Effortless Facts - FCR

August 2020

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The upcoming Staff Early Retirement Plan (SERP) may necessitate the transition of roles in
many areas. When considering your area's plans, please keep in mind that SPAR and ECC users
are required to complete mandatory training prior to being granted system access. Workshop
registration is available on our website. These workshops will take place in September and
October 2020 and will be offered again in the New Year.

There may be Federal PIs in your area that will take advantage of the Faculty Retirement
Incentive Plan (FRIP). While preparing for their departure, be sure to address the assignment of
Proxy and Designee roles to enable certification of their May-August federal effort. The Forms
and Instructions are available on our website. If work will continue on an award after the PI's
departure, please coordinate sponsor approval of a new PI with the Office of Sponsored
Programs.

Multiple SPAR users have reported a SPAR Error Message where they are blocked from
completing a SPAR modification. Pitt's technical team is working to identify and resolve the
problem. We will alert all SPAR users when the situation has been resolved.

The SPAR Modification History Screen is available to all SPAR users, regardless of role, for SPARs
in their area of responsibility. It allows users to review the progression of SPARs from the SPAR
Create Process to the current version. Click here for more detailed information or see additional
guidance on the FCR website.