring up a list of assessments to do. Each assessment can be linked to by the project/assessment number. The assessment itself has two main text boxes for comments, one for the scientific merit and one for any relevant technical considerations or resource implications. You should then suggest a grade for the proposal, which will be considered at the meeting. There is also a place to record your level of expertise in the relevant research area.

You can save the assessment ast many times as you like. When you have completed it, then tick the [Done] box and save it again. All old assessments done by you will be in the [Lab > Assessed] list. These can still be updated after the meeting if required.

All comments should be written in a form that can be given to the applicant.

If you want multiple paragraphs, use two line returns between sections. Don't try any complex formatting as this will be lost in form processing.

Operations for panel secretaries

Administering the meeting

To work on the meeting papers select the upcoming meeting (see above) and then press the [Admin] button at the bottom of the meeting window. This will open a new meeting administration window which will enable you to arrange the meeting. This has two tabs:

NEIF panel meeting - which shows extra details about the proposals to be considered in the meeting.
Applications - which shows new submissions for your panel.

Importing applications

You should receive an email when new applications come in for your panel. Occasionally these will be relevant to more than one panel in which case you should contact the Science Co-ordinator for NEIF to confirm which panel the proposal should go to.

Under the applications tab you can look at the application details following the number link. Check the proposal is ok. If not you can ask the submitter to alter it and resubmit but you need to do this before you import it!

Pressing the [Import] button next to the proposal will import it and move all of the documents to your meeting folder.

Acknowledging applications

Once you have imported the application(s), return to the 'NEIF panel meeting' tab and you can then press the [✓] button next to the acknowledge button. This takes a few seconds to work as the form is reprinted with the project number and then an email sent to the submitter and copied to you acknowledging receipt and confirming which panel will review the application.

This operation can be repeated after the meeting to report the preliminary outcome. This will inform them that they have been funded or not with further information to follow.

Sorting the agenda

Pressing the [Sort agenda] button will sort the applications and number them. This should be done ahead of the meeting.

Requesting assessments and reviews

The number of assessments (completed/total) for each application is shown in the "Assess." column. To add extra assessments press the [+] button just to the right of this. This will give you a menu of those in the relavant panel. The type of assessment created will depend on whether they are a panel member or from a lab. The secretary can create assessments for themselves to do. In this case they will have to choose whether to create a secretary's report (meeting minutes), or a lab assessment (if they are part of a lab). The newly created assessements show as "+1" and are not yet saved on the database. You can check the fill list under the "Assessments" tab. Once happy with this press [Save] to save them and make them available to panel members.

You can keep track of those completed under either the "NEIF panel meeting tab" or individually under the "Assessments tab". If you want to delete an assessment, this is possible if it has not been completed, and this is how you should reassign an assessment to someone else.

Editing details

In order to enter the grades for the proposals after the meeting, go to the meeting administration window and click on the edit button next to the 'Panel admin.' title. You can then press the edit button next to each line, or the one at the top to edit each line. This enables you to enter the number of agreed analyses and edit some of the key elements of the proposal. When you have made the changes you want press [Save]. Note the interface will allow you to delete records and import new ones but this will (intentionally) not work when you save (though this does work for uncompleted assessments as above).

Entering grades and comments for the letter

After the meeting you can enter the grades, any comments from the meeting and prepare the details for the letters to the submitters. To do this you create sectretary's assessments as above. This can either be for you or for another secretary on the panel. Once created they need to be saved (as for any assessment); they should then appear in the list of assessments to complete under the [Panel] menu. The secretary's assessment contains all the elements that will go into the results letter:

Grade: as decided at the meeting.
Minutes: summary of the discussion of the merit of the application in the meeting.
Cost: which is a sum of the costs from the labs.
PI: the name of the PI as printed in the letter.
Address: the address of the PI for the letter.
CC: email addresses for those copied into the letter.
Support: none, partial, or full.
Chairs action: only used for R* projects - indicates if they can resubmit between meetings.
Agreed: the number of agreed analyses (comment on this if it is complicated).
Reviewer's comments: these can be edited and reordered if you wish.
[Reset] button: this reloads the details from the reviews and lab assessments.
Letter comments: these are any comments to add to the letter in addition to the reviews.
Done: indicates that this is ready for reporting.

You can save at any point using the [Save] button and preview the letter to the submitter using the [Print] button at the bottom of the assessment window. Once you are happy that the details are correct, click the "Done" and [Save]. This will save the letter on the server ready for sending and update the grade and agreed number of analyses in the main meeting window. This will not actually send the report, and you can resave this if you wish. If it has already been reported then it will need to be reported again - but avoid this if at all possible!

Only the NEIF administrators can send out the report but you can look at the letter again if you wish using the [✓] report button.

Operations for administrators

Administration of users

This can be done from the [Admin > Users] menu item. This enables you to set up panel membership etc.

Administration of meetings

You can set up the meeting dates, locations etc under the tool at [Admin > Meetings]. Meetings are labelled by full year, and then meeting number (1, 2 etc) and panel (A,B,C). To create a new meeting press the [Add meeting] button and fill in the main items. Everything except year, meeting and panel can also be edited in the main table and then saved.

You cannot delete meetings as these are linked internally to other data.

Overview of applications

You can see all draft forms on the system by pressing [Admin > Drafts]. This may enable you to help submitters with particular queries but you cannot alter the drafts. You can also see all submitted (but unallocated) applications under [Admin > Applications]. These should really be imported using the meetings administration tool as described above.

Panel meeting files

These can be accessed though [Admin > Files] and are organised by panel, then year then meeting. Once you have navigated to a specific meeting you can press [Download] to download all of the files for that meeting in a zipped archive.

Reporting outcomes

The letters are prepared by the panel secretaries as explained above. Once this has been done you can go to the "Admin" view for the relevant meeting. Projects that have not been reported can then be reported using the [✓] report button. Pressing this will put up the details of the email to be sent, and a small display of the actual letter. You should be able to download this using your browser software if you wish to check it in detail. Then press the [Ok] button which will send the email with the letter attached. You should also receive a copy so make sure it is ok. The project will then be marked as reported. The letters sent are stored on the server with all of the other meeting papers.

If there is anything wrong with the letter, ask the panel secretary to alter the details on their assessment and save it again.