Compliance with federal regulations governing sponsored research is a constant challenge for research-intensive organizations. In particular, faculty effort committed to federally-funded research projects is highly scrutinized by auditors. To improve efficiency in sponsored research and faculty effort administration, Mark A. Hughes, departmental administrator for Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s department of microbiology and immunology, invented the “Project and Investigator Effort Reporting” database software, or PIER.
This grant management software was developed between 2002 and 2006 with funding from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
The program consists of a relational networked database platform for sharing critical research data elements among administrators, centers, departments, divisions or the entire research enterprise.
The software can be customized to provide research administrators with the enhanced resources they need to manage research personnel, projects and awards.
Launched in July 2006, the program is being used at Vanderbilt and the University of Southern California. For more information, go to www.piersoftware.com.
This story was originally published in 2007.
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