Research Enterprise System Program
The Research Enterprise System (RES) Program was established in 2019 to support SFU’s strategic vision. It will improve the way we manage the approximately $150 million and growing research portfolio and reduce administrative burden for faculty so that researchers can focus on conducting research. The program will aspire to improve how research projects are supported throughout the research life cycle and improve service to researchers while controlling risk to the university. The RES program includes a number of interrelated projects that will be implemented over the next few years.
Changes
Processes, systems, and how people work will change as we shift to further support a service-oriented model, which keeps the researcher at the centre of everything we do.
The program will drive changes to:
- Policy, processes, and procedures to complete the work
- The enabling technologies used to support all stakeholders involved in the research life cycle
Examples include:
- Electronic forms and workflows to replace the pre-award signature sheet process
- Replacing or improving existing administrative support systems, including the current Human Ethics system and implementing significant improvements to FINS and FAST
- New reporting and analysis tools for faculties, departments, and users
- Removing a layer of duplication on some research expenditure duties which already lie with departments and faculties
- Replacing the Grant Track system used by Research Services and Research Accounting
Benefits
The future state will create more efficiencies amongst all impacted stakeholders. Benefits realized as we move along the roadmap:
- Reduced overall administrative effort
- Improved service turnaround time
- Increased institutional credibility
- Improved collaborative capabilities across stakeholders
- Increased analytical capabilities
- Clearer lines of accountability
Projects
Project 0: Human Ethics
The Office of Research Ethics launched their new research ethics application system, "Protocols", on November 23, 2020. Researchers now have a new system to submit and review applications, manage amendments and renewals for human research ethics certificates and course approvals. Kuali was selected as the vendor and its system has been successfully implemented in numerous institutions including University of Waterloo.
Project 1: Project Costing
The Project Costing will expand PeopleSoft footprint and make project financials more accessible to the research community and allow them to make more informed decisions. Financial information for all research funds (Fund 30s) will now be from one financial repository: PeopleSoft.
Benefits
- Provide a complete view of a project, year by year
- Better informed decision making, reduces risk of over spending and results in fewer budget reversals
- Forecasting will be made easier
- Ability to see multiple project years using FAST
The implementation timeline is October 2020 – March 2022.
Project 2: Proposal Management and Workflow
The process for submitting proposals for external funding will change significantly when Project #2 launches in Dec. 2022. The SFU 'Signature Sheet' and all related processes will be transitioned to an integrated database and workflow running on 'Kuali Research', software from a well-established PSI vendor.
Project 3: Billing and Accounts Receivable.
This project will focus on the back-end work for Billing and Accounts receivable for Finance. Planned for 2022
Project 4: Dashboard
Project 4 will allow all stakeholders to view their research projects at a glance using the dashboard view.
Frequently Asked Questions
Training Videos
Project Team
If you have questions about the Research Enterprise System please email ask_res@sfu.ca
Leadership Team
| Angie Brooks-Wilson | Assoc VP Research | Program Sponsor |
| Alison Blair | Assoc VP Finance | Program Sponsor |
| Keith Fong | Chief Information Officer | Program Sponsor |
| Dan Blue | Director, Finance | Project Sponsor (Finance) |
| Trevor Davis | Exec Dir, Research Operations | Project Sponsor (Research) |
| Jim Marshall | Consultant | Program Manager |
Project Champions
|
Beverly Neufeld |
FASS |
Dean's office |
|
Abdul Zahir |
FASS |
Criminology |
|
TBD |
FASS |
Economics |
|
Jen Jackson |
Science |
Chemistry |
|
Kathryn Coukell |
Science |
Biological Sciences |
|
Rose Evans |
Science |
Physics |
|
Tarja Väisänen |
Science |
Earth Science |
|
Dale Yamuara |
Science |
Mathematics |
|
Christine Beauchamp |
Science |
Molecular Biology and Chemistry |
|
Sadika Jungic |
Science |
Statistics and Actuarial Science |
|
Van Truong |
Science |
BPK |
|
Cindy Xin |
Education |
Dean's office |
|
David Zheng |
Education |
Dean's Office |
|
Marina Rahinskaya |
Applied Science |
Dean's Office |
|
Ash Lalani |
Applied Science |
Dean's Office |
|
Jen Balenzano |
HealthSciences |
Dean's Office |
|
Cecilia Kalaw |
Health Sciences |
Dean's Office |
|
Shahrzad Jooya Ardakani |
Beedie |
Dean's Office |
|
Tammy Konopinski |
Beedie |
Dean's Office |
|
Vivian Tsoi |
Beedie |
Dean's Office |
|
TBD |
FCAT |
Dean's Office |
|
TBD |
FCAT |
TBD |
|
Lisa DaSilva |
FCAT |
SIAT |
|
Naveed Gulzar |
Environment |
Dean's Office |
|
Erica Anderson |
Environment |
Dean's Office |
|
Anke Baker |
Environment |
Geography |
|
Elissa Cyr |
Environment |
Resource and Environmental Management |
|
Merrill Farmer |
Environment |
Archaeology |
|
Nicholas Mudry |
Research Office |
ORS |
|
Nataliya Karpenko |
Research Office |
ORS |
|
Leeann Liew |
Finance |
Research Accounting |
|
Claudia Faria |
Finance |
Research Accounting |