NRSP1: Research Planning Using the Current Research Information System (CRIS)
(National Research Support Project Summary)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NRSP1: Research Planning Using the Current Research Information System (CRIS)
Duration: 10/01/2004 to 09/30/2011
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
Prerequisite Criteria
How is the NRSP consistent with the mission?
RELEVANCE
There is a need to provide national support from the non-Federal sector for the continued operation and improvement of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Current Research Information System (CRIS). CRIS data covers a wide range of agricultural and related information including agriculture, forestry, natural resources, rural life, human nutrition, food safety, human health and other consumer concerns. Maintaining and enhancing the system will provide substantial direct benefits to research managers, research scientists, and many others accessing the system. There will also be considerable indirect benefits to the general public through increased research efficiency.
The State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES), participating 1890 Land Grant institutions, cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine, Schools of Forestry, national research planning committees, administrators and program leaders from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) and other research interests in the public and private sectors, use information from CRIS for many purposes. Some of the primary purposes served include:
- SAES and other Administrators use CRIS data to manage their individual research portfolios and aid in the process of research coordination and project administration.
- SAES and other Administrators use CRIS data to prepare reports reflecting staff effort and expenditures for State legislatures and to address other reporting and program analysis functions.
- CRIS data is used by many SAES Administrators to aid in developing their plan of work submissions required by the Agricultural, Research, Extension and Education Reform Act (AREERA). Data are also used to prepare annual reports for the Plan of Work in which resource commitments are classed among the five USDA goals.
- SAES and other Administrators use CRIS data to provide evidence of research activities and funds devoted to various commodities to State commodity groups.
- Experiment Station Committee on Policy (ESCOP) uses CRIS data to build and justify annual budget requests.
- CSREES managers and program leaders rely on CRIS information to administer national programs, assess the resource distribution within agency goals, determine support for specific target areas, and to assist in administering congressionally mandated programs.
- Scientists use CRIS to identify research related to their area of study and assist in preventing duplication of effort.
All of these activities and many others are currently supported by CRIS. There is a continual need to maintain and further enhance the information gathering function in CRIS, to broaden the scope of information contained in the CRIS database, and to make the information more robust such that timeliness, accuracy, and efficiency are improved in CRIS.
How does the NRSP pertain to a national issue?
Rationale
Priority Established by ESCOP/ESS
Relevance to Stakeholders
Implementation
Objectives
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Sustain activities to improve the timeliness and integrity of information in the CRIS database through improved operational, technical and managerial procedures.
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Support the flow of SAES data and information into the CRIS database, provide the facilities necessary to allow SAES to access and utilize the CRIS database effectively and efficiently, and for SAES to provide financial support to the CRIS program.
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Pursue data integration and system integration activities with highly important national databases such as the National Information Management and Support System (NIMSS), the Research, Education and Economics Information System (REEIS), and other evolving data systems for research, education and extension.
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Projected Outcomes
Management, Budget and Business Plan
Funding for CRIS is provided through CSREES direct budget contributions as well as contributions from other participating USDA research agencies. The USDA contributions provide approximately 75% of the overall CRIS budget each fiscal year. The NRSP-1 support is required to provide the remaining 25% to allow CRIS to sustain operations at 100% of budget planning levels. Over the next five years NRSP-1 support needs to provide the pro rata SAES share of the CRIS budget, subject to recommendations for each fiscal year by the four regional associations of SAES directors. No SAES support in the form of scientist years, professional years, or technical years are involved except when a temporary arrangement may be made to accomplish a specific task.
The budget plan for CRIS over the next five years reflects modest increases considered essential to maintaining the viability of the program. Basic increases of approximately 4% are anticipated each fiscal year for salaries and fringe benefits. Other categories of expenses are projected with increases of 1% each year. The exception to this are the categories for equipment and IT services. In these categories a planned increase of 7% is being proposed for fiscal year 2005 and 2006 to support the efforts to transition CRIS into a technically more sophisticated environment including the relational database conversion, integration with NIMSS and other databases, electronic project review, and changes in support of 'One Solution.' After fiscal year 2005 and 2006 equipment and IT services categories are then projected with a 1% increase for the last three years of the five year cycle. This plan results in overall increases of approximately 4.5% in fiscal years 2005 and 2006, then overall increases of approximately 3% the remaining three years.
It is important to recognize that CRIS is an ongoing program meeting new challenges each year as the demands upon the database increase and costs increase. It is requested that this project be excluded from the expectation of making the transition to other sources of funding in recognition of the necessity to sustain the unique CRIS program and support the vital information it provides to the research system with continuity.
See attached budget document.
Integration
Traditionally and by original design, CRIS was a repository for project documentation on research. As the integration of the three components of the CSREES mission areas, research, education, and extension becomes a priority mandated by the Congress, there may be a need for CRIS to expand the scope of information captured. Implementation has already been accomplished to support the capture of CSREES awards in Higher Education and other education programs. It is anticipated that CRIS will need to fulfill a role in supporting the additional expansion in this area to document non-research programs associated with education and extension.
Outreach, Communications and Assessment
Input from state partner institutions on issues of policy, planning, and management of CRIS is an essential element in sustaining CRIS as an effective State-Federal system. The approval of this NRSP provides the mechanism to support the representation of the state interests and provide a forum to assess the effectiveness of the outreach of the CRIS program.
Administrators, program managers, investigators, business officers, and station staff need to be aware of the added value provided by the CRIS database and associated facilities as well as the inherent value of contributing their data to the program. CRIS will strive to maintain visibility among users and potential users through carefully constructed web site presentations, direct contacts with station staff, and attendance at conferences and meetings. CRIS will pursue effective communications by sponsoring participation in workshops, presentations and targeted training sessions whenever possible. CRIS will rely heavily on the World Wide Web for facilities to support the distribution of news items, instruction manuals, summary reports and ongoing efforts to focus attention on improvements in CRIS information. Education and awareness training will be pursued by the CRIS staff in conjunction with cooperating partner institutions.
Assessment of outcomes for the targeted objectives of this NRSP will most often be subjective in nature. Many of the pursuits of this effort will not provide opportunities for physical measurement in any meaningful quantitative fashion. Some objectives will be realized with implementation of new system modules or redevelopment efforts associated with targeted components or functionality. The implementations are indicators of basic successes in the life of the project but in subsequent years the measures of effectiveness and efficiency will be more elusive.
The primary purpose of stakeholder representatives participating on the advisory committee will be to serve in addressing assessment issues and to help evaluate the effectiveness of outreach efforts by CRIS. The stakeholder representatives will be responsible for collecting information from the institutions in their respective regions or associations to reflect the effectiveness of the CRIS program in meeting their needs and objectives. Delivery of services, capturing data, maintaining data, processing efficiency, retrieving data and documentation, are all elements that need customer feedback for assessment. Also of concern are requirements for additional services or interfaces needed by partner institutions to derive more functional utility from their participation in CRIS. The role of stakeholder representatives will be important in obtaining this information.
Input from cooperating institutions and other contributors will play a key role in helping CRIS management plan and prepare for the future of the system. Responses from users and contributors collected and organized by the stakeholder representatives will serve to help the advisory committee assess the success of the initiatives pursued by the CRIS program. A presentation of the feedback from the stakeholder representatives should take place annually to coincide with the preparation of the annual report of accomplishments for this NRSP.
Additionally, the CRIS web site will provide a mechanism for feedback from any interested users of the system. There will be a senior member of the CRIS staff with primary responsibility for liaison with station staff to provide assistance and be available for direct feedback from the user community. Each member of the CRIS staff provides customer service and it is a designated priority for all staff members. Any member of the staff receiving direct feedback, questions, complaints, etc. will make certain the inquiries and comments are directed to appropriate management for review and response.
An annual report outlining the accomplishments of the previous year in support of the objectives will be submitted to the Advisory Committee for review and evaluation. The advisory committee will assist in the evaluation process to assess the success of CRIS in meeting the objectives of this NRSP. The annual report will be made available through NIMSS and from the CRIS office. The reports will be preserved through NIMSS archives for historical documentation over the life span of the NRSP.