iGrants
External Reviewers Guide
Version 1.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.
2
3
4
Purpose of Document .................................................................................................. 3
Invitation to Review proposal .......................................................................................... 4
2.1
Rejecting the Review Invitation .................................................................................... 5
2.2
Accepting the Review Invitation ................................................................................... 6
Accessing iGrants ............................................................................................................ 7
3.1
Navigating to iGrants ................................................................................................... 7
3.2
Login to iGrants ........................................................................................................... 8
3.3
Registering a New Account in iGrants .......................................................................... 9
3.4
Retrieving your Password ...........................................................................................10
3.5
Exiting iGrants ............................................................................................................11
Profile Management .........................................................................................................11
4.1
My Profile ....................................................................................................................11
4.1.1 Honorarium Payment Information ...............................................................................11
4.1.2 Edit Profile Information ................................................................................................12
5
6
Reviewing a Proposal ......................................................................................................13
5.1
Viewing the Proposal ..................................................................................................13
5.2
Filling in the scorecard ................................................................................................14
5.3
Saving the Scorecard as Draft ....................................................................................19
5.4
Submitting the Scorecard ............................................................................................19
5.5
E-mail Reminders for Reviewing of Proposal ..............................................................19
5.6
Cancellation of Invitation to Review Proposal..............................................................20
Clarifications from A*STAR .............................................................................................20
1
Introduction
1.1.
Purpose of Document
This guide acts as a step-by-step guide for reviewers who will be evaluating proposals using
iGrants.
It is divided into the following sections:
- Invitation to Review Proposal
- Accessing iGrants
- Profile Management
- Reviewing a Proposal
- Clarifications with A*STAR
2
Invitation to Review proposal
An email notification will be sent if you have been identified as a suitable reviewer. This
section covers the options available for your response to the invitation.
In the email invitation the a hyperlink will be available for you to access the Reviewer
Invitation page as shown in the screen shot below. The e-mail will also include the deadline
for reviewing the proposal.
To view the scientific abstract of the proposal and to input your decision to accept or reject
the invitation, click on the URL link.
2.1
Rejecting the Review Invitation
To reject the review invitation, follow the steps below:
a. On the Reviewer Invitation page, click on the “No” radio button below the text “Do
you wish to review this proposal?”
b. The system will display a text box to request for recommendations of other
suitable candidate(s) to review this proposal as shown in the screenshot below.
c. Enter the name, organization and e-mail of the candidate(s).
d. Click on the
button to confirm the rejection.
Upon successful rejection of invitation, the system will return you to the iGrants Landing
page. No further input is required.
2.2
Accepting the Review Invitation
To accept the review invitation, follow the steps below:
a. On the Reviewer Invitation page, click on the “Yes” radio button below the text “Do
you wish to review this proposal?”
Note: You will only be able to review the proposal if you abide by A*STAR’s
Confidentiality Agreement.
b. Read through the Confidentiality Agreement and click on the “Yes” radio button to
acknowledge.
c. Click on the
button to confirm acceptance of the review invitation.
Note: If you choose “No” radio button under Confidentiality Agreement, you will not
be able to review proposal and iGrants will prompt you to suggest suitable reviewer
candidates (refer to Section 2.1).
Upon acceptance of the invitation to review the proposal you will be re-directed to the
iGrants website as shown in the screenshot below.
Refer to section 3 for more information on accessing iGrants and reviewing the proposal.
Note: If you are a reviewer who has been previously been contacted by A*STAR to review a
grant application, your user account will be pre-registered and your login credentials for
iGrants will be sent to you via e-mail. Refer to the screenshot below for a sample of the email.
Using the credentials here, you may login to iGrants. Refer to section 3.2 to login to iGrants.
Note: If you are a new reviewer who has not been engaged by A*STAR previously for the
review of grants, please register an account with iGrants. Refer to section 3.3 on the
registration process.
3
Accessing iGrants
This section covers on how to access iGrants via a web browser.
3.1
Navigating to iGrants
To access iGrants, perform the steps below:
a. Launch a web browser. iGrants is currently supported by the following browsers.
Browser
Internet Explorer
Version
Version 8.0 and above
b. Input the following URL address of iGrants into address bar of your web browser.
http://igrants.a-star.edu.sg/
c. The iGrants Landing page will be displayed as shown in the screenshot below.
d. The following sections are presented on the Landing page:
Section
Ongoing Grant Calls
Login
3.2
Description
Displays Grant Calls that are currently open.
This section is not relevant for users who will be accessing iGrants
to review proposals.
The following features are available:
- Existing users may login to iGrants
- Existing users may activate Forget Password to retrieve their
password
- Registration of new account with iGrants
Login to iGrants
To log into iGrants, follow the steps below:
a. Under the Landing page, enter your login id (i.e. your primary email address
registered in iGrants) and password.
b. Click on the “Login” button.
c. On successful authentication, iGrants will display the Dashboard screen as shown
in the screen shot below.
3.3
Registering a New Account in iGrants
To register a new account in iGrants, follow the steps below:
a. Under the Landing page, click on the Create New Account link. The following
screen will be displayed.
b. Fill in the relevant information. Refer to the table below for the explanation of the
fields. Fields denoted with a red asterisk are mandatory.
Field
Account Type
Description
Select the “I will be reviewing proposal” checkbox.
First Name
Last Name
Primary Email
Enter your first name.
Enter your last name.
Enter your e-mail address to which iGrants will send e-mails to.
This e-mail address will also be your login id to iGrants.
Confirm Primary Email
Password
It is recommended that the official work email address is used
Re-enter your primary e-mail address as confirmation.
Enter your desired password for iGrants.
Confirm Password
The password must be minimally 8 characters long.
Re-enter the password as confirmation.
Secondary Email
Organization
Enter an alternate e-mail address contact.
Select your main institute/organization from this list.
If your institute/organization is not found in the list, click on the link
“Click here to specify Organization not within the list”. iGrants will
display a text box for you to key in the information.
Department
Select the department under the main institute/organization from
this list.
If “Click here to specify Organization not within the list” is clicked,
this will be a text box for you to key in the information instead.
c. Click on the “Submit” button to register the account with iGrants.
Upon successful registration, iGrants will send a notification e-mail to the primary e-mail
address.
Note: To specify the Honorarium Payment mode and details, you can edit your profile after
registration in iGrants. Refer to section 4.1 for further details.
3.4
Retrieving your Password
Users that have forgotten their password may make use of the Forget Password feature.
To use the feature, follow the steps below:
a. Under the Landing page, enter your login id.
Login Id will be the primary e-mail address registered with iGrants.
b. Click on the “Forget Password” link.
iGrants will send an e-mail with the newly generated password to the e-mail address as
entered above.
Note: Users are encouraged to change their password after login to iGrants.
3.5
Exiting iGrants
To exit iGrants, click on the ‘Logout’ button located at the top right corner of the page.
iGrants will terminate the current session and return to the Landing page.
4
Profile Management
This section covers the management of profile information. As External Reviewers, you are
allowed to edit your personal information registered in iGrants.
4.1
My Profile
This functionality allows users to amend their own account information in the system.
To access this feature, click on My Profile under Profile menu as shown below.
The following screen will be displayed.
4.1.1 Honorarium Payment Information
Refer to the table below for the list of fields for each mode of payment.
Fields displayed for Bank Draft / Local Cheque as mode of payment.
Field
Currency
Beneficiary Name
Beneficiary Address
Description
The preferred currency for payment.
Name of the beneficiary.
Address of the beneficiary.
Fields displayed for Telegraphic Transfer / Local GIRO as mode of payment.
Field
Currency
Beneficiary Name
Beneficiary Address
Beneficiary Account
Number
Beneficiary Bank Name
Beneficiary Bank Address
Beneficiary Bank Routing
Method
Description
The preferred currency for payment.
Name of the beneficiary as in bank account.
Address of the beneficiary
Bank account number of beneficiary
Name of beneficiary’s bank
Address of beneficiary’s bank
ABA / SWIFT Code / Sort Code / CHIPS ID / CHIPS
no.
Please leave this field “blank” for local GIRO
payment.
Beneficiary Bank Routing
Code
Intermediary Bank
Required?
Intermediary Bank Name
Intermediary Bank Address
Intermediary Bank Type
Intermediary Bank Routing
Code
Intermediary Bank Country
Indicate the code accordingly:
ABA - 9 digits
SWIFT code - 8 or 11 character
Sort code; CHIPS ID - 6 digits
CHIPS no. - 4 digits
For local GIRO payment, please indicate the bank
code (4 digits) and branch code (3 digits)
Select “Yes” if there is an intermediary bank
involved.
Note: You will be required to key in the fields below
if you select “Yes”.
Name of the intermediary bank
Address of the intermediary bank
ABA / SWIFT Code / Sort Code / CHIPS ID / CHIPS
no. of the intermediary bank
Indicate the code accordingly:
ABA - 9 digits
SWIFT code - 8 or 11 character
Sort code; CHIPS ID - 6 digits
CHIPS no. - 4 digits
Country where the intermediary bank is located
4.1.2 Edit Profile Information
To edit the user’s user profile, follow the steps below:
5
a.
Make the desired changes. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk.
b.
Click on the “Submit” button to save the changes made.
Reviewing a Proposal
Upon successful login you will be directed to your Dashboard. The Dashboard will display
the proposal(s) that is pending your review as shown in the screen shot below.
5.1
Viewing the Proposal
To view the Proposal, follow the steps below:
a. Click on the “Proposal ID” link under the Proposal No. column or the “View” link
under the Action column.
b. iGrants will display the proposal information, segregated into different sections as
shown in the screen shot below.
c. You may click on the link beside the Grant Call ID field to view the details of the
Grant Call.
d. Click on the various tabs to view information on the respective sections.
Under the Budget Breakdown tab, iGrants will display the Overall Budget
Breakdown information as shown in the screenshot below.
For proposals whereby there are more than one research institute involved, you
may click on the “View” link under the Action column to view the detailed budget
breakdown for the corresponding institute.
5.2
Filling in the scorecard
To enter the scoring, follow the steps below:
a. Click on the “Scorecard” tab to access the scorecard which needs to be filled out
by you. iGrants will display the following screen for your input.
Section
Reviewer’s Information
Payment Information
Description
Review your information as registered in iGrants here.
You may wish to amend the information here as
desired.
Indicate if Honorarium Payment is required by
selecting the “Yes” or “No” radio button.
This section is pre-populated based on your user
account information. Refer to section 4.1 for details.
If Honorarium Payment is selected as “Yes”, you may
specify the desired mode of the payment:
- Bank Draft
- Telegraphic Transfer
Based on the choice selected, you will be prompted to
supply the relevant information for honorarium
payment.
Declaration of Conflict of Interest by
Reviewer
Note: Making changes to this section will update your
account information as well.
This section allows you to declare any conflict of
interest by selecting the appropriate option.
Evaluation Questions
Attachments
Remarks to A*STAR
This section will allow you to indicate your scoring
based on the review of the proposal.
Note that this section will only appear based on
certain selections for Declaration of Conflict of Interest
by Reviewer.
This section allows you to upload any supporting
documents related to the review of the proposal.
This section allows you to key in any remarks to
A*STAR.
Note that this remarks entered in this field is not saved
when “Saved as Draft” button is clicked. Key in this
field only when submitting the scorecard to A*STAR.
b. Under the Payment Information, you are required to fill in the payment information if
you have indicated that honorarium payment is required.
Refer to section 4.1.1 for more information on these fields. Fields marked with a
red asterisk are compulsory.
Note: Making changes to this section will update the information as registered
under your user account information.
c. Under the section Declaration of Conflict of Interest by Reviewer, choose one of the
appropriate options.
Option
No Conflict of Interest
Description
After choosing this option, the Evaluation Questions
section will be displayed for your scoring.
Conflict of Interest but able to
review the proposal
A text box (Details of Conflict) will be displayed for you
to provide details on the nature of the conflict of interest
for A*STAR’s information.
The Evaluation Questions section will be displayed for
your scoring.
Conflict of interest and unable to
review the proposal
If you select this option, the scorecard will not be
displayed and you may click on the “Submit” button
without entering any scoring.
No other action on your part is required.
Refer to the screenshot below for a sample of the Evaluation Questions section.
d. Under the Evaluation Questions section, fill in the fields accordingly.
e. When you have finished reviewing and entering the scoring, click on the “Compute”
button beside Overall Score field.
iGrants will compute the average of your scoring with each section given equal
weightage. You may over-write this value manually if you wish to do so.
5.3
Saving the Scorecard as Draft
At any time, you are able to save the information entered into the scorecard as a draft and
continue working on it at a later time.
To do so, follow the steps below:
a. Click on the
score(s).
button to save your draft review comments and
b. iGrants will save the scorecard as draft and return to the dashboard.
Note: Comments entered in Remarks to A*STAR field is not captured when saving as a
draft. Do key in remarks only when submitting the scorecard to A*STAR.
Refer to section 5.1 for instructions on retrieving a previously saved scorecard from the
dashboard.
5.4
Submitting the Scorecard
Once you have completed your review, you may submit the completed scorecard to
A*STAR.
To submit the scorecard, perform the steps below:
a. Click on the
button to confirm the submission of your review to A*STAR.
b. The system will validate the scorecard and alert you of any errors and missing
information. Make the necessary corrections and you will be able to submit the
review.
The system will inform you upon successful submission of the scorecard. The task will be
removed from the Dashboard.
5.5
E-mail Reminders for Reviewing of Proposal
iGrants will send the following e-mail reminders.
E-mail Reminder
Reminder for Review Invitation
Description
iGrants will send out one e-mail reminder in the event
Reminder for Submission of
Review
that you did not respond to the initial invitation.
iGrants will send out up to three reminder e-mails in the
event that you did not submit the review by the deadline.
Note: The deadline is stated in the invitation e-mail.
Note: If reviewer requires to extend the deadline for scorecard submission, the reviewer can
send request to A*STAR for deadline extension via e-mail. A revised deadline may be given
subjected to the review process timeline being met and an e-mail notification will be sent to
the reviewer to inform of the extension.
5.6
Cancellation of Invitation to Review Proposal
In the event that the deadline for the review has elapsed, A*STAR may cancel the review
invitation.
When this happens, an e-mail will be sent to the reviewers who have submitted their reviews
via iGrants. No further action will be required on your part.
6
Clarifications from A*STAR
There may be instances where A*STAR would need to contact you after submission of the
scorecard. If further clarification is required an e-mail notification will be sent to you with the
clarifications required highlighted within the e-mail.
To answer queries from A*STAR, follow the steps below:
a. Click on the URL link in the e-mail notification which will bring you to the iGrants
Landing page. Enter your credentials and login iGrants.
Or
You may navigate and login to iGrants (refer to section 3.1). You will find the
clarification task under the Dashboard.
b. The scorecard which you have previously submitted to A*STAR will be displayed.
c. iGrants will display a pop-up window that displays the query by A*STAR. You may
also scroll to the Comments from A*Star section to view the query as shown in the
screenshot below.
d. You may amend the scorecard and/or key in remarks to A*STAR.
e. Click on the
button to re-submit the scorecard to A*STAR.