NIH Termination of Appointments

The Termination Notice (TN) documents the termination of appointments for National Research Service Award (NRSA) recipients. This summary of work accomplished, support period, stipends received, and post-training activity is required of all recipients immediately after termination. The Program Director (PD)/Principal Investigator (PI) is the only person who can initiate or assign the TN. Use of the eRA Commons xTrain system is required to prepare and submit the 416-7 Termination Notice form. The Termination Notice must be submitted within 30 days of the recipient’s termination date.

1. The PD/PI accesses xTrain trainee roster.
   1. The PD/Pl logs into eRA Commons at https://public.era.nih.gov/commons.
   2. Select the xTrain tab to bring up the My Grants screen. The PD/PI is presented with a list of his/her grants.
   3. The PD/PI finds the specific grant and selects the View Trainee Roster link.
2. The PD/PI initiates a Termination Notice (TN.)
   1. The PD/PI locates the Trainee on the Trainee Roster screen and selects the Initiate TN link.
   2. The PD/PI is presented with a 416-7 TN form with fields pre-populated with data from the eRA system.
   3. The PD/PI reviews the TN, makes any necessary updates/additions (such as changing the email address of the Trainee if it has changed or entering/uploading a description of the training provided), and selects the Business Official (BO) who will later Submit the form.
      • To select the correct BO, the PD/PI should consult the Student Accounting Contacts Page of the Controller’s Office website to find UCSF’s Termination Notices contact. It is important that the PD/PI enters the correct BO; UCSF will not receive a notification and cannot take any action in xTrain until the correct BO is selected. xTrain does not provide any search or reporting capabilities to allow UCSF to identify TNs by institution.
      • The Trainee can also enter/upload a description of the training provided. If Trainee does not have an eRA Commons account, the PD/PI must invite the trainee to register and the trainee must respond to that invitation before the PD/PI can route the TN to the Trainee. For additional information on registration, please see the NIH link located at the end of this job aid.
      • The Modify Termination Date button within the TN can be used for early terminations and eliminates the need for an Amendment; when the Appointment period end date is changed, the Appointment is automatically amended.
   4. When all updates and additions are complete, the PD/PI presses Save to retain the form. The Termination Status is set to In Progress PI.
3. The PD/PI routes the TN to the Trainee.
   1. Additional action buttons appear at the bottom of the form; the PD/PI clicks Save & Route to Trainee.
   2. The system runs the validation process and presents any errors or warnings to be addressed by the PD/PI. If the form is error-free it will be routed to the Trainee, but if not, the errors must be corrected before proceeding.
   3. The Termination Status is changed to In Progress Trainee.
4. The Trainee completes the form and routes it to the PD/PI.
   1. The Trainee logs into eRA Commons and selects the xTrain tab to bring up the Trainee Appointments and Terminations screen. The Trainee selects the Process TN link, completes the appropriate form fields and clicks the Save button to retain changes.
   2. Once complete, the Trainee clicks the Save & Route to PI button to route the form back to the PD/PI.
   3. The System runs the validation process and presents any errors or warnings to be addressed by the Trainee. If error-free (warnings are OK), the form is routed, the Trainee’s Electronic Signature is recorded and the Termination Status is changed to In Progress PI.
5. The PD/PI reviews the TN and routes it to the BO.
   1. From the Trainee Roster screen, the PD/PI selects the Process TN link to open the form. The PD/PI reviews the form and clicks Save to retain any updates. When satisfied with the form, the PD/PI clicks the Save & Route to BO button to route the form to the Business Official for submission.
   2. The system runs the validation process and presents any errors or warnings to be addressed by the PD/PI.
   3. If error-free (warnings are OK), the form is routed, PD/PI’s Electronic Signature is recorded and Termination Status is changed to In Progress BO. Note: If no action is taken by PD/PI in 14 business days, the system will route the form to the BO, send notification, and change status to In Progress by BO.
6. The BO reviews and submits the TN to the Agency.
   1. The BO logs into eRA Commons, selects the xTrain tab and is presented with a search screen. The BO selects the View Trainee Roster link for the grant.
   2. The BO will check and validate all data including:
      • Stipend Amount Paid
      • Stipend Level
      • Period of Appointment
      • Summary of the Training Report
      • Signatures of PD/PI and Trainee
   3. From the Trainee Roster screen, the BO clicks the Process TN link to open the form. The BO reviews the TN and clicks the Save & Submit to Agency button.
   4. The system runs the validation process and presents any errors or warnings to be addressed by the BO.
   5. If error-free (warnings are OK), the form is submitted, the BO’s Electronic Signature is recorded and the Termination Status is changed to Pending Agency Review.
7. The Agency processes the TN.
   1. The Agency can accept the TN or return it with comments.
   2. An email is sent to the PD/PI and the BO.

Additional xTrain Resources and Training Materials

For additional xTrain resources and training materials, refer to the electronic Research Administration (eRA) training section of the NIH website.