Any student researcher who does not have a current employment relationship with the University (i.e. has an active employee ID number) must obtain a Person of Interest (POI) number. The POI number allows the student to access eRA, the electronic research administration system that the IRB uses to review and approve human research. Students who have an active employee ID number do not need a POI number. Their employee ID provides the sufficient privileges. 

Before requesting a POI, the student should attempt to login to eRA with his or her CU Identikey, password and select Boulder for the campus. If access is denied due to the lack of profile setup, the student needs a POI number. If a POI number had previously been issued, and the student no longer has access to eRA, it is likely that the students profile has expired, and the POI number must be re-activated.  

POIs are issued by a department's Personnel Payroll Liaison (PPL). It is important that the PPL is the first contact for a POI request; however, if a PPL is unable to create a POI, contact the eRA Helpdesk at eRAHelp@colorado.edu.

In order to create a new POI number, the eRA Helpdesk will need the following information:

  • Full Name
  • Email (CU email is preferred)
  • Preferred Phone Number
  • Date of Birth
  • Department 
  • A POI Sponsor(such as a Faculty Advisor or Supervisor who may receive system notifications about your profile)

If a POI has expired and a renewal is needed to access to eRA, the following information will be required:

  • Full Name
  • Employee ID Number
  • Department
  • A POI Sponsor (such as a Faculty Advisor or Supervisor who may receive system notifications about your profile)

Information for Department PPLs

  1. Information about adding a POI can be found on OIT's website.
  2. For eRA access, use the HCM POI Designation of “00032 - Electronic Research Admin” 

Important Notes

  • The POI should be set to expire at least 3 years from the date of creation to prevent early termination of access.
  • The active date for the appointment should be the current date. eRA references HRMS for new appointments every evening but the check will only pick up new appointments that were created that day; retroactive appointments will not trigger eRA account creation