NSF Proposal Submission Modernization Survey

N SF Proposal Submission Modernization Survey

Personnel Management
	Question	Answers
1.	Other Authorized Users (OAUs) are designated individuals who may assist with proposal preparation, but are not considered key project personnel.  What terminology do you prefer for the role of ‘Other Authorized User’?	Please select one of the following: Other Authorized User (OAU) (current wording) Proposal Assistant Support Staff Other (Please specify)
2.	Today, Principal Investigators (PIs) co-PIs must be registered with NSF before they may be added to a NSF proposal. In the future, NSF may require non co-PI Senior Personnel to be registered with NSF in order to be included on an NSF proposal. On a scale of 1-4, how much additional administrative burden would this requirement add to the proposal preparation process?	Select one of the following: No additional burden Some additional burden A lot of additional burden Neutral / Don’t Know
3.	In the future during proposal preparation, project personnel and OAUs will be notified when they have been added to a proposal. What type of notification(s) should be used?	Select all that apply: Auto-generated invitation email Notification in the added individual’s alert inbox within the NSF system Neither Other (please specify)
4.	In addition to requiring non co-PI Senior Personnel be registered with NSF, the Foundation may allow these staff to access certain proposal sections. To which proposal sections should these non co-PI Senior Personnel have access?	Select all that apply: The individual’s own person-specific documents (e.g. Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending Support, etc.) Project Summary Project Description Budget All proposal sections Other (please specify)
5.	On a scale from 1-5, how helpful would the following proposal system features be in supporting effective proposal preparation? Enabling Other Authorized Users (OAUs) to initiate proposals Enabling Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) staff to initiate proposals Enabling researchers to assign an assistant who retains access to the researcher’s proposal account and files	Select one of the following: Not helpful Less helpful Neutral / No opinion More helpful Very helpful
6.	Which terminology most intuitively describes the step in which the proposal is forwarded to the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO)?	Select one of the following: Allow SPO Access  (current wording) Forward for Approval Forward for Submittal Other (Please specify)

Budget, Budget Justification
	Question	Answers
7.	On a scale from 1-5, how helpful would the following budget concepts be for researchers preparing a NSF proposal budget? Multi-year budget table data entry A step-by-step budget wizard with supplementary guidance A structured budget spreadsheet upload/template	Select one of the following: Not helpful Less helpful Neutral / No opinion More helpful Very helpful
8.	NSF anticipates a new Budget Justification that prompts the user to provide a text justification by budget category. Text would be required for categories where the user has budgeted funds. On a scale from 1-4, please tell us the level of administrative burden that would be associated with this Budget Justification concept?	Select one of the following: No additional burden Some additional burden A lot of additional burden Neutral / Don’t Know

	General Feedback / Satisfaction
*Note: Questions 9 and 10 will be included in the survey launched to NSF ERA Forum participants only. These two questions will not be used for the FDP session.
	Question	Answers
9.	Were you satisfied with the second NSF Electronic Research Administration Forum held today?	Satisfied Neutral Not Satisfied - Conditional question: You indicated “Not Satisfied” with the second NSF ERA Forum. Could you please share any suggestions for improvement?
10.	Please share any topics of interest you would like to focus on during future NSF forums.

	Respondent and Institution Profile
	Question	Answers
11.	In what capacity do you primarily interact with NSF?	Principal Investigator (PI) / Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) staff Other (Please specify)
12.	If your interaction with NSF has primarily been as a researcher, for how many NSF prooposals have you been named a PI, Co-PI, or other Senior Personnel?	0 1-10 11-20 21+ Not Applicable
13.	If your interaction with NSF during the proposal preparation and submission process has primarily been as an administrative staff person, how many years of experience do you have using FastLane?	Less than 1 year 1-5 years 6-10 years 11+ years
14.	Which of the following best describes your current organizational affiliation? [user can select more than one]	Large research university Primary undergraduate institution Community college Minority serving institution Other non-profit institution For-profit business Other (please specify)