Title: NIH electronic Research Administration: NIH Commons Interface to the Extramural Grantee Community
1NIH electronic Research AdministrationNIH
Commons Interface to the Extramural Grantee
Community
George Stone, Ph.D. Extramural Inventions and
Technology Resources Branch OPERA/NIH george.stone
_at_nih.gov (301) 435-0679
2Objective Full Electronic Grants Administration
Applicant/Grantee Interface NIH Commons
Common File
NIH Grants Database Interface IMPAC II
NIH Institutes and Centers
3NIH Electronic Grants Administration Components
- NIH and OER Web Sites Information
dissemination to public - Awards Database Public site
- Commons Registration Secure access for
grantee institutions - Accounts Administration Secure access for
grantees - Application/Award Status Monitor pending
grant applications - Institutional Professional Profiles
Maintain repetitive - information about institutions and investigators
- Competitive Application Competing Grant
Application - Submission of non-competing progress reports
(e-SNAP) - Trainee Appointments (X-Train) Appointment
and - administration of grantee trainees
- Fellowship applications
- Financial Status Report (FSR)
- Interagency Edison Invention Reporting
4System Design to Complement Diverse User Community
- High Level User Requirements
- Human-to-computer interfaces required for some
business processes - Human-to-computer or computer-to-computer option
for some business processes - Security is critical
- System design must accommodate low-end
institutions/users - Minimize redundant data entry
- Minimize duplication of data entry
- Exact representation of complex documents, I.e.
rich text Users want customizable Information
push proactive notifications - Software to support and allow for control of
complex organizational hierarchies and workflow - Open systems, open code, avoid proprietary
software solutions
5eRA Concept of Operations
- Existing Infrastructure
- IMPAC Mainframe
- IMPAC II Client/server
- Oracle DBMS
- C/S Oracle Forms
- Fully Secure Trans-NIH
- Network
NIH IC Staff
6eRA Concept of Operations
NIH IC Staff
7Information Dissemination Unlimited Access
Through any Web Browser
http//www-commons.cit.nih.gov
8Exchange of Confidential Information Requires
Institutional Registration and Account Creation
for Logon
http//www-commons.cit.nih.gov
9NIH eRA Systems Design Principles-
Accommodating Extramural Business Partners -
- All eRA systems will adhere to a public data
standard - Common Data Dictionary (194 Data Set) for grant
application - http//grants.nih.gov/grants/era/era.htm
- Build all database systems to this standard
- All eRA systems will offer security for grantee
data - Data Access Data Transmission
- Build all networks with security
- All eRA systems will avoid proprietary software
solutions - You dont need to buy proprietary software to do
eRA with NIH - All eRA systems will adhere to standard interface
options - Interactive Web Forms human-to-computer
- Datastreams XML/EDI computer-to-computer
- These formats will provide options for
institutions of all sizes and levels of IT
sophistication
10Ways to Proceed with eRA
- Grantee Institution Efforts
- Assess level of institutional commitment to eRA
- Leadership is critical top-down is crucial
- Level of Support for change/reengineering
- Level of financial and human resource allocation
- Analysis of existing IT infrastructure
- Hardware/software
- Staffing
- Status of grants administration hierarchy and
business process - Well-defined vs. diverse
- Simple vs. complex
11Cost and Implementation Issues
- How much will it cost? How easy/difficult will it
be to implement? What about maintenance and
operations? - Answers determined according to selection of
interface format - Interactive Web human-to-computer
- Datastream computer-to-computer
- Electronic Forms
- Substitute format for paper submission
- Interim solution until full eRA
12Interface Option Interactive Web
Human-to-Computer
- Minimal IT Infrastructure Requirements and Cost
- Internet Access
- Internet Browser
- No database or LAN required
- Limited Business Process Requirements
- Well-defined application handling/routing
- Interactive Web workflow is generic
- NIH is NOT Microsoft
13Interface Option Interactive Web
14Interface Option Datastreams
Computer-to-Computer
- Sophisticated IT Infrastructure
- Typically expensive software and hardware
- System development, operations and maintenance by
dedicated staff or vendor - Greatest Business Process Control
- Content, display, and workflow completely
determined and customized by grantee organization
15Interface Option Datastream
16NIH Role as eRA Consultant
- No Charge
- Respond to any technology and/or business process
questions - Share any code we have written for NIH Commons
- Any/all documentation Requirements or Design
documents - Database schema and table structure
- Software application code
- Work closely with vendors
- Publish Application Programming Interface (API)
specifications - Assist in implementation testing of
vendor-derived software
17Current NIH Development/Deployment Efforts
- Unrestricted Access Interfaces in Production
- OER Site
- Grants policy, RD Contracts, NIH Guide,
Funding Opps. - 500,000 hits per month
- http//www.nih.gov/grants
- CRISP Interface
- Records include 1972 thru Current Awards
- 30,000 CRISP queries per week
- http//crisp.cit.nih.gov
18Current eRA Development/Deploymentcont.
- Restricted Access Interfaces
- Interagency Edison Production Deployment
- 390 Grantee Organizations Registered
- Reporting for 16 Federal Agencies through single
IEdison gateway - Currently in redesign planned deployment Sept.
2002 - Commons Registration/Accounts Application/Award
Status Interfaces - 185 Grantee Organizations Registered
- 4,810 User Accounts created
- Maintain current operations for existing
institutions - No new registrations pending deployment of new
Commons Version June 2002
19Current eRA Development/Deploymentcont.
- Restricted Access Interfacescont.
- X-Train Pilot Deployment October 1, 2001
- 12 Grantee Organizations Participating
- 36 trainee appointments processed
- Proceed to Production Deployment by May 2002.
- Development of new Commons architecture
- Migration to J2EE implementation of N-Tiered
architecture - Deployment scheduled for June 2002
20NIH Commons V 2.0 User Interface
- Deployment of new NIH Commons user interface
June 2002 - New GUI standards
- Production deployment to all grantee institutions
- Interfaces
- Commons registration
- Accounts admin
- Application/award status
- All institutions to register whether submitting
electronically or in paper - Improve data quality for electronic and paper
submissions
21Planned eRA ImplementationFY 2003
- Deployment of e-SNAP October 2002
- Non-competing progress report
- Introduction of further streamlining of this
business process - Development and deployment of Financial
- Status Report (FSR) October 2002
- Design/develop Electronic Competing Grant
Application - Pilot deployment possible near end of FY03
- First deployment limited to datastream
- Interactive web version FY04
22Commons Version 2.0 Implementation Schedule
Jan Jul Dec Jan
Jul Dec Jan
Jul Dec
Commons Version 2
Phase 1 Infrastructure
Phase 2
Phase 3
SNAP Progress Report
E-SNAP
Competing Application (R01) CGAP (XML
Datastream)
Legend Analysis
Development
Deployment
Start
Continuing
Includes business process reengineering and
design