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K-State Today

March 19, 2012

Transmittal forms for sponsored projects made easier

Submitted by Erinn Barcomb-Peterson

Kansas State University is moving toward campuswide implementation of electronic routing of transmittal forms for sponsored projects in the next few months. The College of Engineering developed and has been using eSign transmittal forms for several years and has been instrumental in automating the paper process and making this system available to the rest of the university.

To date, the colleges of Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and the Division of Cooperative Extension are using the eProposal/eSign system to electronically sign and route transmittal forms and sponsored projects documents. The College of Architecture, Planning and Design -- as well as the colleges of Education, Human Ecology and K-State Salina -- are in the process of implementation at this time. The tentative schedule for the remaining campus units is:

April 1 – College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, K-State Olathe and other academic units

June 15 – Complete implementation of all campus units

Training is being provided by Nancy Prockish of the Engineering Experiment Station for the actual users of the eProposals/eSign system. Faculty and administrators who approve and sign transmittal forms have found the system easy to access and understand and generally have not required training.

The eProposal/eSign system has been very well received by the campus community, and its use is highly encouraged, although not mandatory at this time. The system does offer many advantages to faculty when signatures are needed on a transmittal sheet and related sponsored project related documents. The most apparent advantage is that faculty or administrators can sign 24/7 at any location in the world where Internet access is available. Representatives at our other campus locations can now prepare their transmittals, route them for the normal approval process, and submit their information to pre-award services within a few minutes of signing. Lastly, the physical process of walking around this document through freezing rain and snow or blistering heat is all but eliminated.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this initiative further, contact Anita Fahrny at afahrny@k-state.edu or Paul Lowe at plowe@k-state.edu. They can be reached by telephone at 785-532-6804.