Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 15:45:17 -0400 Reply-To: mmcclosk@nsf.gov Originator: kdi-loi@nsf.gov Sender: kdi-loi@nsf.gov Precedence: bulk From: mmcclosk@nsf.gov To: Multiple recipients of list Hi,      I hope your KDI proposal is coming along well.      Please read this message now, because it announces a change in the KDI full proposal deadline, and contains other important information.      As you know, KDI proposals must be submitted via FastLane, NSF's electronic proposal system.  I'm writing to tell you about a problem that can arise for large proposal competitions that require FastLane submission, and to describe the steps we are taking -- as well as steps we will need you to take -- to ensure that the problem does not occur.      Please don't use your email program's Reply function to respond to this message. If you have questions, please send email to kdi@nsf.gov. THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM      FastLane is a web-based system.  Submitting a proposal through FastLane is not a process in which the proposal is prepared off-line, and then simply transmitted to NSF.  Although some parts of a FastLane proposal can be prepared off-line, many aspects of the proposal preparation process must be done within FastLane.  While you are working within FastLane, you are continually interacting with the FastLane server.      For large proposal competitions requiring FastLane submission, the load on the FastLane server may be quite heavy as the deadline approaches, with researchers completing their proposals, and sponsored research offices going through the process of submitting the proposals to NSF.  When the load is especially heavy, the system's response time slows noticeably. In extreme cases, the response time may slow to the point that FastLane becomes essentially unusable.  For example, the system may take several minutes to respond when the user clicks a button.  Under these conditions, users working on proposals may be unable to complete them, and sponsored research offices attempting to submit completed proposals may be unable to do so.      When the new FastLane server is in place later this year, the system will easily be able to handle loads even heavier than that anticipated for KDI.  However, with the current server, there is the potential for overload.      We do not want this to happen with KDI!  We think we can avoid the problem, but we'll need your cooperation. WHAT WE ARE DOING TO PREVENT FASTLANE OVERLOAD      The load on the FastLane server is always heaviest on the day of a deadline, with much of the load concentrated in the last few hours before the closing time.  In order to spread the heavy usage period for KDI over a longer period of time, we have decided to change the full proposal deadline.  Instead of a single deadline date of May 8 for all KDI proposals, we have set a separate deadline for each of the three components, as follows:            ****** NEW KDI PROPOSAL DEADLINES ******      Component Deadline Date         Closing Time      KN        Monday, May 11        12:00 noon, local time      NCC       Tuesday, May 12       12:00 noon, local time      LIS       Wednesday, May 13     12:00 noon, local time IMPORTANT NOTES      1.  Please note that the deadline is noon, local time.  For example, if you are in the Central time zone, your deadline is noon Central time.  (Our aim in using local rather than Eastern time is to spread the peak load over more of the day on the deadline dates.)      2.  Your deadline is determined by the organizational unit you choose at the top of the cover sheet in FastLane.  (Recall that you choose KDI/KN, KDI/LIS, or KDI/NCC, according to which component you consider most relevant for your proposal.)  For example, if you choose KDI/KN, your deadline is May 11, even if you indicate in the Project Description that your proposal is also related to NCC or LIS.      3.  The deadlines have not yet been changed on the web in the KDI Proposal Solicitation or the KDI home page, so don't be confused if you still see May 8 when you look on the web. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT FASTLANE OVERLOAD      1.  Learn about FastLane now.  The system can be a bit confusing, especially if you haven't used it before, and there are a lot of steps to go through in preparing a proposal on FastLane.  I strongly suggest that you read the instructions on the FastLane web site carefully, and begin the FastLane proposal preparation process immediately if you haven't already. The earlier you start, the less likely you are to find yourself trying frantically to solve a problem during a high-load period just before your deadline.      2.  Do FastLane-intensive work early.  Try to do most of the work requiring frequent interaction with the FastLane server well in advance of the deadline.  For example, the cover page must be completed within FastLane, and requires many user-action/server-response sequences.  If you can do most or all of the cover page now, you will help to reduce the load on FastLane around the time of the deadline (and save yourself the stress of working with a slow system).      3.  Coordinate with your sponsored research office.  You cannot submit the proposal yourself; your institutions's sponsored research office does the submission.  Please inform the relevant individuals in your SRO of the potential for FastLane slowdown, and work out with them a timetable that will give them enough time to complete the submission process by the deadline.  It's a good idea to build a few extra hours into the timetable, in case some unanticipated problem arises, or the FastLane system experiences some slowdown.      4.  Submit your proposal on or before Friday, May 8, if possible.      It's possible that there will still be some slowing of system response time on the deadline dates.  However, with the staggering of the deadlines, and your cooperation, I think we can avoid serious problems.      One last thing: A number of people have written to ask about starting dates for KDI grants.  In case anyone else is wondering about this, the earliest possible start date is October 1, 1998, but some awards will not be made until a month or two after this (just because it will take us this long to get them all done).  You can list any date on or after Oct 1 as your requested start date; we'll just move back the date if the award is made after the requested date. Mike McCloskey Chair, KDI Working Group