Reminder

Compliance protocols MUST be approved and linked in SeRA to a SPO project record prior to award acceptance. 

See ORA's Award Acceptance Resources for additional information.
Stanford
Office of Research Administration

Award Status - Transaction Log

  • Did your PI just receive a new sponsored award?

  • Are you wondering why the award hasn’t been sent for PTA setup?

  • Is there any way to check the status of an in-process award transaction?

The Stanford Electronic Research Administration (SeRA) system is here to support you! 

Viewing the Transaction Log of a SeRA Award Transaction to Check on its Status

SeRA stores a wealth of sponsored research information that can be leveraged to answer many departmental sponsored research inquiries and data needs.

The SeRA Transaction Log is a quick and easy way to see the status of any in-progress SeRA award transaction. The OSR Contract and Grant Officers (CGOs) track negotiation and other status transparently as they work through the process of accepting new awards. This feature is an excellent way for you to check on the status of an in-process transaction without having to ask for an update.

Let’s Do This!

  1. Log into SeRA.
  2. Search for the relevant SPO
  3. From the SPO’s Project Summary page, scroll down to Recent Transactions and click on the link for the open award transaction.
SeRA Project Summary_Recent Transaction_Award Transaction
  1. From the open award transaction, click on Transaction Log from the left-hand navigation menu.  You can scroll through the regions of the Transaction Log to view any notes and dates your OSR CGO has entered in relation to negotiation issues, waivers & exceptions, negotiation tracking, signature tracking, and, as appropriate, clinical research budget development.
SeRA Award Transaction_Transaction Log

Award Status and Acceptance FAQs:

  1. The investigator I support just received a new award. The sponsor sent the agreement to me, so I uploaded it to SeRA. How do I find out the status?
    • Answer: If you receive an award email, please be sure to forward it (with all attachments) to osr_intake@stanford.edu. OSR’s intake team will then set up the appropriate transaction and assign it to a CGO for review. Uploading agreements directly into SeRA does not trigger a task for OSR, so it is important to make sure that the OSR intake team is aware of the new agreement. Once there is an active award transaction, you can check the status via the Transaction Log.
  2. The award negotiation seems to be taking a long time, and the Transaction Log says “Requested changes sent to Sponsor” with yesterday’s date. I’m not sure what that means. Should I submit a Central Office Request Form to find out what’s going on?
    • Answer: If the Transaction Log indicates that action has occurred recently, it means the CGO is actively engaged with the sponsor and will let you know if anything is needed. That specific status means that your CGO has contacted the sponsor to request changes to the agreement’s terms and conditions. If you are unable to determine the status from the Transaction Log or if it doesn’t appear to have changed at any point, please email the assigned CGO or CGA directly. Please do not submit a Central Office Request Form to check the status of an in-process award or any other SeRA transaction.
  3. The Issues section of the Transaction Log indicates that the award is Pending Protocol Approval(s). What does that mean?
    • Answer: If a sponsored project involves compliance protocols such as IRB or APLAC, an approved protocol must be linked to the SPO and funding source (sponsor) before an agreement can be signed or sent for PTA setup. Even if there is already an approved protocol on file in eProtocol, if it is not linked to the SPO a revision must be submitted to add the SPO and funding source. This is one of the major causes of delays in signing new sponsored research agreements and new PTA setup.
  4. I don’t understand why it takes such a long time for an award to be finalized in SeRA. My PI really wants this done. Don’t CGOs just sign agreements? What could possibly be taking so long?
    • Answer: Your CGO is reviewing the award agreement against the submitted proposal and budget, negotiating any terms that do not align with Stanford policy, coordinating as needed with other offices on campus, updating SeRA to include the correct budget and award details, and as noted above, checking that any relevant compliance protocols are approved and appropriately linked to the SPO. This process can take a while and is often dependent on sponsor timelines and those of other Stanford offices. Sometimes there are additional complexities such as the transfer of sensitive data or materials. Remember, in most cases you can submit an early PTA request so that spending can begin while the award terms are being finalized. OSR tries to keep the Transaction Log as updated as possible so that the current status is readily available to everyone.

Award Acceptance and SeRA Resources:

Need further SeRA assistance? Have questions, feedback, or are experiencing system issues? Please submit a HelpSU ticket to the SeRA Support Team by clicking HERE, and a SeRA Support Analyst will contact you shortly.