Further followup on Faculty Profile Database:

ELECTRONIC RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION WILL BE A NIGHTMARE UNTIL WE MANAGE TO
GET CONSISTENT STANDARDS!!!  Broadly useful faculty database systems will
depend on this.  COS , InfoEd's GENIUS, and the Federal Commons Profile
Repository are different solutions to the need for faculty expertise
information.  Eventually they will all have to talk to one another.

As I mentioned, VCU is installing the InfoOffice system, and its GENIUS
faculty database is a necessary component.  For most modules, a minimal
registration is adequate, but the Proposal Development module will require
that a large number of fields be populated so that bio sketch and
publications info for proposals can be imported largely automatically.  If
Federal Commons requires one thing and our ERA system requires another, we
are in trouble!  So I took the question to InfoEd.

Their detailed answer is cut and pasted below, but in essence it is that
a)  GENIUS has an import/export function
b)  Federal Commons has not finalized its standards for accepting data.
c)  As soon as those standards are set, InfoEd will adjust its
import/export function to meet that standard.  The change should be
transparent to GENIUS users.

This is one step toward consistency of standards, and is reassuring to this
vendor's clients.  I would expect other commercial vendors to take similar
steps.  The Federal Commons is the 800 pound gorilla; things will be better
for us all when it decides exactly where to sit!  It is my personal opinion
that commercial vendors will have to sit beside the gorilla, and it will be
less expensive, simpler, and more effective to rely on a vendor than to
make a database yourself.  Relating my successful experiences with one
vendor is not an institutional endorsement of that vendor.

Chuck

============InfoEd's text========

 July
31, 2000

Chuck,

The ideal situation would be for investigators to maintain their profile at
an institutional level, such as what you are currently maintaining through
InfoEd's SPIN.Plus GENIUS system, and for there to be a mechanism in place
to allow the investigators to electronically update their profile(s) in the
Federal Commons Profile Repository.

The current situation is that the Profile Repository is a component of the
Federal Commons.  This profile information is exchanged between the Federal
Commons and agency systems as XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
documents.  This would presumably mean that electronic profile updates
coming from the institutional level (either through a vendor system or
in-house system) to the Commons would ideally be sent as XML documents.

InfoEd's latest version of the SPIN.Plus GENIUS system includes an XML
import and XML export capability for profile information.  However, the XML
is based on a Document Type Definition (DTD) created by InfoEd.  The DTD
defines the schema for what the XML file should contain.  Therefore, we are
only one step away from being able to electronically submit profile updates
to the Federal Commons through XML documents.  When the Commons is fully
implemented and permits electronic updates to the profiles, then all we
would need is the Federal Commons DTD specification in order to provide the
correct XML upload format.

Hope this provides some insight.

My very best regards,
Mark

Mark Beauharnois
Vice President for Technology & Corporate Growth
InfoEd In

At 12:41 PM 7/26/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello ya'll!  We are exploring the possibility of a database for faculty
>profiles/research interests and I'm curious which application/database
>programs other universities are using to track this data.
>
>It would be helpful to include the number of faculty profiles you are
>currently maintaining as well as which platform (Mac vs PC - the debate
>still rages) you are utilizing.
>
>Thanks and have a great day!
>
>
>
>Shelly R. Pettyjohn
>Pre Award Grant and Contract Specialist
>University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth
>817 735-2561
>817 735-0375 (fax)
>email: xxxxxx@hsc.unt.edu
>
>

Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Director, Sponsored Programs Administration
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
Richmond, VA  23298-0568
Express Delivery Only:
 Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-073
 11th & Marshall Streets
 Richmond, VA  23219
Voice:  804-828-6772
Fax     804-828-2521
OFFICE e-mail   xxxxxx@VCU.EDU
Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu
http://views.vcu.edu/ospa/

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