“Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects”

1. “Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects” NCURA Region VI & VII Meeting Research Administration: Striving for Gold at the Summit April 22 – 25, 2007 Park City, Utah Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

2. Speakers Denise Metke Manager Huron Consulting Group dmetke@huronconsultinggroup.com Kevon Balls Project Director University of Utah Administrative Computing Services kballs@acs.utah.edu Terri Pianka Manager University of Utah College of Nursing terri.pianka@nurs.utah.edu Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

3. Topics of Discussion • Taking inventory • Determining needs • Determining a plan • Getting started • Training and reporting • Best practices and pitfalls Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

4. University of Utah • ~ $300 million externally sponsored research and development • 29,000 students • 15,000 faculty and staff • 1,297 research labs; 48 instruction labs Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

5. Catalyst for Moving Forward • Momentum coming off a PeopleSoft Grants implementation • Recent transition to electronic Conflict of Interest Disclosure and IRB application • Desire for integrated electronic research administration • Need for access to information • Federal Grants.gov initiative Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

6. Where We Wanted to Go • Build on enterprise system implementation • Electronic on-campus proposal submission site • Integrated research information • One stop shopping for PIs • CoI, IRB, OSP, Financials • Reporting and deadline reminders Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

7. Why We Needed to Go There • Integrated data management • Refined reporting systems • 24 hour access for faculty and staff • Integration with Grants.gov Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

8. Where to Begin? • Self assessment • Can we purchase an “off the shelf” system? • Do we need to custom build a system? • Do we have the expertise in-house? • Do we need to hire a consultant? • How much time do we have? • Do we need to do this all at once? • How much will this cost? Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

9. Utah Decisions • Combination of off the shelf system and custom built system • ERICA system for CoI and IRB • PeopleSoft Grants for OSP • Custom built internal proposal submission site – eProposal • Custom built portal for “one stop shopping” – PI Portal Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

10. Utah Decisions • Hire Huron Consulting Group • Project direction • Best practices and specific expertise • Familiar with Utah organization and processes • Assemble in-house team • Vice-President for Research • Office of Sponsored Projects • Financial Solutions • Administrative Computing Services • Research Integrity and Compliance • Utah faculty and staff members Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

11. Utah Decisions • Funding and staffing constraints • Phased implementation approach • ERICA - 2004 • PeopleSoft Grants – 2005 • eProposal – 2006 • Electronic Workflow - 2007 • PI Portal – 2007 to 2008 Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

12. Case Study • Focus on eProposal • Project planning and approach • Business process improvements • System design • Training • Lessons learned Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

13. Project Planning and Approach • Desire to lay a strategic foundation • Funding constraints dictated need to provide accurate assessment of resources and financial needs • Desire to engage functional organizations, PIs, and other constituents to support the project • Research best practices • Conference calls with other Universities • Discussed core systems and ancillary systems Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

14. Project Planning and Approach • Allow time to establish relationships and begin communication process • Allow initial assessment of processes and product functionality to understand requirements and potential gaps • Lay groundwork for solid project planning and approach • Develop a plan you can stick to Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

15. Project Planning and Approach • Strategic imperatives • Self-service functionality - simple, easy, fast • Security – easy to manage • Transparent to end user • System – easy to build and adaptable Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

16. Project Planning and Approach • Why not direct access to PeopleSoft Grants? • Training intensive • Difficult to manage security • Integrity of core system • Not as intuitive or user friendly Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

17. Project Planning and Approach • Separately funded • Dedicated team • One year duration • From information gathering to final roll-out • Milestones to report progress, gain consensus, course correct when necessary Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

18. Project Planning and Approach - Timeline Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

19. Project Planning and Approach • Task 1 – Confirm scope and identify team structure • Involved highest levels of the university • Representation from all sponsored research areas • Key Players • Executive Steering Committee • Project Advisory Group • Huron Consulting Group • Project Team Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

20. Project Planning and Approach • Task 2 – Review current proposal submission processes • Gained understanding of current use of legacy systems, PeopleSoft, and reporting • Identified areas needing attention during the planning project • Interview potential end-users of the new system • Assess current processes at department level • Profile potential users • Determine their wish list for a new system Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

21. Project Planning and Approach • Task 3 – Identify project objectives • Implement an online application to collect key information about a proposal • Provide an application interface to PeopleSoft Grants for establishing a proposal and populating the key data elements of the proposal • Provide a printed report form with project information to be used for the approval process • Simplify the Document Summary Sheet (DSS) submission and proposal tracking process for campus and OSP Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

22. Project Planning and Approach • Task 4 – Prepare and conduct a structured demonstration • Semi-functional mock-up in Dreamweaver • Demonstrated for Project Advisory Group • Identified key functional features for application • Discussed integration, reporting, terminology • Handouts of screenshots • Identified issues and areas of interest, • answered questions Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

23. Project Planning and Approach First Mock-Up Actual Product Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

24. Project Planning and Approach • Task 5 – Identify Pilot Groups • Review number and timing of proposals • One college from each end of campus • Health Sciences • Physical Sciences • Assess user infrastructure • Variety of computers, connections, etc. Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

25. Project Planning and Approach • Task 6 – Provide design detail to technical team • Mock-up in Dreamweaver • Functionality requirements and design documents • Security model • Map integration with PeopleSoft • Determine phases of development Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

26. Project Planning and Approach • Task 7 – Begin roll-out and training • Pilot groups beta-test model • Feedback and compatibility issues • Schedule computer labs accessible to pilot groups • Provide registration site for training classes Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

27. Business Process Improvements • Input from several groups • Campus interviews with faculty and staff • Interviews with Sponsored Projects staff • Biweekly meetings with Project Advisory Group • Deans • Faculty • Staff Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

28. Business Process Improvements • Review step by step proposal submission process • Determine where simplification and streamlining can happen • Determine access to application • Who can access it • How will access be gained Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

29. System Design • Web-based system • Access through our Campus Information System (portal) • Piggyback off existing security • Various security roles for different users • Employee only access • Ability to delegate security Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

30. System Design Access to eProposal through our Campus Information System (employee/student portal) Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

31. System Design Selecting “eProposal” launches the application Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

32. System Design • Phased approach to enhancements • Phase I – Beta application to pilot groups • Phase II – Incorporate suggestions from pilot groups, attachment functionality, reports • Phase III – Integration with PeopleSoft Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

33. System Design • Do not need to complete all information in one sitting • Information to be completed is located on four pages • Grouped together by subject matter • Avoids having to scroll down too far • Provides convenient stopping points • Information auto defaults based on employee ID numbers and department ID numbers Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

34. System Design Enter Employee ID and balance of information auto completes Access to each page and function buttons from top or bottom of screen Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

35. System Design • Attachment functionality • Proposal and/or approval documents can be “attached” within the system • Allows for easy retrieval by Sponsored Projects • Provides for variety of documents to be attached • .doc, .xls, .xfd, .pdf Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

36. System Design Upload your proposal and any approval documents into the application Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

37. System Design • Validation process • Verifies that required information is provided • Prevents user from printing complete document until process has run with no errors • Locks the document against changes by user • OSP still has access to review and update • Status changes after validation complete • Includes date of change Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

38. System Design Validation button located on last page Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

39. System Design System returns missed fields OR… Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

40. System Design Allows you to “submit” your proposal to OSP Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

41. System Design • Printing • Blank documents and partially complete documents • Draft appears on these documents • No signature lines appear • Complete document with signature lines Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

42. System Design Draft version Complete version Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

43. System Design • Reports • Can be run by anyone with application access • High level information – not much detail • Various Status Levels • Principal Investigator • Department • Sponsor • Sponsored Projects Officer Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

44. System Design Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

45. System Design • Integration • Sponsored Projects Officers reviews and makes corrections • Runs validation • Rechecks eProposal information • Runs PeopleSoft validation • Creates proposal in PeopleSoft Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

46. Training • Hands on in computer labs • Two to three classes per week • Registration due to limited seating • Also allows tech team to give registrants access to training site • Practice inputting a document • Help document within application Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

47. Training • On-line training demonstration • eLearning • Built with Adobe Captivate • Can be viewed at any time • Are broken into small modules for ease of viewing • Page on OSP website • Instruction documents Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

48. Lessons Learned • Gaining strong sponsor support is critical • Communication with project partners and university community is key to successful project • Gaining a better understanding of business needs and requirements reduces project risk and unexpected surprises • Identified areas to prioritize – business processes, conversion, testing, and change management Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

49. Lessons Learned • We were all learning at the same time • Provided the technical team with new challenges • Learning curve of new technology impacted schedule and scope • Phased approach to enhancements allowed project to progress close to schedule • Pilot phase allowed for confirmation of approach Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects

50. Lessons Learned • Use of consultants • Brought extensive higher education and research knowledge • Provided experience implementing similar functionality at other Universities • Familiar with Utah organization and processes • Provided direction to project • Facilitated relationships with other institutions Towards an Electronic Office of Sponsored Projects