1 R esearch A dministrative M anagement S ystem RAMS

2 Provide field with tools to manage protocols, personnel, budgets, and laboratories in order to increase compliance, efficiency, and accuracy. Reduce the burden of regulatory oversight on the research service by: - Goal 1 - making it easier to keep track of research, and making it easier to generate the needed documentation.

3 Provide ORD with tools to monitor and report on research activities. Increase the accuracy and speed of reports by: improving the accuracy and timeliness of data that is input by the field, and - Goal 2 - improving the reporting systems used to retrieve that data.

4 How We Started Grassroots movement request for a system Mandate from ORD Surveys of the existing systems Compiled comments from the field regarding desired features Focus group with ORD Visited four working systems and compared features Consulted subject matter experts regarding feasibility and projected time and effort to develop

5 What might this system look like?

6 Personnel (HR data, training, WOC, Scope) Vivarium (census, billing) Projects (approvals, JIT, abstracts) Space Committee Review (members, minutes, on-line submission) Budget SRS IRB IACUC IBCR&D ORD Report writer Optional modules RAMS

7 How do we get there?

8 Time Money Bells and whistles (wants vs needs) Local customization Time-money Cold Hard Truth

9 Documentation of existing Palo Alto and Atlanta systems and reduction into cross-functional diagrams Field expertise workgroups meet to review: Is this how things work in the office? Is this how things should flow? What variants to accommodate? Need for new guidance from ORD? Technical design & programming Field is cleaning data & readying it for migration Field test and data migration Final revisions Deployment Plan and training April - July 2010 Aug - Dec yrs ? ORO & ORD workgroups also review Draft of project– dates are estimates

10 How to collect input from prospective users in the field?

11 Centrally funded & supported for everyone Meets regulations & provides consistency for oversight reviews Facilitates training and succession Cleaner data for ORD ORD can assemble reports rather than send data calls to field Lose local flexibility Won’t accommodate all permutations of research offices Cannot interface with all affiliate systems (e.g. IRB, IACUC, financial). Some material will still have to be copied over. May codify processes that are best left open All field offices will be obliged to use this system for input of core data. Hopefully it will be so helpful, you will want to use it Impact of RAMS

12 But we need short term solutions, too

13 ePROMISe will continue and is being upgraded to increase functionality There are Access-types database that track personnel, training, WOC dates, protocol review, and renewal dates RCMS (Atlanta) MIRB eProtocol Boston’s Sharepoint

14 How can we facilitate lines of communication ?

15 We have a WIKI page inside VA firewall that could be used to share ideas

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17 Research Administrative Management System From the field, by the field, for the field…. so that the field will not perish… and ORD will benefit too

18 Comments, please