{"id":10757,"date":"2026-06-10T16:27:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/?p=10757"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:27:52","slug":"update-requesting-and-activating-an-era-commons-account-umaine-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/2026\/06\/10\/update-requesting-and-activating-an-era-commons-account-umaine-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE: Requesting and Activating an eRA Commons Account (91±¬ΑΟ Guidance)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA<br>NIFA), through its Grants Modernization Initiative (GMI), is transitioning its grants<br>management processes to <a href=\"https:\/\/public.era.nih.gov\/commonsplus\/public\/login.era?TARGET=https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.era.nih.gov%3A443%2Fcommons\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/public.era.nih.gov\/commonsplus\/public\/login.era?TARGET=https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.era.nih.gov%3A443%2Fcommons\"><strong>eRA Commons<\/strong><\/a>. As a result, project personnel involved in<br>USDA NIFA funded projects may be required to obtain and maintain an eRA Commons<br>account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>eRA Commons is the electronic system used by federal agencies, including the National<br>Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of<br>Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), to manage grant applications and awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the 91±¬ΑΟ, eRA Commons accounts are created and managed by the<br>Office of Research Administration (ORA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who Needs an eRA Commons Account?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An eRA Commons account may be required for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Principal Investigators (PIs)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other personnel who need access to sponsor systems using eRA Commons\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Post Doc<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Graduate Student<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Undergraduate Student<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Request an eRA Commons Account<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To request an eRA Commons account, email <strong><a href=\"mailto:proposals@maine.edu\">proposals@maine.edu<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Full name<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>91±¬ΑΟ email address<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Department or unit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Role on the project (e.g. PI, Co-PI, Graduate Student, Undergraduate Student)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>ORA will review the request and create the account on your behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">After Your Account Is Created<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once ORA creates your account, eRA Commons will send one or more automated<br>emails containing login instructions and a temporary password. (Important: The temporary password expires after 48 hours).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Watch for emails from eRA Commons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Log in as soon as possible after receiving their credentials.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change their temporary password.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Complete all required profile information.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Failure to log in within the password expiration period may require a password reset before access can be established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Completing Your eRA Commons Profile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After your initial login, you will be prompted to review and complete your eRA Commons profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users should verify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Name and contact information<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Institutional affiliation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Email address<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other profile information required by eRA Commons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A complete and accurate profile is necessary to ensure proper access to applications and awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Confirmation of Account Activation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>eRA Commons does not always send a confirmation email when profile setup is successfully completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like confirmation that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your account has been activated, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your profile has been completed successfully,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>please contact <strong><a href=\"mailto:proposals@maine.edu\">proposals@maine.edu<\/a><\/strong>. ORA Can verify the status of your account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Troubleshooting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact ORA at <strong><a href=\"mailto:proposals@maine.edu\">proposals@maine.edu<\/a><\/strong> if you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did not receive your eRA Commons credentials<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are unsure whether an account already exists for you<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.era.nih.gov\/register-accounts\/create-and-edit-an-account.htm\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.era.nih.gov\/register-accounts\/create-and-edit-an-account.htm\"><strong>NIH eRA Commons Registration Information<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please note that 91±¬ΑΟ users should follow the institutional process outlined above rather than attempting to create an account independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDANIFA), through its Grants Modernization Initiative (GMI), is transitioning its grantsmanagement processes to eRA Commons. As a result, project personnel involved inUSDA NIFA funded projects may be required to obtain and maintain an eRA Commonsaccount. eRA Commons is the electronic system used by federal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2511,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updateguidelinespolicy"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":71,"label":"Guidelines\/Policy Update"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"abugbee","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/author\/abugbee\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":71,"name":"Guidelines\/Policy Update","slug":"updateguidelinespolicy","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":71,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":71,"category_count":8,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Guidelines\/Policy Update","category_nicename":"updateguidelinespolicy","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10760,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10757\/revisions\/10760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}