Chuck-
Would you tell us what commercial packages you had in mind.  Is there
a commercial package that will provide "easy electronic communication
 between subsystems" as you say, for entities such as  pre award, post award,
research risks, accounting, and tech transfer.  If these are the
subsystems you had in mind.

That is, what can one buy today, install and have operating to provide
for the tasks of these subsystems.  These tasks might include
proposal budget developing; sponsor form filling; electronic routing and
authorizing; data collecting, storing, and reporting; "handing-off"
proposal and award information to the post-award side; managing human and
animal and other compliances; EDI'ing (both outward via TN194 and inward
via TN850), linking to other govt systems such as FASTLANE; and -well
that's enough for now.  Please point me to such a commercial system.

Thanks
Bob
xxxxxx@umich.edu
_______________________________________________________________________________

>From: Research Administration Discussion Group on Thu, Oct 9, 1997 6:06 PM
>Subject: Re: Restructuring of Offices of Research Administration
>To: Multiple recipients of list RESADM-L
>
>Data on this subject that is both hard and useful has been difficult for me
>to find.

---snip---

>My personal recommendation is to consider buying now, or within less than a
>year, one of the commercial packages.  They are not perfect, but they are
>wheels that roll,
--snip---

Chuck