January 23, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

A brief reminder to register for ORI’s COEUS Replacement Project information sessions on Tuesday, January 24th at 12pm or Monday, January 30th at 1pm. Please see the message below for more details:

Working with partners across the institution, the Office of Research & Innovation (ORI) has been leading the project to replace COEUS with a new software system, InfoEd, to streamline and simplify Drexel’s research administration and compliance systems. Having implemented two modules to date that support vertebrate animal research activities, we have considerable hands-on experience with the system.  Feedback from the Drexel research community has identified several areas that will require a different software solution.  As a result, Drexel has made the decision to cancel the implementation of all remaining InfoEd modules. The InfoEd modules that are being used to manage IACUC and ULAR operations will remain active and continue to be used until a new solution is identified.

The top priority of the COEUS Replacement Project remains ensuring that the University’s growing R1 research enterprise is well supported with a robust software system. Given this priority we will begin a new system evaluation phase immediately. We anticipate the evaluation of new software solutions will continue through Spring 2023 and are targeting relaunching implementation of a new system later in the year. The work to date of the COEUS Replacement Project has provided extremely valuable information and has shaped ORI’s plan for continued operations review and improvements. This experience will be used to drive system decisions along with a comprehensive project plan to include a rollout of transparent policies and procedures, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and training for all functions. In addition, ORI has added new, seasoned leaders who are engaged in operational evaluation of our research administration and compliance processes.

We recognize the time and effort committed to this project to date by our community and are grateful for your continued support. It is important to note that the COEUS Replacement Project remains fully active and the original goal of replacing COEUS remains unchanged. We are moving ahead and look forward to re-engaging with our partners in this important work. Please use the following links to register for COEUS Replacement Project information sessions on Tuesday, January 24th at 12pm or Monday, January 30th at 1pm. We will send out regular email communications to keep the community informed of our progress.

Respectfully,

Doug Stay
Director of Research Systems and Analytics
Office of Research & Innovation

Aleister Saunders
Executive Vice Provost
Office of Research & Innovation