“To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.”
~ Sir Isaac Newton
Kuali Research
Ten years ago UMCES took the first step into electronic research administration by implementing the Cayuse424 system. Since that time, we have utilized Cayuse for proposal preparation, routing, and system-to-system (S2S) proposal submission. In 2016 the University System of Maryland obtained a System-wide license for Kuali Research, putting this robust technology within reach for all System schools. Following other System institutions, including College Park, UMB, UMBC, University of Baltimore, Salisbury, Towson, and Bowie, UMCES' Kuali implementation has begun. Access the KR Resources & References page for the latest manuals, cheatsheets and reference guides. Access the live version of Kuali to prepare, review, or approve proposals.
What can KR do?
Kuali Research (KR) is a tool to manage the complete lifecycle of a sponsored project while ensuring the highest levels of compliance and integrity. Specifically, KR allows us to:
- Develop proposals more efficiently with intelligent routing and approval
- Submit proposals directly to Grants.gov and Research.gov
- Manage negotiations more effectively for faster awarding and more transparency
- Manage award activity over the life of a project
- Track research activities across the institution for improved forecasting, oversight, and trend analysis
- Maintain a single repository for all documents and details associated with a sponsored project from start to finish
- Generate reminders for upcoming reporting deadlines sent directly to the PI and business office
Future functionality includes compliance management (COI, RCR, IACUC, IRB, etc.) and seamless integration with our financial system.
KR = Transparency
KR provides a real-time look into where your proposals and awards are in the pipeline, what the next steps will be, and when you can expect to see the results of your labors. With a complete KR rollout institution wide, you will be able to see:
- How many steps there are before your proposal is ready to be submitted to the sponsor
- Details of where your award is in the negotiation process, such as who is responsible for the negotiation and what may be contributing to any delays
- Information about your subawards, including the ability to track payments and calculate burn rates
KR = Speed
Because KR is a comprehensive research administration system (as opposed to a pre-award proposal tool), much of the duplicate data entry that is currently required will be eliminated. Under the current system, the same information is entered repeatedly; first in a notice of intent form, then into Cayuse, then into CARDs, and then into KFS. Each of these systems is completely separate and unable to communicate with the others, so the user is starting from scratch at each step of the workflow. Each iteration of data entry increases the odds of error.
In KR, an award is generated from the existing proposal data, a subaward is generated from an existing award, a negotiation is linked to whichever record is being negotiated (award or subaward) - all of which streamlines the process and ultimately reduces the time it takes to finalize documents. This reduction of data entry benefits not only those directly performing that task but also those kept waiting while the duplication takes place. While there will be a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, and although KR won't eliminate all delays, the time- and effort-savings expected from KR cannot be overstated.
Get to Know Kuali Research!
Explore the new system from the safety of our KR Sandbox. In the Sandbox, you can create new proposals, review existing data, and see how it all works without impacting our actual records. There are some copies of prior submissions as well, so you can see how this system works compared to Cayuse.
You can access the Sandbox here, using your Google Gmail login information.
* Please Note: The information you enter in the Sandbox lasts forever and is accessible by everyone.
Ready to Roll?
You can access the live version of Kuali Research here. Please note that this is our system of record and should be used only for proposal submission. All proposal preparation teams throughout UMCES have been trained in using Kuali Research. As with the implementation of any new system, there will be some hiccups along the way. Please be patient with all new users as they become familiar with the system and allow additional time for processing whenever possible. If you have any additional questions please contact Ginger Steelman.