Keele’s search for single source of truth.

As Keele’s research management system reached its end of life, the Research and Innovation (RaISE) Support team started a project to analyse the institution’s pre-award and post-award processes and systems. “This analysis demonstrated the limitations within our research costing and approvals systems, and the use of multiple systems to manage research that created further limitations and inefficiencies. Furthermore, we identified the potential for these ageing systems to drain resources in the future. Ultimately the process highlighted the need for a more efficient and effective research management system, to support our research development ambitions and activities for the next 5-10 years, and to reduce the administrative burden on academic colleagues as project leads. Importantly, the Worktribe workflows and data management system will enable easy collaboration between academic and professional service colleagues.” – Dr Tracy Nevatte

Following an options analysis, Worktribe was identified as the sector-leading SaaS platform that directly met Keele’s requirements and would consolidate multiple systems into one end-to-end research management system. By implementing Worktribe, the time saving for the RaISE team can help grow Keele’s research portfolio, increase the quality of grant applications, and engage in more strategic bids for Keele.

“Worktribe will provide our academic colleagues with a one-stop-shop for research management and support, with accurate and current information to allow them to manage their applications, projects, outputs, and impact. Rapid reporting will enable research managers and leaders to analyse their School/Faculty research performance and inform future decision-making. Our five-year business case forecasts that the implementation of Worktribe will support an overall increase in efficiency and an overall reduction to the cost of research administration at Keele.” – Dr Tracy Nevatte

The challenges and product requirements that were to be met.

The headline criteria agreed for the new research management system were:

– Enables better collaborative working between academic and professional service colleagues throughout all stages of the research project lifecycle.

– Allows individual RaISE teams such as the research finance team to have efficient and effective systems to manage workload.

– Integration of the Research Finance system with the rest of the research systems reducing the need for multiple transpositions of data.

– Reduces administrative burden for academic colleagues.

– Increases multi- and inter-disciplinary research activity within Keele by providing academics with the digital tools to connect at an early stage of research development.

– Has a user-friendly interface with all data for research and innovation projects in one place that can be searched and accessed rapidly.

– Facilitates the automated flow of information through each stage of the research process.

– An industry-standard system that reflects best practice in the sector and where configuration is determined at user group level.

– Functionality to record, measure, and report on research impact.

– Accurate REF metrics that can be updated and reviewed throughout the REF period to facilitate preparedness for REF2029 and beyond.

– Automated reporting and management information that supports the delivery of Keele’s research and innovation strategies.

The system analysis results

“We identified through this process that Worktribe’s Research Management System is the preferred option for end-to-end research management at Keele. It will increase organisational efficiency and compliance through providing aligned and auditable workflows, which in turn provides a ‘single source of truth for Keele’s research data’ that can be used across the organisation.” – Dr Tracy Nevatte

The fully integrated system will securely share its information with Keele’s interdependent systems. Worktribe is a sector-leading, intuitive cloud-based SaaS platform with a suite of tools that allow seamless, end-to-end research management. 

Preparing for change.

Learning from Keele’s implementation of the previous system and noting the collective experience of Worktribe working with 54 other UK institutions, a 12-month implementation plan was proposed. The Keele team decided to prioritise and implement individual modules in parallel, rather than in series, to reduce the overall implementation period and cost to Keele.

“The implementation has been led with a weekly huddle of all those involved in the system, the Project Operations Group (POG), chaired by the Director of Research Strategy Delivery.  Prior to kick-off, the team spent a lot of time mapping out stakeholder engagement, project plan and risk register. 

Regular project updates from the POG have been provided via the  monthly Research at Keele newsletter and a dedicated space on the internal Research and Innovation hub (Sharepoint). User training and resources are hosted on the Research and Innovation Support hub and accessible to all Worktribe users.” – Dr Tracy Nevatte

Exciting things to come.

“After 11 months, we are almost across the finish line with our implementation and already we are seeing the benefits of Worktribe. Research Development managers are able to provide costings in their first meetings with academic colleagues rather than having to go away and request a costing from the research finance team and then feed that back.  Academic colleagues are contacting us to let us know how much better the service is.  Even without specific training, academic and professional services colleagues are using the system, which means we’ve ticked the box on finding an easy-to-use product – which is often a barrier to engagement.

In 6 months’ time we will conduct our first benefits realisation exercise and I’m excited to work through exactly how much better Worktribe is for Keele compared to our previous systems.  Once we’ve integrated with our finance system, I think our academic colleagues will truly see the benefit of Worktribe as the end-to-end service and that it’s not just about costings.” – Dr Tracy Nevatte