Release of CIA survey – please participate

The project has just launched an online survey and we would be grateful if you could participate. The objective of the survey is to conduct a simple “before and after” comparison of institutional processes surrounding the transfer of research activity data by gathering data on the amount of effort required to manage these processes.

As stated elsewhere on the blog, the CERIF standard will be implemented so that information can be easily produced, transferred and used by any other compliant systems. The project is dealing with two use cases:

• Transferring research activity data for staff moving between institutions; and
• Uploading data to the RCUK Research Outcomes System (ROS).

This will then be compared with worked examples of information transfer using the new CERIF-XML approach – representing the ‘after’ data. The comparison data form a key part of the roadmap report looking at possible adoption paths for CERIF-XML.

The Use Case 1 survey above is completed anonymously. It contains 8 questions, and should take only a short time to complete and is available at: https://www.survey.ed.ac.uk/cia .

How will the “before and after” data be compared for upload to ROS?

The Use Case 2 assessment will be carried out in conjunction with RCUK as part of a review of early engagement with the Research Outcomes System, and a survey is being distributed concurrently by RCUK at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ROS-follow-up-survey .

When does the survey close?

The closing date for both surveys will be Friday 21st September.

Can anyone else complete the survey?

Please feel free to distribute these surveys to anyone whom you feel they may be relevant.

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Many thanks in advance for your help.

For and on behalf of the project team,
Scott

Roadmap for Adoption: Survey Plan

The next stage of the CIA project has been initiated with the production of a Survey plan. The aim is to propose a roadmap for adoption of the CERIF in Action approach and identify opportunities to extend and develop the proposed model. The following outputs are included in the plan:

• Establishing the baseline: defining the current workflows and time/cost impact to various stakeholders;
• Identifying issues: practical problems faced by these stakeholders;
• Assessing potential impact of introducing CERIF in Action approach;
• Estimating the costs to implement; and
• Evaluating against the baseline and validating the implementation of the approach.

The stakeholders identified for participants in the survey are:

• Research Administrators – those responsible for the practical aspects of processing transferring research information data for and on behalf of academic staff;
• Researchers –  academic staff who are likely to be transferring between institutions and wish to take the record of their research activity with them to their destination institution;
• Principal and Co-Investigators – those responsible for reporting on project outcomes to research councils;
• Suppliers – Producers and maintainers of Research Information Systems;
• Research Funders;
• Funding councils; and
• IT support staff – those responsible for supporting the process of exchange between institutions and from institutions to RCUK.

It is possible that we may be able to synchronise the surveys with those of RCUK to capture the elements above from an RCUK angle and, as a result, reduce duplication of effort on both project partners and participants in the surveys alike. It is anticipated that the RCUK survey will be released toward the end of June.

CERIF in Action … in Action!

The CERIF in Action project held its first physical project meeting (after the kick-off) at the University of St Andrews on 19^th April 2012, including virtual attendance by some of the partners.

Discussions included progress updates from the HEI and software partners, and a useful brainstorming session put the wheels in motion for the roadmap for adoption.