I presume he means "this essay". That's what I would mean, anyway. I would love to be able to refer people to it and second the idea of a poster session. Andrea >>> Bob Beattie <xxxxxx@UMICH.EDU> 4/9/2009 10:39 AM >>> What "this" do you mean? Bob ------------------------------ On Apr 9, 2009, at 11:31 AM, Mark Ace wrote: Bob, Do you have this on your web site or anywhere with a URL? Robert R Beattie 1 wrote: > > Steve discovered the "secret" of Grants.gov submission problems. > Most errors are just random. Try one time, and fail. Try another > time and succeed. Call the help desk and get told a myth. Monday > we got the Myth that you had to use just one version of Adobe for > downloading, filling in and submitting. Today one of our staff got > the Myth that you can use only Internet Explorer. Earlier on the > listserv I read the Myth that you cannot use Adobe 9 for some > applications. I am afraid that OMB and agencies think the problems > with Grants.gov are just server related -- add more servers -- The > Big Burst and problems will be solved. Instead, the biggest problem > is in the programming. There are too many false errors. Too many > cryptic error messages that lead us to call and jam up the help > desk, while they take our names and phone numbers and DUNS numbers > and then give us a myth. We often think the help we get works > because we close all of our programs and restart our browsers and > download a new version of Adobe, or re-do the application and > resubmit and it goes in. It would have probably gone in anyway, > even with out all that extra work. It's mostly just random. We are > submitting the same application multiple times thus clogging the > band width and making it _seem_ as though there needs to be more, > new servers. We did not have this problem with PureEdge (but lots > of others with the forms themselves). Thus the new problems came > with Adobe, and it must be, sad to say, with the company that > installed the Adobe based system. This concept is reinforced in our > minds when we consider that the Adobe system was supposed to be > live in April of 2006, but did not come up until November, 2008. > Almost none of the 20 some forms management issues that have been > brought up are yet addressed. For example, we still cannot print > the whole application, and worse, now, only one budget year gets > printed. Anyway, being in "Help Desk Hold Land" so long this week > has given me too much time to think about all of this. I keep > thinking that if OMB wants to fix things, instead of going back in > time to the bad old days of "every agency goes it own way" why > don't they ever ask us users what we want. I have heard that the > current Administration considers Grants.gov to be a Bush > initiative, and thus needs to be changed. They are so shortsighted > that they do not realize it is an initiative of the Grants > Submitting Community. We have been seeking this since the Clinton > administration, if not earlier -- remember the Federal Commons that > we all wanted? Anyway, please do not get down on the idea of One > Form, One Portal, and One System. Do we want to go back to paper > submissions, or even emailing them to agencies. Do we want > Education's eGrants, the NIJ system, INSPIRES, FedConnet or its > evil twin IIPS, or even FastLane unless it lets us keep our data. > It is true that we are going through a bad time with the current > version of programming with Grants.gov. I hope we can just throw > out the bath water, and get a fresh tub. Bob Robert Beattie > University of Michigan 734 936-1283 By the way, if any of you have > heard any Myths from the help desk, please pass them along to me, > directly, xxxxxx@umich.edu I was thinking of doing a poster > session at the FDP of these. On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 15:14:42 -0700, > "Hunter, Steve :LPH SUP-LRS" <xxxxxx@LHS.ORG> wrote: >> >> Thank you to everyone who responded to my plea for help. Acrobat >> Pro 9 still has some compatibility issues apparently. However, I >> took the same completed formset to my laptop, and using Reader 9.0 >> -- that's the Reader 9.0 not Acrobat Pro 9.0 -- had NO problem >> submitting and getting confirmed. This listserv is great! It's >> wonderful to be able to tap such a source > of >> >> expertise! I had lots of prompt responses to my post -- even after >> 5pm Eastern. Regards, Steve >> ===================================================================== >> = Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including >> subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are >> available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on >> "Listserv Lists") >> ===================================================================== >> = > ====================================================================== > Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including > subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are > available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on > "Listserv Lists") > ====================================================================== -- Mark Ace VP Business Development 503-297-2108 ext. 240 Cayuse, Inc. http://www.cayuse.com http://www.subawards.com ====================================================================== I nstructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================
