Frequently Asked Questions
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With Reconfiguration into teams is everyone is going to maintain current responsibilities?
No.
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Are people expected to be fully functional and assume roles in their new teams on the morning of November 16th?
No.
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If I am put in a role that I do not have the skills to handle what will happen to me?
The first approach will be to address any concerns or deficiencies with skill development and training.
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Is the assumption that each of us will be able to handle all responsibilities of an award from womb to tomb correct?
No — The expectation is for everybody to better understand what we all do.
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Have the lifecycle teams been formed already?
No.
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Downstream, the work of the Process sub-team will likely lead to process streamlining and efficiencies. Will people lose their jobs?
No —It is anticipated even with efficiencies we will have duties and responsibilities that we currently are not able to complete that we would use any resource savings to address these needs.
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Is this process going to interfere with our current relationship (between PI & SPA)?
No. The relationships will be maintained and improved.
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Processes have become more cumbersome since State and RFAP were put together? Will this be the case with SPA and G&C?
The merger will allow us to be more consistent and efficient.
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Why can’t Oracle get the numbers right?
Oracle has been greatly improved. The numbers have been fixed with the system. Any wrong numbers may be the result of the new staff learning curve. That is, they were input wrong by the staff.
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It seems like an aggressive timeline. Is it realistic?
It is believed to be. If it slips it slips, but deadlines are what get things done. The staff is working hard to meet the date.
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How will the training help the PI and the departmental staff?
First and foremost we have to train ourselves in the fundamentals. We need to understand enough of each job so that we can speak the same language. In turn the more we know the more we can help the PI.
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What will consolidation do about lobbying the government to help make decisions about where to put money?
Our offices will not be responsible for that.
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What do the G&C and SPA staff think about the reorganization?
Several staff members in the audience responded that they were looking forward to the change and that they felt it was a positive step toward providing better service and would increase their knowledge and job satisfaction as well.
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How does STOR fit into this?
IP issues will continue to come up during the life cycle process and STOR will contact and work with the appropriate group in the same way they do now.
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It was brought up that G&C and SPA currently has only a "small sense of presence" on the South campus. How can we establish a better presence w/PIs located on the South campus and downtown locations?
If departmental deans can make space available to us, we would be happy to utilize that space, perhaps at certain planned times, and be able to provide more face-to-face service for PIs not located on the North campus. Perhaps we could maintain satellite offices at various locations in the future. We do currently use space on the South campus during major proposal submission deadlines to accommodate PIs there.
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What is the rationale for having 3 life cycle teams?
It actually may be 4 or 2; 3 is a ballpark number; whatever is determined to offer the best service and still maintain the appropriate balance of staff and workload on each life cycle team will be established.
One person commented that training in the life cycle process should be a key issue for new faculty as well. Right now it is confusing to navigate the website; we should use the new faculty as guinea pigs and see how they navigate the life cycle process and get their feedback.
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How did Harvard decide to allocate their teams? (by department, school, other?)
Teams are organized by discipline.
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Is there any way to pilot test processes? It won't be like the implementation of ORACLE, will it?
There will be a transition planned; it is not like throwing a switch on Nov. 1 and on that date everyone is expected to be fully functional in their new roles. A great deal of planning has and will continue to take place, and training will be extensive and ongoing.
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It sounds like I'll still need to call various people within "my" life cycle team.
It will be truly "one-stop shopping" - there will be 1 contact person to call who will be able to address or direct questions/needs.
It was commented that we should try and utilize the newest/most efficient technology such as video conferencing, etc.
Utilizing the newest technology is a great idea but this might be too ambitious to expect to happen by Nov. Our tech experts are extremely busy addressing reorganization technology needs and we will need to pick our opportunities for improvement and then phase them in.
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Has the Process team looked at what processes are being done here on campus vs. what processes are being done in Albany?
This has not been looked at.
It was commented that a key purpose of the PI Advisory Group should be to facilitate PIs feedback to the new organization group so that processes can be modified/improved as needed.
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How does UB Foundation Services fit into this reorganization? Why can't they be better integrated?
UBFS is an independent entity and will have to remain separate from us on post-award functions. We are able to fully integrate G&C and SPA because we are part of the same RF unit; just separated until the reorganization by function.
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What would we like to see from PIs?
Your ideas, your feedback, and your input are all welcome!