Every year, the eRA (InfoEd) support team in Research Information Technology (RIT), the Conflict of Interest (COI) Office and University Information Services (UIS) work for 3 to 4 months to prepare for the annual conflict of interest collection period. This year the collection period started on Wednesday, August 6.

Over the past three years, the eRA team and our partners at UIS have worked to revamp this annual preparation process to reduce the length of time it takes to prepare for and support this major undertaking. Next year CU Denver | Anschutz will see a further reduction in the preparation time from 3 months to 6-8 weeks.

The eRA team consists of Daniel Munoz, Brianna “Bri” Young and Keith Parsley. Neil Boyes, RIT Primary Business Intelligence Analyst plays a key role. The COI office includes Mark Elder and David Glassco.

Daniel Munoz, eRA Manager, describes the effort: “Bri and Neil have done a masterful job of working with David and Mark to fine tune the process the last couple of years. This year they all took it a step further, taking those lessons and simultaneously working with Jordan Wight and Kelly Kim at UIS to automate more of the process; they took a bold swing on a working process and took it to the next level. We are thankful for leadership’s trust in us to take those types of chances to innovate.”

By the numbers:

• 7,219 cases this year, up from 6,930 cases on our master list last year
• 1,804 successful COI submissions in the first 2 days of going live
• Have received 0 tickets this year, down from 3-8 tickets per day last year

Bri, who leads this effort, says, “The improvements made this year would not have been possible without exceptional cross-campus collaboration. Our UIS developers and analysts really hit it out of the park on this initiative. The little extra work put in this year to test and begin implementing the updates will save us hundreds of hours of work in coming years.”

Neil reflects, “Although this was only my second-year writing SQL scripts for the COI APP process, this year’s process felt less overwhelming due to having more experience and documenting the updates along the way. I'm looking forward to our improved process next year with fewer steps and much quicker turnaround time.”

David shares, "This year's COI APP process truly showcased the power of teamwork. The collaboration between our team members created a seamless workflow that made all the difference. Each person's input, especially from the eRA team, helped us refine our approach and address challenges swiftly. The way we aligned our efforts not only enhanced efficiency but also ensured we completed the process smoothly. It’s inspiring to see how collective dedication can lead to such successful outcomes."

Mark says, “When you work with great people, great things happen!  The process has improved every year, and next year will be even better.”

Keith sums it up, “Bri and Neil achieved remarkable efficiency and synergy by coordinating with the COI Business Office and UIS to find an optimal path through a very complex and exacting process.  The time invested in this effort will continue to provide returns year after year – not only for the disclosure population, but also for the administrative staff who manage, guide, and shepherd this annual undertaking.”