TRENDS IN HIGHER ED GRANT & RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 TRENDS IN HIGHER ED GRANT & RESEARCH MANAGEMENT Colleges are universities are putting research funding and compliance at risk by using manual, inefficient processes to manage their critical research enterprise. American progress and economic prosperity depend on research and innovation. The academic research environment is the foundation that makes innovation and application possible. But, the business of managing academic research is becoming increasingly challenging with complex compliance, reporting, and productivity demands. At a time when business processes in higher education are largely electronic, research administration is often not. How will colleges and universities keep pace and scale for increased research volume, complexity, and diversity?

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 3 Key Findings... 5 Conclusion... 8 Methodology... 9 Contact rsmart... 9 rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

3 Executive Summary American progress and economic prosperity depend on research and innovation. The academic research environment is the foundation that makes innovation and application possible. But, the business of managing academic research is becoming increasingly challenging with complex compliance, reporting, and productivity demands. At a time when business processes in higher education are largely electronic, research administration is often not. How will colleges and universities keep pace and scale for increased research volume, complexity, and diversity? In recent years, academic research has undergone significant changes that have affected every institution s research enterprise. Among these changes include the level of funding available and the number and extent of compliance regulations across all areas of research. Academic research is also emerging as an important element of any university s financial operations providing a vital source of revenue as higher education financial pressures grow. Attempting to manage such extensive changes with paper-based research administration processes is becoming more difficult and nearly impossible for many institutions. To address these challenges, some leading colleges and universities are using electronic research administration (era) solutions to fully integrate and streamline the many tasks involved in preparing and submitting proposals, managing awards, and tracking compliance with federal regulations. These era solutions improve efficiency, maximize funding, simplify research compliance, and improve oversight and reporting. But, why aren t more institutions moving away from largely manual processes to era? In 2013, rsmart surveyed nearly 100 sponsored programs professionals at more than 65 colleges and universities. Those surveyed represented institutions with research expenditures ranging from $10M to more than $300M and roles from proposal managers to executive directors of sponsored programs. We are pleased to present the findings of the rsmart Trends in Higher Ed Grant and Research Management Report. This report takes a detailed look at the challenges facing research administrators and shares how best practices and new tools can help address these issues. rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

4 Some of the most important findings include: 1. Without automated solutions to manage research more effectively, research volume growth goals will be hard to attain. Colleges and universities aim to increase research volume by 10 50% in the next five years. However, without automated solutions to manage research more effectively, this goal is in jeopardy. 2. At a time when business processes in higher education are largely electronic, grants and research are managed primarily by paper, spreadsheets, or homegrown systems. Sixty-five percent of respondents say they manage grants and research with paper, spreadsheets, and homegrown systems that only address a portion of the research administration lifecycle. 3. The majority of institutions say that improving research administration is a high priority yet budgets are significantly disproportionate. Eighty-one percent of respondents said that improving research administration processes is a high priority. But, only thirty-four percent say they have necessary budget. 4. Electronic research administration enables institutions to have better access to information, reduce administrative burden, and reduce compliance risk. Thirty-six percent of respondents say that access to information is the most important benefit of era. Thirty-five percent it reduces administrative burden and twenty-nine percent say it reduces compliance risk. 5. The most important capabilities of an era solution are an integrated system, electronic workflow, and Grants.gov submission. Forty-one percent of respondents say that an integrated system that brings together all activities around proposal and budget development, award management, and compliance management is the most important capability. Thirty-four percent say it s the electronic workflow and twenty-five percent say Grants.gov submission is most important. rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

5 Key Findings 1. Without automated solutions to manage research more effectively, research volume growth goals will be hard to attain. Colleges and universities are looking to increase their research volume by 10-50% in the next five years. But a shifting research management landscape makes the day-to-day management and volume increases complex and time-consuming. Common challenges include: Growing compliance regulations: Research compliance has become more complicated with specific tracking and reporting requirements around Conflict of Interest (COI), Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC), and Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Subjects. Demand for oversight and reporting: For greater accuracy and agility, institutions must be able to analyze progress towards goals, have visibility into bottlenecks, and understand operations across all aspects of research administration. Need to improve efficiencies: With multi-faceted processes that involve many stakeholders, manual research administration often leads to inefficiencies, at a time when institutions are looking to streamline processes and reduce cost. Figure 1. Your institution has a goal to increase research volume in the next 5 years by: rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

6 2. At a time when business processes in higher education are largely electronic, grants and research are managed primarily by paper, spreadsheets, or homegrown systems. More than half of respondents (65%) are managing their grants and research with paper, spreadsheets, or homegrown systems. Often, these processes are inefficient, error-prone, and time-consuming. Figure 2: Your current research administration software is: 3. The majority of institutions say that improving research administration is a high priority yet budgets are significantly disproportionate. Colleges and universities largely recognize the need to improve research administration processes, yet very few have the budget to invest in solutions. Figure 3. Institutional priority for improving research administration vs. budget: rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

7 4. Electronic research administration will enable institutions to have better access to information, reduce administrative burden, and reduce compliance risk. Colleges and universities are struggling with a heavy administration burden and lack of insight into the full research enterprise. Institutions recognize that electronic research administration reduces administrative burden, provides better access to information, and reduces compliance risk. Figure 4: What benefits do you expect from an electronic research administration solution? 5. The most important capabilities of an era solution are an integrated system, electronic workflow, and Grants.gov submission. Research administration involves many tasks from preparing and submitting proposals to managing awards and tracking compliance with federal regulations. Institutions see a fully integrated system that works across all of these areas as the most important capability of era. Electronic workflow is second, followed by electronic submission of proposals to Grants.gov. Figure 5: What are the most important capabilities in an era solution? rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

8 Conclusion More institutions need to adopt era solutions to keep pace and scale for increased research volume, complexity, and diversity. With grant and research funding becoming more competitive, manual, inefficient processes put research funding and compliance at risk. In my 30 years of research administration I have never seen the funding landscape in higher education research so competitive, and at a time when administrative burden continues to grow, said Diane Barrett, Senior Research Administration Consultant. Those institutions that are still managing their research administration processes by hand are increasingly vulnerable. This makes oversight and collaboration both more time-consuming and complicated. The need for automated proposal routing and approval was becoming more critical as our research needs grew. We needed electronic research administration solutions that would automate proposal routing and approval and streamline the entire proposal development and award process. Mark Larmoyeux, Kuali Lead for the University of Arkansas More affordable electronic research administration solutions need to be made available for institutions of all sizes. This makes cloud / SaaS delivery for electronic research administration a particularly attractive option because it reduces overall software cost and eliminates the need for IT implementation involvement. Data from the 2013 Campus Computing Project reinforces this trend with more institutions expecting to move electronic research administration (34%) to the cloud by 2018, more than any other ERP component. Three years ago, our office identified getting an electronic research administrative system as our highest priority, but we couldn t afford any of the systems that were available. Our partnership with rsmart allows us to get the best solution in the industry at a very affordable price. This will make our faculty and staff much more productive. Jonathan Fink VP for Research at Portland State University. As the business of managing academic research becomes increasingly challenging, cloud-based era provides a solution to fully integrate and streamline the many tasks involved in research proposal, award, and compliance management. rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ

9 Methodology In 2013, rsmart surveyed nearly 100 sponsored programs professionals at more than 65 colleges and universities. Those surveyed represent institutions with research expenditures ranging from $10M to more than $300M and roles from proposal managers to executive directors of sponsored programs. Statistical information was gathered, quantified and qualified using an independent online polling application. Report data was gathered from the survey, customer and prospect research, and insight from noted and recognized industry experts Contact rsmart The rsmart Grant & Research Management Suite streamlines sponsored program management to help institutions of all sizes improve efficiencies and maximize research and grant funding. Our suite is built on Kuali Coeus open source software, which is developed by peer institutions that use it everyday. rsmart then delivers this software from our education-focused cloud, adding enhancements, services, and support to ensure success. Streamline proposal development, award administration, and compliance management with the rsmart Grant & Research Management Suite. rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ rsmart, a leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for higher education, empowers colleges and universities to embrace community-driven, open source software. We make Kuali ERP software enterprise ready with cloud delivery, enhanced functionality, professional services, and support. Our customers significantly reduce research, financial, and student administration costs through improved processes and freedom from expensive, overly customized, and difficult to maintain legacy and proprietary software. rsmart is privately held and headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ. rsmart 1375 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 480 Scottsdale, AZ Learn more at