Detailed Accomplishments and Activities

Last Updated February 2022

 

Objectives

myResearch will:

• address a number of recommendations made through the faculty-led ecosystem review, focusing on pre-award and post-award functions;
• reduce administrative burden for more than 3,000 investigators and research staff;
• streamline processes and workflows;
• facilitate and automate communication among ecosystem stakeholders;
• improve transparency throughout the proposal process;
• capture necessary data to ensure robust analytics and reporting capabilities;
• establish necessary internal controls; and
• integrate numerous research administration functions in one centralized location.

 

Features

myResearch will provide a number of time-saving features for the GW research community, including:

• templates and versioning that will reduce time spent creating proposals;
• ability to copy and revise proposals;
• dashboard style work queues;
• online budget development;
• ”SmartForms” with default values from sponsor and GW that will minimize data entry and input errors;
• agreements, terms and conditions that utilize Microsoft Word for improved editing and version control;
• ability to view portfolio of proposals that were submitted through myResearch; and
• built-in support for compliance and regulatory matters that will make requirements and actions clearer

Team

 

 

 

 

Key Collaborators

• Faculty Senate Research Committee
• School Research Leadership
• School Research Administrators
• Office of the Vice Provost for Research
• GW Information Technology
• Grants and Contracts Accounting Services Timeline

The eRA project commenced in spring 2019 with a needs assessment and development of a request for proposals. A committee of stakeholders unanimously selected a vendor in winter 2019 and the onboarding phase began in spring 2020.
 

 

Planning & Onboarding

Spring 2019 -
Fall 2020

Assess and select vendor, refine the project plan, and define project capabilities through in-depth onboarding

 

Design & Iteration

Winter -
Summer 2021

Iteratively create, configure, validate and refine system and process changes

 

Testing

Fall - Winter 2021

Conduct testing sessions with stakeholders, log and resolve issues

 

Training & Deployment

Winter 2022

Review and load data configurations, conduct trainings, adapt changes

 

Support

Ongoing

Provide ongoing user support, training and resources, troubleshoot issues and fine-tune changes

Planning & Onboarding (Spring 2019 – Fall 2020)

During onboarding, the project team got to know the tool and its capabilities so that informed decisions could be made regarding where GW may want to customize the off-the-shelf solution. Major activities included:

• In-depth exploration of Grants and Agreements modules, data migration, EAS and Banner integration, roll-out and testing strategies
• Business Owners met to discuss where process and/or system changes may be necessary
• Input sought from School Research Deans on decisions that significantly impacted faculty
• Decisions were prioritized to ensure the project would stay on budget and on time

Design & Iteration (Winter - Summer 2021)

The team will work through nine iterations to fully create, configure, validate and refine the myResearch solution for GW. Each iteration starts with a series of design meetings. Following these meetings, this page will highlight some of the features that our research community can expect.

1. Agreements (Design Completed February 2021)

The Agreements section of myResearch is a centralized location for all activity related to research agreements. It features:

• A single point of entry with customized submission forms for the following agreement types:
  • Master Agreement
  • Sponsored Research Agreement
  • Clinical Trial Agreement
  • Outgoing Subaward
  • Material Transfer Agreement
  • Non-Disclosure Agreement
  • Teaming Agreement
  • Collaboration Agreement
  • Data Use Agreement
  • Other Agreement
• Increased transparency: Users can track the status of their agreement(s) and/or see the history of an agreement’s activity
• Streamlined communication: Emails and clarification requests to be initiated and tracked within the system
• Flexible workflow: An agreement can be sent to other GW offices for review based on the needs of that specific agreement
• Connecting all research activity: An agreement can be linked to related agreements, proposals or funded projects that are available in myResearch
• Document access: Stores contract documents, allowing users to easily access the latest version and even compare it with a prior version
• Agreement creation: Auto-generates subawards and DUAs using the FDP templates
• Agreement execution: Automates via AdobeSign
• Reporting: Allows for better reporting on data such as number of days in review by various parties

2. Single Sign-On (SSO), Banner & EAS integrations (Design Completed March 2021)

• Single Sign-On (SSO) will allow users to login with their GW UserID and password
• Integration with GW's Banner and EAS system will automatically import faculty & staff profile data, GW organizations and a large group of external sponsors. This will allow for prepopulation of certain fields and will greatly improve data collection and reporting. It will also automate access to the tool for any new faculty and staff who come to GW.

3. Proposal & Budget Activities (Design Completed March 2021)

• Centralized proposal initiation process:
  • Proposals started and saved in myResearch act as an investigator's intent to submit, eliminating the online Intent to Submit a Proposal form for Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP)
  • SmartForm functionality allows specific questions to be asked based on the type of submission, including:
    • Grants.gov (Federal)
    • Foundation/Non-profit
    • Outgoing Subawards
    • Industry/Pharma
    • State/Local Govt.
    • Federal Clinical Trials
• Streamlined budgeting process. An online budget tool within myResearch uses SmartForm logic to determine the data that needs to be collected and features:
  • Multiple budgets (i.e., primary department, secondary department, cost-share, subaward, etc.) can be built that will roll into one overall project budget
  • Indirect cost base, F&A, fringe and inflation rates, along with federal salary cap, are all pre-loaded and can be added for auto-calculation
  • Calculation of faculty appointments and a cost-share budget
  • The additional excel budget file that has been required by OSP will only be necessary when required by a specific sponsor or proposal type
• SF424 Mapping and e-Submission
• Automated routing and workflow that includes ancillary review functionality that can be used for:
  • Cost share approval
  • Reviews by other GW offices (e.g., Technology Commercialization, Export Controls, etc.)
  • Multi-school budget collaborations
  • Trackable workflow within tool
• Platform-based communication reduces back-and-forth email. The majority of tasks can be managed within myResearch, minimizing the need to email outside of system and increasing transparency  
  • Reviewer comments from Department Chairs, Pre-Award Sponsored Projects Administrators and others are added within the tool
  • JIT requests & responses are tracked within myResearch  
• Improved reporting and metrics, including amount of time in various states.

4. Award Activities (Design Completed April 2021)

• New process for award intake, review, acceptance and setup
  • After OSP is notified of a new award, an award record is created in myResearch and is tied to the original proposal
  • Tasks that occur after an award is received, including negotiation, rebudgeting and necessary compliance checks will be managed within myResearch
• Increased transparency
  • Award intake, acceptance and setup activity will be tracked within myResearch
  • Automated notifications are sent to the PI and others named on the award for action items throughout the process
  • End users can see the status of their award at any time between the time GW receives it and the time it is setup in GW’s financial system, EAS
• Streamlined budgeting
  • The award budget will move from proposal to award record and can then be reconciled at time of award
  • The budget within myResearch is tied to GW's Chart of Accounts, allowing for consistent budget categories across all of GW's systems
• Document access
  • Award documentation will be uploaded and accessible in myResearch, even in its draft state
  • When the award is created, it is automatically tied to the proposal record, providing easy access to the original proposal
• Reporting
  • Allows for better reporting on data such as number of days to complete various tasks, including to setup an award in EAS

5. Award Modifications and Requests (Design Completed April 2021)

• Centralized intake process for award modification requests including:
  • Revision/Supplement
  • No-Cost Extension
  • Re-budget
  • Continuation
  • Carryover
  • NGA Revised
  • Budget Allocation Correction
  • Early Termination
  • Demographic changes
• Streamlined request process with minimal data entry required
  • PI or administrator assigned to an award can complete a modification request with minimal data required; this initiates the workflow
• Automated and flexible workflow
  • Once submitted, a modification request goes to the appropriate person for review
  • Reviews by additional persons and/or offices can be completed through myResearch
• Transparent status tracking
  • Users can track the status of their modification request(s) and see the history of the award's activity at any time
• Up-to-date information and documentation available by logging into myResearch
  • Documentation associated with modifications will be uploaded to and accessible within myResearch
  • Modifications to an award will be made both in myResearch and EAS, so the latest information will be available in either system, with the history available in myResearch
• Improved reporting and metrics

6. EAS/Oracle Integration at Award Setup (Design in Process)

• Establish connection so that certain data points captured in myResearch can feed directly to EAS, streamlining the award setup process.
• Auto-generate and auto-populate project, task and award numbers based on award type, sponsor, activity or location of activity, etc. This means the P-T-A numbers would be populated both in EAS and myResearch, to ensure easy linkages between the two systems.

7. Data Migration (Design Completed May 2021)

• Make the transition from existing systems (Cayuse, Award Tracking Portal, SharePoint) to Huron as seamless as possible.
• Allow users to take actions on previously submitted proposals that are in a pending state and on active awards.
• Provide historical data for reporting purposes and for building out dashboards.
• GW's data migration effort will include:
  • Five years of basic proposal submission data
  • Six months of agreement (MTA, NDA, DUA, etc.) activity (along with any still in negotiation)
  • All active awards (those with PTAs that have status of Active, At Risk or On Hold)
• A data migration strategy has been designed, outlining what values will migrate from current systems and how the data will map to similar questions in Huron.
• Data that will be migrated is demographic data only and does not include attachments.

8. Reporting – Grants (Design in Process)

• Reports available to all users in myResearch Grants include:
  • Proposal List
    • All Federal Funding Proposals
    • Budgets over $1,000,000
    • Proposals with Tags
    • Dashboard showing proposal counts by Status, Sponsor, $, etc.
    • Proposals Time in State
    • Proposal Days in State by Department List
• Proposals and Award Cost Breakdown
• Proposals and Awards by Department
• Awards with Tags
• All Active Budgets
• Personnel
  • All Specialists
  • All Study Staff
• Users are able to run reports that include any proposals and/or awards on which they are named as a PI, administrative contact, reader or editor
• GW stakeholders are working to prioritize additional reporting needs, including proposals in the pipeline (with upcoming due dates), workload reports, timing reports (how long proposals and/or awards are staying in various states), proposals and awards that are cross-disciplinary or have international component, researcher current & pending support, and more
• All reports can be filtered and viewed online and can also be exported to a CSV file

9. Reporting – Agreements (Design in Process)

• Reports available to all users in myResearch Agreements include:
  • Agreements by PI
  • Agreements by Contracting Party
  • Agreements set to expire in next 60 days
  • Agreements ad hoc report
  • Agreements activated in last 60 days
• Users are able to run reports that include any agreements on which they are named as a PI, creator or collaborator
• GW stakeholders are working to prioritize additional reporting needs, including agreements by department, by contracting officer, timing reports (how long agreements are staying with various parties for review), outstanding reviews, and more
• All reports can be filtered and viewed online and can also be exported to a CSV file

Testing (Fall - Winter 2021)

The team will conduct testing sessions with stakeholders, log and resolve issues.

Training and Deployment (Winter 2022)

The team will review and load data configurations, conduct trainings, adapt changes.

Support (Ongoing)

The team will provide ongoing user support, training and resources, troubleshoot issues and fine-tune changes.