How to start a new Transfer Agreement

We provide here step-by-step instructions on how to initiate a new outbound material or data transfer agreement. These are agreements for sending material or data from your lab to another institution. In these cases, TTConnect will generate a draft transfer agreement for you. For "inbound" transfer agreements, the procedure is similar, except you will need to upload the transfer agreement that was given to you by the provider institution.

1. Click on "My Transfer Agreements" in the upper left (1) if this is not already done. Then click on "New" in the left menu bar (2).
   
2. For all material or data transfers, the Principal Investigator of the group needs to be identified. This may be yourself, if you are the head of your group, or someone else. The first time you initiate a transfer agreement, you will need to identify the head of your group. To do so, click on the corresponding link (see arrow below).
   
3. If you are the Principal Investigator (PI), click on the button "I am a PI" (1).
   
   Otherwise, you need to search for your PI in the TTConnect system. Note that this requires that your PI first register and create a (free) user account on TTConnect. To search for your PI, enter either their last name or email address in the available fields (2) and then click "Search" (3).
   
4. A table with search results will appear further below. If you find your PI, then select that person by clicking on the corresponding radio button (3) and then "Select" (4). If your PI does not appear in the table, he/she may need to create a user account on TTConnect.
   
5. Now you are ready to start your first transfer agreement. Click on "New" in the left menu bar (1). This will show you a list of different possible transfer agreements. Your institution may have set up different agreements depending on whether it is a material or data transfer, whether it is incoming or outgoing, etc. Each type of agreement should have a name and a description which will help you choose the correct agreement for your purpose. In our example here, the institution set up one agreement for outbound material transfers and one for outbound data transfers. Select the appropriate agreement type by clicking on it (2).
   
6. Enter the requested information such as the name of the recipient scientist (1) and their email address (2). Describe carefully and precisely the identity of the material or data being transferred, as this will appear in the transfer agreement (3). If you wish, you can enter a paper citation where your material or data were published (4), some text describing what your data or material may NOT be used for by the recipient ("Restrictions", 5), and a personalized message (6) which will appear in the email that the TTConnect system sends to the recipient, asking the recipient to fill out some information needed for the transfer agreement. This will draw the recipient's attention to the TTConnect email and let them know it is not spam. Finally, click on "Submit" (7).
   
7. Your institution may have set up a questionnaire for you to answer, in order to systematically collect information that may be needed by your Technology Transfer office. Answer the questions (1) and then click Submit (2).
   
8. Done ! The recipient will now receive an email asking them to fill out some required information, and you will be informed once the transfer agreement is signed.