FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

To get access to work on a grant in PERA, your Business Manager or Research Account Specialist in the Business Office will need to send an email through the award to the assigned specialist indicating that you are working on this grant. The Post Award team can then give you access. You can also let them know during an ancillary review.

• Proposals
  • All pending proposal details have been converted; however, proposal attachments remain in Coeus. These will be brought into PERA as awards are established and will be found on the award record.
  • All proposals related to an active award were converted as a stub record with limited proposal details.
  • Not funded proposals were not converted.

• Awards
  • All active awards
    • Award details are found in the PERA Grants Module.
    • Nonfinancial documentation for awards received prior to 09/30/24 can be found in SAP/Perceptive Content.
    • Nonfinancial documentation for award details for award received after 09/30/24 can be found in PERA.
    • Financial documents can be found in Perceptive Content and SAP.
    • SAP remains the financial system of record.
  • All active subawards
    • Details for subawards are found in the PERA Agreements Module.
    • Subaward agreements prior to 09/30/24 can be found Perceptive Content
    • Subaward agreements/amendments after 09/30/24 can be found in PERA.

• Agreements
  • All pending negotiations have been converted.
  • All Master Agreements have been converted.
  • Agreements for active projects executed 09/30/24 or prior can be found in Perceptive Content or Coeus.
  • Agreements tied to an award made after 09/30/24 will be housed within PERA.
• IACUC
  • All active protocols
  • When creating your first amendment or triennial to a converted record, please use this guide. https://pera.research.purdue.edu/training/compliance/iacuc/follow-on-submission/

PERA is an integrated software platform that simplifies multiple grant and regulatory-related processes. This new software platform represents Purdue’s first fully integrated research administration system and will replace several disparate systems.

PERA has many benefits:

• Provides unified platform for managing and monitoring research projects
• Enhances transparency for the Purdue research community
• Automates research administration business processes
• Provides dashboard with centralized and consolidated information
• Automates workflow, routing, approvals and communication

The first four modules anticipated to go live in October 2024 are: Grants (Pre/Post Award), Agreements, Financial Forecasting, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Many of our current systems that are used to manage research and regulatory activities do not reflect the state-of-the-art innovation that is available with today’s technology, and they hinder our ability to grow the research enterprise. Furthermore, these antiquated systems cannot handle today’s ever evolving compliance environment which puts the university at risk for non-compliance.

Purdue faculty, staff, and researchers will use PERA to manage their sponsored research and regulatory activities.

PERA User Group members will provide input on targeted design questions, receive regular updates from the project team, have the opportunity to participate in testing, and act as project champions with their peers. For additional information, contact jlawrenc@purdue.edu.

The implementation project is underway now. A phased go live of multiple modules will begin October 2024 through October 2025.

PERA will facilitate greater transparency and provide a platform of interconnected modules to see the entire grant picture, enabling users to track their activity from proposals, to award, through closeout. More communication can occur within the PERA system as information is integrated across the modules.

In addition to the Grants module, the following modules are scheduled to be implemented in stages beginning in October 2024 and continuing through Fall of 2025: Agreements, Financial Forecasting, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Export Control, Safety Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), Conflict of Interest (COI) and Conflict of Commitment (COC), and Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Yes, the PERA team is developing help text embedded on each form and screen to aid users in navigating through all the PERA modules and adding important information to assist users with their questions and guide them through each step of the process.

Yes, the training team is developing training resources, including quick user guides, reference materials, and pre-recorded and in-person training sessions. Specialists will also be available during office hours and the help desk to answer questions and assist users.

Yes, PERA does track edits and changes. If someone removed a deliverable it would say who removed it and when it was removed. This would be captured in the History tab of the award.

The Huron research suite has integration amongst the modules being implemented. Additionally, the system will integrate with current university systems SAP (finance), Success Factors (Human Resources).

PERA is designed to enhance visibility across all of the research community. Every employee and student will have access to PERA, similar to the current role-based structure in Coeus. While general access allows users to view projects they are involved in as well as activities within the Business Office and Dean’s Office, the ability to edit or view detailed information on specific awards is restricted. Such access is granted exclusively by the principal investigator of each award. This ensures that marketing and communications personnel in academic departments can gauge the extent of research activities, while maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of project details.

No, PERA does not have any unique or notable features for managing public private partnerships. PERA is designed for tracking grants and grant-related partnerships, which are integral components of institutional research endeavors.

No, PERA is not part of the P&T system. PERA will not have any impact on the Elements system. Elements receives award and portfolio information through the Sponsored Program Services data and support team. PERA will serve as the definitive source for feeding data to Elements, ensuring that while they are complementary systems, they remain connected.

Yes, delegation of access to an operations manager is possible. However, it’s important to note that any principal investigator certifications must still be completed by the principal investigator themselves. Ensuring the correct role is assigned to the proxy will enable them to either have viewing rights or editing rights.

Yes, the principal investigator has the authority to grant edit access to the proposal for multiple individuals. They can assign administrative readers (for viewing access) or administrative editors on a per-proposal basis. A principal investigator can also have someone start the proposal on their behalf and assign these same permissions.

You can grant multiple individuals edit access to your proposals and view access to your awards. We understand the importance of familiarizing users with the functionality of assigning roles, whether as a reader or editor. To ensure effective use of the system, comprehensive training will be provided to cover these aspects in depth.

The PERA team is working on a Pre-Award migration strategy to migrate submitted pending proposals. Contracts that are expired will not migrate to PERA. Pending agreements will migrate with the most recent contracting document. Active protocols will migrate to PERA so a researcher can create and submit amendments on these. Active awards will migrate to PERA; however, the award documents will not migrate and will remain housed within Perceptive Content.

PERA is designed as an integrated system. By consolidating research proposals, awards, protocols, and related communications in one place, PERA eliminates the need to search through multiple platforms. This not only saves time but also fosters a more efficient and cohesive process. With all necessary information and communication channels housed within PERA, faculty members can expect a smoother, more integrated experience.

No, PERA is not designed to submit technical reports. However, PERA significantly aids the reporting process by generating 90-, 60-, and 30-day notices to researchers reminding them of upcoming report deadlines. This reminder functionality is one of the key benefits introduced with PERA, helping ensure timely compliance with reporting requirements.

PERA is not designed for individual project projections. AIMS and Cognos will remain as the systems for providing visibility into grant account information and balances. For specific grant projections, reliance on Business Offices will remain necessary.

PERA is not a financial system, so it will not replace SAP. PERA will integrate with SAP. But the source of financial data will remain SAP for the foreseeable future. AIMS enhancements are being considered in parallel with the PERA rollout, but these systems are separate.

After reviewing Huron’s Employee Compensation Compliance module, we found it doesn’t meet our current needs. SEEMLESS will continue to handle these functions while we monitor Huron for future updates.

The data you use from Cognos to track award dollars will continue to be available in Cognos. It remains the primary source for your financial information. If you are running queries, you can still use AIMS. It’s important to note that SAP continues to be our core financial system, and the tools you are accustomed to, including Cognos and AIMS, will still be your gateway to access the Business Intelligence (BI) system for financial data.

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