System Access and Grant Role Assignments

Access to tasks and reports in OneRF is tied to the user’s assigned role. It’s important to note that OneRF users may be either RFCUNY employees or what OneRF’s Workday system refers to as “contingent workers” (CW). CWs are typically CUNY personnel (faculty or employees), who are not on RFCUNY payroll but have a role or business function on grants managed by RFCUNY. 

The Grant Access Team of the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RFCUNY) provides authorized users with access to OneRF.  

Grant Access 

Access to Grants in OneRF is limited to authorized users and further subdivided by role. Roles are defined by RFCUNY as they relate to the level of access they have within the OneRF system.  As a general rule: 

• Principal Investigators (PIs) and their designees (including Authorized Signatories, Timekeepers and Preparers) have Grant Access, which allows them to run business processes on one or more Grants including - but not limited to - hiring, timekeeping, procurement, and certification of faculty effort.  

• Grants Officers (GOs) and others in their office have College Access, which allows them to see reports and access grants across their institution.   

These differing levels of access are outlined below: 

• Principal Investigator (PI): The key person with primary responsibility and authority for a Grant or sponsored project. A PI is responsible for technical compliance, completion of programmatic work, and fiscal stewardship of sponsor funds. PIs are the individuals designated by the applicant organization to have the authority and responsibility to direct a sponsored project.  

• Grants Officer (GO): The primary CUNY administrator for sponsored programs is the Grants Officer (GO). While the GO and their office provide a range of support for Sponsored Programs, as it relates to RFCUNY, the Grants Office works with RFCUNY and PIs to provide a range of support including assistance in clarifying the impact of institutional policies on projects; support with employment, purchasing, and travel; requesting prior approvals from awarding agency; driving award changes such as budget modifications, extensions, and program changes; and helping to certify faculty time and effort.   

• Authorized Signatory (AS): Authorized Signatories support PIs on sponsored projects. Their access allows a user to approve and execute transactions on behalf of the project. This role is generally granted by the PI, where applicable, to managers, supervisors, and other individuals and  is administrative - not programmatic. As a general rule, an AS does not oversee research or program activities.   

• Report Viewer (RW): Report Viewers can access reports available to Principal Investigators and Grants Officers in the OneRF Report Dashboard. This role provides view-only access to reporting data. Individuals assigned to this role do not have business process approval rights. 

• Timekeepers: Timekeeper (Preparer) can initiate / prepare timesheets for the grant while the users with Timekeeper (Grants) role can prepare and approve timesheets.  

• Preparer: the Preparer role is for Human Capital Management (HCM) transactions only.  Users with this role can prepare HCM transactions for grants. 

• Preparer (Procurement): Users with the Preparer (Procurement) role have access to the Contract Manager system. 

Grant Access At-A-Glance 

The chart below provides a brief, high-level view of the grant roles and the access they have within the OneRF system.  

*Note: all users in OneRF may initiate Other Than Personal Service (OTPS) transactions. Once initiated, all OTPS transactions are routed to the appropriate reviewers and approvers on the selected Grants.  

For a detailed view of each business process within OneRF and the Grant Roles who have access to it, please refer to the OneRF Role Access Matrix. This document identifies the specific tasks and transactions field users can and should have access to in the OneRF system. 

Who May Request Access to OneRF? 

Access to OneRF may be requested by the GO, PI, or their designees. If a designee requests access, the appropriate GO or PI should also be notified of such a request by email, except in special circumstances approved by the Grants & Contracts Department. PIs and their designees may not request College Access, or access to College-Level Reports. This access is available only to GOs and other administrators in their office with the Grants Officer role.  

How to Request Access to OneRF: 

1. Requests to establish a new user account for access to OneRF for users without an existing OneRF ID must be submitted as a Help Case in OneRF or sent via email to GrantAccessTeam@rfcuny.org. Requests must include mailto:GrantAccessTeam@rfcuny.orgthe following information on the new user:   
2. Legal First and Last Name (Note: users may add preferred names when they have access to OneRF) 
3. CUNY email address (if available) 
4. CUNY ID (if available) 
5. Department  
6. User’s role 
7. Grant number 
8. Requests to assign an existing user to a role on a Grant or to remove a user from a Grant should be submitted as a Help Case in OneRF or emailed to your RFCUNY Project Administrator (Grant Manager in OneRF). 

Other Times to Reach Out to Grant Access Team: 

• Updating the individuals with Grants Officer roles  

• Creating a supervisory organization for main PI of Grant 

• Modifying the location or department of a Contingent Worker 

• Correcting the name or email address of a Contingent Worker 

• Updating the manager name for a specific supervisory organization 

• Ending a Contingent Worker Contract 

User Termination from RFCUNY and CUNY 

Grant Officers and Principal Investigators are responsible for notifying the Grant Access Team  in a timely mannermailto:GrantAccessTeam@rfcuny.org when a user has been terminated from RFCUNY or CUNY or access to OneRF is no longer needed.