University Times

The University of Pittsburgh launched in October 2016 a two-year, three-phase project to develop an electronic research management solution. The PERIS™ portal is the University-wide Pitt Electronic Research Information Solution.

The PERIS portal supports two of the goals in “The Plan for Pitt,” the University’s 2016 strategic plan —  facilitating research of impact and building foundational strength — by aiming to:

• Reduce administrative burden for faculty,
• Increase efficiency,
• Enhance transparency to researchers and administrators,
• Integrate Pitt’s research operations and compliance functions,
• Create a user-friendly system and
• Promote sustainability through electronic processes.

Below, the PERIS team answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the portal and provides resources for further information.

Why does the University of Pittsburgh need the PERIS portal?

In 2012, the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), a cooperative initiative among 10 federal agencies and 155 institutions receiving federal funds (of which Pitt is now a member), surveyed principal investigators who were recipients of federal grants to assess the scope of administrative burden placed on them in connection with federal regulations and other requirements. The survey, in which 13,453 researchers participated and will be conducted again in 2018, revealed that 42 percent of a researcher’s time is spent on administrative tasks — time that could be better spent on accomplishing scholarly work.

Pitt faculty and staff have for years expressed similar frustration about the increasingly time-consuming administrative burden that seems to delay or derail every new research project.

The Office of Research processes more than 20,000 research-related transactions each year primarily through paper-based processes, increasing the administrative burden for faculty and staff. InfoEd, the current Office of Research database, lacks the electronic capabilities, transparency and reporting requirements needed by a research university the size of Pitt.

The PERIS portal meets these needs.

How many phases does the PERIS project have and what are the phases?

The PERIS project has three phases:

• Phase 1 focuses on electronic research funding proposal development, routing and submission. Named MyFunding, this module has a number of unique features for faculty and staff which include but are not limited to automation and consolidation of frequent budget calculations, pre-population of proposal data, daily human resources feed for up-to-date faculty and staff data and generation of real-time proposal tracking. The most popular feature of MyFunding is the ability to route for review and signature the budgetary and compliance aspects of a proposal separately from the scientific parts of the proposal, thus providing faculty members additional time to work on the science. MyFunding also provides faculty and staff the status of a proposal in an easy-to-read format that is accessible from any location.

  The rollout of MyFunding began in November 2017. This module is currently being used by departments across the University to submit proposals to all sponsored funding sources including federal, industry and nonprofit/foundation sponsors. To date, more than 288 proposals have been submitted to funding agencies through MyFunding.

• Phase 2 of the PERIS project launched in December 2017. The primary focus of this phase is on electronic award processing and activation, in addition to integration of sponsored research with research compliance (COI, IRB, IACUC, IBC and Export Control). Phase 2 also focuses on robust reporting so that departments, schools and central areas will have the ability to generate sponsored research reports.

• Phase 3 of the PERIS project will launch in January 2018 and focus on a principal investigator dashboard and electronic research management module to link and interface a principal investigator’s research operations/projects, compliance and training through a single point of entry.

How can I learn more about the PERIS portal and stay up to date on its development?

For more information about the PERIS project, visit the project website: electronicresearch.pitt.edu.

You can access the PERIS portal at peris.pitt.edu or through Pitt Passport at my.pitt.edu.

Whom should I contact to ask questions about the PERIS project or to arrange MyFunding training?

Faculty and staff are encouraged to contact the PERIS team by email at perisproject@pitt.edu. Christine McClure, associate director for the PERIS Solution, is also available by email at chriscra@pitt.edu to answer questions, provide help with a proposal and arrange individual and/or group training.