Re: seeking feedback on InfoEd...is it good for eRA? Donna Berger 18 May 2005 11:37 EST

Terri,

We have used SPIN for years and are just now starting to implement proposal
tracking.  We did not have funds for staff training in the beginning and
this was a major setback for us. The set up of the organizational
information is critical and we made several mistakes. We had difficulty
getting an information manual in the beginning (a few years back) and
didn't have the time to try to figure it all out. Part of the problem was
ours (e.g. procedures and processes were changing so information necessary
to set up the field was often not available) and we didn't have a person to
dedicate to the project. While the InfoEd people were very helpful, we
found that focused training was essential. We finally attended  a day-long
training session yesterday at InfoEd.  My office (pre-award) has  taken the
lead in setting up SPIN and proposal tracking and arranged for the training
session. Since we have separate pre- and post award offices (consisting of
only three people altogether), we all went to the training.  Our office
arranges to have all new faculty place their profiles on the system so they
can get targeted e-mail funding alerts, but  to effectively use proposal
tracking,  both pre and post award have to be committed to using the
system. In our case, this may not be possible because our post-award
administrator would need to do double entry.

At yesterday's training session, we also had a brief introduction to
proposal development and it appears to be very user friendly. It has an
electronic routing feature that will eventually be tied into grants.gov.
The most work here is determining the workflow for the routing. My plan is
to purchase this module and test it with faculty volunteers next year. We
are also considering the effort reporting module and have requested a demo.

We did look at the modules piecemeal and probably would have been better
off with an introduction to all of them. The modules interrelate (or can be
used this way). For example, proposal development will prepopulate many of
the fields on proposal tracking. We do have a staff member who updates the
system, but there isn't support from other offices, which makes it
difficult, especially when there is staff turnover and the new hire is
unfamiliar with InfoEd. Our faculty do not use the system except to do
searches and receive e-mail alerts. I'm not sure how they will respond to
it if we adopted it for electronic routing. My bet is that there will be
some who just won't use it.

The biggest surprise about InfoEd was the cost of training ($2000 per day
plus expenses). We decided to drive to Albany and paid $1,500 for the three
of us. If we decide to implement InfoEd, we'll be make that trip a couple
more times. Hope this helps.  I'd be interested in learning about any
responses you get from others.

Donna Berger, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Academic Grants
Marist College
Phone: 845-575-3670

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Good afternoon,
My apologies if you're getting this twice...I originally sent this to those
in
the RESADM-L archives who'd sent messages in reference to InfoEd.
However, many of them bounced back as undeliverable because email was
unknown.

Since so many universities are struggling with the issue of electronic mgmt
systems,
I thought I'd send this to the whole listserv for all to share in the
expertise here.

We are considering InfoEd for electronic research administration
and are interested in feedback from actual users. Will you please take
a few minutes to answer some questions?

Have you ever used InfoEd, and if so, how long have you used it? If no
longer using it, why not?

Which module(s) do you use?

Did you debut the whole system at once, or in phases? Timeline used?

Are faculty using it?  Or dept administrative assistants?  Both? Just your
office?

Maintenance: do you have a staff member dedicated to maintaining the system
-- someone from campus info technology you call -- InfoEd support -- or is
the system user-friendly enough that no ongoing maintenance is required?

Implementation: pluses or minuses you either expected or were unexpected?
Things we should be mindful of that we might not have thought of yet?

Training: do you do workshops? Have online tutorial? Online documentation?
Other?

Finally, how would you complete the statement: The biggest surprise about
InfoEd was _______

Anything else you'd like to add?

Thank you for your input. It'll be very helpful as we move forward on this
project.
Terri

Terri M. Hall
Associate Director of Sponsored Programs (eRA)
Office of Research * University of Notre Dame
511 Main Building * Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Phn: (574) 631-7378  Fax: (574) 631-6630
http://www.nd.edu/~research/
Notre Dame is an FDP institution

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 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
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