New eRA Enhancements Include Improvements to xTRACT

Several new features will be added to xTRACT in a software release scheduled for Thursday, August 24, 2017.  xTRACT is the Extramural Trainee Reporting and Career Tracking system and is accessed via eRA Commons. It allows applicants, grantees and assistants to create research training tables for progress reports and institutional training grant applications. 

Upload Feature for Participating Trainee Data
Users will now be able to upload participating trainee information in batches, by providing a file separated by tabs that contain certain information for each trainee.  For each row of information in the file, a participating trainee will be either inserted or updated as appropriate.  For each trainee listed in the upload file, the following information shall be included:

• The Trainee's Commons User Id

• Trainee Type  (Pre-Doc, Post-Doc, or Short-Term)

• In-Training Indicator ("Y" for yes, or "N" for no)

• Start Date (in MM/YYYY format)

• End Date (in MM/YYYY format)

• Research Topic  (up to 200 characters)

• Commons ID of first associated Faculty Member

• Commons ID of second associated Faculty Member

NOTE: You may choose to create your file using a spreadsheet application, and then saving the file as a “tab-delimited” text document. 

Upload Feature for Participating Student Data
Similar to the participating trainee upload described above, users will also be able to perform a batch upload of participating student information.  The information included in the upload file will follow the same format as participating trainees, with one exception:  the only allowable values for Student Type are Pre-Doc and Post-Doc (no short-term). 

Following the release, please look for details and screenshots in the Online Help for xTRACT (and accessible through the question marks on xTRACT screens).