GAINS Roles

Description of the roles and designated responsibilities within GAINS

GAINS is a roles-based system, and roles must be assigned to complete and submit applications. A user role is a set of permissions that allows a person to enter and edit grant applications, view grant data, complete monitoring, and reporting requirements, submit revisions, approve various workflow steps, and more. 

Please keep in mind the following aspects of User Roles:  

• A role grants a set of permissions,  
• A user can have more than one role,  
• A role can be assigned to more than one user, and 
• Every organization MUST have a LEA Fiscal Representative and LEA Authorized Representative assigned to submit applications and create fund requests. 

General Grant Access Roles and Permissions

• LEA Authorized Representative- Authorized to provide final organization approval and submit the application to CDE on behalf of the organization. This individual will receive the Grant Award Letter (GAL). Can be a superintendent and/or anyone else in the organization who has authority to approve an application.  
• LEA Fiscal Representative- Authorized to act as fiscal approver of grants and can start and move applications to draft completed. Will receive fiscal related communication regarding the application. Usually the organization’s Fiscal Manager, but other personnel can also have this role in your budgeting office.
• User Access Administrator- Authorized to manage the organization’s user roles. For districts, the LAM(s) has this role by default, but it can be assigned to others in the organization.  
• LEA All Funding Applications Director- Authorized to create and complete, but not approve and submit, all eligible and available grants. Could be a grant manager or grant writer. 
• LEA ALL Funding Applications Update- Authorized to edit any funding application but cannot change statuses/approve. Could be an organization’s grant manager or grant writer/external consultant.  
• LEA Data View- Authorized to view all organization content but no editing or status changes. 

Fund Requests Roles and Permissions

• LEA Fiscal Update – Authorized to start and edit, but not approve and submit, fund requests on behalf of the organization. 
• LEA Fiscal Representative – Authorized to approve and submit fund requests started by the LEA Fiscal Update. 

Specific Grant Roles and Permissions

• LEA [Application Name] Director- Authorized to create and complete named grant. This individual is usually the specific person managing the grant. This individual may not serve a centralized role for your district.  
• LEA [Application Name] Update- Authorized to edit but cannot change statuses. This individual could be a school/site-based staff member who will need to assist in creating a grant application but would not have authority to submit on the district’s behalf, or an external consultant. 

Application Supplemental Roles and Permissions

• LEA [Application Supplement Name] Director – Authorized to create and complete named supplement.  
• LEA [Application Supplement Name] Update - Authorized to edit but cannot change statuses. 

Monitoring Roles and Permissions

• LEA [Monitoring Instrument Name] Director - Authorized to create and complete named monitoring instrument. 
• LEA [Monitoring Instrument Name] Update - Authorized to edit but cannot change statuses. 

Guidance and Recommendations in Assigning Roles

• Certain role designations come with specific authority regarding funding applications for your organization. We encourage organizations to be cautious and careful in assigning roles and refer to their own local policies and procedures regarding authority, approval and access for grant and fiscal functions. 
• LEA Fiscal Representatives and LEA Authorized Representatives MUST be directly employed with and be granted applicable authority to make decisions on behalf of the organization. 
• Never share your password and allow another person to access the system under your profile. Allowing someone to access and take any action under your profile within the system is equivalent to forging a signature. 
• It is recommended that third-party, external, or consultant users only be granted "Update" or "Data View" roles within GAINS. 
• Upon separation, LEA User Access Administrators must delete the roles assigned to the former user. Users cannot be deleted to maintain audit and documentation within the system, but roles associated with their user should be. 
• Organizations should routinely audit roles assignments in GAINS. 

Related Resources

• District LAM Instructions for Creating Users and Assigning Roles in GAINS