JISC

Summary

In the IRIOS project we utilised an existing platform for collaborative engagement with the local business community, the Universities for the North East Information System (UNIS). IRIOS produced a proof-of-concept demonstrator which supported the import and export of RC data in CERIF format, and the linking of research grant information and publications together. Filtering allows subsets of the data to be selected and exported in CERIF for use by third party applications such as Pure. IRIOS uses as a base the UNIS system, which is a bespoke collaboration environment, developed over 15 years to meet the needs of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) partners. The Universities of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside and Sunderland work together in this partnership with the Open University in the North. In IRIOS the UNIS platform was successfully adapted and extended to include basic research grant information taken directly from the Research Council (RC) dataset (Shared Service Centre).

IRIOS-2 will take this demonstrator and use it to build a business-to-business (B2B) platform linking Research Councils (RCs) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).  HEIs with established systems such as Pure will be able to access RC data on grants more readily.  HEIs without third party information management tools will be able to use IRIOS-2 to access the RC data on grants (including finances) and outputs.  By providing access for HEIs in addition to RCs to a centrally maintained repository of information on grants and outputs, IRIOS-2 will significantly improve efficiency by reducing time spent reconciling records, and providing access by making the platform available to other HEIs and offering it as a model for integration.

IRIOS-2 extends the functionality developed in the first phase of the IRIOS project to encompass a range of output types (other than publications), and a range of originator types (other than author), and additionally will support other roles in the production of a research output e.g. reviewer, publisher, exhibitor etc.

Objectives

The objectives of the IRIOS-2 project are:-

• Extend the IRIOS proof of concept demonstrator to better handle non-standard research outputs and multiple authors and roles;
• Enable HEIs to better collaborate by developing a CERIF B2B platform;
• Enable RCs and HEIs to reconcile grant status and finance information;
• Produce an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) connected cloud enabled version of IRIOS-2 such that it is RMAS compliant, encouraging better take-up;
• Run a series of practical CERIF technical and business process workshops.

Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes  

• User requirements analysis – description of the upgraded platform’s requirements
• Functional specification – derived from the requirements analysis
• IRIOS-2 service – connected to an Enterprise Service Bus
• CERIF wrapper for Research Council interface – incorporating core data set that may be released by the RCs
• Use cases and testing plan
• Evaluation report – results of user testing
• Project website
• Workshops – a technical workshop will gather input from the user community and provide CERIF tutorials from euroCRIS. Towards the project end, workshops will focus on the general dissemination of the benefits of the project.