The Office of Research Services had been searching for a way to manage funding and ethics applications from researchers while keeping the University in compliance with external research policies. Systems’ very own Dave Shaykewich, in conjunction with Rachael Scarth (Associate Vice President Research Operations), set off to solve this problem back in 2012. However, they discovered that there wasn’t much on the market and a customized system would be very expensive to buy.
A rock star team of developers, an information architect, a business analyst, and an ORS (Office of Research Services) subject matter expert formed an agile team to take on building a system in-house. The team designed the system with several important principles in mind that set the standard for a high quality product:
- Technical currency: The product makes use of Grails 3.0 technology with upgrades to the most recent version, Liquibase, and Activiti 6.0 workflow engine.
- Quality Assurance/Quality Control: A rigorous testing pathway was conducted using automated GEB functional testing, a dedicated functional testing team, and performance of user acceptance and usability testing using a dedicated testing lab in the ORS.
- Security: BurpSuite scanning was implemented as part of the testing process to scan for security vulnerabilities.
The Research Administration Information System (RAIS) went live on July 30, 2018 with the application for Human Ethics Approval!
At the end of August, after two minor updates and the office had recieved dozens of online applications, the Office of Research Services threw a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the product success and thank Dave for his dedication and outstanding work on the project.
University Systems RAIS project team members: Ruth Adam, Chuck Frank, Maleh Froese, Kevin Gill, Selina McGinnis, Craig McNaughton, Jeta Rugova-Plakolli, Dave Shaykewich,
(Featured in photo from left to right: Dave Shaykewich, Ruth Adam, Selina McGinnis, Chuck Frank)
Dave Shaykewich proudly sporting his RAIS ribbon
The next steps for the team are to continue working on the post-approval and funding processes into the new year.
For more information on the RAIS system, visit the web page on the University of Victoria’s website: https://www.uvic.ca/userais/index.php