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This news update from the NIH Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS), provides the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS) and its partners with pertinent information about the plans and progress of the NIH
Electronic Research Administration (eRA). Through its eRA and information services, ORIS supports the Department's
research grants programs by using technology to reduce the costs of grants administration, to analyze and report on
grant data, and to synthesize grant information into knowledge for guiding the NIH research portfolio and improving
the Nation's health.
Which Reporting Tool is Right For You?
If you know your options for retrieving information from IMPAC II, you can save time and improve your reports. Picking the right reporting tool depends on your level of computer skills and on what you are looking for. A new, user-friendly guide--"Which Reporting Tool Is Right for You?"--spells out what tools you should be considering when you start your search..
IMPAC II Shutdown and Hardware Update
We need to upgrade and replace the IMPAC II Disk Array that houses the data storage sooner than we had announced in recent meetings. Funds have not been sufficient to acquire the equipment needed for increased storage capacity to be able to perform this kind of update without interrupting the system. In addition, we are losing key personnel who have the technical expertise to conduct the complicated upgrade that is required. As stated in our October 23 message to List IMPAC-TN, all IMPAC II systems will be down this weekend from noon on Friday (10/27/00) until noon on Monday (10/30/00). The Commons Status module, Professional and Institutional Profiles, and any newly begun e-SNAP applications will also not be accessible. The essential tasks of creating full backup sets of all IMPAC OLTP and IRDB data and restoring the data will consume a good portion of this time. The alternative is to risk system failure. We regret the inconvenience to you and thank you for your cooperation.
How eRA Develops Software
For eRA, developing software is a mission-critical business. eRA's software development process relies on a modular approach and seeks to involve users at every step. A new report--"How eRA Develops Software"--provides a step-by-step discussion and analysis (you will need Acrobat Reader). Here is the Executive Summary:
In an organized, iterative, carefully documented manner, eRA has built a dense infrastructure of methodology, standards, and procedures to underpin the development of a reliable enterprise system for electronic research administration.
For software development and quality assurance, NIH has relied thus far solely on contractors. Now the retirement of the legacy IMPAC system is freeing up NIH programmers to join the development team.
eRA's methodology combines the classical Waterfall method and the prototype-oriented Spiral method. It proceeds in three phases:
- Definition Phase: systems analysis and software development analysis;
- Development Phase: software design, code generation, and testing; and
- Maintenance Phase: perfective maintenance and other kinds of maintenance, documentation, and training.
To capture the needs of users at every step, eRA employs focus groups, user groups, and the group advocates. Key features of the process are the use of database and tools technology from Oracle and reliance on a strongly modular approach that permits systematic upgrading of modules on a regular basis.
Status Module Reduces Routine Inquiries for Program and Review Staff
Potentially one of the most powerful tools found on the NIH eRA Commons is the Status module. Status provides registered users access to information about pending grant applications and awards from their institutions. By answering routine questions electronically, the module has become an invaluable resource for IC program and review staff, having saved them from at least 10,000 routine telephone and e-mail questions to date.
Once a P.I. logs on, Status offers information on where his/her application is from its receipt through post-award administration, names and numbers for the SRA and IC contact person assigned to the specific application, summary statement text, and priority score and percentile when available. For the benefit of administrators, Status will provide listings of all applications submitted from an administrator's institution.
The 4,000 registered users of the NIH Commons from 168 registered institutions have logged into the Commons over 17,000 times. Approximately ΒΌ of these visits to the Commons have been to register, create profiles, or participate in the e-SNAP pilot. The rest have been to answer questions through Status. That represents a significant savings of NIH staff time and effort!
Interested in seeing how Status works? Visit the Commons demo site and create an account. This account will let you explore Status and the rest of the Commons for yourself.
eRA Staff Unavailable October 31 and November 1
As eRA staff in the Office of Extramural Research (OER) work on the transition from IMPAC I to IMPAC II, they will be participating in an off-site workshop on October 31 and November 1 to address new responsibilities and opportunities in the changing environment. OER staff will be available for emergencies only during this two-day meeting. The IMPAC II Helpdesk will be staffed during this time. Users with urgent IMPAC I or IMPAC II issues should contact the IMPAC II Helpdesk at HELPDESK@OD.NIH.GOV or at 301-294-5788. Helpdesk staff will be able to access OER staff as necessary. Commons users may also phone this number for urgent issues on these two days.
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