About

The RED system will streamline research activities across the university — allowing NC State research administration to keep pace with its ever-growing research portfolio.

RED is being implemented in phases, with multiple modules undergoing development simultaneously. The Proposal Tracking (PT) functionality of the Proposals module and Post Award Management (PAM) module launched in August 2023. PT/PAM will work with the Sponsored Research Activity Reporting (SRAR) tools to replace the legacy system RADAR.

RED’s Conflict of Interest (COI/NOI) module launched in summer 2020. The Animal Care and Use (IACUC) module launched in May 2019.

The RED system will eventually replace PINS and NC State’s regulatory-compliance software systems. RED will not replace the PeopleSoft financial applications, but will instead seamlessly share data with them.

The ERA Project is a true investment in NC State’s research enterprise.

Mladen Vouk

Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Our Project Vision

Support and grow NC State’s research enterprise by fostering collaboration, creating efficiencies and increasing the efficacy of compliance activity through a system that is effective for all.

Our Project Mission

Streamline sponsored programs administration by identifying and implementing a system that integrates the lifecycle of the research administration processes — from proposal development and submission through award management, financial administration and closeout.

How the ERA Project Began

For over 20 years, NC State relied on homegrown research administration software systems, which served us well in the functions for which they were designed. But their limited ability to interface and integrate with other systems — such as financial, compliance, and proposal development/submission applications — results in information silos that require users to access multiple systems to manage a project.

So on June 14, 2016, a group of key stakeholders formed a steering team to begin the implementation process for a new, enterprise-level system. An official RFP was issued the following April, and after vendors were given adequate time to respond, three finalists were selected and invited to campus for in-depth demonstrations, which were open to anyone in the NC State research community.

In spring 2018, InfoEd Global was officially contracted to provide our ERA system. Founded more than two decades ago, InfoEd’s product suite of over 20 modules across nearly a dozen areas of research administration is used by leading research institutions throughout five continents.

What to Expect

Our scope is the entire proposal and award lifecycle. This investment in market-leading technology will create opportunities to identify and revise business practices that could be more efficient and effective — freeing faculty and staff to focus more fully on the design, development and delivery of research, outreach and service projects, rather than the administrative requirements associated with them. Some areas of expansion and improvement include:

• More efficient interfaces between proposal and award systems and PeopleSoft;
• Proposal creation and budget module, including integration with HR data; and
• System-to-system submission between NC State and federal sponsors.

The ERA project is part of a larger effort to strengthen and improve the research administration processes that support the teaching, research, public service and engagement missions of the university. These processes include:

• Pre-award;
• Protocol management;
• Submission of proposals to sponsors;
• Electronic notification of award notices;
• Post-award management; and
• Reporting

The RED system will replace the custom-developed components of our homegrown applications with a comprehensive software suite consistent with technologies used at other Tier I research universities.

Implementation is currently expected to run through the 2024-2025 academic year, but our schedule is intentionally fluid. Check out our Progress page for more information.