STGMS User Guide

Introduction to STGMS

The Space Telescope Grants Management System (STGMS) is a web-based software application designed to manage the grant award process for the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. By following the instructions and tips provided in this guide, users will be able to navigate the system and perform the various functions necessary for managing grants in STGMS, such as view grant information, submit budgets, financial and performance reports, and request a no-cost extension.

These additional resources are available to recipients and investigators:

General Grant Provisions

The STScI General Grant Provisions cover general rules and regulations applicable to all grants awarded by STScI.

STScI Budget Proposer Guide

The STScI Budget Proposer Guide provides an overview of the submission process as well as helpful tips and tricks for budget preparation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most frequently asked questions here.

Accessing STGMS

To access STGMS navigate to the Main Menu > Login. Enter your email address and password, then click ‘Login’. If you receive an error stating, “The user [ ] does not exist”, it is likely that the account is not enabled. To resolve this issue, email STScI Grant Administration for a list of STGMS User Account Managers who can enable your account.

First time logging in to STGMS or forgot your password? Select 'Forgot Password?' below the email address and password fields. Enter your email address and click 'Submit'. You should receive a link to reset your password. Follow the password guidelines and click ‘Update Password’.

Need an STGMS account? Access to STGMS is maintained by recipient institutions. Contact the Sponsored Programs Office at your institution to request access.
Navigating STGMS

Use the STGMS Main Menu to navigate different menu options. The Main Menu is dynamic and you will only see options related to the privileges assigned to your account. Use the arrow icon to expand and collapse items, or to hide the Main Menu to provide more screen space.

Help is provided throughout STGMS by clicking the question mark icon. Additional information can be found by clicking on the 'Help' link in the Main Menu.
Finding your Grants

To use any of the STGMS functions, such as Grant Information, Report/Request List or Budget Search, you must first use the search filters to narrow down search results and find the applicable grant.

Search filters are auto-complete fields. For empty fields, users should input a few characters and the system will display matching entries. For filters with a drop-down menu, click the down arrow to choose an option. The radio button filters limit users to choose only one option at a time.

If you are not seeing expected results, try using only one filter.

Accounts & Notifications

STGMS administrative user accounts are created and maintained by your institution. Investigator accounts are associated with an approved program and created at the time of program approval, unless that investigator already has an STGMS account.

Institutions must designate at least one User Account Manager to create and manage all other STGMS accounts in accordance with the internal control policies of the institution.

Expand each accordion below to learn more about STGMS accounts and privileges, and managing STGMS notifications.

Creating New Accounts

Accounts are created in MyST. Privileges are maintained in STGMS.

If the email matches an existing account you will see a pop-up that the email is already in use. Notify STScI Grants Administration if you believe you have duplicate accounts.

The email address must be unique to the user. For security purposes, STScI does not allow the use of generic or department emails.

Need an STGMS account but don’t want to receive emails? STGMS provides email forwarding to allow information to go to a shared email address. Reference the Email forwarding section for details about setting up an email redirect.

Return to STGMS to assign privileges once the new account is created.

To create a new account:

STGMS Main Menu > Accounts > Account Management
Click on ‘Create New Profile’ to open MyST.
Click ‘Launch’ under Registered User.
Enter the Captcha and click 'Submit'.
Enter the email address and click 'Next'.
Complete the Name Form and click 'Next'.
Search for institution and click 'Accept Institution'.
Enter job title and click 'Next'.
Click 'Create Account' to complete.

Managing Privileges

Once an STGMS account is created privileges must be assigned to use any feature of the system. Only users with the appropriate privilege will be able to make account changes.

STGMS provides three templates (Admin Prepare, AO, and Investigator) that can be used to apply default privileges for the most common user types. Once a template is selected, individual privileges can be added or removed based on the specific role of the user.

To assign or update STGMS account privileges:

Main Menu > Accounts > Account Management
Search for the user to open the 'Edit Account' page.
Assign or modify applicable privileges.
Click 'Update' to apply changes.

Account Changes

Have you moved to a new institution? Has your contact information changed?

This information must be updated in your MyST profile. In STGMS, click ‘Update Your Account’ from the Main Menu to get to MyST. Select ‘Launch’ under Registered User, then ‘Launch’ under Update. Use the pencil icon to edit information in your MyST profile.

When moving to a new institution, make sure you and your current institution formally notify STScI Grants Administration of the change. Submit a transfer request if you intend to continue the research effort at your new institution. Instructions for submitting a transfer request can be found in the Submitting Grant Requests section.

Updating Institutional Information

Sufficiently privileged users have the ability to modify institutional and payee information, as well as add or edit disclaimers. The 'Disclaimer' serves to permit the insertion of institution-specific conditions into budget proposals.

The designated 'Contact' is the institutional point of contact for grant-related questions from STScI Grants Administration and may be different from the Authorizing Official (AO) for the institution. Payee information displays the address to which payments are sent, as well as the institution's Certifying Official (CO).

Authorizing and Certifying Officials

Authorizing Official (AO)

The Authorizing Official (AO) is legally responsible to accept grants on behalf of the grantee institution.

To update the AO, submit a formal signed letter on institutional letterhead to gms_mail@stsci.edu. State the full contact information for the AO, including honorific, email, address, phone number, the institutional address, and payee address, if different. The request must be signed by a person at least one position of authority above the newly named Authorizing Official in the institution’s organizational structure.

Certifying Official (CO)

The Certifying Official (CO) is authorized by the institution to certify that the amounts reported and requested in the financial reports are legal, proper and correct. As the primary point of contact for any financial inquiries, the CO is listed on financial reports and copied on all STGMS notifications pertaining to financial reports.

A sufficiently privileged user may update the CO on the Institution Address / Payee Address page. Click on the Payee Info banner to expand the accordion. The first field is where users may update the CO. Enter the new name in the field and click ‘Save’. You will be prompted to enter your password to confirm the change.

Deleting Accounts

User Account Managers can disable user accounts that no longer require access to the system.

If an account was created in error, or is a duplicate of an existing account, email STScI Grants Administration to have the account deleted or merged.

Contact List

The Contact List manages the distribution for STGMS notifications. User Account Managers can edit the list by checking or unchecking the ‘Receive Email’ box.

The names appearing in the Contact List screen can be filtered by selecting the following radio buttons. (Current users on the Contact List will appear in all filters in bold.)

Everyone - All users at the institution
Administrators - Only users with administrative privileges
Investigators - Only users identified as investigators
Current - Only users on the currently active contact list

Assign Staff

Users who are assigned to investigators are copied on all STGMS notifications related to that investigator. To assign an administrator to an investigator:

Enter the name in the ‘Investigator’ field and click ‘Search’
Select the investigator when it appears below
Check the box next to the name to assign that person to the investigator and click ‘Save’
Unchecking the box will remove the assigned staff

Click ‘List Assigned Staff’ to view the current list of staff who are assigned to an investigator. Select a specific user to display all investigators to which they’ve been assigned. To remove an assignment un-check the box and click ‘Save’.

Email Forwarding

There are several options for managing email notifications. To create a new forwarding rule or update an existing rule:

Navigate to Main Menu > Email Forwarding
Click on an exisiting rule to make updates or click 'Create' to set up a new rule.
Complete the required fields and select the type from the drop-down
- CC: STGMS notifications to the user copy the listed email
- Redirect: STGMS notifications are redirected to the listed email
- Disable: STGMS notifications are disabled to the listed email
Click 'Update'

Viewing Grant Information

The Grant Information screen in STGMS displays grant-specific information, including the program title, program status, period of performance, due dates for performance and financial reports, funding and payment information, and grant documents. The only editable field on this screen is the Institution ID, which is assigned by some institutions to link the STGMS grant number to an internal tracking number. An entry is not required and can be left blank.

To find the Grant Information screen for your grant navigate to Main Menu > Grant > Grant Information and use the search filters described in Finding your Grants above.

There are accordion style banners which may be expanded to provide additional detail. Only one section expands at a time.

Grant Details

Displays the award amount by cycle and total award amount in the bottom right of the section. This represents the maximum amount of support available for this research effort.

Obligation Table

Lists all transactions that award, supplement or deobligate funding. The obligation date is the date this funding becomes available to charge expenditures. The total amount of funding obligated to date appears at the bottom of the section. Information about how grants are funded is available in the Funding Schedule section.

Payments

Details financial reports submitted to STScI, organized by date with the most recent report listed at the top. The table displays payments made to your institution, zero-dollar reports and refunds made to STScI. To view the original report, click the blue date to download the PDF.

Performance Reports Due

Provides details for interim performance reporting requirements. A submitted report will appear in the table as a link to the PDF document. Overdue reports will be noted on the right side of the category ribbon. Instructions on how to submit interim performance reports are available in the Reporting Requirements section.

Financial Reports Due

Provides details for interim financial reporting requirements. A submitted report will appear in the table as a link to the PDF document. Overdue reports will be noted on the right side of the category ribbon. Instructions on how to submit financial reports are available in the Reporting Requirements section.

Final Reports Due

Provides details for the final reporting requirements. A submitted report will appear in the table as a link to the PDF document. Overdue reports will be noted on the right side of the category ribbon. Instructions on how to submit final reports are available in the Final Reporting Requirements section.

Continuations*

*only visible for continuation programs.

This category is only shown if a program has been approved for multiple cycles of observations. If a program is a continuation, it is assigned a follow-on program number in subsequent cycles. The program numbers will be listed. Learn more about Continuations in the STScI Budget Proposer Guide.

Documents

Displays all documents associated with the grant. Click on a document to view a PDF version. The ‘Create Zip File’ button provides an easy way to download all grant documents listed.

Grant Funding

STScI grants are issued to the recipient institution at which the Administrative PI is employed. Reference the General Grant Provisions for specific information about grant awards and funding availability.

STScI Funding Terminology

Award Amount - approved amount of support for the research effort. It represents a commitment to fund up to this amount in total (subject to the availability of funding from NASA).
Obligated amount - total funding released to date.
Net payments - all payments to date excluding any pending payments.
Available funds - the amount of obligated funding remaining to charge against. (Obligated Amount – Net Payments).

Funding Schedule

STScI grants less than or equal to $30,000 receive full obligations at the time of award. Grants greater than $30,000 receive incremental funding obligations based on the funding schedule below.

Award Amount	Funding Schedule
Less than or equal to $30,000	100% obligated at time of award
$30,001 - $50,000	50% obligated at time of award, 50% obligated once payments for expenditures reach threshold
Greater than or equal to $50,001	20% obligated at time of award, subsequent 20% obligations once payments for expenditures reach threshold

When net payments exceed 90% of the obligated amount STGMS automatically sends a Funding Increase document to notify the PI and institution of the amendment to the grant. We do not want incremental funding to interrupt progress on the research. If you find that your available funds are not sufficient to meet spending requirements, submit a special request for the early release of incremental funding (including a spend plan).

Funding information can be found in the grant award document and subsequent amendments, as well as on the Grant Information screen, which displays a Grant Funding Summary and Next Release of Funds Info. The Percent of Obligated Spent reflects the progress of spending towards the Next Release Threshold. The Next Obligated Amount displays the funds that will be released once the threshold is met. Obligated amounts are determined by the funding model of the award.

Contact Grants Administration if you have questions about your grant funding.

Budgets

Creating Budgets

Budgets are created in STGMS. For more information about the entire budget submission process, please refer to the STScI Budget Proposer Guide.

To create a new budget or find a saved budget:

Navigate to Main Menu > Budget > Budget Search
Enter the program number in the search field and click 'Search' to see all budgets for the grant.
Click the applicable button to open the STGMS budget form. Saved budgets will also appear.

Editing Budgets

Before we walk through details about the STGMS budget form, we want to share a few features that may help save you time. Read more about these tips below.

Use Another Budget As Template

Use Another Budget As Template will pre-fill a budget with data from a different budget.

Click the 'Use Another Budget As Template' button at the top of the STGMS budget form. This will open a pop-up window where you can search for existing budgets and select the one you want to use. The page will refresh with the data from the existing budget.

Salary/Fringe Rates

The Salary/Fringe Rates table is used to store a list of monthly salary and fringe for common positions (e.g. graduate student, senior faculty), by fiscal year. Users with the appropriate privilege can add these rates to the STGMS budget form by clicking 'Add from Salary/Fringe Table'.

To create a new salary/fringe rate click 'Add Row' and complete the fields.

Load Rates

The Load Rates table is used to set IDC/G&A/F&A and overhead rates for associated fiscal years. Users with the appropriate privilege can add these rates to the STGMS budget form by clicking 'Add from Load Rate Table'.

To create a new rate click 'Add Row' and complete the fields.

Costs are entered in the STGMS budget form, organized into accordion ribbons by cost-category. Expand the sections below to learn more information about each cost-category.

Budget Admin Data

The default view is the Budget Admin Data section.

The Institution Identifying Number (Institution ID) is an institution-specific identifier used by some Sponsored Programs Office to record and track their internal grant numbers. An entry is not required and can be left blank.
Enter the Period From and To information. The date format is mm/dd/yyyy.
There is a quick link to the STScI General Grant Provisions.

Indirect Costs

This section displays the total dollar amount of overhead and indirect costs listed in the budget, based off the percentages entered in the budget form. Institutions use different rates for collecting funds to cover indirect costs. Some use an Indirect Cost rate (IDC), some use a General and Administrative rate (G&A) and others use a Facilities and Administrative rate (F&A).

The type of rate to be used is identified by the Cognizant Agency in the Negotiation Agreement. Enter the name of the Cognizant Agency and the date of the Negotiation Agreement into the area provided.

If you intend to request preparatory grant funding, the total amount must be entered in the Preparatory Grant field. Preparatory funding, up to 25% of the budget, is available for GO programs to begin essential work necessary for the efficient and timely performance of the scope of work.

*Narrative Instruments

This is a required section and only appears if you are the Program Admin PI. All GO and AR programs must submit Narrative Instruments information, with the exception of AR Theory programs. For those programs, select 'Theory' from the Instrument Name drop-down (no other information is required).

To complete this section for all other programs, insert the number of Distinct Targets at the top of the screen. For each instrument click 'Add Row' and enter or select the Instrument Name(s), Number of Primary Science Images per Instrument, and Number of Parallel Science Images per Instrument.

Information about narrative instruments is available in the STScI Budget Proposer Guide.

Salaries

A row must be added to enter the salary information. Select either 'Add Row', 'Add from Salary/Fringe Table' or 'Add from Load Rate Table' and complete the required fields. Click here for more information about using rate tables.

STGMS will automatically calculate the unloaded and loaded costs based off the monthly salary, % time, months, and rates. If your Institution calculates rates using a different formula than STGMS, modify your rates accordingly and explain the modification in the Budget Narrative.

Subcontracts & Purchase Orders

Subcontracts & Purchase Orders is used for items that may affect salaries. (e.g. Emeritus personnel, post docs that are independent contractors and not salaried employees). Click 'Add Row' or 'Add from Load Rate Table' and complete the required fields.