The Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration Information (CASRAI) is an international non-profit dedicated to reducing the administrative burden on researchers and improving business intelligence capacity of research institutions and funders.

1. CASRAI UPDATE

2. TODAY
• Why CASRAI? What problem needs solving?
• CASRAI Status: Where do we stand now?
• CASRAI Horizon: Where to next?
2

3. WHY?

4. RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION DATA
Research
proposal
Research
activity
Person
Research
results
Financial
reporting
Funder
policies
Institutional
policies
Data
management
plans & infra
Impacts –
social, economic
& cultural
Substantive
reporting
Metrics
Research
services data
Budget
Research
classification
HQP
training
Data
ID
Person
ID
Outcomes
(e.g. Knowledge
advancement)
Regulatory
requirements
Ethics
approval
& monitoring
Peer
review
Organization
ID
Contributor
roles
Collaborative
types
Outputs
Some elements of a complex ecosystem that we track
4

5. All Funding
Agencies are…
All Institutions
are…
All Governments
are…
All Industry
Partners are…
...but each
in a silo
• Substantive
reporting
• Metrics
• Impacts –
social, economic
& cultural
• Outcomes
(e.g. Knowledge
advancement)
• Data ID
• Person ID
• Outputs
• Research
classification
• Funder
policies
• Financial
reporting
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION DATA
The players and how they use research administration data
5
ID-ing, Defining,
Classifying,
Grouping:
People, Orgs,
Projects,
Equipment,
Investments,
Outputs, Impacts
• Budget
• Data
Management
plans & infra
• Regulatory
requirements
• Ethics approval
& monitoring
• Collaborative
types
• Peer
review
• Contributor
roles
• HQP
training
• Research
services
data

6. All Funding
Agencies are…
All Institutions
are…
All Governments
are…
All Industry
Partners are…
ID-ing, Defining,
Classifying,
Grouping:
People, Orgs,
Projects,
Equipment,
Investments,
Outputs, Impacts
• Budget
• Data
Management
plans & infra
• Regulatory
requirements
• Ethics approval
& monitoring
• Collaborative
types
• Peer
review
• Contributor
roles
• HQP
training
• Research
services
data
• Substantive
reporting
• Metrics
• Impacts –
social, economic
& cultural
• Outcomes
(e.g. Knowledge
advancement)
• Data ID
• Person ID
• Outputs
• Research
classification
• Funder
policies
• Financial
reporting
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION DATA
Benefits of a practical, standards-based view
6

7. STATUS

8. Number of organizations
participating = 147
Number of countries
Involved = 14
Number of Subject Matter
Experts collaborating = 334
8

9. ORGANIZATIONS – SUSTAINING (1/3)
The following organizations actively support the CASRAI mandate and make financial,
leadership and subject matter expert contributions to the standards and to CASRAI
operations.
9
INSTITUTIONS
• National Library of Sweden (SE)
• OCAD University (CA)
• University of Prince Edward Island (CA)
• Queen’s University (CA)
• University of Saskatchewan (CA)
• University of Toronto (CA)
• University of Waterloo (CA)
• York University (CA)
• University of Alberta (CA)
• University of British Columbia (CA)
• Carleton University (CA)
• Concordia University (CA)
• Denison University (US)
• University of Guelph (CA)
• McGill University (CA)
• University of Montreal (CA)

10. ORGANIZATIONS – SUSTAINING (2/3)
10
FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS
• Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (CA)
• Canada Foundation for Innovation (CA)
• Fonds de recherche du Quebec (CA)
• Foundation for Science and Technology (PT)
• Research Manitoba (CA)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (CA)
• Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (CA)
• New Brunswick Health Research Foundation
(CA)
• Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
(CA)
• Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation
(CA)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada (CA)
• The Swedish Research Council (SE)
• Wellcome Trust (UK)
• Jisc (UK)

11. ORGANIZATIONS – SUSTAINING (3/3)
11
SUPPLIERS
• Digital Science (UK)
• Elsevier Inc. (DK)
• eVision Inc (CA)
• F1000 Research Ltd. (UK)
• ForTheResearch Consulting Services (CA)
• MindShare Inc (CA)
• Process Pathways Inc (CA)
• Proximify Inc (CA)
• Smartsimple Inc (CA)
• Standford IT (SE)
• Symplectic Inc (UK)
• Thomson Reuters (US)
• UberResearch Inc. (US)

12. ORGANIZATIONS – PARTNERING
The following organizations share an interest in the CASRAI mandate and actively
collaborate in the standards-setting process.
• Association of Commonwealth Universities (UK)
• Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CA)
• Canadian Association of University Research Administrators (CA)
• Confederation of Open Access Repositories (DE)
• euroCRIS (NL)
• National Information Standards Organization (US)
• ORCID (US)
• SRI International (US)
• VIVO (US)
12

13. ORGANIZATIONS – PARTICIPATING (1/4)
The following organizations provide subject matter expertise to the standards-setting
process.
CANADA
• University of Victoria (CA)
• University of Ottawa (CA)
• University of Calgary (CA)
• Dennis Rank and Associates (CA)
13
UK
• BioMed Central (UK)
• Bournemouth University (UK)
• British Library (UK)
• Cambridge University Press (UK)
• Centre for Internet Technologies (UK)
• Clax Ltd (UK)
• Cranfield School of Management (UK)
• CrossRef (UK)
• Department for Employment and Learning (UK)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK)
• GigaScience (UK)
• Higher Education Funding Council for England (UK)

14. ORGANIZATIONS – PARTICIPATING (2/4)
UK
14
• The Economic and Social Research Council (UK)
• Universities and Colleges Information Systems
Association (UK)
• University College London (UK)
• University of Bath (UK)
• University of Edinburgh (UK)
• University of Essex (UK)
• University of Exeter (UK)
• University of Glasgow (UK)
• University of Kent (UK)
• University of Manchester (UK)
• University of Oxford (UK)
• University of Southampton (UK)
• University of St Andrews (UK)
• Higher Education Statistics Agency (UK)
• The UK’s Research and Education Network (UK)
• King’s College (UK)
• Medical Research Council (UK)
• Mimas (UK)
• Moore Answers Ltd. (UK)
• Natural Environment Research Council (UK)
• Nature Publishing Group (UK)
• Research Consulting (UK)
• Research Information Network (UK)
• Research Libraries United Kingdom (UK)
• Research Research Limited (UK)
• Scmoller.net (UK)
• Sussex University (UK)

15. ORGANIZATIONS – PARTICIPATING (3/4)
EUROPE UNITED STATES
• International Council for Scientific
and Technical Information (FR)
• The Committee on Data for Science
and Technology (FR)
• Evora University (PT)
• Porto University (PT)
• Universitat de Valencia (ES)
• Karolinska Institute (SE)
15
• American Chemical Society (US)
• American College of Physicians
(US)
• American Geophysical Union (US)
• American Institutes for Research
(US)
• American Physical Society (US)
• American Psychological
Association (US)
• Aries Systems Corp (US)
• Autism Speaks (US)
• Columbia University (US)
• Cornell University (US)
• Environmental Protections Agency
(US)
• Food and Drug Administration (US)
• Hypothes.is (US)
• Leidos (US)
• Medical University of South
Carolina (US)
• MIT Libraries (US)
• National Institutes of Health (US)
• National Science Foundation (US)
• OCLC Research (US)
• Office of Scientific and Technical
Information (US)
• Oregon Health & Science
University (US)
• Origin Editorial (US)

16. ORGANIZATIONS – PARTICIPATING (4/4)
UNITED STATES
16
OTHER
• Ministry of Business Innovation &
Employment (NZ)
• The University of Hong Kong (HK)
• PeerJ (US)
• PLOS (US)
• Rubriq (US)
• Science/AAAS (US)
• ScienceOpen Inc. (US)
• SHARE (US)
• Sideview (US)
• Smithsonian Institution (US)
• Smithsonian Libraries (US)
• The Winnower (US)
• Twin Arch Technologies
(US)
• University of California San
Francisco (US)
• USDA/NAL (US)
• Washington University (US)
• Wiley (US)

17. RECIPE FOR CASRAI SUCCESS
INGREDIENTS
From content stakeholders (institutions, libraries, funders,
governments)
• 1 part shared financial investment
• 2 to 3 parts strong leadership
• 10 to 15 parts keen subject matter expertise
• broad community review (to taste)
From CASRAI office (facilitation, coordination, analysis)
• 1 part harmonization analysis
• 1 part coordination/support
• 1 part dissemination
• 1 part external subject matter experts (if needed)
From software stakeholders (IT departments, vendors, other data
suppliers)
• Technical modelling (to taste)
• Technology implementation (to taste)
17
PROCEDURE
Mix strong leadership and subject
matter expertise (external if needed)
in a small project. Knead a simple
information agreement until ready for
review (some tougher subjects may
need more kneading - results may
vary). Place into broad open review
and let rise. Trim edges and further
shape before packaging in
technology. Place in maintenance
fridge - good for 1 to 5 years. Meet
regularly to monitor freshness.

18. HORIZON

19. Research
Classification
Research
Impact
Research
Contributions
Research
Data
Management
Planning
19

20. KEY CASRAI PROJECTS
• CRediT (Wellcome Trust / Digital Science)
• Peer Review Services (ORCID / F1000)
• Organization IDs (Jisc / RCUK / UK Institutions)
• Artistic/Performance Outputs (Swedish Research Council)
20

21. UPCOMING CASRAI PROJECTS
• Snowball Metrics (UK/US/AUS Institutions / ELSEVIER)
• National CV standards (NL Institutions & Funders)
• Data Management Plans (Jisc / UK Institutions)
• Open Access Reporting (UK, COAR)
21

22. CANADIAN PROJECTS
• Portfolio Classification (Quebec / Alberta leading)
• Impact Reporting (Alberta leading)
• Common Funding Announcements (uToronto / NSERC/SSHRC leading)
• Research Admin KPI - Interest Group (uGuelph leading)
22

23. UPCOMING AT CASRAI
• Co-Projects: when subject matter overlaps
• Research Data Intersect Group: RDA/CASRAI linkage
• De-chapterizing: more fluid, informal stakeholder structures
• Membership Drive: lower rates, more options (to reflect our growth)
23

24. WHERE CASRAI ADDS VALUE
• Neutral body convening/facilitating the table
• Known community leaders (chairs) as champions coordinators (volition)
• Representative subject experts (working groups) focus on the content
• Scope containment - small projects that fit into a larger whole
• Unambiguous agreements for IT/software experts
• Standardize the policy agreements - a common reporting format
• Least imperfect solution to a hard problem
24

25. HOW YOU CAN HELP
• Join CASRAI – the whole idea depends upon the network effect
• Take a look at existing projects and see where they fit your strategy
• Launch new CASRAI projects to solve key local challenges
25