Research Infrastructure Enhancement

Enhance Accomplishments

In July 2007, the Enhance program was chartered to identify and complete the necessary enhancements that will allow ASU's research infrastructure to support growth of the research enterprise to $350M by 2012.

Take a look at a visual overview of Enhance's major tasks and their progress to date.

Procedures Manual

Enhance's Procedures Committee has been documenting business processes. The "Beta Manual" is available for review and comment.

Distributed Service Model

The Enhance Team is rolling out a “distributed” service model organization that encourages cooperation, communication and universal training by relying on a system of shared roles and responsibilities between ORSPA, colleges and departments involving all staff whose job impacts research and sponsored projects administration.

• Distributed Service Model FAQ
• Proposal Development Timeline

Roll-out Schedule

Over the next several months, Enhance representatives will meet with each department individually to review the process, roles and responsibilities and potential organization structure to define the best approach for each team to meet the needs of our researchers. 

Roll-out Completed	Roll-out Planned	Next Up
Biodesign Institute Chemical Engineering Computing & Informatics, School of Electrical Engineering Global Institute of Sustainability Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering New College of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences Sustainability, School of Teacher Education and Leadership, College of	Chemistry & Biochemistry Civil & Environmental Engineering Earth & Space Exploration, School of Geographical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, School of Mathematics & Statistics Physics Psychology	Design, College of Education, Mary Lou Fulton College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, College of Public Programs, College of Human Evolution and Social Change, School of Science, Policy & Outcomes, Consortium for

 

Research Administration Electronic Toolset

Enhance's Electronic Toolset Committe is charged with upgrading information systems to reduce inefficiencies and provide better control and visibility. An RFP for Research Administration Electronic Toolset was released in March 2008.

Research Proposal Routing and Approval SharePoint

The Research Proposal SharePoint (ASUrite login required) has been created to electronically route blue sheets. The SharePoint is an opt-in service that will be offered with the Distributed Service Model that is being rolled-out to ASU's departments and units.

Research Administration Process

In order to both optimize the research process and clearly define responsibilities between the units and ORSPA, the research administration process was documented from opportunity identification and definition through project closeout.  The overall flow is shown with yellow boxes representing processes primarily owned by the PI and unit staff and blue boxes representing processes primarily owned by ORSPA and OVPREA.  Although primary ownership has been assigned, it is expected that all staff involved in the process will assist their teammates as needed to complete all necessary activities.

A roles and responsibilities document was created based on the flows above to further delineate the positions responsible for each of the process steps.  Unit staff that perform these job functions are generally referred to as Research Advancement Staff. Job descriptions and career progression plans were developed based on roles and responsibilities.  Since the positions have been aligned, this structure allows for promotion both within and between the Units and ORSPA.