Novelution FAQs

The NOIS should be submitted in Novelution at least 30 days prior to the deadline or as soon as you know that a submission is likely. It's best practice to complete the NOIS immediately after creating the proposal record in Novelution.

A proposal should be created in Novelution and a NOIS completed if the submission requires and/or includes any of the following:

• Institutional Signature (written or electronic)
• Submission through a portal or platform where an AOR must complete the submission i.e., "push the button"
• ANY commitment of institutional resources including, but not limited to:
  • PI time/effort, staff time, space, facilities use, project completion, students, and/ or post-doc participation/time, etc. 
  • Most often, but not always, these resources are documented and quantified in a budget and/or matching and/or cost sharing information.
• If there is a limit on the number of submissions, please be sure to follow the limited submission instructions found on the Limited Submission site.

If none of these conditions apply you are not required to submit a NOIS.  If you are unsure please contact preaward@rit.edu.  

Yes - Approvals in Novelution cannot occur until the NOIS is completed in the system and an SRS Pre-Award Representative is assigned to the project.

This information is automatically generated based on the PI assigned to the proposal and can be changed by following these steps.

1. Click Cancel to exit the NOIS form and return to the proposal record
2. Navigate to the Personnel panel
3. Click the Edit icon next to the PI
4. Any changes can be made to the proposal PI using the available fields
5. Save your changes and the new information will be reflected in the NOIS form

If any changes occur after the NOIS form is submitted, communicate these changes to your SRS Pre-Award Representative.

RIT is the lead institution if we are responsible for submitting the full proposal to the sponsor. When RIT is not responsible for submitting the full proposal, the Direct Sponsor is the entity that provides funding directly to RIT while the Prime Sponsor is the organization with the original source of the funding.

Yes - When searching for a sponsor, double check your spelling and use short keywords instead of typing in the entire sponsor name (for example, instead of searching for "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," instead search for the keyword "bill"). If your sponsor does not exist in the database, select the Add New Sponsor option in the search field. Additional fields will appear in the NOIS form; complete as many of these fields as possible. When finished entering the sponsor details, clicking Save will add this sponsor to the database with a Pending status (SRS will review and approve all new sponsor additions). The rest of the NOIS form can be completed as normal.

A collaborative proposal is one in which investigators from two or more organizations wish to collaborate on a unified research project. A defining characteristic of this mechanism is the submissions of separate budgets from different organizations, with each organization requesting a separate award. The organization that is responsible for submitting the lead collaborative proposal must be identified if RIT is not the lead institution.

If the sponsor has a pre-determined deadline, please select Receipt and include the deadline and time.  If the sponsor has a rolling deadline, select No published deadline and add your target deadline for submission. 

If you don't have a URL for the solicitation, include a link to the sponsor's webpage on the form. You should then follow up with an email to preaward@rit.edu with the Novelution record number in the subject line. The email should include either a PDF of the solicitation/RFP or details from the sponsor regarding the documentation required for submission.

If you are unsure how many additional personnel will be involved with the project, enter a "0" when completing the NOIS form. Discuss this with your SRS Pre-Award Representative to ensure all individuals are properly identified.

Yes - When prompted at the bottom of the NOIS form, you can request a specific SRS Representative to work with you on this project. Based on staff availability and SRS policies, your assigned SRS Representative may be different that your request.

Please discuss this with your project's assigned SRS Pre-Award Representative to determine if any proposal information is considered to be proprietary.

Yes - Up to TWO research centers can be identified by responding to the Screening Questions.

In some cases, the PI is required to complete Human Subjects Training (depending on the conditions in the proposal). More details and contact information can be found on the RIT Human Subjects Research website.