Thanks to all who responded to my request for info on "canned" grants tracking systems. What follows is a slightly edited summary of those responses, including 1 or 2 from other mailing lists. I have not included messages which were sent to me with an implied request for confidentiality. Len *************************************************************************** SUMMARY OF INTERNET RESPONSES RECEIVED I work at [snip] and have just finished converting our data to RAMS. Research Services handles proposal and wards tracking (not any finance). Two years ago I searched extensively for . software as you are in the process of doing now. I only found two options. RAMS and SPAS. I selected RAMS over SPAS because at the time SPAS seemed to lean toward proposal tracking, faculty profileinfo, and searching for programs availble to apply to. It was somehow linked up to SPIN. At the time it didn't seem to suppply all the information we needed with respect to IDC and budget line items. However since then I have heard they have updated their software considerably. Although I am very happy with RAMS, if I were in you position I would at least look at SPAS. SPAS may supply more of what you are specifically looking for. RAMS however does have a user defined screened where field can be added to track specific information Upper Management may be requesting. We have found it very easy to get reports from, easy to data enter, and the assistance we have received from the RAMS staff has been timely. ************************ This in response to Len Paplauskas' request about proposal and grant tracking software. The Sponsored Projects Administrative Systems is excellent. It's produced by InfoEd in Albany, New York - same company that sells the SPIN database. InfoEd can be reached at (800) 727-6427 or xxxxxx@infoed.org. They have a demo package on the program. I do some marketing for the company and will forward the request to them and make sure Len gets a demo. Be happy to answer any questions - I've used the system in conjunction with SPIN for at least ten years - wouldn't promote it if I didn't use it in my own work. ****************************************** I know of two systems. The first is the proposal tracking system in SPAS, the INFOED Corp. product (Tel 518-464-0691). Infoed is also the vender for the SPIN funding opportunity database. I am surprised that you haven't heard about SPAS since Infoed advertises as heavily as the venders of RAMS. (P.S. Ed Johnson, President of INFOED is quite knowledgeable AND a good salesman.) At our institution we heavily use INFOED's SPIN product (micro version) and found it to be excellent. We also use the SPAS faculty interest database and again are very pleased. We evaluated the SPAS proposal tracking system and were impressed with many of its features. It works well with with the other components of the SPAS system. It tracks a lot of useful data and has a good report generator. However, due to some very restrictive reporting requirements we have here in North Carolina, we were not able to use it. It is well worth looking at. Feel free to give mention my name to Ed Johnson. The other system is currently under development by IBM and North Carolina State University. It is called GAMS. It will be partially implemented at NCSU this month. GAMS is a truly visionary system which combines proposal preparation, institutional approvals, proposal submission, tracking, and post-award administration in an entirely PAPERLESS system! NCSU and their IBM partners are trying to sell this system to other UNC system schools. (My institution is part of the University of North Carolina system.) In my opinion GAMS will be the wave of the future but it requires a fairly sophisticated university computer system and a faculty/administration with wide spread literacy in E-mail and word processing. If you are interested in more information, I can put you in contact with NCSU people involved in the project. ************************************* At the recent NCURA meeting in Washington, IBM had an exhibition of a grants-tracking system called GAMS, apparently developed in cooperation with a university grants office or two, but I don't recall the details and have no idea how well it works. ******************************** Our institution is going through a similar study and is almost ready to make a decision. I primarily deal with "pre-award" and this fall completed a pretty thorough analysis of all the "on-line, etc." databases out there used to locate "grant opportunities". So because of my experience in researching those systems (i.e. I.R.I.S., Spin Micro, Spin Gopher, fedix, STIS, Dialog, etc.), I was asked to assist with the other issue of software primarily for "post award" administration. My opinion (and it ist strictly my opinion, and not necessarily that of my institution is the following: RAMS is basically "all there is", (which was surprising to me), but it does have its problems. It is fairly limited in the user's ability to make modifications, hence you are pretty much "obligated" to go to Rodman & Assoc. when you need to customize things for your own site (which you most likely will want to do). This can get pretty expensive. Although they do a good job, it might have been nicer if the company would sell a "shell" and allow customers to "plug in" much of what suits their needs. This is not usually the case when you have primarily only 1 or 2 companies Peat Markwick also has a total accounting package which includes much more than grants administration, so consequently is more suitable if an institution buys it for all of their accounting needs, but the price tag is *much* higher: well over $20,000. There is now a relatively new company based in Birmingham, Alabama called Priority Inc. and they (apparently) built their system around the grants admin function at University of Alabama; now they are marketing the product more extensively. We are giving this one a serious look, because among other things, it's Windows-based which seems like a good idea considering how the software market is going. We still haven't been able to arrange a product demonstration here and we are not sure we'll do so. We also found, that many largert insitutions that have been into grants admin. for a long time have designed their own software (using combinations of database and spreadsheet software). The reason this is most desirable (if you can afford it & if you know enough about grants admin to include the proper system design) is that, while accounting principles might be generic, the procedures and departments that must produce the data within the institution will very likely differ from one place to the next. Since it's not desirable to change accepted procedures to suit software packages (these will always be evolving), it makes good business sense to implement software plans that incorporate rather than change everything around to suit how the software is designed. Incidently, although this isn't directly related, it appears that Rodmann & Assoc. also is the subcontractor that set up and maintains the *fedix* system if you're familiar with that. If you want to call me later I'd be happy to pass along phone numbers, etc. for Priority Inc. (the person who actually has that file is not in today). You may also want to talk to her directly about RAMS etc. Good luck & let everyone know what you finally decide. It seems to me this topic is seriously neglected at NCURA but quite important. ************************************ Len, you should be aware of SPAS by InfoEd Inc. Although I am not using SPAS because I inherited a home brew system that meets our needs, I have worked with it a fair bit and think it excellent. Not only does it track all the things you asked about, but it has modules for human and animal subjects. You can add faculty interests to the faculty database and do a merge with InfoEd's SPIN funding opportunity database to create bi-monthly funding opportunity updates customized for each faculty: this is powerful. SPAS has good, flexible reporting capabilities. Infoed will help you with any special customization you need: their support is excellent. Be aware that SPAS is NOT an accounting system: it is a proposal tracking system. Now for the disclaimer. When I was in Alaska I was an early user of SPAS, and have grown with the product, and made a number of suggestions that were incorporated into it. As a result I have been asked to serve on InfoEd's advisory board, to advise on product development; I hasten to add that I do not get paid for this. I do it because I want to see an excellent line of products continue to improve, and because I learn from the experience. I do use SPIN and some of the other on-line services that Infoed is developing, eg. Commerce Business Daily. I have copied this message to Ed Johnson, the CEO who will send you more information. His e-mail is xxxxxx@infoed.org. ************************** I saw your request for information on "canned" grant tracking systems. I can't tell if your looking for a package or if your just reposting Ken Landorf's request. In either case, here is some information. My company, Priority Software, Inc., based her in Birmingham, Alabama, is the developer of BA2. Sales and Administration is done here in Birmingham with all development done in Athens, Georgia. We are currently a 9 person company and we're growing rather quickly. We don't give away our software but we do offer the highest level of customer support and software functionality. Our clients consist of: - The Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) - The Univ. of Georgia (UGA) - The Univ. of Illinois - Urbana (UIUC) - The Univ. of Miami - Vanderbilt University - St. Joseph's Hospital (Phoenix, AZ) - Good Samaritan Hospital (Phoenix, AZ) We are a Microsoft Solution Provider experienced in both networking and software development. The company has been in business since 1981 (14 years) and our BA family of products has been shipping since 1987 (8 years). BA2 is the 2nd generation product and is our primary marketing focus. BA2 is a multi-user, Windows based departmental management system. The BA2 system is a series of modules that are completely integrated. The modularity allows us to customize specific modules to the clients needs without having to rewrite from scratch. BA2 provides the following functions: Accounting * Transaction Processing * Grant Fund Monitoring * Mainframe Reconciliation via the BA2 Shadow System Payroll * Fund Distribution * Automatic Payroll Encumbrance Space Management Inventory Control Equipment Tracking Publication Database Decision Support Under Development: * Other Support Database (Sponsored Research) * PHS Grant Forms and Budget Preparation * Document Imaging Other Available Modules or Add-On Products: * NCI Cancer Center Grant Preparation * Gopher Data Publishing Service All products are Windows based with a 32-bit version under developmet to be released later this year when Windows 95 is released. Our product is OLE 2 compliant with full support for Microsoft Mail, Schedule and integration with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel) and Project via OLE Automation. The product is pretty remarkable but our support and software distribution via the Internet are, IMO, our best feature. We ship new releases every week or so (as our testing releases them). Our setup program is totally painless and according to a Novell administrator at UIUC, "this is the best setup program I've ever seen" since it required nothing of the LAN administrator to provide all the users with new versions of the product on a frequent basis. ******************************** Many of us have had the opportunity to hear about the many "new" and "older" systems for electronic research administration management... Andrew Grant, a marketing consulant with InfoEd, writes about the system that he sells... and also lends very good advice: Call and find out about the company! He gave the phone number for InfoEd, since that is the company that he works for, but his advice holds true for all! Make sure that the company is reliable, financially secure, and has a strong development team. Any system will have its quirks, but how proactive is the company in continual improvement, service, and technological advancement? So many institutions ask these questions, send away for a demo disk, then purchase the product based on comments such as "I wouldn't sell it if I didn't believe in it...." The most reliable person to discuss possible purchases with is definately your research administration team (everyone from data enty to the director of the department). Fortunately, most of these companies will literally "come to you" and demonstrate the system to your entire res. adm. team! Take advantage of this service! It also gives you the chance to ask questions about the company! ***************************** Dana-Farber is developing its own technology transfer/research administration database system written in Paradox for Windows. Julia Hart will be presenting it in one of the sessions at the AUTM Annual Meeting in Nashville.
