Researchers hate wasting time on administration

Researchers want to do reasearch, not filling in forms. Most of them only start to think about administration when a 3rd party asks them for an account to transfer funds to or when salaries need to be paid.

The University of Basel wanted to establish a system that eliminates redundancies in data entry and at the same time ensures that all relevant data is gathered and procedures are followed.

Requirement: Data only entered once to eliminate administrative redundancies

The University of Basel needed a web-based data entry system where researchers and research coordinators can request that an account for 3rd party funds is opened in the university's SAP system

• SAP accounts for 3rd party funds will only be opened after all required data such as copies of the contracts, agreements on IP rights, tax information etc. is provided in the online form

• Data requirements and thus the type of online form depend on the source of the funding.

• Each form requires a different approval process with various involved parties.
• Once the approval of all involved parties has been received through the online process, that gathered data will be shared with:
  • The SAP System
  • The Research Database
  • The Technology Transfer Department
  • The Department responsible for the coordination of EU Research

MCSS-based Tool for the administration of 3rd Party Funding

The University of Basel already owned a license for the MatchingNeeds product MCSS for its reseach database and annual reporting.

It was therefore extremely cost effective for the university to also establish its 3rd party funding administration tool with MCSS because no additional licensing fees were incurred.

MatchingNeeds configured MCSS to handle 11 different workflows with 7 different types of entry forms. Each workflow has its own set of involved parties and separate combination of statuses the application had to flow through.

Plausibility checks are embedded in the application forms.

Researcher information is automatically fetched from the SAP HR system.

The data gathered in the 3rd party funding administration system automatically kicks off a work flow in the research database of the University of Basel

Complexity in the detail doesn't inflate cost

To the researcher, the system must look easy and simple to use, regardles of its complexity in the background.

To the involved organizations, the system has to streamline the approval process while making sure that all Ts are crossed and Is are dotted.

Confidential research has to remain strictly confidential while all other research has to immediately be presented in the Research Database.

All contracts and legally relevant documents have to be gathered and stored in the system.

The system automatically generates PDF documents with the information entered by the researchers.

All this with a minimal budget.

We did it.