The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

Papers
process than an end product; as an enabler, not an objective. Each leading institution continually
looks at ways to use technology to improve research administration, and their process is
iterative and responsive rather than aimed at a specific end product. They see an opportunity, do
something, refine it, and then do something else. This iterative approach is at odds with the more
“classic” approach to business process re-engineering and systems development, which is normally
characterized by a more formal, and strategic planning process and step-wise action plans.
Overall Approach. Another unexpected finding is that leading institutions do not view eRA as
“electronic submission”, and it is not their major focus. They are driven primarily by data and information
needs first – all three institutions started by defining data requirements first, and developing
a database. Officials at all three institutions indicated that developing data requirements and
a database was the first thing they did before even thinking about how they could use the database
to automate business processes. Thus, their vision for eRA is as a data-driven, grants management
system rather than an electronic proposal submission system. We think this finding has significant
implications.
Leading institutions understand the importance of data in improving the efficiency and effectiveness
of their business processes. Yet, many institutions do indeed view eRA as primarily a way to
submit proposals and other types of information electronically, rather than as part of an overall
and integrated grants management strategy. We think this view leads inevitably to a reactive approach
to eRA, which is dependent on what sponsors provide in terms of e-grants capability (e.g.
FastLane, grants.gov, NIH Commons, etc). We think that a “system-to-system” transfer of data
between institutions and sponsors best helps institutions realize the benefits of eRA in an integrated
way, rather than the prevailing government model which relies on a “person-to-government
system” web interface. Our previous research indicates that electronic submission will work best
when data is generated and controlled locally and then transmitted as part of a system-to-system
process. Thus, we think government eRA officials should be encouraging the use of, and citing the
advantages of, systems that foster sound “cradle to grave” grants management, including electronic
submission. The grants.gov concept of “one stop shopping” for all submissions is an important and
desirable development. Nevertheless, the current emphasis on “person-to-system” proposal transactions
decouples the submission of data from the business processes that generate it and the local
systems that track it. We think this decoupling is undesirable from a local business management
perspective, as well as unnecessary. The challenge for service providers is make the business case
for the value of system-to-system solutions for both government and institutions.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND USER ACCEPTANCE
We found little commonality among the three institutions in how they approached building community
involvement and user acceptance of their eRA systems. However, based on our discussions
with institutional eRA officials, we have formed some observations and tentative findings.
As previously noted, eRA systems at all three institutions were initially focused primarily on the
internal office of sponsored programs information and processing needs. Thus, the initial customers
and users of the systems were primarily internal to OSP and external community involvement
in system development and deployment was not a focus in moving forward.
2 It should be noted that we did not interview faculty or many departmental administrators at any of the institutions,
and therefore could draw no conclusions about the acceptance or satisfaction with any of the institutions’ systems.
Thus, our findings are based on the perceptions and experience of each institution’s eRA officials.
148 2005 Symposium Proceedings Book