Sponsored Programs Administration Enhancements

Over the past few months, the Office of Research has focused on strengthening its operations to better support research faculty and streamline administrative processes.

This report outlines key improvements within Sponosored Programs Administation, including policy updates, technological advancements, personnel restructuring, and expanded training programs. These efforts are designed to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, and create a more supportive environment for research. Additionally, the report highlights ongoing and future initiatives aimed at further optimizing our services.

spa improvements

We appreciate your collaboration and feedback as we continue working to strengthen research administration at the university. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or insights. 

Completed Initiatives

Operations

  • Software leveraged for the effort certification process: COMPLIANCE
  • Set guidelines and services levels for proposal reviews: STREAMLINING PROCESS
  • Established new process for handling and distributing residual balances: COMPLIANCE
  • Overhauled process for consistency, efficiency, and to minimize risk: COMPLIANCE, STREAMLINING
  • Automated ADR and Researcher communication increasing transparency; improved internal processes and communications: STREAMLINING, COMMUNICATION
  • Staff and Faculty: STREAMLINING
  • Key step in process for proper and accurate award/project setup and reporting, involved SPA, Grants Accounting, Budget Office: STREAMLINING
  • In collaboration with legal, SPA reworked all or created missing templates to support all phases of sponsored research; Additionally, these efforts serviced process improvements, standardization, and risk reduction: STREAMLINING

Data/Reports

  • Cleaning, and normalizing based on absence of quality assurance: COMPLIANCE
  • Project required 11 months of effort; involved UITS, Fiscal, HR, SPA; trained well over 100 research faculty and adoption increasing exponentially: COMMUNICATION, SERVICE
  • Initial project phase required 6 months of effort; involved UITS, Research Integrity, Innovation and Commercialization, SPA; undergoing testing currently, training internally for SPA begins in March 2025: SERVICE, COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING
  • Multi-month effort across multiple units (Fiscal, ADRs, Business Manager, SPA) to update processes for tracking and measuring internal and external research expenditures: COMPLIANCE

Personnel

  • Identified and exited non-performers (3 Post-Award): SERVICE
  • Performed to enhance communications and quality: SERVICE, COMMUNICATION
    • Onboarding and training
    • Establishment of "Career Ladder" and career path methods for team members to grow within the institution
    • Standardized job description and aligned them with industry standards 

    STREAMLINING, SERVICE

  • Converted one student into full-time Post-Award member: SERVICE
    • Skip level Reviews conducted twice a year and Exit Interviews
    • Implemented periodic workload assessments to assess effectiveness

    SERVICE, STREAMLINING

  • Identified key performers and promoted (3 Post-Award): SERVICE
  • 2 Pre-Award & 4 Post-Award: SERVICE

  • Developed and implemented new position at KSU.

    • Recruited and trained 3 liaisons
    • Initial assignments made to CCSE, SCPEET, and CSM 

    SERVICE, STREAMLINING, COMMUNICATION

Training/Team-building

  • Includes onboarding, working with SPA, Cayuse processes, KSU procedures, etc.: SERVICE
  • Onboarding training program with tracking and assessment tools to standardize onboarding creating consistency: SERVICE
  • Leverages a combination of micro-credentialing education based on industry accepted standards [SARI] and group training sessions on specific topics impacting research administration and grant management: SERVICE
  • Engaging training activities and interactive role-playing exercises: SERVICE

Other Activities

    • Brought in research administrators as speakers and attendees from across the state
    • Increased institutional profile for KSU as a key research university 

    NATIONAL PROMINENCE

  • Actively engaged with COGR activities and participated in ERI pilot survey development: NATIONAL PROMINENCE
  • Group reviews processes and procedures across the Office of Research and Fiscal Services to assess effectiveness and develop new approaches: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • Established deconfliction process for risk mitigation: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • E.g. data science/analytics and AI: SERVICE, STREAMLINING

 

Upcoming Initiatives

Short-Term (2-3 Months)

  • Establish designated team for Project Setup upon award: PERSONNEL
  • Efforts include collaboration with Grants Accounting and Budget Office: STREAMLINING
  • Hiring 2 Pre-Award & 2 Post-Award: SERVICE
  • Rebuilding Contracts support team: SERVICE
  • Enhanced automated communication with Researchers on status change and reminders to Researcher, ADR, and Deans as deadlines approach creating risk (e.g. Full vs. At Risk review): STREAMLINING, COMMUNICATION
  • Office of Research administration data model that connects SPA internal data/status to future reporting tools targeting Researchers, ADRs, and Deans: TREAMLINING, SERVICE
  • Internal mechanism to facilitate management with staff and method for ensuring status updates are available externally: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING, SERVICE
  • Communication portal & SPA FAQ resource: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING
  • These initial trackers will focus on providing automated updates/status for Proposals and Projects: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING
  • Fully integrate Cayuse and NIST's iEdison: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • This version will provide modern web features that provide improved Integration, specialized reporting, form/input customizations: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING, SERVICE 
  • Sponsored program's staff shadows select faculty members to better under their needs, processes, etc.: SERVICE
  • Systems need measurements and monitors instrumented and installed across the SPA enterprise: STREAMLINING
  • Supporting development and establishment of processes and procedures: STREAMLINING

Mid-Term (6 months)

    • Research Tracker - Travel (v1.0)
    • Research Tracker - Hiring (v1.0)

  • Updated feature sets that include Research Trackers listed below.

    • Establish and measure Internal & Inter-departmental KPIs
    • Modernizing Information Exchange between SPA & Grants Accounting
  • Update purchase systems to accommodate College led support requests
  • Convert all PDFs and webforms including approvals and DocuSign
  •