New pre-award system for research grants, Sparta, to replace Spiderweb in coming months

Case Western Reserve University’s new pre-award system for research grants and contracts—Sparta (Sponsored Programs Application for Research Tracking and Administration)—is scheduled to replace Spiderweb.

The Sparta system will be used to document the application process for research awards, and it is replacing the eURF functionality in Spiderweb.

Sparta will “go live” in the School of Dental Medicine on Monday, Oct. 21, and other business units across campus will begin using Sparta in the coming months. By February, the whole campus is expected to have converted from Spiderweb to Sparta.

Sparta will make it easier and faster to complete funding applications. Features include:

  • Smart forms: The system will ask users questions appropriate to the type of research being proposed
  • Pre-loaded fields: Commonly used information will be entered for you to minimize data entry errors
  • Form validation: The system examines data as it is entered to minimize data entry errors
  • Budget functionality: Cost sharing is calculated for users
  • Electronic IPAS and Follow On submissions
  • Automatic formatting of the Form 424
  • System-to-system submission to grants.gov.

Training has begun and will continue to be offered through the Office of Research and Administration in both in-class and online formats.

The training schedule can be found on the office’s website.

For more information, contact the Office of Research Administration at sparta@case.edu.