Research Administration Modernization Project (RAMP)

The current processes supporting sponsored project administration across the Universities of Wisconsin do not take full advantage of current technologies and national best practices. As a result, there have been challenges to effectively supporting the research endeavors of investigators systemwide. The Research Administration Modernization Project (RAMP) within ATP seeks to reverse that trend.

The central mission of RAMP is to implement select Huron Research Suite modules, which will be complemented by the eventual implementation of Workday. The new modules will go live on varied timelines and according to the needs of each UW university.

Grants & Agreements Modules

Both the Grants and Agreements modules will be implemented at all UW universities. Together, they will standardize the proposal development, routing, and approval process; integrate fiscal and non-fiscal regulatory compliance information; and track proposal, agreement, and award activity in a single integrated system.

The Grants module is the most robust within the Huron Research Suite. It will make the pre-award process more efficient by streamlining data entry, minimizing the possibility of errors, repurposing large amounts of data for new submissions, and automating many manual tasks. It will also provide much-needed post-award non-financial capabilities unavailable in current systems.

The Agreements module will provide the technology capabilities needed to manage contracting and agreement negotiation operations — features not available in the current state. It will simplify the management of financial and nonfinancial research agreements by providing a single location to store and access information for all types of agreements. It will also reduce and simplify data entry, minimize compliance risk, and allow for the tracking and logging of third-party and internal communications.

How will the Grants and Agreements modules be implemented?

UW–Madison:

• Latest version available at project kickoff, in Huron’s cloud data center
• This customizable solution will be hosted by Huron and maintained by UW–Madison.

UW-Milwaukee and Comprehensives:

• Latest version available at project kickoff, in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model
• The SaaS model will limit customizations, reducing UW support needs.

Employee Compensation Compliance and Payroll Confirmation

UW–Madison and UW–Milwaukee will upgrade the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECRT) system we use now to the newer Huron Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) module. Coupled with the upgraded technology, we will transition away from the traditional effort reporting to a new project-based payroll confirmation approach. This new approach will significantly reduce administrative burden for researchers and administrators.

At UW–Madison and UW-Milwaukee, the new approach will yield the following changes:

• Shifting the focus of certification to payroll in dollars, rather than a percentage of effort
• Limiting certification to federal awards only
• Excluding commitment data from the certification card
• Organizing the data by federal project, not a specific individual

How will the ECC module be implemented?

• Upgrade of ECRT to the latest version of ECC at project kickoff
• Migration of legacy on-premises ECRT to ECC hosted in Huron’s cloud data center

Financial Forecasting Module

The Financial Forecasting module will be implemented only at UW–Madison. With this module, financial and research-focused university leaders will be able to evaluate the performance of programs and investigators more accurately. The new tool will provide more robust dashboards and reports to enhance our forecasting and decision-making from an institutional perspective.

Export Control Module

To be implemented only at UW–Madison, the Export Control module will ensure compliance with federal and international laws, screen visitors to facilities, manage data entry, and provide workflows to improve the compliance of the export control program.