Author: Jeremy Bradley/Christina Lydick
CID Version: 1.6
Manual Revision: 1.6.1
To log into CID, first log into the ECOS Secure Homepage at:
https://ecos.fws.gov (note that it is https for secure)
After logging in, on the ECOS home page look under the Secure Applications list for a link to CID (direct links to All Investigations and Current Year Proposals are also available). Click on this link to go to the CID Homepage.
Can't find the CID link?
If you do not see CID under the Secure Applications list, then you need to request access to it. For instructions on how to do this, see 2. Requesting Access to CID.
Once you are at the CID Homepage, you must then select your office type from the menu on the left hand side of the screen. You will only be able to click on an office type that is consistent with your CID access level. See 2. Requesting Access to CID.
To request access to CID, first login to the ECOS Secure Homepage at: https://ecos.fws.gov
Then, click on Request Access under the menu bar on the left side of the screen. Find CID on this list, and choose an access level from the drop down list in the Grant Access column. Choose an access level according to your office type.
Office Type | Grant Access choice |
---|---|
Field Office Personnel | CID Field Office User |
Regional Office Personnel | CID Regional Office User |
National Reviewer Personnel | CID National Reviewer User |
WashingtonOffice Personnel | CID Washington Office User |
Once you have selected an Access Request, click on the "Submit Request" button at the bottom of the page. Your CID access request will be sent in for approval. Once your request has been approved, you will have access to CID, and CID will show up under the Secure Applications list on the ECOS home page.
At any point, you can access help related to what you are currently doing by clicking on the Context Help link near the top right of any CID page:
Clicking on Context Help will display a help screen on the right-hand side of your screen. This help screen contains brief information intended to help you in using CID without having to refer to this manual. When you are done with the context help, click on the Close Help link at the top right of the context help area.
If you need further help, you can contact ECOS by clicking on the Help Desk button at the top right hand corner of your screen:
Clicking on Help Desk opens a screen with a simple form to fill out. Most of the information, such as your name and phone number, are already filled out (this information is based on what you have in your ECOS profile). Just fill in a subject, a detailed description of your problem or question, and select CID as the Application. Then, click on submit at the bottom of the page to send your help request to ECOS.
To see a list of investigations (ongoing and new proposals), click on one of the links under Browse Investigations on the left hand side of the screen. Each of the links displays a list of proposals or ongoing investigations, and includes their Title, Lead Principal Investigator (PI), and Initial Fiscal Year. To view or edit an existing proposal or ongoing investigation, click on its title. You can sort a list by clicking on a column name.
The lists display different proposals depending on the status of those proposals:
Creating a new proposal is done in several steps. Once you have completed the first step, you can come back anytime to finish the rest of the proposal creation process. See D. Investigation Lists for details on finding a new proposal that has already been created or entered into CID. To create a new proposal for the first time, first click on the Create Investigation link under Manage Investigations on the left hand side of your screen. This will start the proposal creation process.
The first step of the proposal creation process is to add the basic details of the proposal. When you click on Create Investigation you will be presented with a form to fill out these details.
The fields are:
When you are finished filling out this information, click on the Save button at the bottom. If you have made any errors such as not filling in a required field, you will be notified and given an opportunity to correct your error. You must correct any error(s) before you can successfully create the new proposal. Once you have completed this step, you can come back at any time to finish the rest of the proposal creation process.
The next step of the proposal creation process is to define the location of the proposed investigation. To do this, first click on the Location tab near the top center of your screen. Then, click on the Change Location Information link in the bottom right corner.
Defining the location is a two-step process:
The first step (2a) is to select the State/Territory and Counties where the proposed investigation is located. To do this, follow these steps:
The second step (2b) is to select the Congressional Districts and/or refuges where the proposed investigation is located. To do this, follow these steps:
Select applicable congressional districts from the Congressional Districts list, and Refuges from the Refuges list. To select multiple districts or refuges, hold down the <CTRL> key on your keyboard, and click on the items.
Important!
If you selected an Investigation Type of On-Refuge, you must select at least one refuge.
Once you are done, a list of all your selections will be displayed for your review. Note: you will have to search outside of ECOS on the internet if you do not know what Congressional District(s) are included or encompassed by your proposed investigation.
The next step in creating a proposal is to upload documents associated with the proposal. To do this, click on the Documents tab. This will display a screen showing all the document types that are requested.
After you have uploaded a document, it will be displayed on this screen. Each document has the following properties shown on this screen:
To upload a document, click on the Upload New Document button (from the Documents tab in CID, shown above). This will take you to the “Upload Document” page (next screen shot).
Fill out the requested information (see below for definitions of the fields), and click "Upload Document" to upload the document. If you have made any errors such as not filling in a required field, you will be notified and given an opportunity to correct your error. You must correct any error before you can finish uploading the document.
Important!
Once you click Upload Document, it may take a while for your document to be sent, especially if you are on a slow connection. Please be patient!
There are several required properties:Required Document Properties
There are also several optional properties that, if you input them, will aid in searching for this document from external sources. These properties are:
The next step in the proposal creation process is to fill out the budget(s) for the proposal. To do this, click on the On-Refuge Budget (or Off-Refuge Budget) tab near the top center of your screen.
On and Off Refuge Reminder
Since a proposal can have both an on- and an off-refuge component, there are two budget pages you have to complete if the proposal has both components. When this manual refers to the Budget tab, it is referring to both. If a proposal does not have both components, two tabs will still appear, but only one will work (the one that works will appear in blue font).
To add an entry, enter a name or description in the Label column on the left.
Important!
If you do not enter a name or description for a budget item, your entry will not be saved!
Then, enter the actual or anticipated budget values into the columns labeled with the fiscal years. At any point, you can click on the Save and Calculate button at the bottom right corner of the page to save your progress and calculate the totals at the bottom of the page.
Important!
Even though CID has a budget section called “Indirect Expenses – Overheads,” please remember that, effective with FY10 submissions, On-Refuge Investigations (both ongoing investigations and new proposals) cannot claim “overhead costs” as an acceptable expense. Per the guidance in the NWRS Budget Allocation Handbook, these costs should be itemized as to the actual types of expenses that they are (e.g., Regional Office personnel salary, Regional Office travel, Field Office Administrative personnel salary, etc).
To remove an entry, simply delete the name/description in the label column (first column). When you click on the Save and Calculate button, the entry and the values associated with it will be removed.Removing Budget Entries
Important!
Please note that the CID (and ECOS) system will time-out after 15 minutes of inactivity. “Activity” is registered by the system as any action that causes the CID and browser page to refresh. Examples of these actions include clicking on an “Update,” “Save,” “Save and Calculate,” “Cancel,” and “Reset” buttons; refreshing your browser; or navigating to a different tab in CID (Details, Location, Documents, etc tabs). Note: simple typing (such as entering data into budget columns) does NOT count as activity. Please click on the Save and Calculate button at least every 10-12 minutes to ensure that you do not loose the data you have entered.
Totals
There are several calculated totals on the form; these are indicated by blue bordered cells [Don't see blue-bordered cells per se. Another way to say this?]. Row totals are calculated as you enter values. The totals at the bottom of the page are triggered by clicking on the Save and Calculate button at the bottom right corner of the page.
The next step in the proposal creation process is to evaluate whether or not the proposal meets the specified pass/fail criteria. To do this, click on the Pass/Fail Criteria tab near the top center of your screen. This will display the pass/fail criteria page.
To update a Pass/Fail Item, select "Yes" or "No" in the Completed? column. Optionally, notes regarding each checklist item may be entered in the Notes column.
When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save (button in lower right corner) to save your changes.
With the pass/fail criteria items Signed Peer Review and Surname, the Yes or No field is not available until the associated documents are uploaded. Once the appropriate document is uploaded, the Yes or No Field will appear. Whether or not the document is uploaded is indicated below the Pass/Fail Item name.
The final step in the proposal creation process is to score the proposal. To do this, first click on the Scoring tab.
On and Off Refuge Reminder
Since a proposal can have both an on and an off refuge component, there are two scoring pages you have to complete if the proposal has both components. When this manual refers to the Scoring tab, it is referring to both. If a proposal does not have both components, two tabs will still appear, but only one will work.
Note
It is important that you note where in your proposal document (section, page, etc.) that information related to each of the scoring criteria can be found. This will help reviewers score your proposal.
(Please refer to latest Investigations Manual for full definition and supplemental information)
Threat: Threats to resources are DOCUMENTED (20 pts) or SUSPECTED (15 pts).Criteria Definitions (Please refer to latest Investigations Manual for full definition and supplemental information)
To score a proposal for a particular criterion, select an option from the Selection column. A score is assigned to that criterion based on the selection, and that value is reflected in the Office Score column for your office type.
When you are satisfied with your changes, click on the Save button to save your changes.
To edit an existing proposal, you first must locate the proposal you want to edit. To do this, see D. Investigation Lists for instructions on finding a proposal. Editing an existing proposal is similar to the proposal creation process described in E. Creating a New Proposal.
Unapproved proposals from previous fiscal years can be selected, updated, and re-submitted as a new proposal for the upcoming fiscal year and investigation proposal cycle. Please do not create a new proposal record in CID (i.e., do not start the proposal creation process from scratch) when you are re-submitting a previously unapproved proposal. You can simply select the proposal from last year (from the unaccepted proposals list), update its files and pertinent information (budget, scoring, etc), and re-submit the proposal.
When you have completed the proposal, you can submit it to the Regional Office. To submit a proposal, click on Submit Investigations (in the left column, under Manage Investigations). Select the proposal(s) you want to submit (there should be a box that you can select to place a check mark in it) and then click on the Submit button at the bottom right corner of the page. If any of the Pass/Fail Criteria have not been met, a proposal cannot be submitted.
Note
Creating a proposal and uploading documents does NOT actually submit the proposal. A proposal is only submitted through the process described above.
Important!
Once a proposal has been submitted, it can no longer be edited unless the Regional Office returns it to you or you have given the Regional EC Coordinator permission to edit the proposal! Make sure you are satisfied with the proposal before submitting it to the Regional Office!
Ongoing investigations must be re-submitted annually until they are complete (and have submitted a final report). To update an ongoing investigation with the pertinent files (such as the interim report or final report), you must first locate the ongoing investigation. To do this, see D. Investigation Lists for instructions on finding an investigation. When updating an ongoing investigation, you should only have to worry about uploading documents and, if necessary, updating your budget information. For instructions on how to do these steps, see pertinent instructions from the proposal creation process E. Creating a New Proposal.
When you have finished updating the files and budget information for your ongoing investigation, you can submit it to the Regional Office. To submit an ongoing investigation, click on Submit Investigations (in the left column, under Manage Investigations). Select the ongoing investigation(s) you want to submit (there should be a box that you can select to place a check mark in it) and then click on the Submit button at the bottom right corner of the page.
Note
Uploading documents to your ongoing investigation record in CID does NOT actually submit the investigation to the RO. An ongoing investigation is only submitted through the process described above.