Electronic EPASS System

Contact your departmental EPASS Admin to request the user be added. To find a list of your Admins, click the dropdown in the top right corner of the screen and select 'View Admins':

The Admin assigned to your group will be able to add/remove/update the person by performing the following steps.

If adding a new person:

1. Navigate to the 'Organization Users' page under the 'Admin' menu in the top right corner of the EPASS system:


2. Click the 'Add' button on the Users page:


3. Search for the person using any combination of the search fields available and click the 'Search' button:


4. If only one record was found, it will automatically direct you to the 'Edit User' page where you need to add a role (or roles) and select a Program if the role is 'PI':


5. Click 'Save and Exit' at the bottom of the page:
   
   And you will be taken back to the list of users and the changes will have been reflected.

If updating the roles of an existing user:

1. Navigate to the 'Organization Users' page under the 'Admin' menu in the top right corner of the EPASS system:


2. Search for the user via the various search fields (First Name, Last Name, etc.):


3. This will direct you to the 'Edit User' page where you need to add a role (or roles) and select a Program if the role is 'PI':


4. Click 'Save and Exit' at the bottom of the page:
   
   And you will be taken back to the list of users and the changes will have been reflected.

If a user does not appear in the list, it is likely that they do not have the 'PI' role assigned to them. In order to assign the PI role, an individual with the 'Admin' role can follow the steps in FAQ #1.

If the person has a future start date, they will not appear in our system until after their official start date. In this case, you must manually identify the PI using the 'Click here' link:

And then select 'here' again to be able to manually identify the PI:

The routing of an EPASS consists of two parts, one of which can be controlled by the department and part of which is managed by ORA.

The EPASS will route for signatures according to the settings provided to ORA, if changes to the roles an EPASS is routed to, or the order in which those roles are prompted to review/approve an EPASS as required, those changes must be made by ORA. Contact EPASSHelp@research.ucla.edu to request these changes.

If the changes are to the people who hold a particular role, those can be made by the department. Anyone with the 'Admin' role can update their user’s roles as needed.

While an EPASS is in the 'Proposal in Development' state, any/all fields on the EPASS are editable. Once the EPASS is submitted for review to the PI/department, the 'Investigators' page (where the PI, Co-PI, and Fellow are identified) is no longer editable. To make changes to the 'Investigators' page once the EPASS is routed for signatures, the EPASS must be denied.

Once the EPASS is submitted to OCGA, the fields are then locked for editing. If the EPASS is returned to the Preparer by Proposal Intake, all fields are editable once again, except for the 'Investigators' page.

Once the EPASS is assigned a PATS Institution Number and is assigned to an Officer/Analyst for review prior to submittal to the sponsor, the EPASS will no longer be editable, even if the Officer/Analyst requests edits be made. If you are asked to make edits to the EPASS, download the fully approved PDF EPASS rendered by the electronic system and make the requested edits directly to that form. Reach out to the assigned Proposal Reviewer with any questions.

Confirm that the email address of the user in question is correct and attempt to re-send the email notification using the 'Resend Approval Reminder' button located on the 'Review Proposal' screen:
Another option is to copy the URL of the 'Review Proposal' page and send it to the user in question. The system uses the same naming convention for creating URLs:

In order to submit an EPASS to OCGA, at minimum the PI must have electronically approved the EPASS. In addition, if a Departmental Research Associate (DRA) is submitting the EPASS, prior to submitting to OCGA indicate that the proposal has already been submitted to the sponsor: If there are additional validation errors, they will appear at the top of the 'Review Proposal' page and must be resolved before the EPASS can be submitted.

If an EPASS is returned to the Preparer to make edits, the system will send an email that contains the requested edits.

You can also look at the 'Notes' tab on the 'Review Proposal' screen to see if any comments have been added:

The ability to submit PDF EPASSes directly to OCGA Proposal Intake was retired when use of the Electronic EPASS was required as of 07/31/2023. All proposal submissions will need to be routed through the Electronic EPASS system; please contact EPASSHelp@research.ucla.edu for assistance/more information.