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Cayuse424
A BRIEF INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE
Prepared by
Pre-Award Staff, Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Cayuse424, or simply Cayuse, is the software used for submitting federal grant proposals via grants.gov.
Cayuse replaces the use of Adobe-based application form packages as well as NIH’s online ASSIST
system.
Topics Covered:
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Section A: Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Section B: Introductory Tour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Section C: Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
First Time Logins/Setting Up Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Profile Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Non-UTHSCSA Personnel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Section D: Proposals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Creating a Proposal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Completing a Proposal (Cayuse Features). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Budgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
File Attachments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Errors/Warnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Subawards/Consortia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Additional Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Routing the Proposal to OSP for Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Submitting the Final Proposal to Sponsor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Section A: Overview
Cayuse Resources
Access to the Cayuse instructions, FAQs, Cayuse Training Environment, and much more can be found on
OSP’s website at http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/Cayuse/cayuse.shtml.
Cayuse’s own resources are also available at http://support.cayuse.com/docs/cayuse-424.
Browser Selection
It is strongly recommended to use only the Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers to access Cayuse.
Other popular browsers, including Chrome and Safari, are only provisionally compatible and may not
deliver desirable results within Cayuse.
Cayuse utilizes pop-up windows for a number of built-in features and functions. Therefore, the browser
must be configured to allow pop-ups from the Cayuse site. If needed, configuration instructions can be
found at http://support.cayuse.com/docs/browser-support-configuration.
Accessing Cayuse
Cayuse can be accessed through the following link: https://uthscsa.cayuse424.com/.
Cayuse utilizes the university’s single sign-on (SSO) system called Shibboleth. This means that users will
always enter their normal UTHSCSA username and password to access Cayuse. Likewise, anyone with a
UTHSCSA username automatically has access to Cayuse – manual account creation is not necessary.
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Section B: Introductory Tour
Cayuse is designed for maximum ease of use. Each time you log in, you will be directed to the Overview
Screen:
You can hover the mouse over most links throughout Cayuse to display further instructions and
definitions, as needed:
The basic tabs/screens and their purposes are as follows:
Overview:
Primary launching point in Cayuse
Opportunities:
Search/download available funding opportunities from grants.gov.
If the opportunity you plan to apply under does not appear in Cayuse, it can be
added by following the screen prompts.
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Proposals:
Create/view/edit/manage your proposals.
Refer to Section D, page 13 for more detail.
Routing:
View/manage cumulative proposal routing.
This feature is primarily for the benefit of OSP and/or central departmental
personnel managing multiple proposals simultaneously.
People:
Search/view/edit/manage Professional Profiles
Refer to Section C, page 5 for more detail.
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Institutions:
Search/view Institutional Profiles.
Only OSP staff can create/edit Institutional Profiles. Contact your OSP reviewer
for assistance when an Institutional Profile needs to be created or revised.
Reports:
Generate various reports available in Cayuse.
This feature is primarily for OSP and central departmental staff.
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Section C: Profiles
First Time Logins
When logging in for the first time, you must first set up your individual PROFILE, and establish
permissions within the profile. This will impact your ability to complete other functions within Cayuse,
so skipping this step will result in problems later on.
This step is necessary for any UTHSCSA PI that will submit a proposal through Cayuse, support staff that
will access or prepare proposals on behalf of a PI, and any/all other UTHSCSA faculty or staff that will be
named personnel on a proposal.
DO NOT manually create profiles for other UTHSCSA personnel under any circumstances. If you need to
list another UTHSCSA employee on a proposal and they do not have an existing Cayuse profile, you will
need to contact that individual and ask that they log in to Cayuse to complete their own profile, and
then grant you access to this profile. Abridged instructions for this can be found at
http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/Cayuse/Profiles.pdf.
To set up your profile
Click the People tab:
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Within your profile, you will see a list of pages on the left side of the screen:
Click through each page, adding information as needed:
1. Name: ensure your name appears exactly as you would like it to appear on proposals.
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2. Degrees: enter your degree details in different formats commonly used by federal agencies.
3. Demographics: optional; enter information here only if desired.
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4. Biosketches: optional; you can upload a biosketch here for ease of insertion into proposals. As
biosketches are commonly revised according to each different proposal, this feature is seldom used.
5. It is not necessary to click on the institution name – this will only take you to view the institutional
profile. Skip to:
6. Contact Info: some basic information is pre-populated from employee record; fill in and edit as
needed.
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7. eRA Role: all individuals with the possibility of ever being a PI on a grant should check the “PI” role.
Administrative support staff should select the role of “Assistant”.
8. Dept/Division/Title: some basic information is pre-populated from employee records; fill in and edit
as needed. NOTE: Division is the school in which your department falls (e.g. School of Medicine, School
of Nursing, etc.).
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9. Salary and Fringe Worksheet: at minimum, enter the calendar month appointment type (most
employees will enter 12; part-time or joint-appointed personnel will be different). Leave academic and
summer month boxes blank as UTHSCSA uses only calendar month appointments. Select the fringe rate
that should be applied (i.e. 26% faculty, 30% staff, 10% students). Salary can be optionally entered; it is
not necessary to enter a salary amount.
10. Performance Site: optional; you can fill this in if you would like to populate your proposal’s
performance site information from your profile. This information can also be added to your proposal
from Institution Profiles, or manual data entry.
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11. Routing Profile: optional; this will be covered in more detail beginning on page 27.
Profile Permissions
This is how you can give access to your profile to other users. Your own name should appear with all
permissions checked.
You can give varying levels of access to your profile to other UTHSCSA personnel:
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By default, the system will give LIST, READ, and AUTOFILL permissions; this can be adjusted as needed.
These are the minimum permissions needed for someone to name you as project personnel on a
proposal. If the individual will need to edit your profile, add further access as needed. For a description
of each level of access, hover the mouse over the column heading:
Non-UTHSCSA Personnel
When it is necessary to list non-UTHSCSA personnel on a proposal, this can be accomplished two
different ways:
1. If the individual(s) will be part of a subaward, their institution can provide a Cayuse-compatible file
with all the necessary information (including personnel listings) to be imported into the UTHSCSA
proposal for seamless data integration. More detail on this process can be found in section D, page 22.
2. A Professional Profile can be manually created, if one does not already exist. Check existing profiles
first; if the external collaborator’s name appears, contact your OSP reviewer to request access.
If the name is not found, create a new profile by clicking the “+ Person” link from the main People tab:
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Section D: Proposals
Create a Proposal
When creating a new proposal, complete the following steps to properly name and configure your
proposal.
Navigate to the Proposals tab, and click “Create Proposal”:
Select the correct proposal type.
 Choose “grants.gov/research.gov” for all submissions directly to a federal agency sponsor; this
will most frequently be the option selected and the subsequent steps outlined here follow this
process.
 Choose a subaward proposal if another institution has requested a Cayuse subaward proposal.
 UTHSCSA does not currently use the “other proposal” type.
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After selecting a grants.gov/research.gov proposal type, a window will open prompting selection of the
funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to apply under:
After selecting the correct FOA, a new window opens requesting several information items needed to
create the proposal. These items should be completed as accurately as possible, but can be edited later
if needed.
Proposal Name: this is for reference within Cayuse only (it is not the project title).
Use this format:
PI last name first initial_dept_sponsor_type/mechanism_deadline
Ex:
SmithW_Medicine_NIH_R01_2-5-15
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Principal Investigator: select from the list. If you do not see the name listed, it either means you do not
have permission to their profile (refer to Section C, page 11), or the PI role has not been designated for
that individual (refer to Section C, page 9). If needed, select “None” to proceed; this can be filled into
the proposal later.
Immediately after creating the proposal, it is recommended to set proposal permissions. This is
separate from profile permissions. Be sure to give permission to anyone that needs to access the
proposal in Cayuse, such as PI, Co-Is, department staff. OSP staff has automatic access to all proposals
and do not need to be manually added here.
When creating a proposal, it is possible to either create a new proposal “from scratch”, or create a
duplicate of an existing proposal using the “Copy/Transform” feature. This is particularly useful for
resubmission proposals, when many of the details on the resubmission will be similar or identical to the
original proposal.
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This feature allows for creation of an exact duplicate of the existing proposal, linked to the same FOA
(“Copy”), or transformation of the proposal to a different FOA (“Transform”). Even when using the same
FOA, it is advisable to select “Transform” and simply reselect the same FOA number. Sponsors
sometimes issue updated applications, and using the “Transform” option ensures that you are not only
using the correct FOA, but also the correct version of it.
Complete a Proposal
The proposal will be assembled with all the required and optional forms for inclusion, specific to the
opportunity. Note the checkboxes next to each form in the forms list on the left side of the screen.
Checked forms will be submitted with the proposal; forms not checked, or with no option to check off,
will be visible and functional within Cayuse but will not be part of the final submitted proposal received
by the sponsor. Always check the FOA for guidance on whether forms are mandatory, optional, or
mandatory if applicable.
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When completing proposal forms, most information will be populated from profiles; it is not necessary
to manually type in very much information. Certain data will populate automatically upon creation of
the proposal, such as UTHSCSA’s institutional details and the PI’s contact information. Other details
must be populated by utilizing the “Autofill” feature, such as additional collaborating investigators or
institutions.
NOTE: most proposals require completion of a “Person to be contacted on matters involving this
submission” and an “Authorized Organization Representative”. With very few exception, both of these
roles should be auto-filled with Chris Green’s information. If Cayuse does not allow you to select Chris
Green here, please leave these areas blank and your OSP reviewer will autofill the details at the time of
review.
When auto-filling other personnel, keep in mind that the details stored in their profile may not always
be complete and up-to-date. Once filled, it is advisable to look over the populated information and edit
as needed.
Likewise, if the individual will need to be listed in the detailed budget form, this can be easily configured
from the auto-fill pop-up window, and their details will automatically populate into all years of the
budget.
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Completing the Budget
There is a variety of budget forms available, and the exact budget used will be determined by the FOA
selected. In many cases, it may be necessary to complete a detailed SF424 R&R Budget form. There are
many features available in the budget form for maximum ease of use.
When entering personnel, it is only necessary to provide a base salary and effort level in the first budget
period, and Cayuse can then automatically calculate the rest, in all years. To auto-calculate fringe
benefits, enter the fringe rate (i.e. “26%”, “30%”, etc.) into the fringe field. Use the “escalate/replicate”
feature to populate details in all future years.
Personnel can be entered in only some years of the budget, or left out of the budget altogether by
checking/unchecking the “Budget Periods” checkboxes on this screen.
Note: if the individual’s profile contains a base salary figure and a selected fringe rate, it is only
necessary to enter the effort level into the budget, and all remaining details will calculate and populate
automatically.
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Costs can be entered into the first year across all categories, then automatically carried over to future
years either by exact duplication or with a configurable escalation factor:
Indirect costs, or F&A, will also calculate automatically. Just be sure the correct rate type has been
selected throughout the budget, as well as in the F&A section of the budget:
Some alternative budget forms do not contain as many automatic completion features, and some
federal agencies require deviations from standard form completion instructions. Always be aware of
opportunity- and agency-specific instructions in the FOA and any supplemental instructions published by
the agency sponsor.
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Uploading File Attachments
Proposals generally require several different file attachments to be prepared and uploaded to various
sections. In some cases, such as NIH research proposals, investigators may prefer to prepare several
sections together as a single document, then split apart to upload to the different sections separately as
required. This can be done manually by uploading files one by one, or by utilizing the “Exploding
Document” feature.
To “explode” a document, insert a hard page break between each section to be separated, convert to
PDF, and upload to the Attachment #0 “Composite PDF” line. The sections will break apart and upload
PDFs to all recognized attachment lines, and provide an onscreen message detailing the progress. Be
sure to check all resulting PDFs as errors may occur if incorrect formatting or document attributes were
used.
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Please refer to supplemental guidance on exploding documents on OSP’s website at
http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/Cayuse/ExplodingDocument.pdf.
Most proposals require submission of all files in PDF format; Cayuse provides separate sections for
uploading both the PDF for final submission as well as the source file, e.g. the Word document used to
create the final PDF. This is an optional feature for convenience only; source files are not submitted in
the final proposal.
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Errors and Warnings
All electronic submissions must pass through a series of automatic system validations during the
submission process. Cayuse is programmed with the same validations, so it can anticipate and alert you
to potential problems to address prior to submission. “Errors” are usually terminal and must be
corrected before a proposal can be successfully submitted. “Warnings” are potential problems that may
or may not require attention. “Info” are items that Cayuse interprets as a potential issue, but do not
necessarily link to a programmed system validation. These items may or may not need attention. Each
error/warning/info item contains a description of the issue and link directly to the form field in question.
NOTE: although the Cayuse error/warning feature significantly reduced the errors encountered during
submission, it cannot prevent nor predict certain fatal errors. For example, NIH proposals require the PI
to provide his/her eRA Commons user ID. Upon submission, this ID will be cross-referenced with
Commons account records and will trigger an error if an incorrect user ID is entered. Cayuse can only
detect if an entry has been filled into the form; it cannot detect whether the user ID provided is valid.
Subawards/Consortia
When a subaward is to be included on a proposal, there are several options available for completing this
information:
Option #1:
If the subawardee also uses Cayuse, they can create a subaward file within their Cayuse
program and export the file for sending
Option #2:
If the subawardee does not use Cayuse, they can use www.subawards.com to create a
subaward file for sending
Option #3:
Subawardee can complete the Adobe Subaward Budget Attachment form, downloaded
from grants.gov
Option #4:
Subawardee can prepare their documentation “offline” and send in any format, for
UTHSCSA personnel to create the subaward in Cayuse themselves
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Option #1: Subawardee uses Cayuse:
Subawardee creates a subaward proposal within their own Cayuse program, which will include
Performance Site, Key Persons, and Budget forms. The subaward can then be exported and emailed, for
import into the main proposal.
Option #2: Subawardee uses www.subawards.com:
This process mirrors option #1, except that institutions without their own Cayuse program will need to
use Subawards.com to create the Cayuse-compatible subaward file to be exported and emailed.
Separate subawards.com instructions are online at: http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/Subawards.shtml.
Option #3: Subawardee uses grants.gov budget form:
For those unable or unwilling to create a Cayuse-compatible subaward file under options #1 or #2, the
subawardee can alternatively download the Adobe application package from www.grants.gov and
extract the R&R Subaward Budget Attachment Form. The form should then be completed and emailed
for import into the main proposal.
Please note: when using this option, this will only populate the subaward budget information into the
main proposal. The subawardee’s performance site(s), senior/key persons, and budget justification will
then have to be manually entered, separately. Other budget entries may also require some adjustments
in the subaward budget after it is imported, such as data related to F&A (indirect costs).
Option #4: UTHSCSA PI/department creates subaward:
Subawardee will still need to provide all required information/documentation to UTHSCSA in some
format, for UTHSCSA personnel to recreate/enter data directly into the main proposal in Cayuse.
To create a subaward, first check for the organization under the Institutions tab. If it is not listed, OSP
will need to create an institutional profile in Cayuse. Please provide a completed face page and copy of
F&A rate agreement for each subawardee. The face page can be in draft status (unsigned) at this point;
however, please note that a final signed document will be required prior to OSP approval of the overall
proposal.
TO IMPORT A SUBAWARD INTO CAYUSE:
Navigate to the Proposals tab. Click the “Import” button. Enter a name for the imported subaward and
browse for the file previously saved to the desktop. The subaward will now appear in your list of
proposals.
Page | 24 Then, navigate into your main proposal, and into the RR Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form. Click “Link Subaward” and select the imported subaward from the list of choices. NOTE: it is possible to import subawards directly into the proposal; however, this process does not always deliver the expected results. Therefore, OSP recommends using the two‐part import/link method described here. OSP requires the following items from all subawardees, at the time of proposal review; proposals will not be approved for submission if any of these items are missing:  All budget and budget justification pages for all years of the project  Statement of work  Signature page – choose the correct version based on the subawardee institution; details and forms are available at: http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/Subawards.shtml The subaward documents can be submitted to OSP via Cayuse by utilizing the “Documents” page from the list of forms (refer to Section D, page 16 for further detail). Page | 25
Additional Proposal Features
Read-Only Viewing:
Cayuse allows editing capabilities in a proposal for only one user at a time. If you need to view a
proposal but do not need editing rights, the proposal can be opened in read-only mode.
Proposal Quick Link:
Each time a proposal is created, it is assigned a unique URL, which can be bookmarked/shared with
collaborators for ease of access (note that you will also need to assign permissions to access the
proposal, as applicable).
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Routing the Proposal to OSP for Review/Approval
Cayuse features a ROUTING CHAIN, which provides additional flexibility by enabling either OSP or the PI
to ultimately submit the final proposal. In either case, OSP requires submission for review at least three
business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline.
Use of the routing chain enables the PI/department to route “administrative” portions of the proposal
(the form pages, budget, budget justification) to OSP for review, while still continuing to work on the
“scientific” portions (project narrative, biosketches, etc.) over the last days leading up to the deadline.
OSP can then approve the proposal for submission within the routing chain, which will ultimately allow
the PI or a delegate to submit the final proposal to the sponsor at their convenience.
Use of the routing chain is always strongly recommended, but in some cases, it is required:
 Routing chain is required if:
o PI/department plans to submit the proposal themselves
o OSP will submit, but narrative documents are not finalized prior to OSP review
 Routing chain is recommended, but not required, if:
o OSP will submit, and entire proposal is finalized prior to OSP review
Prior to routing, be sure that all form data is entered, and budget justification is uploaded, as these
portions “lock down” and can no longer be edited after routing. If these minimum requirements are not
met, the proposal will be returned without review for completion and re-routing. NOTE: the budget
justification is the only file required for upload prior to routing.
In addition to the proposal itself, OSP requires:
 Completed and signed COP (http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/forms_ut.shtml#COP)
 All subaward documentation, if applicable (refer to pages 22-24 for details)
 For NIH modular submissions, a detailed internal budget. Investigators may EITHER complete
the detailed RR budget within Cayuse, OR provide the HSC Modified Internal Budget Form
(http://research.uthscsa.edu/osp/forms/Revised398HSCpf5.xls). Only one of these is necessary.
To Route the Proposal:
Click the “Routing & Approval” link. Check the routing chain and edit as needed; it must always begin
with the PI or a delegate, and end with Chris Green (individual OSP reviewers need not be included –
only list Chris Green for OSP). Others may be included in the middle; check with department
administration regarding any departmental requirements.
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Routing is initiated by clicking the black outlined checkbox next to the first name in the routing chain
and following screen prompts. The proposal forms will “lock down”, and the next reviewer in the
routing chain will be automatically notified via email that the proposal is ready for review/approval.
NOTE: if the checkbox is outlined in gray, this is an indication that you do not have the authority to
route/approve on behalf of the person named in the routing chain. This can be resolved by revising the
routing chain to list an alternate individual, or establishing yourself as a delegate of the investigator.
Next Reviewer and Delegates within the Professional Profile:
Next Reviewer: in most cases, OSP recommends assigning Chris Green as the Next Reviewer. This way,
each time a proposal is created for the PI, the routing chain will automatically build itself correctly, thus
eliminating the need to manually edit the chain in each separate proposal.
Delegates: it is recommended that departmental staff responsible for preparing Cayuse proposals on
behalf of their faculty be assigned as a Delegate in their profile. This will enable departmental staff to
route/approve/submit proposals on behalf of the investigator, thus eliminating the need for
investigators to log in to Cayuse and handle the routing themselves.
What to Expect from OSP During Review:
Once the routing chain is initiated, OSP will retrieve and review the proposal, work with the
investigator/department through any corrections needed, and will ultimately approve the proposal for
submission. At that point, any remaining file attachments can be uploaded, and the proposal can be
submitted at any time up until the deadline, by anyone named on the routing chain as well as their
established Delegates.
When the routing chain is utilized, OSP assumes that the PI/department plans to submit the proposal
and will approve within the routing chain accordingly. If it is preferred that OSP will ultimately submit,
this is acceptable – in that case, be sure to communicate this to your OSP reviewer.
Keep in mind that OSP staff is available to submit during normal business hours only (M-F 8am-5pm),
even though deadlines sometimes fall later in the evening or overnight. In such cases, investigators
should plan to submit themselves if the proposal will not be finalized by close of business on the
deadline day.
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Submitting the Final Proposal
To submit, click the “Electronic Submission” icon. It is highly recommended to “Validate Proposal” prior
to submission, which runs one final check for errors. If any new errors are identified here, these should
be resolved before proceeding with submission.
After clicking “Submit to Grants.gov”, a pop-up window will appear and show the progress as the
proposal is validated, assembled, and transmitted to the grants.gov server.
Ideally, the screen will deliver a “Success!” message and grants.gov tracking number. The entire
submission process may take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes; please be patient.
In rare cases, this screen may deliver a transmission error instead. If this happens, it is recommended to
immediately contact the assigned OSP reviewer for further guidance, as this can be the result of
different issues requiring different actions from one case to the next.
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Logging Out
When logging out of Cayuse, it is recommended to manually sign out and then close the browser out
completely. Otherwise, you may encounter problems during your next login.