FeatureInfoEd

InfoEd
Northwestern’s New System for Tracking Sponsored Research

Proposal Tracking | Proposal Development | Applicability | Training

Northwestern has a new web-based system for tracking proposal and award information – InfoEd! This means that research administrators as well as PIs will have the ability to view proposal and award information on-line.

Proposal Tracking

What is Proposal Tracking (PT)?

Proposal Tracking is an online grants management system within InfoEd that provides access to research data
Users will be able to view and track proposal and award data for individual projects
The Cognos BI Reporting tool will allow standard reports to be downloaded or printed from InfoEd

What type of information will be provided?

Proposal and award status
Budget data
Status of contract negotiations and subcontract issuance
Committed cost-sharing (if applicable)
Copies of key documents (Award letter, Project Account Summary, etc.)

What does it look like?
Sample screen-shot of an award budget summary:

When will Proposal Tracking and Cognos BI Reporting be available?

Training will be held in November and December 2007 (see below)
The system is expected to be available at the end of December 2007

Proposal Development

What is Proposal Development (PD)?

Proposal Development is a tool that will assist in the preparation, routing, and submission of proposals for sponsored research

When will Proposal Development be available?

A small pilot will occur in Winter 2008
The system will be phased-in campus-wide beginning in Fiscal 2009

Applicability

What does InfoEd mean for ME as a research administrator?

InfoEd will allow administrators on-line access to reliable information and data relative to their PI’s proposals, awards, contracts, and subcontracts. This access will provide better tracking and monitoring of award statuses and obligations and may eliminate the need for local shadow tracking systems. As the system is central and is accessible by PIs, central, and unit administrators, the information and data will be consistent and reliable.

Administrators currently track proposal and award information for PIs based on various information sources – PI communication, OSR communication and award notices.

With InfoEd, reliable and current proposal and award information will be available in one central on-line system, accessible by PIs, central, and unit administrators!

Administrators currently rely on OSR and sponsor communication for the status of contract negotiations.

With InfoEd, administrators will be able to check the status of contract negotiations in one central on-line system, accessible by PIs, central, and unit administrators!

In short, what are the benefits of Proposal Tracking for Administrators?

Facilitates distributed access to proposal and award data
Provides the ability to easily track proposal, award and contract status

In short, what are the benefits of Proposal Development for Administrators?

Will increase accuracy and efficiency of proposal creation

Use of standardized faculty profiles, salary and appointment information, F&A and Fringe rates, and sponsor data
Minimize errors during the proposal development process
Default mechanism and funding opportunity values and validations pre-populate fields for some sponsors

Will enable electronic workflow, eliminating the need for paper OSR-1 approvals
Will enable system to system submission for NIH grants, eliminating reliance on PureEdge/Adobe forms for this sponsor

Training

What type of training will be available?

Classroom sessions (3.5 hours) will be offered beginning in November 2007 for Proposal Tracking and Cognos BI Reporting
To gain access to the system attendance will be mandatory for administrators, central units, and deans’ offices and strongly encouraged for PI’s and post-docs
Reserve your seat in a training session using HRIS eDevelopment online signup:

http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/courses.html#CourseDesc

Additional detailed information will be communicated in the near future via:

OSR listserv e-mails
Project Café website: http://cafe.northwestern.edu/
The Guide for Research Information’s Training & Education website: http://www.research.northwestern.edu/guide/training/

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