Kuali Research Administration (KRA)

Kuali Days / May 2007St. Louis, Missouri

Introduction

-Kuali History, Structure, and Philosophy

-Development Process

-Partner Perspectives

-KRA Proposed Scope/Phasing

Kuali History, Structure, and Philosophy

What is the Kuali Project?

• Kuali started life as a community/open source initiative to create a financial system for higher education.

• This project (now known as KFS) is a re-factor of Indiana University’s FIS. – Veterans of Sakai opted to try collaboration vs.

doing this alone or buying off the shelf– Kuali started with 6 university partners: Indiana,

Arizona, Cornell, Michigan State, Hawaii, Delta

The Kuali Project

• “Kuali” is a Malaysian word for wok, or utensil that is a kitchen staple

• Work under the Kuali project umbrella is available under the foundation’s Educational Community License

• Kuali membership is fee-based, but the software is free to download

• Kuali is funded, in part, by the Mellon Foundation

What is KRA?

• Cradle-to-grave research administration system, based on MIT’s Coeus:– Preaward (proposals, budgets, Grants.gov)– Postaward (contracts, grants, negotiations,

report tracking, subcontracting)– Research Risks (IRB, IACUC, COI, etc)

• Links with KFS or your financial system

How did we get to KRA?

• KFS scope includes Proposal and Award docs– Proposal captures high-level data– Award links to Proposal– Both are used to transmit attributes to the account

• KFS scope has a routing form and budget– No Grants.gov S2S capability (as of Feb 2007)– No research risks modules– No modules for contract management

• Negotiations, CDAs, NDAs, MTAs, etc.

How did we get to KRA?

• Partners would continue to use legacy systems to cover some of these items– Contract management was the perceived

“biggest missing piece” at the time– Schools would continue with PureEdge or an

institutional solution for Grants.gov proposal submissions

– Schools would continue to use manual systems for research risks compliance

How did we get to KRA?

• Kuali partners set out to identify research administration best practices, and ultimately drew up an agreement for use of Coeus

• KRA has 5 partners: Arizona, Cornell, Indiana, Michigan State, and MIT/Coeus

• KRA Scope goes beyond what’s offered in KFS

• KRA will be designed to work with KFS and other financial systems

Coeus to KRA

• Coeus is one of the first cradle-to-grave research administration systems in the nation

• Developed at MIT• 38 partner schools in the Coeus consortium• Collaboration with Coeus:

– Maximizes best practices– Sustainability of the system with the Coeus

community in mind

Kuali Organization

KRA Philosophy

• Maximizing common business practices • Identifying best practices in research

administration• Collaboration is key• Scope is managed within the “Reality

Triangle”• Governance follows specific procedures

KRA Philosophy – Reality Triangle

You get control of two of the sides, I get the other. The 3rd side follows the constraints of the other two:

-Rigid scope & tight timeline = big resources

-Limited resources & big scope = long timeline

KRA Philosophy - Governance

Development Process

KRA Functional Council

• Made up of participants from each partner school. One partner school = One vote

• Prioritize/manage project scope and resources, monitors progress/direct work of SME groups

• Approves/Rejects enhancement requests and other functionality, based on the reality triangle

• Weekly phone calls, quarterly face-to-face, reports to the KRA Board weekly, and as needed

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

• Group is formed with two to four members per partner institution. Participants part time

• Lead SME is identified. Works closely with development manager & business analyst

• Weekly conference calls and possible, but infrequent face-to-face meeting

• Translates functionality into specifications • Validates code generated by developers.

Developers

• Each partner contributes 3 full time staff• Divided into module teams• Developers work from home institution, but

may report to manager at another partner site• Team interacts daily with regular video

conferencing use• Meet a number of times a year for coding

camps

Module Development Steps

1. SMEs review current product (Coeus) functionality

2. SMEs write specification documentsa. Enhancements to FC for review/voteb. FC keeps tabs on scope throughout

3. Developers build screen mockups4. SMEs review screen mockups5. Developers build code6. Testers do quality assurance and report issues

Partner Perspectives

Why are schools participating?

• Legacy systems are old and lack functionality– In the case of one partner, they are running

unsupported hardware/software– Budget for a vended project isn’t forthcoming – No one wants to be “forced” into a decision

• Paper routing process for proposals, PureEdge for Grants.gov submissions

• Procedures for research risks are not cohesive, and many are still paper-based

Why are schools participating?

• Need for financial system upgrade lead to joining KFS effort

• Belief in community source model • Recognition of gap in KFS functionality

lead to support of and membership in KRA• Interest in integration of financial,

sponsored and research compliance systems • Need for Grants.gov S2S and research

compliance systems

Arizona’s experience

• We started with KFS in 2005, and joined KRA in 2006.

• The process has resulted in efficiencies in current processes– You can’t help but examine your business processes as

you perform a gap analysis!• Being closely involved means we get more than

we’d get from a vendor• We’re able to train our implementation staff as we

go along – both technical and functional• We’re in charge of our own destiny

KRA Proposed Scope/Phasing

Scope Guiding Principles

• KRA based on Coeus 4.2• Leverage Kuali Rice architecture and development

standards (nervous system, enterprise notification, enterprise workflow and service bus)

• Implement Kuali web-based user interface (screen shot)

• KRA easily implemented with KFS, but both products must be able to stand alone

• Provide Coeus 4.x migration path and tools• Maximize probability of future merging with

Coeus version 5.X into single product

Scope/Phasing Steps

Accomplished at first KRA Functional Council meeting (Jan 9-10, 2007, Boston)

1. Map KRA modules to Coeus modules2. Start with current Coeus modules3. Prioritize within those by partner rankings4. Tackle functionality not currently in Coeus

And the prioritize scope phasing is …

First Priority Modules (01/07)

Coeus modules exist - Subject Matter Expert group currently being formed

• Proposal development (including budget template, routing & Grants.gov S2S)

• IRB• Award• Conflict of Interest

UPDATED Prioritization

• First priority modules still stand, as listed, however…

• We have the opportunity to make Release 1 useful to all Carnegie-class institutions, so:– Proposal/Budget development/Institute Proposal

will be offered as a back-to-front module, with Grants.gov S2S for Release 1 (April 1, 2008).

– Remaining modules will continue the development process during Phase 1

Second Priority Modules (01/07)

Coeus modules exist - Subject Matter Expert group not currently active

• Institute Proposal• Negotiations• Report Tracking• Subcontracts

Third Priority Modules (01/07)

Coeus modules do not exist - Subject Matter Expert group not currently active

• Animal Use• Export Control• Institutional Biosafety• Chemical/Radiation safety

Near-Term Collaboration Potential

• Work together on functional specifications for future modules (e.g. Animal Use). Joint KRA SME/Coeus Subcommittees?

• Agree on common coding and database design conventions where reasonable

• Incorporate Kuali user interface and navigation components

KRA – Shared Services

• Unit Hierarchy• Rolodex• Person• Organization• Workflow• Security• Role• Code/Reference Table

• Location• Sponsor• Committee• Questionnaire• Custom Element• Cost Element• Comment

KRA – Proposal Development

• Proposal Development• Proposal Budget

Development• Institute Proposal• Proposal Routing• Grants.gov Integration

KRA - IRB

• Submission of protocols (new, continued, amended)

• Recording IRB deliberations• IRB notifications• IRB meeting agendas and minutes• Protocol and training queries• Special reviews & other committees• Human Subjects Training records• Committee creation and scheduling• Batch correspondence and correspondence

generation

KRA - Awards

• Award detail• Cost sharing• Indirect cost• Payment schedule• Sponsor funding

transfer• Approved equipment

& foreign travel• Award closeout• Payment

• Money and end dates• Award Budget• Contacts• Award Templates• Special Reviews• Investigator Credit

Split• Notice of Award• Data feed & integration

with financials

KRA – Conflict of Interest

• Certifications for faculty, staff, and students• Tracking of disclosures, reviews and

decisions• Separate financial disclosure information

– Confidential– Non-confidential

• This one could be “big” since state laws regarding COI are very different

KRA – Future Modules - Negotiations

• Record actions of Negotiations• Management reporting

• Financial and non-financial actions– Contracts, Agreements– CDAs, MTAs, teaming agreements, etc.

KRA – Future Modules – Report Tracking

• Automatic generation of reporting deliverables and status– Financial, technical, patent reporting

• Management reporting• Submission status

KRA – Future Modules - Subcontracting

• Subcontract detail• Funding sources• Amount information• Subcontract closeout and correspondence• Contacts• Subrecipient monitoring (A-133)• Invoice routing and approval

KRA – Future Modules* - IACUC

• Submission of protocols (new, continued, amended)

• Recording IACUC deliberations• IACUC notifications• IACUC meeting agendas and minutes• Protocol and training queries• Special reviews & other committees• Animal Subjects Training records• Committee creation and scheduling• Batch correspondence and correspondence

generation

KRA – Future Modules* - Biosafety

• Submission of MOU on biological materials, including select agents

• Submission of MOU amendments and renewals

• Production of IBC minutes• Monitoring of approved MOU• Reporting of non-compliance• Facilities inspection

KRA – Future Modules* - Export Control

• Certification questionnaire with routing approval

• Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) purchases

KRA – Future Modules* - Chemical

• Controlled substance program

• Radiation Safety• Functionality TBD

Final Thoughts

• Partner?– Take charge of your

own destiny!– Be your own best

resource!– Work with top people

in research administration!

• Interested?– Yes, it’s free!– Based on proven

functionality – Coeus– Based on a successful

model - Kuali– Best and Common

Business Practices

For More Information

http://www.kuali.org/http://rice.kuali.org

Lori Ann Schultz(520) 626-6308

lschultz@email.arizona.edu