Category
Customer Service
Submitted By
Kelly Kim, Kelly.kim@cu.edu, Compliance eRA Application Manager
Project Team
Kelly Kim, Kelly.kim@cu.edu, Compliance eRA Application Manager
Valerie Carricato, Valerie.carricato@cu.edu, Sr. Business System Analyst
Jordan Wight, Jordan.wight@cu.edu, Enterprise App Dev Lead
Joshua Hernandez, joshua.hernandez@cu.edu, Sr. QA Engineer
Manali Agrawal, manali.agrawal@cu.edu, Sr. QA Engineer
Kaley Espindola, kespindo@uccs.edu, Employee Relations and Experience Director
Cindy Rhoads, crhoads@uccs.edu, Employee Relations Professional
Nancy Mars , nmars@uccs.edu, HRIS Analyst
Project Description
Conflict of Interest (COI) is a research compliance process to ensure research integrity at all CU campuses via disclosure and management of significant financial interests of key personnel involved in research activities. The Human Resource (HR) team at UCCS (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) needed an efficient solution that improves tracking and accountability of the COI disclosure process. UIS worked with the UCCS HR team to implement the COI module in InfoEd eRA software, replacing the previous Qualtrics form at UCCS. The new COI module includes a self-disclosure form for reporting financial interests, compliance checks, and streamlines central office reporting.
Project Efficiency
Transitioning from a lengthy annual disclosure collection process followed by manual tracking, to using the InfoEd COI module simplifies the user experience with a dynamic one-page form saving a minimum of 1.5 minutes to 18 minutes, depending on how the user completes their disclosure. Central office reporting out of InfoEd is estimated to save 50-60 hours. Annual time savings are estimated to be $21K. Implementing a InfoEd COI module using CU skilled resources saved over $70K. We anticipate the cost savings in year two to be between $80K- $90K due to automated processes. Plus, improved quality and compliance with regulations.
Project Inspiration
UCCS HR faced an internal audit mandate to modernize COI practices, enhance compliance, and improve user experience by July 2024. While the COI module in InfoEd was a great fit for their needs and already licensed for enterprise use, the InfoEd vendor typically charges upwards of $70K to implement the COI module. The project inspiration was to assist our Colorado Springs campus in meeting audit requirements, streamline processes, and improve COI disclosure management, even within budgetary constraints. By implementing the module entirely using internal UIS resources, we were able to save the UCCS campus this significant one-time cost.
What Makes You Happiest about this Project?
I am most proud the team was able to develop and implement a COI module in six months with a successful launch in January 22, 2024, meeting our customers goal of July 2024 by u sing an iterative approach to implementing the solution. In the past, eRA modules could take multiple iterations before the campuses were confident in launching a module, and often the final attempts were completed by the vendor incurring a cost. The collaboration between UIS and UCCS was incredibly positive and created a new solid bridge between the UCCS campus and UIS eRA services.
