Grants and contributions online services: User guide (Account registration and account management)

1.1.1 Sign-in partner

You may use a username and password that you already have with one of the financial institutions on the Government of Canada’s list of Sign-in-Partner, so that you do not have to remember new sign-in information.

• Access the GCOS Sign-in page
• Click Continue to Sign-In Partner (Figure 1)
• Select your financial institution by clicking their logo (Figure 2)

Text description Figure 2:

The Select Sign-In Partner screen permits you to select your Financial Institution as your secure Sign-In method.

• Enter your existing username and password as you would when accessing your financial institution account
• You will be redirected to GCOS to the Create my profile screen, where you will need to read the Notice to Applicants
• At the bottom of the page, click I agree to continue with the registration process.

1.1.2 GCKey

GCKey will allow you to securely conduct online transactions with Government of Canada programs and services. However if you already have a GCKey with another Department, you will need to register for a new one in order to create your user profile for GCOS. (Please Note the same username and password can be used)

• Access the GCOS Sign-in page
• Click Continue to GCKey (Figure 1)
• Select Sign Up (Figure 3)

Text description Figure 3:

The Welcome to GCKey screen permits you to login to your GCOS account or Sign Up for a GCKey as your secure Sign-In method.

• Click I accept to Agree to the Terms and Conditions of Use
• Create your Username and click Continue (Keep your Username in a safe place as you will not be able to retrieve if forgotten)
• Create and Confirm your Password and click Continue
• Create your Recovery Questions, Answers and Hints to help you if you forget your Password and click Continue
• Click Continue
• You will be redirected to GCOS to the Create my profile screen, where you will need to read the Notice to Applicants
• At the bottom of the page, click I agree to continue with the registration process

2.1 Validate the organization

Clicking Save and Continue on the Create the Organization Profile screen or clicking on the Incomplete link related to the validation of the organization step from the New Registration Screen (Figure 8) will redirect you to the Validate the Organization Screen (Figure 9). An Organization Profile requires a business number, legal and operating name and address, as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). If possible, use your business payroll ‘RP’ account number (using the following format #########RP####) to accelerate the validation process.

Text description Figure 8:

The New Registration screen provides you with a summary of the status of each step in order to finalize the registration request.

Text description Figure 9:

The Validate the Organization screen is where you enter the 15 digit Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number or registration number, along with the organization’s Legal Name and address.

• Complete all required fields (Figure 9)
• Click Save
• If using an RP account, consent will be required from a CRA Authorized Representative of your organization. Only once consent is received, can the organization information be validated with CRA data
  • If you are the CRA Authorized Representative, select ‘Yes’ to indicate that you are the Authorized Representative, you will automatically be taken to the Consent Screen.
  • If you are not the CRA Authorized Representative, select ‘No’ under Authorized Representative and identify the correct person under Authorized Representative’s Information. An email will be sent to the identified Authorized Representative. They can provide consent without having to create a GCOS account. It may be prudent to send your CRA Authorized Representative an email outlining why they are receiving the notification from GCOS asking for their consent. (The request for consent from your CRA Authorized Representative expires within 7 days and will need to be re-initiated if not completed within this timeframe.)
• If using another CRA account (RT, RR, RC, Etc.) Clicking Save will bring you to the screen which displays your Organization ID (i.e. ORG-000-000-000-000). Take note of this Number for reference. (Figure 10)

Text description Figure 10:

The Validate the Organization (Organization ID) screen displays your Organization Identification Number.

• Click Continue to proceed with the registration process.

2.2 Validate and authenticate your identity

To complete the process, you must validate and authenticate your identity.

• Click on the Incomplete link related to the validate and authenticate your identity step from the New Registration Screen (Figure 8)
• You will be redirected to the Validate and Authenticate your Identity Screen (Figure 11) where two options are provided to you.

Text description Figure 11:

The Validate and Authenticate your Identity screen provides you with 2 options to validate your identity, either Online through the Canada Revenue Agency or in Person at a Service Canada Centre.

4.1 Organization identification

Your legal name, operating name and business number are pre-filled and not editable.

• Complete all required fields under section Organization Identification
• Please refer to next section for the Signatories section

4.2 Signatories

The information in this section will identify the number of representatives that must agree to an item before it can be submitted to Employment and Social Development Canada and as such, the online system will prohibit the submission of items until these concurrences have been recorded. It is important to ensure that the equivalent number of representatives is granted submit access for the corresponding items as the number of required signatories identified in this section.

• Select from the drop down menu the amount of signatories required for each item
• Click Save
• You will then be redirected to your GCOS account Welcome Screen. Visit the Applications and project management Guide

8.1 Edit organization profile

• Click Edit Organization Profile (Figure 20), either from the left side menu or the hyperlink
• You will be able to modify the organization’s default address
• Click Save.

Note: Address updates will only be applied to future funding applications. It is necessary to contact your Project Officer to update the address on previously submitted applications or active projects.

8.2 Manage addresses

This function will allow you to build an address book from which you can select addresses associated to specific Applications for Funding

• Click Manage Addresses (Figure 20), either from the left side menu or the hyperlink
• To Modify an existing address:
  • Click Edit from the action column (Figure 21)
  • Make the necessary modifications
  • Click Save
• To Add a new address:
  • Click Add Address (Figure 21)
  • Complete all required fields
  • Click Save
• To Delete an address (Note that the main address must be replaced by a new address before it can be deleted):
  • Click Delete (Figure 21)
  • Confirm your choice by clicking delete on the pop-up message

Text description Figure 21:

The Manage Addresses screen permits the Primary Officer and the authorized representatives to add, delete or edit one or more addresses associated with the organization.

8.3 Manage contacts

• Click Manage Contacts (Figure 20), either from the left side menu or the hyperlink
• To Modify an existing contact:
  • Click Edit from the action column (Figure 22)
  • Make the necessary modifications
  • Click Save
• To Add a new contact:
  • Click Add Contact (Figure 22)
  • Complete all required fields
  • Click Save
• To Delete a contact:
  • Click Delete in the action column (Figure 22)
  • Confirm your choice by clicking delete on the pop-up message

Text description Figure 22:

The Manage Contacts screen permits the Primary Officer and the authorized representatives to add, delete or edit contacts associated with the organization.

Note: Project-specific contacts can be added in GCOS per application in the Applications and Projects module.

8.4 Manage CRA businesses

• Click Manage CRA Businesses (Figure 20), either from the left side menu or the hyperlink
• This screen displays the CRA businesses included in the organization file (Figure 23)
• Click Edit from the action column (Figure 23)

Note: The CRA business information cannot be modified through Service Canada however it is possible to select a default address or contact.

• You can edit the CRA Operating Name for your Organization
• Select from the drop down menu the default address and default contact
  • If information is not available for selection on this screen, the Primary Officer or authorized representative, must add it from within the applicable screen (see Section 8.2 to add an address or Section 8.3 to add contacts).
• Click Save

9.2 Representative rights

After confirming the identity of the representative to be invited, you will need to establish the representatives’ rights within the organization. There are two types of representative rights:

• Organization Account Rights
• GCOS Function-specific Rights

Organizational Account Rights are established at the time of inviting the new representative. The GCOS Function-specific Rights will be customized once the new representative has accepted the invitation to the join the organization and accessed GCOS. See Section 9.4 for GCOS Function-Specific Rights.

By default, users will have some access to specific functions depending on the organization account rights they were granted.

9.2.1 Organization account rights

The Organization account rights include administrative rights and CRA businesses rights (Figure 28).

• Enter the position title of the representative
• Select their level of access required
  • Administrative Rights:
    • Edit Organization:
    • Manage Organization Representatives
  • CRA Businesses Rights:
    • None – No access to the business and will not see any information related to the business. No access to the Applications, Projects or Project Management items for this account
    • Read – Read-only access to the business and will be given read-only access by default to GCOS for Applications, Projects and Project Management items. This can be modified by establishing function-specific rights as outlined in section 9.4
    • Read/Write – Full access to view and amend GCOS information related to the business. Full access to create Gs&Cs items related to Applications, Projects and Project Management.
• Click Send Invitation

Text description Figure 28:

The Invite Representatives - organization account rights screen permits you to establish the representatives’ rights within the organization.

9.3 Accepting pending representative invitation

To access the representative invitation the new user must log into their account. The organization that initiated the invitation will show a status of Pending User Acceptance. Complete the following steps to complete your representative invitation:

• Enter your username and password in GCOS
• Click on your Organization Name (Figure 29)
• Click Accept invitation (Figure 30)
• Click Gs & Cs Online Services
• Log out of GCOS

In order for the Primary Officer to customize the GCOS function-specific responsibilities of the representative, it is necessary to log out of the account.

Text description Figure 29:

The Welcome screen will provide you with a list of your registered organization(s) if any. You will also have the option to register a new organization, replace the Primary Officer of an existing Organization or update your personal Information.

Text description Figure 30:

The Pending Invitation screen allows you to accept or decline the invitation to join the organization as a representative.

9.4 GCOS function-specific rights

If the function-specific rights are not assigned to a representative, the pending status will appear. Once the rights are assigned to the representative, the status Set will be displayed.

• Enter your username and password in GCOS
• Click your organization’s name
• Click Gs&Cs Online Services
• Click My GCOS Account Included in the Top Menu
• Click Representatives (Figure 31)
• To allocate the rights to your representative or to modify the allocated rights of an existing representative:
  • Find your representative in the list and click Edit
  • Select all the rights you would like to allocate to your representative (Figure 32)
  • Click on I agree and then Save

Text description Figure 31:

The My GCOS Account screen permits you to manage different aspects of your GCOS account, including the GCOS Function-Specific Rights associated to each representative.

Text description Figure 32:

The Representative Details - Responsibilities screen permits you to allocate GCOS Function-Specific Rights to the representative.