Additional Project Information

Initially, ECU will replace the twelve-year old legacy system, RAMSeS, with InfoEd’s Proposal Tracking (PT) and Award Tracking (AT) modules. Also included in initial implementation is a Proposal Development (PD) module which allows building of complete proposals within the system and automatically submits federal proposals to grants.gov through a system-to-system (S2S) interface.

eTRACS will be interfaced with Banner HR so that personnel information, including institutional base salaries, can be accessed automatically to build proposal budgets. eTRACS data will also be captured in the Operational Data Store (ODS) so that they are available for broader reporting purposes.

The target date for roll-out of the PD, PT, and AT modules, configured uniquely for ECU, is November 1, 2019.

The final step in the initial implementation is interfacing the InfoEd Financial Tracking (FT) module with the Banner Financial system. This will significantly shorten award set-up time and will provide a soft encumbrance tool that will assist Principal Investigators in monitoring financial commitments that are not encumbered in the Banner Financial system. The target date for FT module roll-out is 2021.

In the second phase of the project, which has not yet been scheduled, it is anticipated that the AIR (Activities, Interests & Relationships) system for conflict of interest (COI) reporting will be replaced by a COI module in eTRACS. Also, the IACUC protocol development and review process will be transitioned to the eTRACS Animals module. Although no commitment has yet been made, eTRACS offers the option of human research protocol development and IRB review management, through implementation of additional modules.

When fully implemented, eTRACS will eliminate multiple points of redundant data entry and will automate many of the current paper workflows currently in use. eTRACS will synchronize research administration and compliance activities, offering efficient sharing and processing of related data and eliminating the barriers between traditional compliance and management “silos.” It will normalize enterprise data and standardize terms and data entry for more accurate enterprise-wide reporting.