Author: Matt Simpson

May 3, 2017

What do Associate Deans of Research Find Important in an eRA System? A Requirements Focus Group Recap

Back in December of last year, the eRA Requirements Team held an especially informative focus group to gather requirements for the RFP that was recently released for a new eRA system. This particular focus group consisted of the 14 Associate Deans of Research comprising the Research Operations Council (ROC) with a variety of unique perspectives… 

Apr 3, 2017

What eRA Requirements Would Training SMEs Like to See? Training Perspectives on the New System

Contributed by Matt Simpson In February, the eRA requirements team held two more focus groups, wrapping up the data collection phase of the requirements gathering process. On February 6, six training experts met to discuss what system requirements are most important to them. Contributions from this group are imperative because they will play a huge… 

Mar 13, 2017

What eRA Requirements are Important from a Business Perspective? Business Operations SMEs describe their Ideal System

Contributed by Matt Simpson In the first month of the new year, the eRA Requirements team continued its effort to determine the needs and desires of various groups on campus that will be affected by the implementation of a new system. A focus group consisting of 13 members involved with business operations met on January… 

Feb 23, 2017

What’s Important for Compliance? Compliance Requirements Focus Group Results

In January, the eRA Requirements Team held a focus group geared solely towards compliance.  Twelve compliance professionals from NC State participated in the session. This included: eight members of Central Research Administration, two Environmental Health and Safety personnel, and two individuals from Security and Compliance. The focus of this session was to get input from compliance… 

Jan 26, 2017

eRA Project Calendar: It’s For YOU!

Contributed by: Jessica Burnette and Kim Dick  Did you know there is a calendar dedicated to eRA Project events? The Project Teams have created a calendar to help you find out about events that are relevant to you throughout the project. The calendar is located on the eRA project site and can be easily accessed… 

Jan 12, 2017

What’s Important to the Researcher? PI Focus Groups Help us Understand eRA System Requirements

Contributed by: Genevieve Garland and Marley Thrasher In December, the eRA Requirements Team held four two-hour focus groups with Principal Investigators (PIs) at NC State. Forty-seven PIs from ten colleges attended these sessions to share their feedback on what they’d like to see in a new electronic Research Administration (eRA) system. PIs met in small groups… 

Dec 23, 2016

Between Two Directors: An eRA Focused Interview

Contributed by: Jessica Burnette, Sherrie Settle, Justo Torres Justo Torres (JT), Director of Contracts and Grants, and Sherrie Settle (SS), Director of Sponsored Programs, are both members of the eRA Project Steering Team and liaisons between the Team and the Executive Sponsors for the Project. The following is an interview led by Jessica Burnette that… 

Dec 7, 2016

How Superheroes Can Help Us Understand eRA System Requirements

Contributed by Jessica Burnette, Marley Thrasher, and Gwen Hazlehurst “At one point, I worked up a list of five requirements for a superhero: superpowers, a costume, a code name, a mission and a milieu. If the character had three out of the five, they were a superhero. But that’s just my definition.” -Kurk Busiek, American… 

Nov 17, 2016

You’re Speaking a Foreign Language to Me! Deciphering eRA Terminology

Contributed by Helen Burgess, Jessica Burnette, Gwen Hazlehurst, Brian Thomas, Marley Thrasher We’re a few months into our large-scale eRA project and have been throwing around some terminology those of us close to the project understand… but as with many terms and acronyms, we haven’t slowed down yet to make sure you understand them too.… 

Oct 28, 2016

ICYMI: eRA Panel at the Joint Committees Meeting

ICYMI, or “In Case You Missed It,” is a common acronym used in the blogging world to signify a recap of an event, story, etc. Watch for this acronym in future blog posts to signify an update related to an eRA event you may have missed. This blog was written with contributions from: Jessica Burnette, Genevieve…