Kuali Research Administration (KRA)
- What is Kuali Research Administration (KRA)?
adapted from http://www.kuali.org/communities/kra/
The Kuali Research Administration (KRA) project calls for higher education institutions to collaborate as partners in the design and development of a Research Administration system. Development is truly collaborative in that each partner has an equal vote in the design of the functionality.
As the vision statement from its successful proposal to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation asks,
“What if any and every college and university could use, without fee, an outstanding research administration system that embodies the ‘best of’ techniques and processes for research administration, while maintaining the flexibility to fit disparate institutional structures and needs?
“This is entirely possible via a community source partnership to pool resources, requirements, and execution of an efficient development process. The software and community developed through this process could meet college and university needs while providing an economically sustainable path for the future.”
A significant part of this model is the wholesale adoption of the functionality in a proven system, thereby avoiding the inertia of a “clean sheet” design. The KRA partner institutions have therefore agreed, from the outset, on the functional components that the project will deliver. The project has chosen MIT’s existing Coeus system as its baseline design.
KRA development began in July, 2007. Functionality starts with Coeus, and focuses on "best practices" from the member institutions, and nationwide. The functional equivalent of Coeus is being duplicated, with the Kuali "look and feel." You can see sample screen mocks for Proposal Development at: http://www.kuali.org/communities/kra/modules.shtml
KRA Releases will contain modules that can be implemented as they are released. Descriptions below are brief and are meant to give a general overview; please contact us if you have specific questions about KRA functionality.
Release |
Module(s) |
Description |
| 1.0 - July 2008 |
Proposal Development |
Prepare and route a complete proposal and budget online, including online routing for approvals (PIs, department, college, SPS). Also includes Grants.gov S2S proposals. |
| 2.0 - August 2009 |
IRB* |
Faculty: Prepare, submit, and track protocols and continuations.
IRB: Schedule meetings, set up committees, prepare agendas, review/approve/reject protocols and continuations. Includes committee notifications. |
| Awards |
Complete entry of incoming awards and modifications, including award budgets and templates for reporting requirements. Departments can retrieve copies of awards. SPS can assign new account numbers and load budgets. |
| Conflict of Interest* |
Functionality TBD |
| 3.0 - September 2010 |
Negotiations |
Track the status of contracts that require negotiations. |
| Report Tracking |
Stores information on when reports (financial, progress, patent, etc) were submitted to the sponsor, and by whom. |
| Subcontracts |
Subrecipient monitoring |
| Animal Care & Use* |
Faculty: Prepare, submit, and track protocols and continuations.
IACUC: Schedule meetings, set up committees, prepare agendas, review/approve/reject protocols and continuations. Includes committee notifications. |
| 4.0 - October 2011 |
Export Control* |
Functionality TBD |
| Biosafety* |
Faculty: Prepare, submit, and track MOUs.
IBC: Schedule meetings, set up committees, prepare agendas, review/approve/reject protocols and continuations. Includes committee notifications. |
| Chemical Tracking* |
Functionality TBD |
*This module will make use of KRA's "Commitee" functionality. "Committee" will be designed to handle functions that are similar across compliance groups: forming committees, setting agendas, transmitting information to faculty/committee members, mechanisms for approval/rejection of protocols and continuations, adverse event reporting, etc. All research compliance modules will be designed with federal requirements in mind.
Participate in Design Critiques
Design Critiques are held roughly every few months, but will be scheduled more frequently in the coming months. During these sessions, participants have a chance to review KRA mock screens online (from their own desks) and provide feedback to User Interface (UI) professionals.
The UI group is in need of faculty participants. Staff participants are also welcome. If you'd like to participate in these sessions, please contact Marcel Villalobos at Sponsored Projects. Marcel will add your name to the list of participants and contact you about the next session.
Level of commitment: Low
Join the UA KRA Information Group
We will form a group that will meet on a regular basis for KRA Updates and information exchange. If you're interested in being notified of this group's activities, please contact Lori Schultz.
Level of commitment: Low
Join a Subject Matter Expert (SME) Group
Participate in weekly meetings that shape the functionality of the Release 1.0 and 2.0 modules. SME group members document and become experts in Coeus functionality, work with KRA developers to ensure that functionality is met, and discuss issues related to their modules. SME group members should be very experienced in the subject area they choose. Some travel may be necessary.
To join a SME group, contact Rhonda Dwyer for Proposal Development, Susan Mundt for Awards, or Lori Schultz for IRB.
Level of commitment: High
- What's the difference between KRA and KFS?
KRA - Kuali Research Administration
KFS - Kuali Financial System
KFS is the first project under the umbrella of the Kuali Foundation. KFS is in its second release; Release 3.0 is due at the end of 2008. KFS' development mission was to start with a system called FIS (at Indiana University) to create a complete financial system for higher education.
KFS Release 2.0 includes a simple Proposal Routing Form and Budget Builder. However, during the work of developing these items, it became clear that that the partner schools needed more than just a simple routing sheet and budget, and were looking to replace or upgrade old research administration systems. The new functionality and enhancements to KFS meant that a new project was formed - KRA.
The KFS routing form and budget will suit institutions that do not need a research administration solution (small, non-research institutions, for instance).
If you have questions about KFS or KRA, please contact Lori Schultz.
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