HealthProposal Framework

From Clinicaltools.com

(Revised 06/03/09)

Contents 1 Key Details 2 Values 3 Need (Problem) 4 Vision 5 Mission 6 Target Audience 7 Project Constraints 8 Strengths 9 Goal 10 Objectives 11 Implementation 11.1 Original Phase II Specific Aims 11.2 Phase II Year 7 Extension Milestones 11.3 Unfinished Milestones (June 09) 12 Evaluation 13 Competition 14 Cooperative Solutions 15 New Ideas 16 Communication

Key Details

• Title: Electronic Submission of NIH Grant Applications
• Funding: NCRR Cooperative Agreement #5U44RR018062-05
• Funding Project Officer: Amy Swain, PhD
• Principal Investigator: T Bradley Tanner, MD
• Project Director: Susan Wilhelm, PhD
• Start: 09/15/02 End: 09/14/09
• Product: Website

Values

• Open standards and open platforms allow transparency and scalability and improve the chances that others benefit from the solution
• The goal of research is to improve the health of the population through immediate and long term (e.g., basic research) effects.
• The needs of the PI and other investigators are essential to the production of a quality grant

Need (Problem)

• Early stage and New Investigators are essential to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to ensure that innovative ideas are being pursued and there is a future pool of researchers
• Early stage and New Investigators lack experience with the grant application process. The free Adobe/Grants.gov electronic grant submission system does not support group collaboration, idea-sharing, or explain the requirements for some aspects of the application.
• Early stage and New Investigators are still building a network of colleagues and advisors. The free Adobe/Grants.gov electronic grant submission system does not support group collaboration, idea-sharing, or explain the requirements for some aspects of the application.

Vision

Principal investigators have a means by which to develop successful NIH grant proposals

Mission

Provide Web-based tools that make the NIH grant-development process easier and more collaborative.

Target Audience

1. Principal Investigators that submit grants to the NIH, especially Early Stage Investigators and New Investigators

Project Constraints

1. Although Web 2.0 solutions have been enthusiastically received, actual profitability has been elusive due to resistance to subscription costs and weak advertising revenue.
2. Institutions often mandate what Investigators are allowed to do and the environment to use
3. Investigators are scientists but may not be web savvy
4. Collaborative grant writing may not be something an investigator is used to, especially a new investigator

Strengths

1. Clinical Tools, Inc. has experience developing Web 2.0 functionality for a professional audience.
2. Understanding of the grant process is low for Early Stage Investigators and New Investigators.
3. The upside of getting a grant funded is huge, thus there is a lot of incentive to do the best you can.
4. For collaborative features we can use a novel content management system (CMS) environment that fits the task

Goal

Provide the health research community with a Web service for successfully developing a complete NIH grant application.

Objectives

1. Detailed specifications guide development of the website
2. Organization and planning tools for the NIH Investigator (especially early state and new investigators) helps researchers get started.
3. A catalog of quality resources and a high quality search engine gives users a quick and simple way to find the resources they need using any Internet-capable tool, including mobile devices with small screens.
4. Standard tools (forum, email list, blogs) enhance private and public communication and collaboration related to grant development to expand input and enhance the quality of the grant
5. Integration with submission solutions, especially Adobe Forms allows simple and easily submission of a proposal to the NIH

Implementation

Original Phase II Specific Aims

This project's goal is to meet the NIH grant application needs of researchers and research administrators by creating a commercially viable NIH proposal creation and submission Web service package called HealthProposal.net. Specifically, we aim to:

• Create a Web-based solution, HealthProposal.net, that adheres to the vision and standards already agreed upon by the NIH eRA and that supports the vision of eRA.
• Utilize open standards and open platforms at all levels in the creation of HealthProposal.net. Open standards and open software allow a thorough, critical inspection of every aspect of the solution at its most basic level -- the source code. Confidence in the integrity, reliability, and scalability of our solution is essential to its ultimate success.
• Emphasize meeting the current and potential needs of our end users -- researchers and research administrators. A successful solution must meet these users' needs, which entails being highly accessible, dependable, and adaptable to varying levels of interest and support for the technology. Our product must far exceed the current methods by which grants are produced.

Phase II Year 7 Extension Milestones

Milestone 1 - Identify new business requirements of NIH or Grants.gov

• Identify new agency business requirements and implement as needed [Completed]
• Load test the ability of the site to handle higher volume and adapt to the challenge of high volume [Completed]

Milestone 2 - Participate in submission of new grant mechanisms through Grants.gov

• Add support for K, T, and F grant submission when these become available [Not necessary as Grants.gov has evolved]

Milestone 3 - Design, assess, and evaluate educational and supportive features for new investigators

• Design features based on results from needs analyses [Completed]
• Perform usability studies with users of HealthProposal.net to determine effectiveness of features [Completed]

Milestone 4 - Design, implement, and evaluate collaboration tools for projects with multiple PIs

• Perform needs analysis to determine tools that would benefit the research community [Ongoing]
• Design, implement, and evaluate collaboration tools [Ongoing]

Milestone 5 -Design features and functionality that will help clients improve electronic communication during and after funding of the grant proposal

• Implement functionality for Commons person information update and delivery of NIH validations directly to the user from Commons [Outdated Milestone based on Grants.gov submissions]
• Design and implement functionality for report submissions, if applicable [Not applicable]

Milestone 6 - Implement supportive programming features to simplify the user experiences

• Identify and design additional programming features and implement [Completed]

Milestone 7 - Perform evaluations of the website service to assess new functionality and ease-of-use; revise as necessary.

• Conduct usability studies of website with clients [Ongoing]
• Attend conferences to evaluate website with potential future clients [Completed]

Milestone 8 - Disseminate research results

• Attend conferences to evaluate website with potential future clients [Completed]

Unfinished Milestones (June 09)

1. Creating tools/resources for new investigators,
2. Participation in submission of remaining grant mechanisms [will only focus on grant development, since submission of all applications uses common technology]

Evaluation

Success is defined as:

• The proposed website and interactive features exist.
• Final Site Evaluation
• The successful completion of all objectives and
• Production of a Phase II report,

Evaluation also occurred through real-time usability testing with the target audience (Principal Investigators). After each NIH submission round, we sought feedback from clients regarding the user experience. We refined the interface and functionality based on this feedback.

Competition

There are existing Web 2.0 tools but that are not tailored for Investigators

Cooperative Solutions

There are excellent sites to submit grants and perform grants management. There are also many companies that can design custom solutions, especially for large organizations. The specific submission part of the puzzle could be done by Grants.gov via Adobe Forms (for NIH) for free. Or, via one of the other service providers who submit grants to NIH via Grants.gov

New Ideas

1. Once our solution is in place, the beneficiaries of our solution would need a way to find outside consultants to assist with components such as grant writing, grant review, proofreading. Our site could provide the environment for these groups to meet
2. Early Stage Investigators and New Investigators may see other value in HealthProposal.net. An an open environment they will be able to enhance and expand it to meet currently unplanned needs.

Communication

1. At the SBIR's Silver Anniversary National Spring Conference in Orlando, Florida it was clear that
   1. PIs needed much more help than a website could provide.
   2. They preferred face to face contact and close support, neither of which makes sense for a web-based product.
   3. They were also quite cost conscious and aware that the government provided a free solution via Adobe Forms.
2. We talked with Research Administrators at SRA International to gauge the value of the product for research administrators and the PIs they work with. It was clear that Research Administrators have settled on a tool to accomplish submission (typically in house S2S or Adobe Forms) and are more focused on integrated solutions and post-award needs.

Clinical Tools Frameworks

• Practicing Physicians
  • Pain and Addiction
  • SBIRT
  • Tobacco and AHEC
  • Buprenorphine Practice Advisor
• Medical Students
  • Alcohol
  • Buprenorphine
  • MS Pain and Addiction
  • ELSI of Genetics (ELSI = Ethical, Legal and Social Implications)

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Consumers

• Dementia Care Central

Intermediaries

• EndingSuicide
• Brain Train

Health Researchers

• HealthProposal