CERES Downtime and Upcoming Grants Module Enhancements
March 26, 2026
CERES will be unavailable on Thursday, March 26 from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM for a scheduled system upgrade. This maintenance will introduce several enhancements to the Grants module, including updates that will streamline proposal and award management for schools and departments.
Key Changes Impacting Department Staff
- New “Proposal Updates Required” activity for post submission changes
- Continuation deadlines captured directly in the SmartForm
- Sponsor deadlines displayed on proposal workspaces
- Department column added to award lists for easier sorting and filtering
Other updates, such as expanded reinstatement options and award modification workflow improvements, primarily support Sponsored Research’s (SR) internal processes.
Below is a summary of the changes you can expect once the system is back online.
Key Proposal-Related Enhancements
Post-Submission Updates (formerly Just In Time)
CERES is introducing a more flexible process for handling updates to proposals after they have been submitted to Sponsored Research.
- “Just in Time (JIT)” activities will now appear as “Post-Submission Updates.”
- Sponsored Research (SR) will be able to reopen a proposal for departmental edits and assign a deadline for completing those updates.
- Once the department completes the requested changes, SR will review and submit to the sponsor, and the proposal will return to Pending Sponsor Review.
This change allows departments to make corrections or provide additional documentation within the same CERES record, eliminating the need to copy and reroute proposals if changes are needed after a record is closed out. It will also help capture requests to provide post-submission materials, as well as continue to track the provision of Just In Time information.
Continuation/Progress Report Deadlines
Continuation (CON) records, used for progress reports such as RPPRs, now include a dedicated deadline field in the SmartForm. This replaces the previous workaround of adding deadlines to the short title.
Sponsor Deadline Display
Proposal workspaces will now display the sponsor deadline more prominently, making it easier to confirm key dates at a glance.
Proposal Reinstatement Options
SR staff will have expanded ability to reinstate proposals back to Pending Sponsor Review from additional statuses. This supports internal cleanup and should have minimal impact on departmental workflows.
Key Award-Related Enhancements
Department Column Added to Award Lists
Award lists (All Awards, Draft Awards, etc.) now include a Department column, allowing users to sort and filter awards by department. This is similar to existing functionality in Proposals and Agreements.
Modification Upload Improvements
Award staff will now be able to upload official award documents directly within a Modification, and those documents will automatically move into the main award record once finalized.
Improved Date Logic for Modifications
CERES will now better validate award and allocation dates during modification processing, reducing the need for multiple modifications in certain scenarios.
Questions
If you have any questions about these changes, please feel free to reach out to SponsoredResearch@northwestern.edu.