NIH Electronic Research Administration NIH Commons Interface to

NIH Electronic Research Administration: NIH Commons Interface to the Extramural Grantee Community George Stone, Ph. D. Extramural Inventions and Technology Resources Branch OPERA/NIH george. stone@nih. gov (301) 435 -0679 1

Objective = Full Electronic Grants Administration Applicant/Grantee Interface – NIH Commons Scientific Proposals Assurances Periodic Reports Final Reports Other Support - progress Project Specific - financial Certifications Assurances - inventions - women/minorities Common File Assignment Grants Application Policy Specification Statement Priority Score Summary Statement Post-Award Correspondence Notice of Grant Award NIH Grants Database Interface – IMPAC II NIH Institutes and Centers 2

NIH Electronic Grants Administration Components n n n NIH and OER Web Sites – Information dissemination to public Awards Database – Public site Commons Registration – Secure access for grantee institutions Accounts Administration – Secure access for grantees Application/Award Status – Monitor pending grant applications Institutional & Professional Profiles – Maintain repetitive information about institutions and investigators Competitive Application – Competing Grant Application Submission of non-competing progress reports (e-SNAP) Trainee Appointments (X-Train) – Appointment and administration of grantee trainees Fellowship applications Financial Status Report (FSR) Interagency Edison – Invention Reporting 3

System Design to Complement Diverse User Community n High Level User Requirements n n n n n Human-to-computer interfaces required for some business processes Human-to-computer or computer-to-computer option for some business processes Security is critical System design must accommodate low-end institutions/users Minimize redundant data entry Minimize duplication of data entry Exact representation of complex documents, I. e. rich text Users want customizable Information push; proactive notifications Software to support and allow for control of complex organizational hierarchies and workflow Open systems, open code, avoid proprietary software solutions 4

ERA Concept of Operations IMPAC II Existing Infrastructure • IMPAC = Mainframe • IMPAC II = Client/server § Oracle DBMS § C/S Oracle Forms • Fully Secure Trans-NIH Network Private Data Access Limited to NIH Staff NIH IC Staff 5

ERA Concept of Operations NIH Commons Extramural Research Community Private Data Info. Staging Area Public Data • Institutional Offices • Applicants • Researchers • Reviewers • Public IMPAC II Private Data Access Limited to NIH Staff NIH IC Staff • Security • Coordination with IMPAC/IMPAC II • Difference in User Requirements 6

Information Dissemination: Unlimited Access Through any Web Browser http: //www-commons. cit. nih. gov 7

Exchange of Confidential Information: Requires Institutional Registration and Account Creation for Logon http: //www-commons. cit. nih. gov 8

NIH e. RA Systems Design Principles - Accommodating Extramural “Business Partners” n All e. RA systems will adhere to a public data standard Common Data Dictionary (194 Data Set) for grant application n http: //grants. nih. gov/grants/era. htm Æ Build all database systems to this standard n n All e. RA systems will offer security for grantee data Data Access & Data Transmission Æ Build all networks with security n n All e. RA systems will avoid proprietary software solutions Æ You don’t need to buy proprietary software to do e. RA with NIH n All e. RA systems will adhere to standard interface options Interactive Web Forms: human-to-computer n Datastreams: XML/EDI: computer-to-computer Æ These formats will provide options for institutions of all sizes and levels of IT sophistication 9 n

Ways to Proceed with e. RA n Grantee Institution Efforts n Assess level of institutional commitment to e. RA n n Analysis of existing IT infrastructure n n n Leadership is critical: top-down is crucial Level of Support for change/reengineering Level of financial and human resource allocation Hardware/software Staffing Status of grants administration hierarchy and business process n n Well-defined vs. diverse Simple vs. complex 10

Cost and Implementation Issues n n How much will it cost? How easy/difficult will it be to implement? What about maintenance and operations? Answers determined according to selection of interface format n n n Interactive Web: human-to-computer Datastream: computer-to-computer Electronic Forms n n Substitute format for paper submission Interim solution until full e. RA 11

Interface Option: Interactive Web Human-to-Computer n Minimal IT Infrastructure Requirements and Cost n n Internet Access Internet Browser No database or LAN required Limited Business Process Requirements n Well-defined application handling/routing Interactive Web workflow is generic n NIH is NOT Microsoft n 12

Interface Option: Interactive Web NIH Commons Private Data Workflow defined (read limited) By Info. Staging Area Public Data NIH Commons 13

Interface Option: Datastreams Computer-to-Computer n Sophisticated IT Infrastructure n n n Typically expensive software and hardware System development, operations and maintenance by dedicated staff or vendor Greatest Business Process Control n Content, display, and workflow completely determined and customized by grantee organization 14

Interface Option: Datastream NIH Commons Workflow defined And controlled By Private Data Info. Staging Area Public Data Grantee Org. 15

NIH Role as e. RA Consultant n n No Charge Respond to any technology and/or business process questions n Share any code we have written for NIH Commons n n Any/all documentation: Requirements or Design documents Database schema and table structure Software application code Work closely with vendors n n Publish Application Programming Interface (API) specifications Assist in implementation testing of vendor-derived software 16

Current NIH Development/Deployment Efforts n Unrestricted Access Interfaces in Production n OER Site n n Grants policy, R&D Contracts, NIH Guide, Funding Opps. ~500, 000 hits per month http: //www. nih. gov/grants CRISP Interface n n n Records include 1972 thru Current Awards ~30, 000 CRISP queries per week http: //crisp. cit. nih. gov 17

Current e. RA Development/Deployment…cont. n Restricted Access Interfaces n Interagency Edison = Production Deployment n n 390 Grantee Organizations Registered Reporting for 16 Federal Agencies through single IEdison gateway Currently in redesign – planned deployment Sept. 2002 Commons Registration/Accounts & Application/Award Status Interfaces n n 185 Grantee Organizations Registered 4, 810 User Accounts created Maintain current operations for existing institutions No new registrations pending deployment of new Commons Version – June 2002 18

Current e. RA Development/Deployment…cont. n Restricted Access Interfaces…cont. n X-Train Pilot Deployment: October 1, 2001 n n 12 Grantee Organizations Participating 36 trainee appointments processed Proceed to Production Deployment by May 2002. Development of new Commons architecture n n Migration to J 2 EE implementation of N-Tiered architecture Deployment scheduled for June 2002 19

NIH Commons V 2. 0 User Interface n Deployment of new NIH Commons user interface – June 2002 n n n New GUI standards Production deployment to all grantee institutions Interfaces n n Commons registration Accounts admin Application/award status All institutions to register whether submitting electronically or in paper n Improve data quality for electronic and paper submissions 20

Planned e. RA implementation: FY 2003 n Deployment of e-SNAP – October 2002 n n Noncompeting progress report Introduction of further streamlining of this business process Development and deployment of Financial Status Report (FSR) – October 2002 Design/develop Electronic Competing Grant Application n Pilot deployment possible near end of FY 03 First deployment limited to datastream Interactive web version – FY 04 21

Commons Version 2. 0 Implementation 2001 2002 Schedule Jan Jul Dec Jan Commons Version 2 Phase 1 Infrastructure Phase 2 Admin Module Profiles Status V 2. 0 X-Train V 1. 5 Phase 3 SNAP Progress Report Jul Dec Jan 2003 Jul Dec Internal Deployment – J 2 EE/’N’-Tier Commons V 2. 0: New User Interface BPR only E-SNAP Competing Application (R 01) CGAP (XML Datastream) Legend: Analysis* * Includes business process reengineering and design New e-SNAP Interface BPR only Electronic submission of Competitive Grant Appl. Development Start Deployment Continuing 22