Research Grant Central - Product Information:

Research Grant Central (RGC) is a software product that delivers a comprehensive set of features designed to automate the tasks involved in operating a research funding department within a research focussed agency. Cross platform (Windows - Macintosh), multi-user and web-capable, Research Grant Central can quickly be deployed within your research organisation for a fraction of the cost of other less powerful solutions. Using proven technology and design principles, Research Grant Central can be customised to address your special needs.

Written to service the requirements of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, a large Canadian health research organisation, this application has been deployed since 1985 providing automated support for all aspects of a research department's operation.

In 2004, RGC was deployed successfully at the Canadian Diabetes Association, immediately allowing remote provincial Canadian Diabetes Association agencies access to previously inaccessible data and functions.

If your organisation is considering investing additional funds towards improving your research fund management, or you wish to improve your existing grant management efficiencies, now is the time to consider upgrading to the premier research grant database available today. Research Grant Central can be quickly installed and loaded with your existing data, ensuring a problem-free implementation.

Easy and intuitive to use, you will quickly discover that the cost savings and features available in Research Grant Central lead to improved grant department operation and scalability as your organisation grows.

Features include:

• Intelligent matching algorithm optimises the allocations of reviewers to grant applications based on a sophisticated weighted keyword matching technique. Improve your reviewer utilisation, reviewer retention, review quality and reviewer response rates by using this single feature.
• Tracks grant funding budgets and actuals with multiple partners and multiple accounts for multi-year grants.
• Supports delineation of grants types into several major grant categories.
• Interfaces to the Common CV database for automated reviewer and expertise data entry/updates.
• Powerful 'Grant Finder' tool lets you quickly and accurately find grants by many search categories including conjunctive full text searches. Spreadsheet exports for pivot table usage, mail-merge and other applications can be easily generated from the 'Grant Finder' list.
• Automated load file generation for the CIHR Funding Database is built-in. One button click generates the full suite of load files required by CIHR to update their Funding Database.
• Capable of reading CIHR Institution Load File for improved synchronisation with CIHR Funding and Common CV databases.
• Complete grant soft-copy reports for printing, internal distribution, archiving or external communication.
• Grant pivot table and chart exports allow complex data analysis of research funding allocations by region, initiatives, funding period, etc.
• Supports tracking by funding initiative, institution, regional office and many other attributes.
• Tracks Reviewer History by grant and person, collecting review status, reviewer rating, rating of reviewer, decline reason.
• Can be programmed to generate either static or dynamic research department web sites for internal or external deployment.
• Maintains comprehensive profiles of all applicants and reviewers. Can be auto-updated from Common CV XML expertise files with a single menu item choice.
• Web-based peer review interface, grant, reviewer, applicant search tools.
• Comprehensive Research Expertise document can be printed and distributed to partners. Research Expertise can be made available via web site.
• Printed cross references available by Disease, Keyword, Methodology, Specialisation and Level of Organisation.
• Tracks grant travel costs.
• Supports tracking of 'Letter of Intent' phase applications.
• Tracks volunteer history on a per person basis by committee, role and dates.
• Grants can be quickly cloned to speed data entry and enhance data integrity.
• Generates complete financial view exports of complete grant history.
• Supports the tracking of Discussion texts, Summary Recommendations, Budgets, Ethics and Relevance on a per grant basis.
• Tracks up to 5 internal or external reviews per grant, with individual Reviewer Ratings, Review Quality scores, plus a Final Rating and Consensus Rating score.
• Supports tracking of individual research team members on a per grant basis.
• Nightly automated generation of comprehensive Research Department Reports with full funding list appendices for inclusion in either internal or external Annual Reports.
• Automatically generates e-mail for notification/distribution of grant information to prospective peer reviewers.
• Prints Funding Allocation forms.
• Ability to track multi-partner split funding grants.
• Prints Institution Payment forms, Cheque Requisitions.
• Generates comprehensive suite of printable reports and exports to allow timely and complete monitoring of finances and review allocation.
• 'People Finder' search screen allows users to find applicants and reviewers by combinations of over 25 different personal data attributes.
• Supports automated import of Review Committee Microsoft Word documents directly into the database fields.
• Personal file mail merge exports available, including complete Reviewer History export with mailing columns.
• Can be interfaced with your existing financial systems.
• Flexible licencing options. Rapid setup, zero-admin database server technology.
• Supports user security levels for data access/view privileges.
• Ad-hoc data export editors available to export to Microsoft Excel.
• Multi-window interface allows you to view different database information simultaneously.
• Available in single-user or client-server configurations.
• Web browser user interface for casual users and search capabilities on public website.
• User level access control (read, add, delete) for accounting, research staff, management, others.
• Add-on Document Management feature allows you to archive computer files such as scanned documents, .doc, .xls, .pdf, etc. files with your grants for future retrieval/review.
• Can be deployed in both Windows and/or Macintosh environments.
• Is configurable to your organisations internal terminology and business processes.

Below are sample screens illustrating a few of the key functions of Research Grant Central:

Disclaimer: All information presented in the mock-up templates is fictitious and is used for illustrative purposes only.

Screen:

Description: A sample Finance Details screen from one of the Grant forms illustrates the ability to track in a multi-year, multi-partner mode on a per grant basis. Double-clicking on a cell will reveal finer details such as semi-annual payments and account codes that are allocated to these numbers. Note that depending on the grant type, financial details can be tracked with differing levels of detail. Printed Funding Allocation forms are available for archival purposes or communication with other agency departments. Budgets can be tracked on an annual basis. A menu item that generates a CIHR-compliant load file will upload all grant data including appropriate figures from these Financial Details pages to the CRIS Research Project Funding database.

Description: The Co-Applicants pages on the various grant forms allow you to identify a full research team on a per grant basis. You can add team members by typing a partial name and Research Grant Central will look up the person in the Personal table.

Description: Grant review tracking is performed on the Reviewer Information screen. Multiple Internal and External Reviewers can be tracked. Reviewer Status, Decline Reason, Reviewer Rating, and Rating of Reviewer are available. A Final Rating field is also available. Research Grant Central also tracks the complete reviewer history for all grants and a quick view of a particular grants' Reviewer History also displays the present reviewer's personal review history on all other grants in the system. A Reviewer History Export allows you to generate a complete listing of all reviewer activity in the system into spreadsheet format. The reviewer address information can also be mail-merged for thank you mailings and other communications.

Description: The Grant Keyword Information page facilitates allocation of application keywords in both general and the specific areas of Specialisation, Level of Organisation, Methodology and Disease. These keywords are used to pinpoint reviewers with related expertise (see the Reviewer Match feature below) and categorise the grants presently being managed. Cross Reference documents are publishable within these specific areas via a single menu item choice. A complete cross reference of all reviewer expertise can also be published. The specific area keywords and general keywords can be entered manually, or updated from Common CV load files. This results in improved data integrity and lower overall data maintenance cost. Files to load expertise from your Research Grant Central personal into the Common CV system are also available upon request. Clicking on the Print button will generate a Microsoft Word document (see sample) with all information maintained on the specific grant.

Description: The Personal table of Research Grant Central lets you view all grant and reviewer activity on a per person basis. Print out a comprehensive personal record containing all address data and historical information about this individual. Or e-mail the document to another individual for further review. Contact information, Publications, Expertise track the individuals attributes. The Funding History and Review History screens track grant and review data from the grants in GC. You can quickly view an individuals relationship to funding and reviews performed. Clicking on the Print button will generate a Microsoft Word document (see sample) with all personal information maintained on the individual applicant or reviewer.

Description: The Reviewer Match dialog allows grant administrators to quickly discover the best suited reviewers for a particular grant application using weighted attributes as shown. A maximum number of reviewers to find plus the number of keywords to match by category can be specified. The computer generated listing of best suited reviewers can then be reviewed by committee and subsequently allocated to the grant. The resultant improved reviewer allocation leads to increased reviewer utilisation, higher reviewer retention rates, better review quality and improved reviewer response rates. The Reviewer Match feature is available for both batch and single-grant reviewer optimization. Refer to the Reviewer Info screen above for a sample of the data tracked on a per grant basis.

Description: The Grant Finder tool allows your research department staff to easily retrieve all grants in the system by various attributes. The resultant list displays grant attributes including funding amount and a total funding figure for all grants found with the specified search criteria. Double-clicking on a grant in the listing displays the grant details. Resultant grant lists can be exported with full grant details including financial details, reviewer names, ratings, over 30 column of grant specific data.

Description: The People Finder tool allows your research department staff to easily find all people in the system using complex searches if required. Whether they are applicants, reviewers or volunteers, people can be found using combinations of address, institution, research or reviewer information. Grant and personal text fields can be "and" or "or" searched for combinations of keywords.

Research Grant Central runs nightly exports of all grant data into files specifically designed to aid your analysis of your grant activities. Industry standard tools such as Excel, Crystal Reports and other business intelligence software can be used to connect to these files to create a portfolio of data views for adminstrators, executives or even web publication to your constituents. If you wish to integrate Research Grant Central financial data into your existing accounting systems, please do not hesitate to contact Nufocus Inc. to review your needs. Contact Nufocus Disclaimer: All information presented in the mock-up templates is fictitious and is used for illustrative purposes only.

• Nufocus Inc. offers data conversion services if you have existing data in another format. Contact us for details and cost estimate.
• Nufocus Inc. has been developing custom business process management systems for over 20 years. Please contact us for references.