As early as possible, the ERC should have in place a systematic process for collecting and storing the large quantities of information needed to manage a multi-million dollar operation. It is very important to examine your information needs before you build computerized data files (or employ a programmer). Find out what information is required for major reports required by your sponsors. Consult key customers of the center's information system. The objective is to collect all the information you will need and as little as possible of the information you will not need. Attachment 6-2 provides a starting place by identifying common ERC data files and fields.

In considering database design and implementation, you must also take into account the shape of the university information systems and any others from which you will be extracting data (see Sections 6.4.1 and 6.4.2). ERCs with many institutional partners will have to determine the most effective and cost-efficient way to gather and input data across the institutions and miles. Developing a web-based system offers the benefit of cross-platform access to the information system and allows for remote site entry. It is best to begin as soon as possible to share information files electronically within the ERC. For reporting purposes, it is ideal if the information is integrated into an information management system . Since some of this information will be deemed confidential, or sensitive in terms of ERC self-interest, you need to carefully consider a set of issues related to computer security and local area networks (see Section 6.7.1.10).

It is likely that you will have to develop multiple strategies for data collection and reporting. For example, financial data may come primarily from your university's accounting system but may need to be augmented with your own shadow system. Non-financial data concerning people, their roles in the ERC, and their demographics may be in another data base. Other information concerning seminars, workshops, and publications may be recorded in yet another system. Ultimately, developing a strategy for collecting all this information can be just as challenging and important as finding the right design for the system.

Tip : Work with a database designer and a programmer to develop an appropriate design of the ERC's information management system. Prioritize your information needs. To the extent possible, avoid complex, high maintenance systems. Build in flexibility for changes and additions; they are inevitable. Document database system development carefully. Be sure data entry personnel understand the system. Poor training at this level can sabotage even the best system! Push using the system, and make it easy to use. The onus is on the professional to design a usable system, not on the user to learn a complex, fragile one.

6.7.1.1 Essential File Elements Within The Center's Information Management System

Key information needed by the ERC includes: Mailing list (a single, coordinated list for the entire center)

• Calendar (at least keep one for the core ERC office team)
• Personnel (include faculty, staff, consultants, and temps!)
• Students and alumni (include a history of ERC fellowships, stipends, employment,
• and gender/minority/disabled status)
• Industrial memberships (include a key interactions log)
• Invention disclosures, patents and licenses
• Publications (all should formally acknowledge ERC Program support)
• Capital equipment and assets (purchased and donated)
• Financial records (see section 6.7.1.3 for more detail)
• Grant proposals (include pre-award authorizations and end dates to monitor for NSF
• base award and any supplemental awards from other agencies)
• Inventories (e.g., ERC computer hardware and software, licensing agreements)
• Detailed information on outcomes and impacts of the ERC on technology advancement

You will also need a record of ERC activities. For example, you will want to record attendance, by category, at major meetings and workshops; industrial visits to your center; research on-site by industrial participants; and research activities or visits at member companies by ERC faculty and students.

Tip : Some centers are currently experimenting with new methods of registering people for major ERC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings. In the offing is the use of electronic mail and interactive forms on the Internet to capture information electronically and transfer data directly to the center's database.

6.7.1.2 How Do You Get Started?

The biggest initial decision to make is to decide if the data collection process will be web-based, with data input by individual users, or whether the data will be centrally collected and maintained in desktop systems. Both approaches have merits and pitfalls and individual centers will need to make this determination based upon available financial and technical resources. Even the center's “culture” will influence the decision. If individual investigators aren't willing to update and enter the required data into a web-based system, alternate strategies will be needed. This is a particularly important decision for multi-institutional ERCs.

6.7.1.3 About Financial Records

For any enterprise as large as an ERC, keeping accurate financial records is crucial . The majority of existing ERCs use spreadsheets (usually Excel) as their primary financial management tool. A few of the centers also keep essential fiscal data in an internal database or data warehouse. Key files include the ERC chart of accounts; a historical record of ERC income; and annual records of budget, revenue, and expense. You must also keep track of indirect support to the ERC: projects supported directly to the PI, not through the center, but consistent with the research vision of the center.

Ultimately, the center's financial records should be supported by the university's financial records. In the case of an audit, it will be critical that the university's records document and verify any financial data reported by the ERC in its annual report. Ideally, new centers should meet with their sponsored project accounting offices in their first months of operation to find out how well the university's accounting reports will support the annual financial reporting requirements to NSF.

Tip : You will need to be able to manipulate data by month, by thrust and sub-thrust area, and by unique account strings or groups in order to develop the ERC's functional budget as required by NSF.

If your center manages invoicing, you will need a detailed record of invoices and payments, including all efforts made to collect overdue accounts for industrial memberships. In order to comply with NSF's requirement that your Sponsored Research office verify your membership lists and funding sources, you will have to have records of membership agreements by firms, invoices, accurate data on in-kind contributions, etc.

Multi-institutional ERCs will also need to collect similar financial data from their partners (subcontractors). It is important that subcontracts written to the partner institutions include specific language about how financial data should be reported in monthly invoices to the lead institution. The lead institution preparing the annual report will need to understand from the outset how to report the subcontractor's expenditures as part of the annual report. It is important to carefully understand the definitions for when the lead institution has actually incurred an expense.

6.7.1.4 Other Data Gathering Challenges

Many centers report that the most difficult reporting area is technology transfer. This difficulty may reflect the number of people and interactions involved, as well as the sensitivity and technical nature of these exchanges. You will want to plan this aspect of data gathering with your faculty and with the ERC personnel responsible for industry collaborations. The center needs a strategy for capturing information on company visits, student and faculty time at companies, technology transferred, success stories, technical and economic challenges affecting your industries, and more. (Please refer to Chapter 5, "Industrial Collaboration and Technology Transfer.")

In the early years of the ERC Program, many center administrators had trouble defining ERC metrics. Making existing data fit into categories different from those for which they were originally collected was often a considerable challenge. Much progress has been made by NSF and the ERC Administrative Managers in clarifying the definitions now used in the Indicators and Annual Reports. Before you get started each year, please refer to the most recent version of the ERC Program's database guidelines that is on file at the ERC Library site maintained by contractor Quantum Research Corporation (QRC), at http://chaffee.qrc.com/nsf/eng/ercweb/help/ann_rpt_guide.cfm. You need to determine what kinds of and how much information you want to keep. Some potential metrics are:

• the participants on center research projects;
• the number and category of individuals paid by the ERC;
• summer students;
• enrollment in an ERC class;
• the number and type of participants in center workshops or meetings;
• ERC seminar attendees;
• special visitors to the center (e.g., high school students);
• ERC personnel who conducted research at a member company;
• the individuals who presented a talk and/or poster at your ERC meetings;
• industrial representatives who work with your core faculty;
• ERC individuals who are award recipients;
• ERC alumni who went to work for a member company;
• member companies;
• how member companies participate and support the ERC;
• the duration of their membership; and
• ERC and ERC individuals' publications.

Tip: Within the first few months of operation, the center AD should carefully review the indicator data tables for the non-financial reports required in the annual report and make sure there is a process for collecting this data from the beginning.

Tip: QRC maintains an ERC Library on their website at http://chaffee.qrc.com/nsf/eng/ercweb/help/ann_rpt_guide.cfm. The library includes guidelines for the ERC annual report and NSF site visit along with many other useful documents.

It can also be difficult to capture information on diversity (i.e., gender, ethnicity, race, citizenship, disability status, and country of citizenship for foreign faculty and students on temporary visas). The latter category is a new NSF requirement in FY 2007. You should develop a standard form that all ERC personnel (faculty, staff and students) use to voluntarily self-disclose this information. Be sure to refer to current federal classifications for codes for these categories of people. Please remember that you cannot make your own judgments about where a person fits in these categories.

Keep track of your graduates from Day One! You will need to know what happens to them, where they go, and how to reach them—for the ERC's purposes as well as NSF's. (NSF periodically surveys ERC graduates and their supervisors.) It is best to design the information collection process to capture information on graduates systematically , at the end of each university term. Get to know the department staff responsible for processing graduating students. They are an invaluable source of information. Have a plan for how you will communicate with alumni, and do so at least two or three times each year. (The latter is important because of the postal service's mail-forwarding practices.)

No matter how difficult, all data collection is made significantly easier by adequate pre-planning and appropriate design of the information system.

6.7.1.5 Collecting Information from Your Faculty

Most ERC ADs agree that collecting information from a busy, dispersed faculty is one of the most significant challenges during the early years in a new center. Remember that your scarcest resource is faculty time. Making information collection and reporting as easy as possible becomes one of the primary ways for you to demonstrate the excellence of the service that ERC support staff provide to center faculty.

Tip : Don't make the faculty start from scratch every time you prepare an annual report. Start by gathering what you know already, and ask them to update that. (And be sure to give all of them copies of the final product—with enough lead time before it is sent to NSF that major errors can be corrected.) Get to know their secretaries and other assistants; these people are VIPs in your administrative network. Use a form and a collection process that you can easily update and, preferably, distribute electronically.

Participating home departments and central service offices already gather much of the information you will need, so don't reinvent the wheel! For example, check to see if you can pull grant information for your faculty off the central computer at the sponsored research office. You may need to make a special report request, but this should save you a lot of time in the long run. Other information resources not to overlook include:

• department CV files for all tenure-track faculty;
• your own research reports and newsletters (make sure the ERC has a schedule for these communication vehicles; gather information on publications, graduates, and new personnel regularly, as part of the information collection process); and
• travel authorization documents (these documents give essential information on faculty
• interaction with companies and other universities).

You will need a systematic process for capturing and entering all of this information into your ERC database(s) in a timely, routine manner.

6.7.1.6 The NSF Annual Report

Develop a timetable and a standard operating protocol for this annual effort; define responsibilities well in advance of deadlines! Set up templates (and style guidelines); distribute and collect text electronically. Obtain a scanner; avoid re-keying information. Be sure the center office has appropriate software to coordinate different text, tables, graphs, and charts. Consider keeping an "Annual Report in-box" (in hard copy as well as on your website) all year long; encourage ERC personnel to contribute useful information (e.g., copies of newspaper articles, announcements, et al); this should also be useful in your general communications such as newsletters.

Decide how you will determine "best examples" of research and education accomplishments (sometimes known as "nuggets”, or most important developments). A scrapbook of media releases and/or newsletters on the ERC's achievements might be a good source of such “nuggets”.

As the center prepares the different sections of the report, create a text "tag" for incomplete sections, with instructions and a brief statement on what information is still needed and who is responsible for that information. The tag should be noticeably different in font size/color in order to be distinguished from the rest of the document for easy removal. Ideally, the timetable for preparing the Annual Report should be set to allow time for the first completed draft to "grow cold" before final editing. Good luck!

Tip : Some centers use an e-mail template containing information that will be needed for the report. This request goes out to faculty and researchers frequently (every week, month, or quarter, depending on what works best for the group). They simply fill in the form and e-mail it back. All the information is then compiled into one file that can be returned to them for confirmation before the Annual Report is completed. You might also consider having a staff member visit each faculty member personally, prior to compiling the Annual Report, with updated information gathered during the year and any special instructions.

The data for the Annual Report flows from the center's database(s). Review the report requirements thoroughly to be sure you are collecting and organizing information appropriately to meet the requirements.

6.7.1.7 The NSF ERC Program Database of Indicators Activity and Performance

In FY 2003, the ERC Program completed the shift to web-based submission of all financial and non-financial data to a web-based database that is used to produce tables for the Annual Report. The web application is called ERCWeb and it is maintained by the ERC Program's contractor, QRC. After all the data is entered into the database, the center produces a series of Excel tables that are required to be included in the Annual Report. The database also produces several graphs that will be included in the center's annual report as well as a table benchmarking your ERC with other ERCs. QRC will provide the center with a username and password to enter the site.

One person needs to coordinate this effort; this will probably be your job as the Administrative Director and liaison to NSF. Design your information system with the Indicators in mind. Document your work; keep a record from one year to the next of how you counted things. Gather information continuously, systematically. Ask your Industrial Specialist and Education Coordinator to be responsible for appropriate tables; however, it is your responsibility to make sure the center has the backup documentation.

It's extremely important that the AD understand the definitions associated with each table in the Indicators Reports. It is also important to understand that QRC provides input tables, which do not match in format the output tables for the annual report. From these data, QRC develops the output tables for your annual report. Some of the input and output tables, for example, are financial in nature and are reported for the 12-month period corresponding to the center's cooperative agreement (NSF Award Year). The non-financial tables, by contrast, are based upon a Reporting Year, which is different from the NSF Award Year. Each year NSF issues “Guidelines for the Submission of Data” and the AD should carefully review the document to understand all the basic definitions in the document.

Tip: Adjust the font of the QRC tables for your annual report so they are readable in terms of size, and be sure that the patterning/coloring of the “totals” rows does not obscure the numbers in the row.

Be sure to allow plenty of time for entering the data into the online database. Since you will need the tables generated by the system for your annual report, it's important that you budget time to complete the process so that the tables will be ready for inclusion in the annual report. You may think that you understand the format of the data you've collected; but once you begin entering it, you may discover that there are complexities you hadn't anticipated.

Tip: Try entering some initial financial data before entering the center's “real” financial data so you can see how different tables have to agree in their “bottom lines.”

6.7.1.8 Information Gathering via E-Mail

Make good use of e-mail. Generate a common ERC e-mail directory and a set of group aliases; share them across the center via your administrative server. Assign someone to maintain this file, and alert your people when changes have been made. Examples of helpful group aliases include: all ERC personnel; all faculty associated with the ERC; graduate students; undergraduate students; administrative support staff; and program or thrust leaders.

Individual personnel are able to set up private archive files for e-mail. It may also be useful to set up standard e-mail files (or "mailboxes"). For example, your center might utilize a mailbox for the Annual Report, one for conferences, newsletter information, Indicators, and other job-related information.

6.7.1.9 Finding the Computer Expertise the Center Needs

Currently, ERCs are managing to find this help in a wide variety of ways. For some centers, computing is part of their mission, so they can draw upon faculty and student expertise within the ERC. Others must hire, train, or borrow such expertise. While most ERCs have LANs (local area networks, with one to twelve internal servers), there does not seem to be a consistent pattern to staffing solutions. This is an area that is changing very rapidly, and there is no single right way to proceed. You will want to keep an ear to the ground for developments within your institution and in participating departments. Obviously, someone should be assigned to monitor changes in available technology and to make recommendations periodically to the center on purchases and upgrades. Sometimes you can share specialized resources and expertise with the departments.

Tip : Do not assume that you have to be the center's computer expert. Find out where technical information and expertise are available in your institution. Don't resist the constantly unfolding changes in information technology—embrace them to help you fulfill your goals.

6.7.1.10 Managing Your Information System

You will need a center policy on the use of unauthorized software, virus checking, and frequency of required password changes. It is likely that individuals within the center will want to share information electronically via internal servers (i.e., a LAN). This immediately raises management and security issues to be addressed. It is wise to draft a specific set of expectations for the person identified as the LAN manager. You may also wish to explore the use of "firewalls" to preserve the integrity of your information from external network users. The central computing office at your home institution should be able to help with these issues.

6.7.2 Communication

6.7.2.1 Communication Within the ERC Community (and Beyond)

Teamwork is essential. You will want to be sure that staff working on technical reports and newsletters are coordinating closely with administrative and data management personnel. These may not be the same individuals.

All centers prepare technical research reports. Some ERCs fill reprint requests, and some do not. (The cost of sending reprints and other materials overseas is an issue at most centers; the center's website may provide a solution here.) All centers should have a newsletter, as the need for one appears to grow with time; common practice is to publish two or three issues per year. An ERC brochure is a common need. (NSF periodically prepares a two-page, glossy "fact sheet" for each ERC, along with an overview description of the ERC Program. These flyers can be useful for marketing.) Most ERCs maintain a set of standard information materials that can be assembled into an information packet; standard items include fact sheets, faculty bios, information on equipment/lab use, and copies of recent publications. Some ERCs prepare a "public" version of their NSF Annual Report, although this is not a standard practice.

All publications indicated above can be made available to the ERC's partners through the center's web site. If publications, meetings, and reports are considered benefits to industrial partners, a secured section of the web site can be developed. While this allows instant publication of any center media as well as opportunities for on-line registration to ERC meetings, a secured site requires constant maintenance of security. Companies are not always responsive to requests to update user lists, so the AD and the industrial liaison need to work together to keep track of appropriate users from member companies.

When asked to prioritize target audiences (for whom communication vehicles and strategies are devised), ERC administrators ranked them as follows:

1. companies, including prospective members;
2. prospective students, and ERC alumni;
3. NSF and state personnel working on economic development;
4. university VIPs and participating departments;
5. other parts of the home university and other universities, including other ERCs, state legislators, and local press; and
6. national legislators, national press, the general U.S. public, and international interests.

Consider forming a communications team to oversee your publications and contribute editorial feedback. A few givens need to be considered, no matter how you approach the communications function:

1. Someone at the ERC is going to have to understand and oversee activities that depend on computer-generated graphics and desktop publishing. This now includes web page development and conversion of documents into HTML format.

2. Producing something like a newsletter or an annual report is a time-intensive activity. You will need to plan staffing expectations realistically. You will also want to examine the timing of all ERC reports and communication devices (paper and/or electronic) and strategically stagger their distribution with major events that take place each year.

3. Your publications reflect the image of quality your center hopes to project. Quality standards need to be determined.

4. In the early years, communication will be terribly important for recruiting companies, students, and sponsors. At some point, however, you will need to evaluate the cost- effectiveness of your communication efforts. Given the limited resources and keen competition that characterize grant years 6-11, you may need to reconsider your target audiences and carefully select any mechanisms for reaching out to the general public.

Tip : Based on experience to date, we have found that ERC Directors vary considerably in how they view publicity. Some desire maximum exposure, while others find this a drain on precious time and resources. Be sure you discuss this with your Director and settle on a policy.

6.7.2.2 What About the World Wide Web?

It is dangerous to try to suggest any "best practices" for internet use, as this area changes continuously. While internet communications will probably never entirely replace traditional forms of information collection and distribution, they are playing a larger and larger role. Therefore, it is important to look at each type of information, determine the intended audience, and then publish and manage the materials appropriately. Every ERC today develops a website to reach a variety of audiences.

Tip: Review the websites of other ERCs by visiting http://www.erc-assoc.org/centers.htm.

Be careful not to get distracted by the changing "presentation technology" of the web. While this technology will allow us to distribute more diverse forms (images, video, sound, etc.) and improve communication options, fundamental audience analysis shouldn't change. The cost-effectiveness of various strategies must be addressed. Who are you trying to reach, and what are the best ways to reach them?

Tip : Students are a driving force behind the use of the web. Keep abreast of their opinions and capabilities and utilize them as appropriate. Be sure your website developer is thoroughly familiar with the full scope of the ERC's programs, so as to be able to market different programs to different audiences.

If you have specific comments and questions on the contents of this site and/or its use, please contact webmaster@erc-assoc.org. To report technical problems, contact techhelp@erc-assoc.org.