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Ohio Research and Sponsored Programs
Athens, Ohio 45701

Electronic Research Administration System Transition Initiative

An exciting new development for research administration. The electronic research administration system (ERAS) upgrade of our current LEO system will improve functionality, speed, and integration with other systems on campus.

Why Change?

To advance research at Ohio University, the Research Division needs an ERAS with features more advanced than the current LEO system was designed to support. As there are various systems available, the Research Division began to examine options that could provide better tools for faculty and administrators. 

ERAS Task Force

In June of 2017, The VPR division created a task force to evaluate pathways for ERAS.


Members of Task Force:

  • David Koonce (VPR)
  • Mo Valentine (VPR)
  • Wayne Chiasson (College of Arts and Sciences, Physics and Astronomy)
  • Dhiraj Vattem (College of Health Sciences and Professions)
  • Shawn Ostermann (Russ College of Engineering)
  • Ann Paulins ( Patton College of Education)
  • Mike Finney (Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service)
  • Eric Williams (School of Information & Telecommunication Systems)
  • Darlene Berryman (Heritage College of Medicine)
  • Missy Standley (Heritage College of Medicine (Office of Grants))
  • Thea Arocho (VPR, ORSP)
  • Chris Hayhow (VPR, Research Compliance)
  • Tim Hibbard (OIT LEO Programmer)
  • Brian Bowe (OIT)
  • Cindy Perry (Finance and Administration, Grants Accounting)

The charge to this group was to evaluate:

  • The current state of LEO;
  • Market trends for grant and award management, submission, and support products;
  • Functions and components to prioritize when implementing a new ERAS.

Accomplishments to Date:

  • The decision was made to replace LEO with a third-party product instead of rebuilding. 
  • A request for Information was sent out to potential vendors with a list of system priorities.
  • Two vendors responded to our request for information: Cayuse and Kuali.
  • Demonstrations by both vendors were presented to the task force for evaluation.
  • Test platforms were provided for further evaluation by the Ohio University research community.

Timeline

Test platforms February 2020
Internal evaluations by key stakeholders   February 2020
Request for quotes     March 2020
Vendor Selection     March 2020
Implementation     April – November 2020
Production     November 2020


Replacement of the Following Systems

  • Proposals
  • IRB
  • IACUC

Enhanced Features:

Approval Routing: Complete redesign of the proposal / transmittal process.  User will be able to easily prepare and revise a proposal up to the point of submission. Additional reviewers and approvers can be added throughout the process when necessary.

Space designation:  Easy to use drop-down list of single source space from “Planning and Space Management” to ensure all research activities are conducted in research designated areas.  In addition, we will use the data from the system to prepare the NSF Space Survey.

Project-Task-Award: Update numbering conventions to accommodate changes to account structures in Oracle Grants Module.  This will enable us to transfer data between the two systems easily and preserve continuity for S2S applications.  Each Project may have multiple proposals/awards.  Each proposal/award may have multiple tasks.  Each award may have multiple increments.

Internal Awards: expand the ability to process all internal award programs through the system.

Intent to Submit: User will declare their intent to submit a proposal in via the funding opportunity database.  The process adds the intent to submit directly into the ORSP Manager queue.  This will trigger the proposal process in the upgraded system.

Account Setup Process:  Integrate Oracle Grants Module data elements into the system, eliminating redundant data entry and errors.  This will enable us to transfer account setup data between the two systems without an intermediary process.

Proposal Process: Many things happen prior to routing a proposal for review and approval.  This new process will enable ORSP to identify and track all the requirements of the proposal preparation with internal deadlines and assigned responsibility.

Dashboard views: User will be able to track the status of all action items through the system

Multiple Center Designation and Custom RI Distribution: The proposal process will have a budget calculator for RI distribution. User will be able to add multiple centers and customize the percent of indirect cost distribution.

Clinical Trials: We are adding a mechanism to identify Clinical Trials to the proposal process and incorporating regulatory requirements for Good Clinical Practice Training.

Compliance: User will be able to have multiple IRB or IACUC proposals associated with a single proposal.

Budget Tools: provide budget tools with the capability to export to common agency forms.

Interface with Internal Units: provide communication and hand-off between units involved in the proposal development process, i.e., Research Compliance, Technology Transfer, Legal Affairs, Information Security, Biosafety, Global Affairs, etc.…