AdminWeb
Beta Release

AdminWeb, an Internet-based World Wide Web application, helps performers of federal research awards close out awards that will soon expire or have already expired.

The first implementation of AdminWeb merely listed the status of final reports without providing a way for performers, field officers, or program officers to address reporting shortfalls. There was no way to submit missing documentation or respond to situations in which award close-out documentation was long overdue.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), the sponsoring organization for AdminWeb, has released this application for limited-use beta testing. Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Georgia Tech, University of Florida, University of Miami, Cornell University, MIT, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Rice, CalTech, Montana State, University of California, University of Washington, select ONR Headquarters program officers (supervising expiring or expired awards to PSU), and all ONR field offices are participating in two periods of beta testing.

In response to feedback from the field offices, ONR has updated AdminWeb in a June 2001 release. These notes have been revised to reflect the enhancements.

AdminWeb Capabilities

A performer using AdminWeb can track expiring or expired awards and, for awards managed by ONR, can submit text, upload files to satisfy reporting requirements (e.g., final technical reports [FTRs], final property reports, and final patent reports), and submit requests for no funds extensions (NFEs).[1]

A field officer using AdminWeb can track the status of awards for ONR, NASA, Army, Air Force, and all other agencies currently handled by the field officer's field office, as well as monitor close-out documentation and NFE submissions for awards managed by ONR. AdminWeb filters the data to display the status of only those awards handled by the officer's field office, unless the field officer is from ONR headquarters, in which case the system displays information on all awards. AdminWeb also notifies the field officer by e-mail when a performer submits an FTR or a property report.

An ONR program officer [2] using AdminWeb can view and accept or reject FTR submissions for ONR-managed awards. AdminWeb notifies the program officer by e-mail when a performer submits an FTR.  If all materials necessary for close-out are acceptable, the program officer can initiate actions within AdminWeb to send the necessary documentation to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) via e-mail.

AdminWeb runs in a web browser. The link is located below.

https://onronline.onr.navy.mil/pls/adminweb/adminweb.adminweb

Open the AdminWeb beta test URL in an appropriate browser.  The Enter Network Password dialog box appears.

Exhibit 1:  The Enter Network Password Dialog Box

Enter your user ID and password in the User Name and Password fields and click the OK button. [4] This opens the AdminWeb welcome screen tailored for your role.

Exhibit 2:  The Top of the Performer Welcome Screen (Navigation Bar)

Near the top of each AdminWeb screen sits a navigation bar comprising several links aimed at easing the use of AdminWeb. Program officers and field officers have one more link in their bars than performers, called Submissions Report, which is discussed near the end of this section. The first link you are likely to use is the Change Password link. Since your first AdminWeb password is a system-generated set of alphanumeric characters, you may want to change this password to one you can recall more easily. To change your password, click the Change Password link in the navigation bar near the top of the welcome screen (or any other screen), navigating to the Change Your AdminWeb Password screen.

Exhibit 2:  The Change Your AdminWeb Password Screen

Follow the directions there to change your password. Be sure to enter a password at least six characters long, and when you finish remember to close your browser and restart AdminWeb as the application directs.

Exhibit 3:  Screen Indicating Successful Change of Password

Program officers, performers, and field officers each have customized welcome screens. The program officer welcome screen provides three reporting options for three levels of award maturity: one for awards expiring, one for awards with close-out reports due, and one for awards with close-out reports over ninety days past due.

Exhibit 4:  The Program Officer Welcome Screen (Bottom)

The performer welcome screen provides the three standard reporting options by award maturity (one for awards expiring, one for awards with close-out reports due, and one for awards with close-out reports over ninety days past due) plus a combined report for all award maturities.

Exhibit 5:  The Performer Welcome Screen

The field officer welcome screen provides the three standard reporting options by award maturity (one for awards expiring, one for awards with close-out reports due, and one for awards with close-out reports over ninety days past due) plus a drop-down list that allows the user to filter reports by organization.

Exhibit 7:  The Field Officer Welcome Screen

AdminWeb users in every role can select from four report sorting fields:

• Sort by Principal Investigator (PI)
• Sort by Program Officer/COTR
• Sort by Award Number
• Sort by Award Date

All AdminWeb welcome screens present these options in a matrix in which columns list reports sorted by award maturity and rows contain sorting options. To select the desired combination, click the radio button in the corresponding matrix cell. Click the Go button to execute the report.[5] The Close-Out Report Status screen appears if the user has awards matching the selected maturity.[6]

The Close-Out Report Status screen displays the Principal Investigator, Program Officer/COTR, Award Number, and Award End Date[7] fields for each award (for field officers only, the Close-Out Report Status screen also displays the performer short contractor code [SCC]). The status of each of four close-out report types also appears. The award numbers are active links to award detail screens. Clicking an award number takes the user to a web page containing specific information about the selected award.

Exhibit 8:  The Close-Out Report Status Screen

The award detail screen provides important information about the selected award, including title, awarding agency, field officer, performer, PI (if available), program officer/COTR, account number, estimated cost, total obligated, total billed to ONR, and award end date. Linked e-mail addresses are provided for the award's field officer and performer point-of-contact (POC); clicking the address generates e-mail addressed to the field officer or performer POC.

Exhibit 9:  The Top Portion of the Award Detail Screen

The award detail screen also displays the requirement, current status, and due date for any report required for the award. The final technical, patent, property, and cost reports, the statuses of which are displayed on the Award Close-Out Status screen, are also presented here with additional information on security, subcontract, and other reports.

Exhibit 10:  The Bottom Portion of the Award Detail Screen

AdminWeb distinguishes between the date an award ends and the due dates for its associated close-out reports. Therefore, in some cases, the report due dates presented in this page differ from the award end date and perhaps even from one another.

The remaining content of the award detail screen is customized according to user type:

• Program officers see a link to a page that allows them to accept FTRs for awards managed by ONR. AdminWeb processes these accepted FTRs, including transmitting them to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
• Field officers see links to pages that allow them to submit FTRs, property reports, and patent reports for awards managed by ONR.
• Performers see links to pages that allow them to submit FTRs, property reports, and patent reports for awards managed by ONR and, under appropriate circumstances,[8] a link to a page that allows them to submit NFE requests, again for awards managed by ONR.

Field officers and performers should note that if an FTR or property or patent report has been submitted outside of AdminWeb, a notice to this effect appears.

When you first access an award detail screen, you may see the Award Close-Out Milestones Through AdminWeb screen. This might happen, for example, if you are a field officer and a performer associated with the award has submitted an NFE request or close-out report deliverable.

If this screen does not appear, it is because no actions have been taken within AdminWeb. This does not necessarily mean that close-out actions have not taken place outside AdminWeb. Notices will appear with the submission links, if this is the case. Any close-out actions taken within AdminWeb will appear in the Award Close-Out Milestones Through AdminWeb screen. The nature of the close-out activity, the date it occurred, and the AdminWeb user who carried out the activity are all documented in this display.

The award detail screen serves as a central point of departure for AdminWeb administrative activities. Where users go from there and what is expected of them when they arrive at their destination depends on the users’ roles and objectives:

• Performers who access the No Funds Extension Request screen must enter a reason for the extension.
• Performers and field officers who access pages to submit FTRs must have, at a minimum, the title and author of the report. Other fields found on Standard Form SF298 are desirable, but not required.
• Performers and field officers who submit FTRs must never submit classified material through AdminWeb. To ensure this, AdminWeb prompts the user to select one of two statements from a drop-down list on the page that collects SF298 information. Only if the user selects the statement "Distribution Statement A, Approved for Public Release, Distribution is Unlimited" will the user be allowed to proceed with the FTR submission. DO NOT SELECT THIS STATEMENT UNLESS IT IS TRUE.
• Performers and field officers who access pages to submit Patent Disclosure Numbers should have them prior to submission.
• Program officers who access links to approve FTRs must be aware that they are expected to individually select or deselect the various objects composing the FTR.
• All users, particularly program officers, should be aware that once an FTR is accepted, (1) no one may change the acceptance, including the program officer who accepted the FTR, and (2) AdminWeb will not allow performers or field officers to submit any further FTR materials.

If the submitter enters the material directly into the web page, it will appear when the appropriate page displays. Users should be aware, however, that if the submitter elects instead to send the material as an e-mail attachment, the user must click on a link displayed to view this material.

The Preliminary Questions for the Final Technical Report (FTR submission) screen appears after AdminWeb accepts the SF298 data entered by the user. If the FTR is reasonably short, you may wish to type or paste it directly into the web page. If so, be sure to observe the length limits posted above the text entry fields. AdminWeb will not accept text entries that exceed the posted limits, and attempts to submit such entries will fail.

Exhibit 11:  The Preliminary Questions for the Final Technical Report Screen

If you choose to send one or more FTR components as e-mail attachments, AdminWeb requires that your browser be configured to launch your e-mail client application. Otherwise, attempts to submit FTR components as e-mail attachments will fail. If your browser is configured to launch your e-mail client, AdminWeb will automatically prepare e-mail for you to send. Under no circumstances should you change the Address or Subject line of this automatically prepared e-mail.

AdminWeb is presently designed and configured to process only certain types of electronic documents as e-mail attachments. AdminWeb prominently displays on the Final Technical Report Submission Via E-mail screen a list of acceptable document types that cover a wide range of possible formats. However, even if you submit an electronic document in one of the allowed formats, the submission will fail if the name of the attached document does not have the standard suffix indicated (e.g., *.txt, *.doc).

Presently, no agencies can submit invention disclosures to the Edison web site.

AdminWeb allows the performers and/or field officers responsible for an award to submit multiple SF298s and FTR instances. FTR instances may be various versions of the same report or components of a large deliverable. AdminWeb retains all FTR components. It is up to the program officer user who accepts the FTR to select, using the checkbox provided, the object(s) that the FTR to be sent to DTIC comprise(s). Only the object(s) selected will be transmitted. AdminWeb will permanently retain all FTR component submissions plus the most recent SF298 information submitted.

When a program officer accepts an FTR, AdminWeb automatically does the following: (1) converts the SF298 information entered by the FTR submitter to *.pdf format; (2) generates an e-mail message to DTIC; and (3) attaches the SF298 *.pdf file to the e-mail, including all copies of those objects designated as FTR components by the program officer.

Note that AdminWeb is designed to allow any program officer to accept the FTR for any award originating in the program officer’s organization. An ONR program officer may accept an FTR for any ONR award, for example.

The Options for Submitting a Final Property Report screen gives users the same two options for submitting property reports they have with FTRs. Users may type or paste property reports directly into a web page or send them to AdminWeb via e-mail as attachments. Users must observe the same cautions concerning text string size, e-mail attachment document types, document suffixes, e-mail Address line, and e-mail Subject line, as listed on the Final Technical Report Submission Via E-mail and Final Technical Report Submission screens.

Exhibit 12:  The Options for Submitting a Final Property Report Screen

Each time a performer submits an NFE, AdminWeb automatically generates e-mail to the field officer(s) responsible for the subject award.

AdminWeb performs a monthly count of awards in their various statuses and transmits the resulting totals to the individuals responsible for them. Performers receive e-mail presenting the totals for their institutions, and program officers receive e-mail presenting totals for their organizations. Field officers do not receive these e-mails.

Performers and field officers may submit negative property and negative patent reports. These reports state that there is nothing to report with respect to property or patents for the subject award. Users must submit these reports by typing or pasting text into a web page. AdminWeb does not accommodate e-mail attachment transmissions of these reports.

Exhibit 13:  The Final Negative Property Report Submission Screen

Exhibit 14: The Negative Patent Report Submission Screen

From any AdminWeb screen, a program officer or field officer can reach an AdminWeb utility that identifies awards for which NFE requests or close-out reports have been submitted recently (or within a specified time frame). In the navigation bar near the top of the screen, click the Submissions Report link to navigate to the AdminWeb Submissions screen.

Exhibit 15:  The AdminWeb Submissions Screen

Choose the start and end dates of the time period (up to two months long) for which you want to identify NFE requests and/or final close-out reports submitted, the element by which you want the results sorted, and the agency or subagency and click the Go button. The Final Reports/NFE Requests Submitted or Accepted Through AdminWeb screen displays the results of your query.

Exhibit 16:  A Report in the Final Reports/NFE Requests Submitted or Accepted Through AdminWeb Screen

Each award number is an active link to the award detail screen for that award. The date an item was submitted is also a link, which you may click to view the item.

Beta testers who wish to report less-than-optimal behavior in the AdminWeb software are invited to complete and forward BTIRs to the AdminWeb Help Desk (mailto:ics@onr.navy.mil). These BTIRs will be examined by the Information Technology Development Team (ITDT) Client Services (ICS) and prioritized according to the need for further analysis and/or development. Each BTIR submitted and solved will help ensure a stronger AdminWeb system for future users.

[1] Performers should note that the approval and implementation of NFEs occur outside AdminWeb.

[2] Only ONR program officers will participate in AdminWeb beta testing.

[3] This URL is for beta testing only.

[4] To set up an AdminWeb account, please send an e-mail to mailto:ics@onr.navy.mil (All former Award Close-Out users have been given "View Only" AdminWeb accounts.)

[5] Program officers and field officers should also select an organization from the drop-down list prior to clicking the Go button.

[6] If there are no awards available for viewing, an Error screen will display instead. Click on the Back arrow in the browser or on one of the links provided on the Error screen to return to the previous screen.

[7] Note that the award end date is not necessarily the due date for all, or even any, of the close-out reports required for an award.

[8] AdminWeb allows performers to submit NFEs only during the period prior to award expiration. If the award selected has expired, no NFE submission link appears.