Duke’s online “Sponsored Projects System” is available for use throughout the University by staff and faculty working on grant proposals. According to the system’s developers and current users, SPS can dramatically improve the efficiency and reduce the work of grant preparation.

Rather than the traditional paper-intensive grant preparation process, SPS provides complete online preparation of NIH grant applications, generating forms for new, non-competing renewal, modular, and program project grants. It also generates the Standard Form 424, used by a number of federal agencies, as well as a generic format for applications to sponsors who do not provide forms.

Even if it does not have the specific forms you currently use, SPS can simplify the proposal preparation process. The SPS budget section always has the correct fringe benefit rates and allows automatic calculation of fringe benefits (pro-rating when necessary), indirect costs, inflation adjustments for out years, and modular grant offsets for NIH proposals. SPS can account for subcontracts, cost sharing, and special indirect cost rates. For those who prepare many proposals, the copy, cut and paste capabilities in SPS can streamline the preparation of new or revised proposals.

For those of you who find routing a proposal for administrative approvals a hassle, SPS can route proposals for approval electronically, greatly speeding up the process and eliminating any need to carry or fax the Duke Proposal Approval Form (DPAF)from department to department. It even fills in and generates the DPAF automatically when needed. Routing for electronic approvals can be specifically tailored to meet the different needs of each department.

Finally, SPS is a record of all your grant activities. It provides access to a complete record of proposal and award information over a project’s life cycle and a historical record of all grant activity at the university. SPS reduces administrative effort -- both centrally and in departments -- and improves access to standardized sponsored projects information for decision-making purposes. SPS has extensive search capabilities, using a variety of specified criteria, and can export results to Access or Excel for reports.