Kuali Research Selected as New Campus Electronic Research Administration System

Following an extensive year-long vetting process and competitive bidding, Kuali Research has been selected as the new Electronic Research Administration (eRA) system for the campus.

Multiple stakeholders—including faculty, business administrators, the Research Council and the Research Administration Advisory Board—provided input on the decision, and the university engaged peer institutions for their representatives’ feedback on Kuali Research, which will replace the current SmartGrant (previously GAMS) system that has served the campus for over 20 years.

In alignment with the 2018-23 campus strategic plan for innovation and impact, the implementation will help to provide necessary administrative and compliance support to conduct high impact research commensurate with leading research universities.

Kuali offers several improvements over the current system, including:

Easier navigation and a more modern, user-friendly interface that includes a principal investigator dashboard
A single repository for all proposal, award, and compliance information
Productivity and reporting tools to streamline and better manage the full lifecycle of sponsored projects
Reporting capabilities that offer users the tools to leverage our powerful repository of information to gain important insights and make more informed decisions

What you need to know:

There are no immediate changes or steps that you need to take
Implementation will take place over the next year. The Office of Research and Engagement will share a more detailed timeline in the coming months
Next steps include further stakeholder engagement to review business processes and build system integrations
There will be focus groups and other opportunities for faculty and staff to provide feedback throughout the process
Trainings will start in spring 2019. Scheduling will be announced when it is finalized

The Office of Research and Engagement will email regular updates throughout the implementation of the new system.

For questions, please email researchit@umass.edu.