Research Business Operations & Technology Milestones
COEUS Replacement Project
ORI continued work to identify a replacement system for the University’s aging research administration software, including COEUS which has served the research community for over a decade. A new vendor was selected and a plan for implementation was developed for kickoff in the fall of 2024. Please find more details below.
RFP Selection Process Completed
The ORI assembled a committee of 50 from across the university, including faculty, administrators, ORI business owners, and central administrative teams (IT, HR, etc.) to evaluate 8 vendor offerings encompassing all functional areas the ORI manages, including sponsored programs, research compliance, and innovation. The evaluation was completed in early-2024 and Novelution was selected to fill the University’s research administration software system needs.
The Novelution Implementation Project will streamline and modernize research administration systems serving Drexel’s research enterprise. Our work will simplify management of research and provide transparency to our end users while meeting the evolving needs of principal investigators, administrators, and research support functions.
Novelution is a web-based (SaaS) software system that provides centralized research administration management via integrated modules for sponsored programs, compliance, and animal facilities management. The products are designed to meet the needs of faculty, staff, and research administrators while reducing administrative burden.
Implementation Kickoff November 2024
Working with the vendor, ORI established a project kickoff in November 2024 with a target completion date over the summer of 2027. Modules slated for implementation include:
Sponsored Programs
- Grants & Contracts
- Subawards
- Current & Pending Management
Compliance
- IRB (Human Subjects)
- IACUC (Animal Subjects)
- IBC (Biosafety/Radiation Safety)
- Conflict of Interest / Commitment
Animal Facilities Management
Reporting Functionality & Integrations
- Dashboards
- Banner HRM and Financials
- CITI (Research, Ethics, Compliance, and Safety Training)
Members of the Drexel research community interested in staying informed of this implementation project can visit the Novelution Hub for timely updates.
Financial Restructuring
Efforts to improve ORI operations continued over the last year to reduce administrative burden on our staff. The Finance & Operations team restructured the ORI’s financial organization, including the addition of new sub-functional organizations and improved reporting mechanisms. These changes resulted in further streamlined fiscal management while providing information necessary for functional leaders to engage in more effective strategic planning.
Drexel also continued to deliver timely quarterly and ad hoc research metric reports to track performance and drive strategic planning and decision-making.
Communications & Training
The ORI’s website was moved to a new format this year with a focus on streamlining ease of use and accessibility. The modern design makes finding information simpler and more efficient and will improve the user experience. The new site links to an ORI intranet website containing training materials and resources aimed at providing seamless access to information and knowledge about our operations to the Drexel community.
In addition, in late-2023, the ORI launched a LinkedIn page to publicly share Drexel research news and other related announcements.
The ORI also continued its publication of quarterly newsletters providing the Drexel research community with timely information and updates, events, training opportunities, and other related announcements.