The University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English speaking world. It is a research intensive institution and a member of the Russell Group. It has an excellent example of an extensive home-grown Research Information Management (RIM) system that has developed specifically to support the University's internal research administration model.
Screenshot - University of Glasgow Research System
Historical Context
The University has a long standing in-house development to manage its research information. The system is owned and developed by the University's Research and Enterprise Office (R&E) and its development pre-dates any of the existing Research Information Management/Current Research Information systems that are currently on the market.
Glasgow has developed a business process that mandates all research applications passing through the Research and Enterprise office for quality assurance before they are submitted to the relevant funding body. Initially the system was developed to support the R&E office function and access to the system was restricted to R&E staff but over the course of time access has been increasingly devolved. Several years ago the interface was redeveloped to support access via a web browser.
The system is now intended to give 'cradle to grave' support for research project applications through to post-project reports and outputs. Funding alerts are managed by both academics and the Research and Enterprise Office using the 'Research Professional' function. Academics can set up their own alerts within Research Professional or go to the R&E office for support and they will do the set-up for them.
System Overview
As the system design is primarily process-driven by the user population the system has developed organically over a period of years as user requirements have been identified and/or developed. Consequently the system is very much based on the usage model. The system's user group continues to direct and prioritise development as user needs develop.
Usage Model
The system has grown since it was first deployed and generally follows the internal model of the University rather than an external view. It is predicated on the concept of a project and the first step is for a project to be created. This is usually done by research administrators in an academic department.
Screenshot - Create a new project
The radio buttons within the system define the route through the creation and management project process. For example if the 'Will the project be seeking Ethical Approval?' button is clicked the project cannot proceed until Ethics Committee clearance has been recorded on the system.
The system allows users to add other people to the project, these can be members of staff, in which case their salary details are automatically imported from the University's Human Resources (HR) system to support project costing. Non-university staff can also be added but their salary details will not be automatically known. Similarly students can be added.
Screenshot - Managing users
Further details such as the funding application are then added. When developing the bid, the system supports a sophisticated set of facilities for the development of multiple costing models (based on full economic costing (FEC)). The user can develop as many models as needed. Because the staff details are drawn from the HR/payroll system the staff costs are actual staff costs not estimates based on grade bands etc. Staff can be assigned to a project for a proportion of their time and the costs are adjusted accordingly. Once a costing model is satisfactory it can be fixed and either the R&E office or Finance office can attach it to the applications.
Once the application is complete a PDF document is generated and all necessary signatures are collected before the application is submitted to the Research Council via Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S).
The system needs to know when an award letter has been received and therefore funding agreed, but the letter will be sent to the Principal Investigator (PI) rather than the R&E office. Therefore the system sends an automatic email to the researcher reminding them to inform the Research and Enterprise (R&E) office when the funding letter arrives. When notification of the success or otherwise is received by the University the status of the application is updated. If the bid has been successful the system then provides support for the duration of the project. Most specifically it links to the Finance system to provide the relevant posting codes so that funds can be spent.
Once a project has been defined, the system provides a selection of actions to support the project such as issuing automatic email reminders to the PI when key events are due. Also a user can initiate an action to one of the other users associated with the project; the system will track the actions and allow users to view which are outstanding and which have been completed.
Screenshot - Project actions
Governance
The system is administered and developed by a team in the Research and Enterprise office (R&E) of the University. The team is managed by the Operations Manager of the R&E office. A user group chaired by a user rather than any of the R&E office staff considers requests for development and new functionality and prioritises the development schedule. Development resource is assigned according to wider University demands and can vary from 0.5 to 3 full-time equivalents (FTEs).
The Operations Manager reports from the User Group to the Vice-Principal (VP) Research and also liaises with the Research and Planning Committee which is chaired by the VP Research.
If the system needs a specific budget for a specific initiative then the User Group applies for that via the Secretary of Court with support from the VP and if granted that is allocated to the task. Currently there is no non-staff development budget.
