We are a small but growing research institution, and we are trying to
determine the best way to measure our success rate.  We are interested in
hearing how other universities handle this in general.  Do you measure
new proposals submitted in a given year against new proposals received in
that same year regardless of the year submitted?  Do you do a one-to-one
correlation (e.g., if proposal X is submitted to NIH and is funded, that
counts as a hit regardless of the year submitted and received)?

A more specific issue that puzzles us is how should we count a proposal that
is submitted to several different sponsors.  For example, if a researcher
submits the same proposal to three different sponsors, does that count as
3 proposals or just 1?  If the submissions would be counted as just
one proposal, what if the same proposal is submitted to two different
sponsors, but the researcher modifies the name?  Research administration
does not necessarily have the technical expertise to know that they are
the same.

Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to share.

Linda
(xxxxxx@umbc.edu)