Research Enterprise System: Frequently Asked Questions

Activity Types

Please select Funded Research if you are expecting money for the proposal. If you select non-funded research by accident, ORS will have no choice but to return your proposal because the wrong questionnaires and approvers were pulled into the proposal record. This includes programs like VPR Travel Funds where you are receiving reimbursement.

Unit

Please make sure you select the correct unit properly by typing in your department name or code. If you select 00001 Simon Fraser University, ORS will have no choice but to return your proposal since the wrong approvers were pulled into the proposal record.

• You use Kuali Proposal Development every time you would have submitted a signature sheet for internal approval in the past for Fund 31 or CFI for externally funded research. Do not use Kuali for Fund 25, please use the current paper signature sheet for externally funded non-research. This includes all funded grants and contracts as well as new money coming to existing projects.
• You will also use Kuali Proposal Development for all research-related non-funded agreement request like nondisclosure, material transfer, data access, memorandum of understanding, etc.
• If you need to submit a sub-out request, please use current paper-based process for the request. This activity will be added to Kuali at a later stage.
• If you need to request an amendment that does not come with additional funds (change of end date or change of PI), do not use Kuali, contact ORS through email.
• When you chose the activity type on the first page of the Kuali Proposal Development form, Kuali will pull in the right questions and workflow depending on the type. These include:
  • Funded Research
  • Non-Funded (NDA, MTA, DAA, Research)
  • Infrastructure
  • Clinical Trial
  • Fellowship
  • Chairs
  • Donation

If you have special approvals that will be linked to your proposal, please initiate those from outside of Kuali Research as per your unit’s policies and processes. Special approvals take time, make sure you start early to be able to have necessary negotiations, conversations, and pre-approvals in place that you can attach to the Kuali Proposal. A non-comprehensive reminder of these items include:

• Release Time, Teaching Release, Course Buy Out
• PI Fee, Additional Compensation, Salary Recovery
• Graduate Fellowship
• VPR / Dean Cash or In-Kind Contribution
• Letter of Support
• Space, Renovation, Facility, Retrofitting, Equipment
• Commitment from SFU Co-Applicant
• Overhead
• Partner Consent, Attestation
• Mapping Relevant Compliance, Certificate, Training, Permit Liability, and Insurance Requirements

Access Kuali Research using the following link: https://sfu.kuali.co/

1. Select the Sign In button.
2. Log in with your SFU computing ID and password. Enter the Multiple Factor Authentication (MFA) 6-digit code, if prompted to.
3. Select the Research Home module and you will be taken to the main Dashboard. 
   Note: Role Accounts should not be used in Kuali to create proposals, users must sign in with their personal account. Role Accounts can only be used for reviewing proposal submissions by Department or Faculty administrative staff. If you logged in via SSO, you may need to log out and log in again with the correct account type.

APEX/APSA/CUPE or other administrative staff

APEX/APSA/CUPE and/or other administrative staff will need to request access to Kuali Research through their supervisor. Please contact Research Services at ors@sfu.ca for further assistance.

Sponsored Account Users

Role Accounts should not be used in Kuali to create proposals, users must sign in with their personal account. Role Accounts can only be used for reviewing proposal submissions by Department or Faculty administrative staff. If you logged in via SSO, you may need to log out and log in again with the correct account type.

Seeing a blank page or error when logging in?

If you are seeing a blank page or error message when logging into Kuali, please contact Research Services at ors@sfu.ca to troubleshoot your access. Most likely you are already in the system but do not have access roles defined for your profile yet

Predictive typing only works on the Sponsor field not for PI. Please also note that Kuali is configured by the SFU email linked to computing ID; the first name- underscore – last name alias will not work. When searching for a PI in the Principal Investigator field, select the magnifying glass and search for the person by: last name, combination of first and last name, or SFU computing ID (username field). Kuali will mark an employee’s preferred name as the default, so please search for the PI’s preferred name if known. If you recently changed your name, please make sure you are using the preferred name in Kuali that HR has on file. Contact HR if unsure. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the initial details of the proposal.

If the sponsor does not exist in the drop-down list:

1. Please search for *not* in the sponsor name box of the search function (magnifying glass).
2. Select “sponsor not found” from the search results. This will let ORS know to onboard the sponsor.
3. The new sponsor will be activated in the system within 48 hours. You do not need to wait 48 hours with your signature sheet information, you can proceed with the rest of the proposal.

Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the initial details of the proposal.

Once you have saved the details in the create proposal form, the system will generate a new proposal number and the data will be populated in this section. Please verify if these details have been saved correctly. This section (except for the Lead Unit field) can be edited any time before submission. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the initial details of the proposal.

If you finished the proposal and submitted to the workflow, it will no longer show on the dashboard, but you can search for it. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to search for records in Kuali.

Completion of Deadline & Other Information section is not mandatory. However, if the funder’s external deadline is close to the time of creating the Kuali Proposal, it is good practice to let the approvers know what the deadline is so they can sort by urgency. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the Deadline & Other Information section within the Basics Tab.

If the proposal is to an industry partner or funder with no programs, please enter “none” since program is a required field, and something must be entered. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the Funding Program Tab.

If someone requires edit access to your proposal, the PI should invite them to the team by adding additional personnel to the project. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to fill out the Key Personnel Tab.

Mandatory attachments include Proposal, Budget to Funder, and Approval of Special Requirements. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for more information about the Attachments Tab.

If your Kuali proposal was submitted into workflow and approved by all approvers, it will turn into an Institutional Proposal, it will no longer show up in the dashboard card in the Proposal Development area. Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to search for Institutional Proposal records in Kuali. If you would like to access a proposal questionnaire for a record that has already been submitted, please access it from the Proposal Development module.

• Once integrated with PeopleSoft (Summer 2024), Kuali will hold the proposal records (formerly the signature sheet) and high-level award information. However, PeopleSoft and FAST will remain the source of truth for awards. If your Award has been submitted (after integration)  to PeopleSoft, it will no longer show up in the dashboard card.  
• Please see the Proposal Development Manual for instructions on how to search for Award records in Kuali. The available report can tell you who applied for an award, who received the award and other details. Using this information, you can distinguish which records have been awarded versus which are still pending. Currently, Kuali will not display the approved awarded amount, this will be available later.   
• If you would like to access a proposal questionnaire for a record that has already been submitted, please access it from the Proposal Development module. 

During our training we stated that approvers can act without the reviewers taking action, but it is no longer the case. Please note that signature sheets will be routed to reviewers where the “approve” button will let the final approver know that the submission is complete and recommended for approval. All reviewers will receive a system notification once there is something to review, but as soon as one acts on it (reject or approve), it will be removed from the reviewer’s dashboard. Please see the Approval Workflow Manual for more information

PeopleSoft is the system of record for Fund 30s research project information. This information is relayed to the research community through the AWARD LIST in FAST.

FAST AWARD LIST views allow you to see your Fund 30s research project information at a glance. If you do not have access, please contact Research Accounting.

Yes, training is available as listed on this site.

FAST Award List is limited to  research projects in Funds 31, 32, 35, and 36

All new (not converted) project set up in FAST have the following supporting documents automatically attached to the project, accessible in the Award List report, if applicable:

Notice of Award
Signed agreement/contract
CAM (Contract Approval Memo)
Guarantees (Non-Payment Guarantee, Re-payment guarantee, etc.)
Confirmations
Attestations
Indemnity approval
CFI Award Agreements/Institutional Agreement
CFI Approved line-item Budget Document

FAST displays statuses. If a project is "A" - "Awarded" it means the project is awarded but cannot spend.  If status is  "O" for "Open" or "E" for Partially-related Budget, then you can spend.

Please note that these documents have already been shared with PIs, Departments and Faculties through email at the time of account setup and it is assumed that stakeholders have a process for saving and accessing all documents they require for their compliance activities. If a document cannot be found, requests to upload attachments to converted projects should be sent to ors@sfu.ca and must identify the specific project and PI for which the upload has been requested.  ORS will endeavor to upload attachments within 5 business days and will reply to the requestor once the upload has been completed.  The following documents are within scope for FAST access:

• Notice of Award document
• Signed agreement/contract
• CAM (Contract Approval Memo)
• Guarantees (Non-Payment Guarantee, Re-payment guarantee, etc)
• Confirmations
• Attestations
• Indemnity approval
• CFI Award Agreements/Institutional Agreement 
• CFI Approved line-Item Budget Document

Major milestones (financial reporting, invoicing, etc) are programmed in at the time of receiving the Notice of Award by ORS. Unusual terms are listed in the Contract Approval Memo (CAM). Financial terms will be highlighted yellow in the final contract document for quick reference to all stakeholders.  At this time, there is no visual indicator in FAST to bring attention to these details. If there are questions, RS and RA are always available to assist.

•    Financial compliance (non-collection, company not paying).
•    Non compliance with PI progress reporting. 
•    Overspending, where Research Accounting, Research Services  and Department will need to have a conversation